RhB Michael
RhB Lokführer
FedEx managed to finally find his way to my house.
This is the newer Epiphone 'Inspired by Gibson Custom Shop' Les Paul Custom. Just about the only thing that makes this an Epiphone is that is was built in China. The craftsmanship and attention to detail is amazing. I've had several Gibson Les Paul guitars over the years and the only way I would be able to tell this one apart from the Gibsons is the name on the headstock, and how much money I still have in my wallet.
I don't gig anymore and it was not practical to spend $6K+ on an actual Gibson LP Custom. Epiphone produced this guitar with help from the Gibson Custom Shop. This has all Gibson electronics and most of the mechanical parts (except the bridge and tailpiece). In addition, this is the first Epiphone LP to have real Mother of Pearl inlays for the ebony fretboard and headstock diamond and logo instead of Mother of Toilet Seat.
I spent about 30 minutes inspecting it and the only thing I found was whatever conditioner they used on the fretboard had some residue that cleaned up. The binding is perfect and all seams and corners, no sharp frets or fret sprout, no high frets, though the intonation is slightly sharp on the G and B strings, but I haven't done the setup yet. The action is also a little higher than I like it.
I'll get to the setup tomorrow. I noodled around on it for about 20 minutes after tuning it, and it is every bit a Gibson in disguise. If you handed me this guitar with a blindfold on I'd swear it was a Gibson. I haven't put it on the scale yet, but I'd bet it's every bit of 9 pounds. Nice tone unplugged too.
This is the newer Epiphone 'Inspired by Gibson Custom Shop' Les Paul Custom. Just about the only thing that makes this an Epiphone is that is was built in China. The craftsmanship and attention to detail is amazing. I've had several Gibson Les Paul guitars over the years and the only way I would be able to tell this one apart from the Gibsons is the name on the headstock, and how much money I still have in my wallet.
I don't gig anymore and it was not practical to spend $6K+ on an actual Gibson LP Custom. Epiphone produced this guitar with help from the Gibson Custom Shop. This has all Gibson electronics and most of the mechanical parts (except the bridge and tailpiece). In addition, this is the first Epiphone LP to have real Mother of Pearl inlays for the ebony fretboard and headstock diamond and logo instead of Mother of Toilet Seat.
I spent about 30 minutes inspecting it and the only thing I found was whatever conditioner they used on the fretboard had some residue that cleaned up. The binding is perfect and all seams and corners, no sharp frets or fret sprout, no high frets, though the intonation is slightly sharp on the G and B strings, but I haven't done the setup yet. The action is also a little higher than I like it.
I'll get to the setup tomorrow. I noodled around on it for about 20 minutes after tuning it, and it is every bit a Gibson in disguise. If you handed me this guitar with a blindfold on I'd swear it was a Gibson. I haven't put it on the scale yet, but I'd bet it's every bit of 9 pounds. Nice tone unplugged too.
