Epiphone guitars?

Jack_

robgilmo said:

How LTD do you reckon these Explorers are going to be? They arnt available yet but you can pre order them.

They're not made by ESP, so I'm gonna say not LTD at all.

Fez

Epi's can be great you get some dogs but most can be set up to play well. They are good for modding and usually benefit from better pick ups. I put a BK Holy Diver in mine and swapped the machine heads for Sperzals and its great get's gigged regularly. I have even had a guy come up to me after a gig and say how come you Epi Les Paul sounds better than your other guitarists Gibson.

siraxeman

I've played a good number of pupils guitars over the years and I always thought that they're good guitars for their price. More actual VFM than Gibsons for sure.


The other guitarist in my band grew tired of his Les Pauls weight and upper fret access...so has retired it in favour of his Epi SG. It looks and plays and sounds great to me. He does have a set of Bare Knuckles in there though and just upgraded the tuners though. A very decent gigging guitar now.

Gadgie

I suppose care is needed when buying 2nd hand Epi's now as well as there are copies out there. So that must say something about the quality of guitars these days

olafgarten

The new Epiphone Humbuckers (Alnico Classic Pro) are actually quite good. They are similar to the Classic 57s but there is obviously a difference. 

The P90s are also good, except they are quite dark and a little muddy. 

thermionic

robgilmo said:

It says its a solid Korina, it could still be a veneer though.
http://www.epiphone.com/Products/Designer/Ltd-Ed-Korina-Explorer.aspx

It says "made from solid Korina", which is marketing speak for "made from several pieces of solid Korina with a veneer front and back to make it look like one piece". You'll notice the Les Pauls are also "solid mahogany".

WezV

thermionic said:

robgilmo said:

It says its a solid Korina, it could still be a veneer though.
http://www.epiphone.com/Products/Designer/Ltd-Ed-Korina-Explorer.aspx

It says "made from solid Korina", which is marketing speak for "made from several pieces of solid Korina with a veneer front and back to make it look like one piece". You'll notice the Les Pauls are also "solid mahogany".

Yeah, there are even some early Korina V's and explores that only have the veneer, and another generic wood for the core. 

My 96 LP has about 7 pieces making up the solid mahogany back.  I think it's overly thick plastic finish let's it down more though.  That said, every part has been replaced or upgraded over the years and it's a pretty ace little guitar 

agibbo

I used to have an Epiphone Les Paul (mid 90's), and once I'd upgraded the pickups the difference between that and my 98 Gibson Les Paul was nowhere near you would expect for the price difference. Build quality was pretty good too!

darthed1981

Epiphones present staggering value for money at their price points, as long as you don't pay list but you probably shouldn't do that for anything.

If you are gigging with £2000 amps, then you should probably look at a £2000 Gibson Les Paul, but in both cases if you had £4000 you didn't need kicking around you'd buy the high-end gear anyhow and wouldn't be in here asking about Epiphone.

I own three Epiphones, all bought new over the years, respectively: -

A Les Paul Custom Pro in Alpine White, with new Probucker pickups, excellent build and sound, cost me £359, a tenth of the Gibson equivalent for approximately half the guitar..

An Epiphone Dot 335 copy, cost me £240, great sounding and great playing semi-hollow, substantially less than a 10th of its Gibson equivalent..

Epiphone G-400 SG copy, bought YEARS ago and I've no idea what it cost, not played it in ages but it looks great.

All are excellent playing and sounding guitars that cost a tiny fraction of a full-fat Gibson.

I also own one of the new more affordable Gibsons, a 2016 Studio Faded T in satin black.  It is marginally superior to any epiphone i've played but also marginally more expensive.  So if looking at a choice between a high-end Epi Les Paul and a basic Gibbon, I'd audition both.

There is a STAGGERING amount of snobbery over gear made in the Far East vs the USA which is really not justified by the difference in quality, the law of diminishing returns kicks in hard at about £400 these days.

If you have a spare £2000 lying around, buy and treasure a high-end Gibson, but if you are looking for an excellent instrument to learn on, gig with and basically do everything that you can do (without staring at the headstock or earning decent money from music to justify expensive gear) then don't be scared of Epiphone.

thermionic

I have an LP Tribute Plus that has a 4-piece back with a veneer. That has a full maple cap (again, under a veneer) and Gibson Classic 57 pickups - both of which raise it above a bog standard Epi LP. Mine had a couple of high frets that caused problems and the tech rolled his eyes when he sighted along the neck, but after a good setup it plays very nicely and sounds rather good. As long as you factor in fret/neck tweaking they're very good guitars for the money (especially used), but the multi-piece body of doubtful provenance and the thick plastic coating prevents them from being great imho.

Adam_MD

WezV said: 

My 96 LP has about 7 pieces making up the solid mahogany back.  I think it's overly thick plastic finish let's it down more though.  That said, every part has been replaced or upgraded over the years and it's a pretty ace little guitar 

My '97 from Saien has a 5 piece body with a maple neck and I totally agree about the super thick finish.  Like yours once I'd upgraded or replaced most of it it actually plays and sounds pretty good.

I also have an 2007 elitist though and it's in a totally different league.  Plays much better than any other epiphone I've ever tried and feels a lot nicer.  2 piece back, 2 piece solid top with a 1 piece neck.  I even like the headstock and the finish is pretty thin too.

http://i.imgur.com/xFeqTof.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/eYrC9Xk.jpg

Rocker

Epiphone guitars are, IMHO, reasonably good guitars but you need to actually play one before you buy it in a shop.  A typical shop stock of the 'same' model is an eye opener - some feel good to play others don't.  Epiphone don't have a monopoly on this but try before you buy.  And buy the one that feels/plays the best.  Even if it has been on the playing rack for weeks or months.

TheBlueWolf

I owned an Epi Les Paul and it was a great guitar. I agree with upgrading the p'ups though.

andyp

I've got an Indonesian made 2014 model LP Standard and after two and half years of regular play I still really like it. It cost me around £275 new and to me it's amazing value. The neck pickup sounds quite muddy to me, but it's not bad, and the fit of the jack socket and pot's needed tightening up and adjusted a little, but other than that it's spot on. I've swapped the knobs, scratchplate and pickup surrounds for black ones but that's it. The Grover tuners are really solid and accurate and definitely feel better than than the Gibson vintage style ones on my SG Faded.

The SG is better built and has a much nicer overall feel having the faded Nitro finish but the Epiphone LP is a sturdy and reliable guitar, really good value for money. I am contemplating swapping the pickups but the limit still sits with me more than my gear!

WezV

thermionic said:

That has a full maple cap (again, under a veneer) and Gibson Classic 57 pickups - both of which raise it above a bog standard Epi LP.

Adam_MD said:

  My '97 from Saien has a 5 piece body with a maple neck and I totally agree about the super thick finish.  Like yours once I'd upgraded or replaced most of it it actually plays and sounds pretty good.

This is what confuses me about epiphone - my bog standard 96 LP also has a solid maple top  under a ligtly flamed veneer and it definitely has a mahogany neck. Other than being multiple pieces, its the proper Gibson recipe.   But they seem to change spec quite often

I remember they revamped the range in 96 and they were getting pretty good reviews, I managed to convince my parents to get me one for my 16th birthday.  

TTBZ

I like Epiphones, my LP Custom was my main gigging guitar for a long time. Kinda wish I never sold it - sounded great with BK Mules in it. Better than my Gibson SG but that might be more down to the style of guitar.

I like that they're lighter than a proper one and don't mind the thinner neck. Only thing I don't like on them is the headstock - I was going to get the one on the standard I bought reshaped but ended up selling it before I got round to it!

andyp

Those are two points I meant to mention too...

Compared to my mate's 2016 Gibson LP Traditional, the Epiphone is quite noticeably lighter but still feels pretty solid. There is a definite heft to it, but not at Gibson level.

The neck profile on the Epiphone is slimmer than I have now found to be my preference too. My SG's neck is a little chunkier and it just fits me better. The only real negative I've found with the Epiphone is the finish on the neck, it's just that wee bit sticky feeling. But I only noticed this once I had the SG, which is still the nicest feeling guitar I've ever played (albeit that's not that many).

I would love a Faded Gibson LP, I reckon that's a hell of a guitar for the money... but it's double the price on my Epiphone.

gubble

I had a 2010  Epi 56 LP  Gold Top - that was full of P90 joy and I loved it but had to sell to fund getting something different.

I've also had a 2003 Epi Dot which was a brilliant guitar.

A mate has an early 2000's Korina explorer and that thing is a beast of a guitar. It's simply brilliant.

However........... For the money I have to say in my experience a Vintage is better. My V100 is amongst the best guitars I've ever played. I know mine is a good one (having played other identical models). The quality is on par with an Epiphone but to me it plays and sounds so much better. After five years and hundreds of gigs it's still my main live guitar.

Rox

I've probably had 6 or 7 Epi guitars over the years, and I've never had a bad 'un.

TTBZ

@andyp try taking a bit of steel wool to the neck to take some of the shine off. Made all the difference to mine, so much smoother. Just make sure you mask off your pickups first.