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Hatsubai « Fairly standard and decent playing »
Published on 07/07/11 at 19:05The Les Paul Standard is the essence of all that is Gibson, really. The Epiphone equivalent somewhat matches that signature characteristic, but I find that it falls short in a few areas that I'll explain later. It has a mahogany body with a maple top, a set mahogany neck with a rosewood fretboard and trapezoid inlays, 22 frets, binding all around, tune-o-matic bridge, three humbuckers, two volumes, two tones and a three way switch.
UTILIZATION
The guitar had a few flaws. For one, the nut wasn't cut properly. Whenever you tuned up, you could notice that there was an audible ping. This is because the nut was binding the string. The frets on these were pretty decent in terms of the fret ends, but there were a few low frets on this. A nice fret level could allow you to get some sick action on this, and if you get one, I recommend looking into this. Aside from that, the build quality was pretty similar to the rest of the Epiphone line.
SOUNDS
The pickups in this were pretty dull and bland sounding. The bridge pickup was muddy and seemed to lack what I usually look for in a bridge pickup. The neck pickup sounded dull, and I couldn't get that super smooth lead tone I love so much. If I were to keep this guitar, I would probably put in something like a JB/59 combo in this. That would really help give it some balls, and considering I play metal, they'd be more suited towards what I look for in a guitar.
OVERALL OPINION
These are decent guitars, but be sure to pay attention to details. The nut on this wasn't the best, the frets could use some leveling, and the pickups really need to be replaced. Once you address those issues, it's a real solid playing guitar. If you can afford the real deal, I recommend getting that instead. If not, this could be a decent alternative.
UTILIZATION
The guitar had a few flaws. For one, the nut wasn't cut properly. Whenever you tuned up, you could notice that there was an audible ping. This is because the nut was binding the string. The frets on these were pretty decent in terms of the fret ends, but there were a few low frets on this. A nice fret level could allow you to get some sick action on this, and if you get one, I recommend looking into this. Aside from that, the build quality was pretty similar to the rest of the Epiphone line.
SOUNDS
The pickups in this were pretty dull and bland sounding. The bridge pickup was muddy and seemed to lack what I usually look for in a bridge pickup. The neck pickup sounded dull, and I couldn't get that super smooth lead tone I love so much. If I were to keep this guitar, I would probably put in something like a JB/59 combo in this. That would really help give it some balls, and considering I play metal, they'd be more suited towards what I look for in a guitar.
OVERALL OPINION
These are decent guitars, but be sure to pay attention to details. The nut on this wasn't the best, the frets could use some leveling, and the pickups really need to be replaced. Once you address those issues, it's a real solid playing guitar. If you can afford the real deal, I recommend getting that instead. If not, this could be a decent alternative.