New Epiphone ‘ inspired range ‘

soma1975

Was getting the absolute hump with the guitar. 

Rattling and buzzing at every combination of bridge/tailpiece height and truss rod adjustment. 

New fancypants strings didn't help.
 
Thick, muffled tones unless playing high gain. No clarity.

Oiled Board. Checked for high frets. Done everything. 

AGHH...

And then swapped out the strings this morning from Pyramids to Curt Mangans and wiggled everything about a bit and it's like cured 80% of the issues. 

It definitely needs a proper proper setup better than I can do - and better pickups would totally help - but might not be a complete bloody waste of cash. 

Adey

menamestom said:

I quite fancy the TV yellow LP special, looks ace.  Just never in stock.

https://www.andertons.co.uk/guitar-dept/electric-guitars/les-paul/epiphone-les-paul-special-tv-yellow

Want one.

TTBZ

I'm quite keen on the LP Special now as well, shame I kinda hate TV yellow - wish they offered more finishes. Think I've come to the conclusion whilst I love full fat LP tone I much prefer the flat-top thinner feel of SGs, teles etc - the carved top plus thick body makes my right hand feel way too far out especially on a strap. Love P90s so Special makes perfect sense!

Philly_Q

TTBZ said:

I'm quite keen on the LP Special now as well, shame I kinda hate TV yellow - wish they offered more finishes. Think I've come to the conclusion whilst I love full fat LP tone I much prefer the flat-top thinner feel of SGs, teles etc - the carved top plus thick body makes my right hand feel way too far out especially on a strap. Love P90s so Special makes perfect sense!

Juniors and Specials have a different neck angle from Standard LPs, too - or at least the singlecut ones do.

roberty

soma1975 said:
 
Why on earth do the humbuckers buzz individually but not in the middle position? How is that even possible?

Offset coils, phase cancellation

soma1975

right but not hum cancelling as much as a single humbucker? 

TTBZ

Philly_Q said:

TTBZ said:

I'm quite keen on the LP Special now as well, shame I kinda hate TV yellow - wish they offered more finishes. Think I've come to the conclusion whilst I love full fat LP tone I much prefer the flat-top thinner feel of SGs, teles etc - the carved top plus thick body makes my right hand feel way too far out especially on a strap. Love P90s so Special makes perfect sense!

Juniors and Specials have a different neck angle from Standard LPs, too - or at least the singlecut ones do.

A bit flatter like an SG? The Gibson LP I played today felt so weird and wrong - combination of the neck angle and thick body/carved top I think. I've never actually played a Special but think it might be a nice middle ground.

@soma1975 could it be a ground issue maybe? Shouldn't get a buzz on any pickup selections if it's it's humbuckers.

soma1975

Quite possibly. Will deal with the electronics at some point. 

Frankly it has been an age since I bought a cheap guitar and having to work through a list of issues before I can enjoy it has gotten on my tits. 

Fifty9

Just pay for setup straight away and let the experts bear the hassle and get it spot on. A must on any budget guitar imho

Philly_Q

TTBZ said:

Philly_Q said:

TTBZ said:

I'm quite keen on the LP Special now as well, shame I kinda hate TV yellow - wish they offered more finishes. Think I've come to the conclusion whilst I love full fat LP tone I much prefer the flat-top thinner feel of SGs, teles etc - the carved top plus thick body makes my right hand feel way too far out especially on a strap. Love P90s so Special makes perfect sense!

Juniors and Specials have a different neck angle from Standard LPs, too - or at least the singlecut ones do.

A bit flatter like an SG? The Gibson LP I played today felt so weird and wrong - combination of the neck angle and thick body/carved top I think. I've never actually played a Special but think it might be a nice middle ground.

On the singlecut Juniors and Specials the neck isn't angled back steeply like an LP Standard or SG, the fretboard's nearly parallel with the top of the body but also has to sit a bit higher above the body so there's still room under the strings for the bridge and pickups.  In effect it's - sort of - like a Fender, but with a glued neck.

I'm no expert on vintage Juniors, but I think the neck heights and angles varied over the years.  This is a '59:

soma1975

Fifty9 said:

Just pay for setup straight away and let the experts bear the hassle and get it spot on. A must on any budget guitar imho

It sort of defeats the purpose of it being a budget instrument in my mind to do that. 

I think I have it dialled in now and buzz-free but it took a while!

roberty

soma1975 said:

right but not hum cancelling as much as a single humbucker? 

One coil will be wound hotter than the other so it will pick up more hum, meaning the quiet coil will cancel some but not all of it. This also lets more treble/articulation through as less of the high frequencies are cancelled. In middle position the two pickups are fully cancelling

guitargeek62

soma1975 said:

Why on Earth do the humbuckers buzz individually but not in the middle position? How is that even possible?

Not enough to be annoying but enough to notice and add to the list of things you don't get on a grown up guitar. 

Could be that the coils have been wound mismatched a la BurstBuckers. This makes them a little more microphonic and prone to buzz and hum, but also sweetens their clean tones for softer styles.

I've had the same problem with much more expensive guitars too though, so can't quite agree with your last point!

soma1975

They are not in any way sweet for clean tones to be honest but yes that's a possibility. 

Pickups will have to be upgraded if it's a long term keeper.  

kennedydream1980

I picked up an Epiphone inspired by Gibson 60’s Les paul in the iced tea finish just this past month. I have to say it’s everything you would want a good Les Paul to be. 

Lovely snappy sounding bridge pickup and creamy neck pickup. Epiphone really knocked it out the park with these pickups. To me a Les Paul bridge pickup should sound like a Tele on steroids and that’s exactly what this bridge pickup delivers.

The fit and finish on the guitar is excellent all round. Loving the 60’s neck profile as well. It’s not too thin as some 60’s necks can be.

Overall I’m very happy.

TTBZ

Looks great! What's the neck shape like on those 60s standards? I wanted the Custom but the neck felt really D shaped with hard shoulders which I'm not a fan of. It's listed as a "slim taper" whereas the 60s is listed as "slim taper C" so I assume there's a bit of a difference! I prefer the more rounded C profiles in general.