Epiphone Les Paul Custom Electric Guitar Ebony

I have owned the Alpine White version of this guitar for over six years and I am very happy with it. I am not a professional player, but I play every day. The tone is very good - beefy lows and full bodied chords. I have had minor issues with the pickup switch, but that is the only issue I have experienced with it. I cannot imagine spending an additional $3,000 on the Gibson version to get a guitar that sounds, plays, looks and feels exactly the same as this one. The only complaint with this guitar is that is is heavy. The guitar is stunning to look at, fun to play, and IMO sounds as good as any LP I've ever played, Gibsons included. I highly recommend it. Great Guitar!!

I got this guitar about a month ago and it is great! It feels really good, and I got mine with active EMGs which makes it all the better. Great Christmas present. 5/5

Basic 3 way switch, 2 pick-up, 2 volume, 2 tone pots les paul shaped solid mahogany body 50�ۡ���s style chunky set neck with rosewood fret board guitar. At this new guitar price point you should consider an actual Gibson Les Paul Studio or used LP Standard. I own this model Epiphone LP Custom. Everything on mine was factory stock except some previous owner re-wired the control cavity to use .068 Sprague oil paper capacitors. I had two noticeable factory issues. The Grover G&D string tuner machine thread holes were drilled even to the nut that holds tuning gears to the headstock making tuning and restringing awful. They absolutely required replacing, which I did, and only made me wonder the discount the original purchaser must�ۡ���ve gotten for accepting the new guitar in this condition. The second issue is that big hunk of PLASTIC they call a nut. I replaced that with a graphite nut. These two fixes made the guitar playable with intonation and tuning stability. It sounded at this point like an in tune copy of a les paul. I re-wired entire guitar from switch to jack. I copper tape shielded the switch and control cavity, installed 4 push pull pots, got genuine Gibson 490R/T 4 wire pick-ups, wired the control cavity with Jimmy Page Les Paul Custom wiring for coil taps, series and phase wiring and now by golly we�ۡ���re home for tone. Electronics quality is enhanced by the inherent quality of the Epiphone LP Custom�ۡ���s solid mahogany body and set neck. Sounds like the real deal now. Having done all those things, I still couldn�ۡ���t stand and gig with this guitar because it is neck heavy. I spend as much time holding the neck up as playing. The continual sliding of the guitar and strap to the neck side is annoying. Sitting down this is not much of an issue but still exists, just not well balanced. Hard shell case not included, add another hundred for a case and that puts you closer to a real Gibson LP Studio at least, which will come with a case. Even considering all the modifications I did, this guitar will have no resale value. Find them all day long for 400 at the high end used/new condition. Motivated sellers or a mom and dad providing their former rock star wanna be almost give them away for 300 or less with a practice amp and sometimes a HSC too. For 600, start looking at real Gibson Les Paul Studios or a mexi strat. You are not going to keep it forever, they will never stop making them and therefore it will never be a collector item. Such is the reality of any 600 dollar guitar. As for mine, the next rock star wannabe grand kid I see, gets it!

I have owned for 2 weeks now, and can't put it down! I have played off and on for 20 yrs., I own a PRS(Paul Allender), and a Cort SJ-10 elec/acoust. I have also owned a Fender Strat. and many other quality guitars, but this one just simply outplays anything I have ever played before! Its finish is flawless, was set-up perfect, right out of the box, no adjustments needed. Slim-Taper neck, Grover tuners, Tune-o Matic, and the pickups are better than average. By better than average, I mean, they have the mellow blues, sharp cleans, and can squeal like a banshee, so unlike 75% of people who change them out, these are staying put! I may have got lucky, but I would put it up against everything but maybe a custom-shop Gibson, or PRS. You can buy 6, yes 6 of these for the price of a "real" Custom, I just do not get it, even if you change the pickups, all electronics, you could still buy 5 more. Epiphone have stepped it up, they are putting in great electronics, and pickups, some the same as Gibson. So if you just want to say you own a Gibson, it's going to cost you, or you can shop around, and find something 5 or 6 times cheaper, sounding as good, if not better, and feeling. A Nitro finish is not worth it to me. Back to my baby, it came with push/pull(Coil-Tapping), which is not on all, but can get some good sounding single-coil tones. Before you buy, play as many as you can, all brands, all types, and buy with your ears, and heart, not your ego. I would never have thought after playing this long, that an Epiphone would be the best guitar I have ever owned, but just goes to show you can't just a guitar by the name on the headstock! As you can tell, I highly recommend this to anyone just starting out, or someone looking for a workhorse, to go gigging with. Give it a shot!

I have 2 Epiphone Les Pauls and an Epi ES-335 Dot, but I also have a Fender American Deluxe Strat and an American Deluxe Tele. I also have a 1972 Gibson SG-Deluxe and a 1986 Gibson Les Paul Std. Now I own this Custom and I love it. I have been playing for 40 years and have played and owned countless guitars and brand names. I have always been an Epi fan since the day I started playing guitars. I have owned over 25 Epi's thru the years and have not had a bad one yet. If you set them up properly or have a tech do it for you, they will give you no troubles. You also need to play a few of them and pick out one that has good fit and finish. I also do several things to all my guitars, no matter what brand or quality. You need a good nut on all stock Epi's. That is the first thing I change out. The 3-way switch is next. Then depending on the pickups, I usually put either SD's or recently the Stew-Mac Golden Age pups. They are by far the best I have found yet for that 50's, 60's sound. Better than most Gibson stock pups in the last 40 years. They rock! Another little trick I have done with std Epi pickups is the ones with nickel or gold covers, take the covers off and make them open coils. When you do this you will find they are wax potted to the max. So much wax that you could not leave them like this. So what I do is take a hair dryer with real good high heat and melt all the wax off the pups. This makes them old school original issue Alnico 5 magnet pups for that early 50's type sound. Lots better than the std sounding Epi's but no cost incured to make them sound more open and less muddy. It is the best thing you can do for std Epi pickups to get rid of the brittleness and muddiness. Try it! Bottom line is Epihpone makes as good a playing guitar as Gibson or any other guitar maker, the electronics and pups are the basic pitfalls of lesser makers. Anyway I did everything I said in this review to my latest Epi, this Custom, and it sounds and plays like a Gibson now. It is a Gibson with the Epiphone logo on the headstock.

If you are one of the many "name purists" out there that won't give this guitar the time of day because of the name, shame on you. This guitar has some serious tone and sustain and I would put it up against anyone's top dollar guitar. If you feel that you just have to shell out over 2 grand to get great tone go right on ahead. I bought this guitar off of the showroom floor and I have yet to have one single problem. It stays in tune and still looks brand new. A buddy of mine spent the money for the better "name" model and is already having problems like the finish coming off and the hardware fading. Don't be snob, save your money, and get over yourself. Try this guitar! If you have to spend a lot of money, buy 2 of them!