1999 Epiphone Japan Gold Top Les Paul Standard LPS-80

Aloha!

Before you start rolling your eyes at today’s subject guitar, I have to say that this is not one of the run-of-the-mill Epiphone guitars that are put together by little kids in China. These guitars were assembled at the Fujigen factory in Japan, so they are very well made and a tremendous value for the player who is on a budget.

This one is a 1999 model year LPS-80 so it originally sold for 80,000 yen, which is a good chunk of change. It is a gold top, which is not the most common Epiphone color and it has the Gibson-style open book headstock shape. If you do not look at the headstock logo you would be hard-pressed to tell the difference between this and a real Gibson gold top.

The bound body is made of mahogany with a carved maple top and it does not seem to be chambered. The hardware is standard Les Paull-issue chrome stuff (including Gotoh-sourced Kluson copies), and the single-ply pickguard matches the cream-colored binding.

The electronics are very good. It is wired with a 3-way switch and dual volume and tone pots like every other Les Paul, and it has a very beefy tone. As it plays well and sounds good, I did not pull the pickups, but rumor has it that they were supplied by Gibson: a 498T in the bridge position and a 490R at the neck.

The neck is nice and thick with a 50s feel. It has a rosewood fretboard and MOP inlays and fretwork show fine craftsmanship, and still look very good 20 years after this guitar was built. I do not really see anywhere where they cheaped out on this one.

For a 20 year old guitar, the overall condition is very good. The paint is still nice and glossy, with some swirling and a small chip on the back of the headstock. The headstock laminate started lifting at the nut, but this has been arrested, for now at least. There is very little wear to the frets, and no signs of a hard life or abuse. There appear to be no other repair history of modifications.

This Epiphone is a really nice guitar for not much money, and it is probably is better quality than 90% of the guitars coming out of Gibson’s US factories today. After I set it up with Ernie Ball Slinky .010s. and it plays like butter and sounds killer. I hate to say it, because it never comes true, but this one might be a keeper!

Mahalo!

2008 Epiphone Les Paul Custom Guitar Review

Howdy!

Today we are looking at an Epiphone limited edition Silverburst Les Paul Custom guitar that was only sold for a brief time in 2008, though they must have made o ton of them because I see them pretty often. It is a fine looking instrument and is well built, but the electronics have not held up too well over the years.

The Custom has always been the top of the Les Paul line-up, and this one is a tribute to the original Silverburst instruments that were made from 1979 to 1985. The vintage Silverburst Les Pauls have been the go-to axe for Adam Jones from Tool, so they have developed a cult following and they are stupidly expensive now.

Les Paul Customs are set apart from the Standard models by more intricate inlays, as well as multi-ply body binding. This Epiphone got these adornments, but not the usual gold-plated hardware (thankfully).

Other than the color, the specs are fairly standard for an imported Les Paul. It has a mahogany body with a carved alder top, which is surprising considering that these usually have maple tops. The 24.75-inch scale set neck is mahogany, which is normal, but differs from the maple necks on the original Silverburst Les Pauls. The whole thing has a coat of thick poly and the Silverburst fade is only on the front. The back is glossy black, while the originals were Silverburst back there instead.

The neck has a 1 11/16-inch wide nut, and a fairly fat profile. The rosewood fretboard has trapezoid pearl inlays, and it has an evenly applied cream binding. The headstock carries the 5-ply binding over from the body, and it is equipped with chrome Grover sealed-back tuners. In case you care, there is a diamond mother of pearl inlay on the front of the headstock, and an Epiphone Custom Shop Logo on the back. I would be curious to see their Custom Shop…

The rest of the hardware is standard fare, with a chrome Tune-o-matic bridge with a stopbar tail piece and a multi-ply black pickguard. And the electronics are just about what you would expect on an Epiphone. These Customs come with plain-Jane Alnico humbucker with the usual Les Paul 2 volume / 2 tone knobs set-up.

In the end, this turns out to be a good collection of parts, and Epiphone’s Chinese (factory did a fab job of sticking them together. I am continually astonished that the public continues real-deal Gibson Les Pauls with terrible necks and frets when there are much better alternatives out there for less money.

This Silverburst Les Paul Custom has a nice neck with perfect frets and a pretty low action with no fiddling around or modifications. It has a C profile and its thickness is right in the middle between the 50’s and 60’s neck profiles that are so popular. This translates into a lot smoother playing experience for me, which is worth a bunch because I do not have much talent.

Unfortunately, the years have not been kind to the electronics on this one, as one of the pickups has dies and the other has a whacky tone that is super muddy. It certainly could benefit from new pickups and wiring, and I think a set of Burstbuckers (maybe out of phase) would be magical in this guitar. If you are going for the full Tool mod, Jones says he uses a Seymour Duncan JB at the bridge, though I have my doubts that he is being truthful, and without a maple neck and ebony fretboard it just will not sound the same anyway…

When this run of Epiphone Silverburst Les Paul Customs was originally on sale their street price was around $600 (with no case), which is pricy for an Epiphone Les Paul. But nowadays they go for around $300 to $400, which is a good price for a nice guitar. But, make sure you plug it in before you buy…

Mahalo!

Epiphone Limited Edition Les Paul Special EGS1WKNH3 Electric Guitar Review

Greetings!

I recently posted a review of an entry-level Fender Stratocaster, and in interest of fairness I should give the Gibson camp their fair share of publicity. So, today we are going to take a look at the Epiphone Limited Edition Les Paul Special EGS1WKNH3 guitar. This is one of the least expensive Les Pauls on the market, and it is not too bad!

I will start out by saying that is has the general look of a Gibson Les Paul, but this thing is serious de-contented in features, materials, and workmanship. This should not be a big surprise, as this guitar is not going to cost you much more than a hundred bucks. It has the single cutaway, a book shaped headstock, a couple of pickups, six strings, and a lot of stuff that you will not find on a real Les Paul. So this will take a little explaining.

The slab body (no carved top) is made of basswood, a good tonewood, but not the most durable material on the planet. Epiphone finished this LP in matte black, which is a departure from most of these that come with the faded finish. This is loaded up with Epiphone 700T bridge and 650R neck humbuckers that are wired through a 3-way switch that is located between the only tow knobs on the guitar: master volume and master tone. There is also a fairly terrible one-piece wraparound bridge.

The bolt-on mahogany neck is pretty nice, with a 1960s profile slim taper neck and 21 frets sunk into the rosewood fretboard. Funny how Gibson cannot use real rosewood on a $2K Les Paul, but Epiphone can do it on a guitar that costs a C-note. There are sealed tuners out of the headstock that are supposed to be nickel-plated, but it sure looks like chrome to me.

Right out of the box, this Les Paul played pretty good. Intonation was ok, there were no dead frets, and the D-shaped neck had a decidedly Les Paul feel. With a little bit of set-up (truss rod and intonation adjustment), it was definitely way better than the entry-level guitars of the 1970s that I grew up with. The sound is not quite up to snuff and I missed the dual tone and volume knobs that I use on my Gibson Les Paul Standard to get the vibe that I crave. But it is good enough. The pickups have good output and certainly can get crunchy, though there is a bit of hum to be found. All in all, it hits the mark and it is a viable candidate for beginning guitar players, or anybody that is looking for an instrument that may be subjected to rough conditions.

How much does all of this cost? Not much! The Epiphone Limited Edition Les Paul Special guitar has a list price of $245, but you would be a fool to pay that much. The street price for these is $149, and it you hold out you will find them on sale pretty often for $99. That is a steal for a playable electric that sounds good and looks ok. Trust me!

Mahalo!

Epiphone E212T Sheraton Union Jack Electric Guitar Review

Aloha!

Today we are looking at another great guitar value, and a pretty fun to play instrument – my Epiphone Sheraton that is painted up like the Union Jack.

In the first half of the 20th century, Epiphone was one of Gibson’s biggest competitors, so Gibson did the smart thing – they bought Epiphone in 1957. Gibson kept the brand name and started re-working the product line-up. In 1958 they introduced the thinline semi-hollowbody Sheraton electric guitar.

The original Sheraton was a set-neck twin-pickup model that used the same body as the new Gibson ES models. The big differences were the “Frequensator” tailpiece, multi-ply body binding and lots of inlay work on the headstock and fretboard. The pickups on the originals were New York single-coils.

As time went on there were specification changes, of course. In 1961 mini-humbucker pickups were swapped in and Grover tuners were added, and in 1962 the Epiphone “Trem-o-tone” tailpiece became available.

In 1970 manufacturing was moved to Japan, and full-sized humbuckers became the new standard for the Sheraton. In 1986 the Sheraton II was launched, with a stop-bar tailpiece being the only real change. As time moved on, production moved to Korea, with minor spec changes here and there.

So, the guitar I have was made in China last year, and it was finished by the factory in a gaudy Union Jack paint scheme over Alpine White. It has a laminated maple body and top with a mahogany center block (making it semi-hollowbody), and it is churched-up with single-ply white body binding.

The neck is mahogany,and it has a normal 24.75-inch scale. The 12-inch radius fretboard is bound, and it has 22 medium-jumbo frets hammered into it, as well as v-block pearloid fret markers. The neck profile is a 1960s profile SlimTaper C with a 1.68-inch wide nut.

The headstock is pretty darned big, 3-ply bound, and it has the traditional Epiphone vine of life inlay. Grover tuners are mounted to that headstock, and they are gold-plated, as is the LockTone Tune-o-matic bridge. There is no pickguard...

The electronics package includes a pair of Gibson USA mini humbuckers that are wired through two volume knobs, two tone knobs, and a 3-way selector switch. Did you expect anything different? I didn’t think so…

It is a lot heavier than expected, coming in at 8 pounds, 11 ounces, but it balances well on a strap so maybe that extra bulk prevents neck dive. It is a very easy playing guitar with a good action, and the frets are better than anything that is coming out of Gibson’s Memphis factory. It has good sustain and can achieve a sweetly mellow jazz tone, or can get some bite going for rockabilly or early rock and roll.

I like this Epiphone Sheraton a lot – it looks good, plays well and sounds good, enough so that I feel that it is just as good as a Gibson ES-whatever for a whole lot less money. How much less? These things have a list price a list price of $1349.00 and a street price of around 900 bucks, which includes Epiphone’s lifetime limited warranty, Gibson’s 24/7/360 customer service, and a really nice hard case. Or if you are really cheap, secondhand instruments can be had for around $600. Such a deal!

Mahalo!

Epiphone PR-150 Acoustic Guitar Review

Hiya! There are some nice budget guitars out there, and as you add hundreds or even thousands of dollars to the price the improvements in tone and playability are not commensurate with the amount spent. Don’t get me wrong, there is no substitute for a Santa Cruz acoustic or a Sadowsky bass, but there are some great values out there for short money, and I think one of them is the Epiphone PR-150.

Surely you know of Epiphone, they produce the entry-level Gibson brand instruments that get re-sold for almost nothing as soon as a guitarist can scrape up enough dosh for a real Gibson. Though much maligned, these imported guitars can be quite good.

The PR-150 is a square-shoulder dreadnought which can be loosely seen as Gibson’s answer to Martin’s D-series guitars. If I decoded the serial number correctly (which is tricky) the Epiphone version we are looking at here today was made in China in November of 2003. It has ok materials and parts so the labor costs must be almost non-existent. Human rights advocates be warned…

The woods are good, with a spruce top and a bound mahogany body and neck. Are these solid woods? I don’t know, but for this price I am suspecting probably not. The fretboard and bridge are made of real solid rosewood, which is amazing when you consider that Gibson is using all kind of bizarre stuff for Les Paul fretboards instead of rosewood. The body is sprayed in a clear finish (NA), but it is also available in Vintage Sunburst, which looks pretty nice.

Oh yes, and it has a big and kind of stupid-looking Epiphone “E” on the faux tortoise shell pickguard. Blerg.

The slim-taper profile neck is comfortable. It has a 1.68-inch wide nut and 20 frets with a 25 ½-inch scale. The bound rosewood fretboard has dot inlays and there is an adjustable trussrod at the headstock. On one end there are a set of cheap-o tuners, and on the other end there is a compensated synthetic bone bridge saddle. One welcome piece of hardware is two strap pins. Why do so many manufacturers only give you one?

I found this guitar second-hand at the local flea market, and picked it up in case a friend needs a cheap started guitar. It is in really nice shape and it appears to be well put together. The finish quality is good, and the frets are not sharp on the edges and are as good as the ones that you will find on a new Gibson Les Paul (which is not saying much, I guess). The tuners do not hold well, which is the weakest link here. In general the intonation is good and the neck can be adjusted for a low and fast action, though a little nut filing may be needed. Best of all, this guitar has a loud tone and a relatively balanced sound from string to string. Keep in mind that this is not an expensive guitar, and everything is relative…

I have saved the best for last, and that is the price. The Epiphone PR-150 has a list price of $249, and a street price of $139. If you look around you can find even better deals at Black Friday sales, and used ones are embarrassingly cheap. But if you buy a new one you get the Epiphone Limited Lifetime Warranty and Gibson 24/7/365 customer service. This is one of the best acoustic deals on the market right now. Trust me…

Mahalo!

Epiphone Dove Acoustic Electric Guitar Review

Hiya!

The law of diminishing returns turns out to be true in almost every case where it is applied, and the cost of musical instruments is no exception. There are some very nice budget guitars out there, and as you add hundreds or even thousands of dollars to the price the improvements in tone and playability are not commensurate with the amount spent. Don’t get me wrong, there is no substitute for a Santa Cruz acoustic or a Sadowsky bass, but there are some great values out there for short money.

One example of this would be the Epiphone Dove acoustic guitar. Surely you know of Epiphone, they produce the entry-level Gibson brand instruments that get re-sold for almost nothing as soon as a guitarist can scrape up enough dosh for a real Gibson. Though much maligned, these imported guitars can be quite good.

The Dove was introduced in 1962, and was one Gibson’s first acoustics that was embraced by the rock-and-roll culture. This flattop has been adopted by plenty of high-profile, one of the first of whom was the legendary Scotty Moore. It is (along with the Hummingbird) Gibson’s answer to Martin’s D-series guitars. The Epiphone version here was made in Indonesia and it is chock full of good materials and parts so the labor costs must be almost non-existent. Human rights advocates be warned…

The woods are surprisingly good, with a solid spruce top and a bound maple body and neck. The fretboard and bridge are made of real rosewood, which is amazing when you consider that Gibson is using all kind of bizarre stuff for Les Paul fretboards instead of rosewood. The body is sprayed in a subdued Violinburst, which comes off quite nicely. Oh yes, and it has the signature dove-decorated pickguard and bridge, which I am quite fond of.

The slim-taper D-profile neck is quite good. It has a 1.68-inch wide nut and 20 frets with a 25 ½-inch scale. The rosewood fretboard has pearloid parallelogram inlays and there is an adjustable trussrod. On one end there are chrome Grover 14:1 tuners (though the factory calls them nickel), and on the other end there is a compensated synthetic bone bridge saddle. One welcome piece of hardware is two strap pins. Why do so many manufacturers only give you one? And the Epiphone Hummingbird is really well put together.

The finish quality is good, and the frets are as good as the ones that you will find on a new Gibson Les Paul (which is not saying much, I guess). The tuners hold well, and in general the intonation is good. The neck can be adjusted for a low and fast action, though a little nut filing may be needed. And best of all, this guitar has a gloriously loud tone and a relatively balanced sound from string to string. Keep in mind that this is not an expensive guitar, and everything is relative…

The electronics package is also pretty good, with a Fishman Sonitone soundhole preamp and Fishman Sonicore underbridge pickup system. This is a very natural sounding pickup that fortunately uses a conventional 9-volt battery, not one of those weird flat CR-type batteries that you will not be abe to find at the last minute when your preamp poops out. Controls include master volume and master tone – no tuner is included on this one, folks.

What will all of this cost you? The Epiphone Dove has a list price of $499, and a street price of $299 (no case included). If you look around you can find even better deals online, and used ones are embarrassingly cheap. But if you buy a new one you get the Epiphone Limited Lifetime Warranty and Gibson 24/7/365 customer service. This is one of the best acoustic deals on the market right now. Trust me…

Mahalo!

2008 Epiphone Les Paul Custom Silverburst Electric Guitar Review

Hi there!

I am as much of a guitar snob as the next guy and am often quick to sniff at a cheap instrument and buy something more expensive on general principle, but this imported Epiphone is no joke. Today we are looking at an Epiphone limited edition Silverburst Les Paul Custom guitar that was only sold for a brief time in 2008. The quality of this instrument is impressive, especially when comparing it to the guitars that Gibson is crapping out of its American division.

The Custom has always been the top of the Les Paul line-up, and this one is a tribute to the original Silverburst instruments that were made from 1979 to 1985. The vintage Silverburst Les Pauls have been the go-to axe for Adam Jones from Tool, so they have developed a cult following and they are stupidly expensive now.

Les Paul Customs are set apart from the Standard models by more intricate inlays, as well as multi-ply body binding. This Epiphone got these adornments, but not the usual gold-plated hardware (thankfully).

Other than the color, the specs are fairly standard for an imported Les Paul. It has a mahogany body with a carved alder top, which is surprising considering that these usually have maple tops. The 24.75-inch scale set neck is mahogany, which is normal, but differs from the maple necks on the original Silverburst Les Pauls. The whole thing has a coat of thick poly and the silverburst fade is only on the front. The back is glossy black, while the originals were Silverburst back there instead.

The neck has a 1 11/16-inch wide neck, and a fairly fat profile. The rosewood fretboard has trapezoid pearl inlays, and it has an evenly applied cream binding. The headstock carries the 5-ply binding over from the body, and it is equipped with chrome Grover sealed-back tuners. In case you care, there is a diamond mother of pearl inlay on the front of the headstock, and an Epiphone Custom Shop Logo on the back.

The rest of the hardware is standard fare, with a chrome Tune-o-matic bridge with a stopbar tail piece and a multi-ply black pickguard. And the electronics are just about what you would expect on an Epiphone. These Customs come with plain-Jane Alnico humbucker with the usual Les Paul 2 volume / 2 tone knobs set-up.

In the end, this turns out to be an acceptable collection of parts, and Epiphone’s Chinese (or Korean, I am not sure which) factory did a fab job of sticking them together. I am continually astonished that the public continues buying $2500 Gibson Les Pauls with lumpy fretboards and hillbilly smile frets when there are much better alternatives out there for less money.

This Silverburst Les Paul Custom has a nice neck with perfect frets and a pretty low action with no fiddling around or modifications. It has a C profile and its thickness is right in the middle between the 50’s and 60’s neck profiles that are so popular. This translates into a lot smoother playing experience for me, which is worth a bunch because I am a horrible guitarist.

The tone is good enough if you are looking for the classic blues/rock sound, especially with the selector in the middle position. It certainly could benefit from better pickups and wiring, and I think a set of Burstbuckers (maybe out of phase) would be magical in this guitar. If you are going for the full Tool mod, Jones says he uses a Seymour Duncan JB at the bridge, though I have my doubts that he is being truthful, and without an ebony fretboard it just will not sound the same anyway…

As far as weight goes, this one is right in the ballpark for a Les Paul, coming in at around 9 ½ pounds, which is lighter than the Telecaster I am playing right now. Then again, maybe that says more about how ungodly heavy my Telecaster is.

When this run of Epiphone Silverburst Les Paul Customs was originally on sale their street price was around $600 (with no case), which is pricy for an Epiphone Les Paul. But nowadays they go for around $400 to $500, which is a good price for a nice guitar. By the way, Epiphone is now selling a Custom Pro Les Paul in Silverburst, but I have not had a chance to try one out yet. When I do, I will let you know!

Mahalo!

2004 Epiphone Sheraton II Electric Guitar Review

Hi there!

Today we are looking at another great guitar value, and a pretty fun to play instrument – my 2004 Epiphone Sheraton II. What happened to the Sheraton I? I guess we will need to figure that out…

In the first half of the 20th century, Epiphone was one of Gibson’s biggest competitors, so Gibson did the smart thing – they bought Epiphone in 1957. Gibson kept the brand name and started re-working the product line-up. In 1958 they introduced the thinline semi-hollowbody Sheraton electric guitar.

The original Sheraton was a set-neck twin-pickup model that used the same body as the new Gibson ES models. The big differences were the “Frequensator” tailpiece, multi-ply body binding and lots of inlay work on the headstock and fretboard. The pickups on the originals were New York single-coils.

As time went on there were specification changes, of course. In 1961 mini-humbucker pickups were swapped in and Grover tuners were added, and in 1962 the Epiphone “Trem-o-tone” tailpiece became available.

In 1970 manufacturing was moved to Japan, and full-sized humbuckers became the new standard for the Sheraton. In 1986 the Sheraton II was launched, with a stop-bar tailpiece being the only real change. As time moved on, production moved to Korea, with minor spec changes here and there.

So, the guitar I have was made in Korea in 2004, and it is finished in a very pretty Vintage Sunburst. It has a laminated maple body and top with a mahogany center lock (making it semi-hollowbody), and it is churched-up with 5-ply body binding.

The neck is 5-ply maple and walnut (solid maple necks were used from 2008-on),and it has a normal 24.75-inch scale. The 12-inch radius fretboard is bound, and it has 22 medium-jumbo frets hammered into it, as well as v-block pearloid fret markers. The neck profile is a SlimTaper C with a 1.68-inch wide nut.

The headstock is pretty darned big, also 5-ply bounds, and it has the traditional Epiphone vine of life inlay. Grover tuners are mounted to that headstock, and they are gold-plated, as are the Tune-o-matic bridge and the stopbar tailpiece. The rest of the hardware roundup includes a faux tortoiseshell pickguard (with a big E on it) and gold bell knobs.

The electronics package is standard Gibson/Epiphone issue, and it includes Alnico Classic Humbucker pickups wired through two volume knobs, two tone knobs, and a 3-way selector switch. Did you expect anything different? I didn’t think so…

The past ten years have been kind to this Sheraton II. It obviously has been played a bit, but it has escaped heavy wear, and it just has a few light dings and no fret wear. The gold plated hardware has not fared as well, having worn through in spots, and it actually looks pretty poopy. When I hit the lotto I will have a solid gold bridge and tuners made for it. In the meantime, maybe I will track down some nickel parts for it and move on with my life.

It is a bit heavier than expected, coming in at 7 pounds, 11 ounces, but it balances well on a strap so maybe that extra bulk prevents neck dive. It is a very easy playing guitar with a good action, and 10 years later the frets are better than anything that is coming out of Gibson’s Memphis factory. It has good sustain and can achieve a sweetly mellow jazz tone, or can get some bite going for rockabilly or early rock and roll.

I like the Epiphone Sheraton II a lot – it looks good, plays well and sounds good, enough so that I feel that it is just as good as a Gibson ES-whatever for a whole lot less money. How much less? These things have a list price a list price of $1042.00 and a street price of $599.99 for the Vintage Sunburst model, which includes Epiphone’s lifetime limited warranty and Gibson’s 24/7/360 customer service. Or if you are really cheap, secondhand instruments can be had for around $400. Such a deal!

Mahalo!