Epiphone Alex Lifeson Les Paul Custom Axcess Electric Guitar - Ruby

Drawn to play this at my local GC due to it's stunning looks and because I am a huge Alex Lifeson & Rush fan. Encouraged to buy it after several hours of playing various Rush riffs and a host of other rock classics. I love the belly curve, Floyd, & neck heel. Comfortable to play!

I ordered this Guitar as an open box condition, when I received I noticed that First string was almost at the edge of the neck so it was very easy tú pull off the string and it's imposible to play correctly a solo lick using that string. I returned this guitar and we order a new one but was received with same condition, so sad since I really wanted to have this guitar with me.

This guitar exceeded my expectations. Well built and sounds great.

I just came back from my local Guitar center, where I got to try the AL Epiphone through a small Mesa combo amp. Being a huge AL fan, I could not wait to try this guitar, but it was disappointing. Beautiful Guitar, no doubt, but I found the pickups week, the possible tonal variations not that interesting, and everyone is right about the high E string. It is to close to the edge of the neck. You will never play spirit of the radio on this guitar, without transposing the opening riff over to the the B & G strings. The APII 72 deluxe Telecaster reissue i played after it, blew it away. I am not in the camp that believes every guitar made in China is a piece of crap but, keep in mind this is a made in China guitar.

I owned two Epi Ace Frehley Les Pauls and a Slash Appetite Les Paul and they were great, but I traded them to get Gibson Les Pauls about 10 years ago. Ever since then I haven't touched an Epiphone Les Paul and not even to pick up and try out an amp. But over the Thanksgiving holiday when I tried the Alex Lifeson Les Paul at GC South Portland, I was blown away at how much the Epiphone quality has improved! It blows away my old Epi Signature Les Pauls and the neck feels exactly like my 2017 Gibson Oceanburst Les Paul Classic and my 2019 Blueberryburst Gibson Les Paul Standard. The access heel is also a nice touch to boot! The string action was a little high, so I did have to do some Floyd Rose, bridge and truss rod adjustments to get the action to feel just right and I managed to do it. Now I really can't tell the difference between my new Epi and my Gibsons! The ceramic pickups are different, warm and amazing giving me an endless array of sounds. I plugged the guitar into my Orange Rocker32 with an MXR digital reverb and I was transported back to 1974-1976 vintage Alex Lifeson ES-335 territory with Working Man, Fly By Night, Bastille Day and 2112 tones! Adding some EVH chorus took me into Farewell to Kings to Moving Pictures territory! Playing it through my Marshall DSL-40 and my EVH 5150 40 Watt Combo give me some great tones as well, but the Orange Amp really brings out the grit and guts from the ceramic pickups. I love this guitar and the Crimson Ruby color is just stunning. The overall quality and price fit hand in hand and really steps up Epiphone quality. I am thinking about trying out the Epiphone Korina Explorer at GC next!

I own a few Gibson Les Paul Custom Axcess guitars... And when I saw this in the Ruby color I jumped on it. Build quality phenomenal, sounds like my Gibson Les Paul's and it's just a stunning piece to look at.