In praise of Epiphone

Chuffola

I bought a new Epi LP Standard Plus Top Pro on Saturday. 

I bought it after trying out a Gibson LP Studio 70s Tribute, 60s Tribute, 2 LPJs and a LP Junior Special. Only the Jnr Special was decent - the others had badly finished frets, poor paint jobs, uninspiring sounds from the pickups.

Despairing of getting anything nice (I had a fistful of GAS cash available) I thought I'd have a go on an Epi. I've had Dots, Casinos, Sheratons before which were great and several variants of LPs which were always.... anaemic really, just ok but nothing special.

I wanted to try a 1960s Tribute with the Gibson 57 Classics but there were none in stock in any of the local stores so I tried out a few of the Standard Plus Top Pros. These have new Epiphone Probuckers - modelled on Burstbuckers apparently and I thought, "Yeah, right".

But playing through a Fender HRD with them was a revelation. Punchy, great clarity and grunt and covered jazz to classic rock with ease. And coil-tapped too.

The finish and playability on the three I tried out was superb. I plumped for a Honeyburst and it is a stunner (apart from the headstock, obviously...  )

£350 and, honestly, it is a superb guitar. Comfy neck, nice low action, no issues with holding tuning even on huge bends which suggests a well cut nut. Finish is superb and the pickups are really, really good. 

I always feel a bit snooty about Epiphones but I reckon they need some love. As long as you try a few out, there are excellent guitars in their range and they are great value compared to their more illustrious big brothers. 

There, I feel better now. 

ThePrettyDamned

They sometimes just get it so right, don't they?

xHymnal

Having recently gotten an Epi Sorrento i completely agree! I was also an utter snob towards them but this is a step above epiphones i've played before. Lightweight, resonant with a really good overall build quality. I like it a LOT, having owned and still own a lot of very high end guitars the epi really doesn't feel too out of place in my collection. i'm really happy with it. Good GAS sir! 

OilCityPickups

Agree that an awful lot of Epis are very good indeed. I've side by side compared my 67 reissue V with a faded cherry Gibbo USA V and the Epi is as playable ... and is in fact more comfortable.
There are a few things I'd much rather Gibson did ... like getting rid of the unpleasant clubby headstock on their LPs in favour of a proper open book. Fender have no issues with making Squire Strats with proper, elegant Fender head shapes ... why do Gibson drag their heels on this? They apparently have no problem with doing just that for the Japanese market.

markslade07

I've got a late 90's Epi Les Paul (Limited Edition don'tcha know - yes, with a Bigsby! In Wine Red even!) and I don't think I'd ever part with it. I bought it from new, upgraded the pickups a couple of years later, and have just installed a Shugz loom and it's a cracking guitar. I had a Gibson 60's Tribute Gold Top, and in terms of build quality, the Epi beat it hands down I'm afraid. In fact, I've since sold the Gibbo after just a few short months of ownership. It was quite disappointing as I've always wanted a guitar with Gibson on the headstock.

I think I paid about £350 ish for my Epi about 15 years ago, and it was the best guitar related investment I've made.

ESBlonde

I own a proper 76 strat and a 2006 Gibson ES335 amoung others, I bought my oldest lad an Epiphone 56 Goldtop as his second guitar.

I am not ashamed to say it is a cracking guitar. Neck's a little skinny for me and it needed a bit of TLC on the frets and a rolling of the fingerboard. But I would happily gig it, it's a lovely resonant instrument that has had no upgrades. Does it have the subtle sound qualities I'd use to record? Probably not unless the sound was over-driven, but for the price paid it's very very good and capable of putting a smile on this grizzly old sod.

Adam_MD

I've got no issues with a well setup Epiphone. I've had my gold sparkle les paul since 97 and will never flog it. I've had quite a few others I.e. dot, Sheraton etc and they've all been decent but the gold sparkle is the only I've kept long term.
I've been gassing terribly for a 56 goldtop or a riviera recently. Too bad they only do the rivieras with 3 p90s now and gold hardware. I either want mini hums or one of the 90s ones with the full sized buckers.

chrisj1602

I've had/played some great Epiphones and would buy another no problem.

DeeTee

Aren't they one of those companies that go through phases? The LPs I've played recently from them, even the Standards, have been bloody lovely.

chrisj1602

The LPs they are making at the moment seem great, plus things like the 339 at only £299 is crazy money.

thermionic

I've had an early Sheraton (well-built, solid but a little heavy and possibly lifeless), a Dot (from the same factory 10 years later - light, resonant but the craftsmanship not quite up to it) and now a Chinese 1960 Tribute Les Paul. This had some high frets that made it unplayable with a half-decent action but a set-up sorted that out and now it's a nice player. I wanted a Tribute as they allegedly have a deeper neck joint and a real maple top (under the veneer), which suggests the woodwork is a notch above your bog-standard Epi LP - but I'm slightly disappointed that it's a 4-piece back under another veneer. Not sure about the "mahogany" either. Still, it weighs in at over 9lbs and there's no need to upgrade the electrics (Gibson Classic 57s, which would cost £180 to buy!) It''s definitely one of my top bargains - £300 - they're around £450 new, and I got one that was 4 months old and barely played.

If you buy used, you can sell on for +/- £20 of what you paid as well. No doubt I'll end with another Epi in the next few years.

cruxiform

I'm a big fan of them. I've had this Epi Les Paul Standard for 10 years now. Cost me about £350 and like the OP stated, it was the best of the LP's I played that day. Still plays very well and sounds great through the Marshall.

usedtobe

I had a new EJ200, a few years ago, and I wish I still had it!

chrisj1602

usedtobe;101507" said:

I had a new EJ200, a few years ago, and I wish I still had it!

I've got the EJ200CE, it's great. Really like the shadow pickup system.

fretfinder

Between me and my eldest lad we've owned 5 Epis - 3 Sgs, an LP Custom and a 56 Goldtop and they've all been pretty shite to be honest - dull pickups, dodgy tuners, fragile electrics etc. The basic wood construction and the fretting has been OK, but the other bits not so good. Maybe we've just been unlucky.

ESBlonde

I have an early 90s Epiphone ER 350P acoustic, had it from new and no pl;ans to sell it.

http://i1188.photobucket.com/albums/z410/ESBlonde/Guitars/016.jpg

Chuffola

fretfinder said:

Between me and my eldest lad we've owned 5 Epis - 3 Sgs, an LP Custom and a 56 Goldtop and they've all been pretty shite to be honest - dull pickups, dodgy tuners, fragile electrics etc. The basic wood construction and the fretting has been OK, but the other bits not so good. Maybe we've just been unlucky.

Nope - pretty much my experience with LPs previously - including Korean ones.

But this new one is just lightyears ahead of those. Maybe, like Squier, they've just upped their game recently - all 3 I tried out were pretty much identical and consistency has always been an issue with Epiphone (and Gibson, perhaps?)

Fretwired

Chuffola said:

I bought a new Epi LP Standard Plus Top Pro on Saturday. 

I bought it after trying out a Gibson LP Studio 70s Tribute, 60s Tribute, 2 LPJs and a LP Junior Special. Only the Jnr Special was decent - the others had badly finished frets, poor paint jobs, uninspiring sounds from the pickups.

Despairing of getting anything nice (I had a fistful of GAS cash available) I thought I'd have a go on an Epi. I've had Dots, Casinos, Sheratons before which were great and several variants of LPs which were always.... anaemic really, just ok but nothing special.

I wanted to try a 1960s Tribute with the Gibson 57 Classics but there were none in stock in any of the local stores so I tried out a few of the Standard Plus Top Pros. These have new Epiphone Probuckers - modelled on Burstbuckers apparently and I thought, "Yeah, right".

But playing through a Fender HRD with them was a revelation. Punchy, great clarity and grunt and covered jazz to classic rock with ease. And coil-tapped too.

The finish and playability on the three I tried out was superb. I plumped for a Honeyburst and it is a stunner (apart from the headstock, obviously...  )

£350 and, honestly, it is a superb guitar. Comfy neck, nice low action, no issues with holding tuning even on huge bends which suggests a well cut nut. Finish is superb and the pickups are really, really good. 

I always feel a bit snooty about Epiphones but I reckon they need some love. As long as you try a few out, there are excellent guitars in their range and they are great value compared to their more illustrious big brothers. 

There, I feel better now. 

Great story. Epiphone have made great guitars for a few years now. PRS forced them to up their game with the excellent SE range. I have a mate who gigs with an Epi Les Paul [he swapped out the pickups for Gibson pups]. Enjoy playing yours.

thermionic

I've never bought into the "Korean ones are better" myth - I had two from the same factory, albeit almost ten years apart and they were very different in many ways. The Chinese one is also different but I wouldn't say better or worse overall. Maybe now that Gibson own the entire factory in China and they're not contracting them out to whichever factory has the capacity and asking price at the time explains why they seem more consistent.

Lukeage

I've got 2 Epiphones. A black Standard and a wine red Studio. Absolutely, love them. Compared to a lot of new Gibsons - I agree... They take the cake!

My Studio's coming up to 9 years old and my Standard is 3 years old now. Got them both from new. I just need to find the time and a little cash to do some work on the Studio (it's a lovely guitar - great finish, love that unlike a lot of the Studio models it's got the trapezoid inlays instead of the dot inlays) 

I think I've only played one duff Epiphone LP (that's how I then ended up trying a Gretsch and loving it!) and I didn't really like the limited run of Firebirds they did about 4 years ago (they looked the part but played like crap all the ones I tried!) 

blueskunk

My 90s Riviera is a beautiful guitar for sure. I keep gassing for a firebird
Bloody skint though lol.