Epiphone Zakk Wylde Les Paul Custom Plus Bullseye

The Epiphone Les Paul Zakk Wylde edition is meant to be a lower priced alternative to his famed Gibson signature model that sells for several thousand dollars new. It has a lot of the same (or very similar) appointments to his Gibson Custom Shop model. The most notable thing about it is its iconic bullseye white and black finish. This is something that Zakk popularized and it's fairly unique to his brand. Other than the cosmetics, it's basically your standard Les Paul Custom '70s reissue. It has a mahogany body, a maple neck with rosewood fretboard and 22 frets, Grover tuners, tune-o-matic bridge, EMG HZ pickups and a typical Les Paul layout as far as the controls go. They're made in one of Epi's various overseas factories depending on what year you have.

UTILIZATION

The guitar is really no more or less ergonomic than a standard Les Paul guitar. It's medium to heavy weight and somewhat clunky neck heel may be a turn off for some players who are used to superstrat type guitars. It's got reasonable upper fret access for a Les Paul, but it's still nowhere near the left of something like an Ibanez or Jackson in that department.

Getting a good sound out of this guitar isn't difficult if you play metal styles. The EMG pickups aren't very versatile and the mahogany/maple wood combo really doesn't work for more vintage textures, so if you're doing the high gain thing like Zakk does, you're set. The pickups sound like a reasonable facsimile of EMGs, but they're a tad muddier and more compressed, which is a bit of a drag.

SOUNDS

This guitar unfortunately is a bit of a one trick pony as far as its sounds go. The clean and low gain tones are not really a strong point of this guitar. The pickups are too compressed and high output to really allow the subtle dynamics that make a good clean tone to come through on any level. The high gain tones delivered are decent for heavy metal - they're fairly tight and aggressive and work well for palm muted riffs, pinch harmonics or fast alternate picked lead passages. The pickups aren't quite as good sounding as real EMGs or Seymour Duncan Blackouts, but they do a decent enough job I suppose. It's not really versatile, but for the high octane metal thing it does a decent job.

OVERALL OPINION

All in all I think the Epi Zakk Wylde is a decent guitar for a younger player or someone looking for a decent Les Paul to play metal on for not a lot of money. If you aren't a fan of the bullseye white and black scheme Zakk has done a few other designs over the years with varying cosmetics. These run about $800 new which isn't too bad a deal for this guitar, but really it's only worth it if you're playing metal or you're a diehard ZW fan.

Zakk Wylde has been one of Gibson's more famous artists. He's had tons of different signature models throughout the years, but this is Epiphone's take on his most famous model. It has a mahogany body with a maple top, a set maple neck with a rosewood fretboard and trapezoid inlays, 22 frets, binding all around, tune-o-matic bridge, two humbuckers, two volumes, two tones and a three way switch.

UTILIZATION

The first thing you always notice with this guitar is that it has a pretty outrageous paintjob. The paintjob on this was surprisingly almost as good as the actual Gibson version. I saw a few bleed marks, but they were extremely minor, and you'd really have to take a lot of time to look for them. The fretwork on this guitar was iffy. There were some low frets that needed attention, and you start to notice it once you lower the action. The nut was cut decently, so that wasn't a huge deal. Aside from that, it's basically a standard Les Paul.

SOUNDS

The guitar didn't sound as good as the original version, and there are a few reasons for that. First of all, these are EMG HZ pickups. The HZ pickups are passive pickups that don't really sound like a real EMG. I believe Alexi Laiho uses these, but they're really not the best pickups out there, IMO. The bridge pickup did sound similar to an EMG 81, but the neck pickup wasn't really my thing for whatever reason. If you convert these to real EMGs, be sure to disconnect the bridge ground.

OVERALL OPINION

The guitar could use a pickup swap and an ebony fretboard. Aside from that, it's pretty close to the original one. Considering that the actual Zakk Wylde costs a fortune, this could be a decent alternative. However, pay attention to things like fretwork and how nicely the nut is cut. Play a few and see how you like them.

Epiphone is the official budget line of Gibson. Unlike Gibson guitars Epiphone guitars are made outside of America. Since they are official copies they have the exact same shape as the Gibson guitars do. This is the Epiphone version of the Zakk Wylde Les Paul custom. The main difference with this guitar is the electronics and some of the wood selection. The guitar still has a mahogany body and a maple neck but the fretboard is made of rosewood instead of ebony. The electronics are still EMG pickups but they are not active EMG's. They are EMG's budget line of passive pickups which are pretty poor but better than what this guitar would have come with. The guitar has Zakks Bullseye motif and after all these mods it is your typical Epiphone Les Paul. Each pickup has its own tone and volume control and there is a 3 way switch for your pickup selecting.

UTILIZATION

This guitar plays like any other Epiphone Les Paul. Other than the raw back of the neck this guitar is a pretty standard Epiphone. The raw neck helps make the neck a bit faster because with a finished neck you can get a sticky feel. If you are use to modern guitars with thin necks the Les Paul neck will be very big for you. Because of the set neck design there is a large neck tenon and joint. This can make the upper frets hard for some people to reach because the body essentially joins the neck at the 17th fret. After the 17th fret you are reaching around the body to get to the frets. The tuning stability is good because there is no tremolo. The quality of hardware Epiphone uses is not that great. I have had problems with the input jack unscrewing itself and things like that.

SOUNDS

This guitar does not really sound like the Gibson Zakk Wylde Custom but it sounds better than a normal Epiphone Les Paul. The passive pickups are built to emulate the tone of the 81 and the 85 but it just doesnt quite get there. The bridge pickup is tight like an 81 but it doesnt quite have the same top end sizzle as a real 81. The neck pickup is closer to the active version than the bridge. The 85 naturally has a warmer more passive sound so the passive version does not differ much in the sound department. Since these pickups are EMG's they have the quick connect wiring system so you can easily swap these pickups out with a set of active EMG's when you get the chance and this guitar will really rip then.

OVERALL OPINION

The Gibson Les Paul Zakk Wylde Custom is pretty outrageously priced. This guitar is very reasonably priced with only a few differences. With a 200 dollar pickup swap you will have pretty much the same guitar as the Gibson for thousands less. If you are a Zakk Wylde fan and cant justify playing thousands of dollars for a Les Paul Custom this Epiphone is a good option.

Everything was said. Very nice finish and weighs 3.6 pounds

USE

The handle is round, pleasant, well it slide: p, access to acute we like it or not, need to train a little but it is not death, the distribution of weight is good, etc. etc.

SONORITS

I play everything, I finally re edit my post.

- The zik style, I was somewhat ready with all styles, she is doing very well, although we s'clate with. I play Tonelab SE, and I really have a gro gro sound from the speakers (after a good adjustment Lab too) It shipment as I like.

7 note because it is not a guitar that dchire all (elev especially for its price) but personally I m'clate above, the principal is not it?

NOTICE GLOBAL

It must be six months that I play, I always m'clate as above, I dreamed of a Les Paul for the moment I have the zakk wylde, soon the standard gibs, you never know. I do not think resell thanks to its look (ca pleases or not).
The price quality ratio is a little way, it's still elev 850 new!

I bought it for 550 ocaz that price I would resume!