Epiphone '56 Les Paul Goldtop Reissue

China made Gibson clone,mahony body and maple top white cream bindings.
2 P90 pups volume and tone controle.
Mahony neck whit rosewood board.
Nice gold finish whit chrome hardware and grover tuners

Bridge pick up is little to sharp and to soft,
bridge pick up is a real mean dog!
Hey man this ting really got the blues!
I intend to replace the bridge pick up for a mean one like a Seymor Duncan or a dimarzio

Great action right out of the store and need no set up or adjustments.
Has a very comfortible neck and a low action.

Only play it as a back up guitar at home,but it stay in tune when its tuned.
The quality of the finish is nice,to my opionion it wil last as good as a expensive one

never dealt whit them

Play for over 25 years had a lot of different guitars

This guitar has a great value for the money and really: forgot the name on the headstock and try this one,you be amazed!
Owned a lot of Strats, Gibson Standards en recently brought a Les Paul studio but this one is someting else.
You might not compaire it whit the Gibson,it`s 6 time cheaper but

Gold Les Paul with P-90's. I think everyone knows what it is.

I have to agree with others and say the neck pickup is quite wonderful and the bridge pickup is a joke. I replaced the bridge PU with Seymore Duncan's hottest P-90 and it is much more balanced. I usually dont care for "hot" pickups but for this LP with P-90's it just seems to give the guitar a nasty attitude that I really like. The electronics are not bad at all. The body resonates fairly well. I can only give it a 7 because of the bridge PU, but the guitar can be made to sound much better. A matched set of Lollars would be quite nice too, but the stock neck PU is just really cool.

This is my 2nd new Epi in the last few years and I am very impressed with their build quality. The other is a 335 with a flamed top. I have seen some that were not up to par but you should never buy a guitar without comparing it with others. Both of these guitars play as well as anything in my collection. Of course some work is required if you are able to do so.(The 335 has a set of gibson 57's and it is just a blast to play). Both guitars needed very little in the way of neck, bridge, nut, or fret work. Less than an hour or two. For the price I rate this guitar quite high. Not as heavy as my Gibson LP but I look at that as a blessing.

Seems to be very sturdy.

I did have a problem with the 335 when it was new. The bridge post was locked up and the ferrule had spun it the body. I e-mailed Epiphone and told them what was wrong and that I was quite able to fix the guitar without having to take it to a shop and they sent me the replacement parts and an apology. I was very impressed.

I bought this LP at Guitar Center in Orlando during the Fathers Day sale last year (2007). They had 2 on hand for $399. There was an obvious difference in the shade of the gold paint and the fit and finish. The one I took was missing a couple of screws but had the better paint and the neck was much better in my opinion. I had them install new screws and went on my merry way with a brand new Les Paul for $399 plus tax. If their quality control was more consistant their price would go up. Just shop around and you will find an Epiphone thats a good deal. I have been through way too many guitars in my life and stiil have a decent collection. Gibson LP, 2 Epi's, matching Strat and Tele, 2 Reverends, Dean, 2 Dano's, Gretch, Fender Jazz, and Taylor. The Epiphones fit in my collection very well and I see no reason to replace them. A lot of bang for the buck.

My Les Paul is in the gold top finish, which looks quite nice. It is older, a '97 I beleive, and the gold seems to be a tad darker than some of the newer models of this guitar which I have seen in stores. 2 P90 pickups, usual 2 tone and 2 volume pots, comfortable neck with nice binding, and body binding too. I imagine its all Mahogany, but I don't totally know, because I don't know the specs on the older models. It's got the usual Les Paul bridge, and the old style tuners, the ugly kind with the greenish heads. The usual for a Les Paul, and seems to be a good representation of a '56 model, though I have never personally played one from that time.

As far as music style goes, I'm all over the place. I guess most of the time I'm doing jazz, blues and classic rock, though I also like some indie rock, punk, hard rock, ect. Just not metal, or real hard progressive. When I'm playing, I'm either playing through a Fender Princeton Pro 112, Fender Hot Rod Deluxe 112(wonderful amp) or an Epiphone 5 watt valve junior through an old Ampeg 212 cab (great head for the money) It fits pretty much everything, I mean, the neck pickup sounds great, warm and punchy, cuts through, and with some gain and the tone turned down a bit, I can really get a Warren Haynes sound. The bridge pickup is a bit pathetic though. It sounds good, but it is MUCH quieter than the neck, and sometimes just can't cut through. I know as far as playing goes, humbuckers have a tendency that when you play softer, you can get a different sound than when you pick harder, and it will cut through more (just my findings) and although P90s are single coils, the neck pickup seems to be able to do just that, while the bride just stays the same. To me, the bridge pickup seems tonally refining, because I just can't get it to sound the way I want, and its much quieter. I even shimmed it, and brought it up a little bit, and though it made a difference in volume, not in sound.
The pickups are a bit noisy, I mean, they are really just kind of beefed up single coils, so a little noise can be expected, though its not as bad as my strats. I love the neck pickup on this guitar, because its warm, and cuts through, and has many possibilities, and the bridge, like I said, is a bit lame, but I don't use the bridge pickup much, so I guess its okay for me. I give it a 7, because, although the neck pickup is just incredible, the bridge is lame.

I got this guitar used, well, my father got this guitar for me. Since we are into fixing guitars as well as playing them, he went to town on it before I even saw it. According to him it was kind of lame in general when he got it, I think there was something wrong with the switch, as well as the output jack, and I think it was buzzing a bit, and needed a neck adjustment. Now some of this could be the fault of the previous owner, due to "guitar neglect" and I am a very picky player, and tend to keep my guitars in very good playing condition. The neck feels real nice, its got a heavy finish on it, and is comfortable in the hands. Like I said before, the bridge pickup was quiet, and I raised it, but it still wasn't quite right, I think it is just the pickup. I think there is some evidence of glue around the binding on the neck though, and with the original tuners it doesn't stay in tune well at all. Though I haven't gotten new tuners for it yet (it is inevitable, it really needs them) I have tried ruling out other flaws, as when I change the strings, I've put them on different ways and with different techniques, and adjusted everything to as near perfect as possible on the entire guitar. The tuners are just horrible, as in, I will turn them nearly one entire turn, and nothing will happen, and all of a sudden, in about 1/8 a turn, they will go up atleast a half step. I don't know why it does that, but the only cure I can think of is new tuners. Another thing is, the finish is kind of weak. Now, my main rig is a MIM sunburst strat standard, as well as a strat I custom assembled myself, and both of them have very sturdy finishes, and I'm not to careful about banging my guitars around, because personally, I don't care if they are all dented up, as long as they sound well. Well, one night at a gig I went to pick the case up, and it wasn't latched (stupid me) and it opened, and one of the latches caught the guitar right near the back top curve (where the arm curve is on a strat) and left a pretty nice gash. The thing was, it didn't hit it too hard, and it scratches easy, so just beware if you care about the finish on your guitar with this. To sum it up, it doesnt stay in tune well with it's original tuners, there is some evidence of glue on the binding, and it scratches easily. Oh, and there is also a problem with the input jack that when I plug in with a certain cord, (its kind of a bendy, twirly kind, so it kind of goes at odd angles) and it will cut out, and though I've investigated, I can't explain it, and I know its not the cord, its something with the jack itself.

Like I said before, it dents and scratches easy, so if your not a crazy player, you should be fine. If you move around alot playing, or just carry a guitar around like another limb like I do, you have to be carefull. When I went to tighten one of the nuts on the volume pot, it exploded, it just blew into peices even though I had very little pressure on it. The neck tends to be quite suceptible (I have no idea how to spell that) to the environment, and since I'm a New Englander, my summers are hot and muggy, winters cold and dry, I have to adjust my guitars seasonally, and this one tends to be more affected than others. I wouldn't use it as my only guitar at a gig, but then again, I wouldn't use my MIM strat as my only guitar, it's just not my way, I always have a backup. But, considering it's tuning issues, as well as the thin finish, output jack and tendency to be easily affected by humidity, I wouldn't use this as an only guitar. Not to mention you always have to be carefull of banging the head stock, because a Les Paul tendency is to crack where the headstock and neck meet, as well as where the neck and body meet. So it really couldn't take a hit like a strat or tele.

I got it used, and do my own minor repairs, anything major goes to a pro.

Though I've only been playing about 4 1/2 years, I study guitars. I play and work, and research them constantly, I'm kind of a nut I guess. I've also got two strats, a Peavey Wolfgang special EXP, and an old Kramer/Striker 200st. This guitar plays better than the peavey and Kramer, and sounds better in my opinion too, but it has it's flaws. I love it's neck pickup, am dissapointed by the bride, as well as it's tuning problems and thin finish.

My latest guitar purchase is a used 2007 Epiphone Les Paul '56 Goldtop Reissue finished in ebony, rather than the gold top. Made in China at Ephiphone's plant. Two volume and two tone pots. P-90 "soapbar" PUs. Non-locking Grover tuners. Stop tailpiece.

I play jazz, blues and some rock through a Peavey Studio Pro 112 amp. Generally play clean but sometimes use a Zoom 505 processor. I bought the guitar because I had sold my Gibson Les Pauls (had two) years ago, and wanted another one. The P-90s made this particular guitar more interesting to me. The guitar is not noisy, but this is after being set up correctly. When I got it, it was a mess. My tech filed some frets, widen the gaps in the nut, tweaked the truss rod a bit, flipped the bridge, and tightened the tuners. Put 11s on it with an unwound G string. It now plays and sounds very good. I get a big, bold tone out of the neck PU, but the bridge PU is the real surprise. Never had a neck PU with so much bite! Not harsh, but a really sharp attack. Very interesting. It cuts through everything. Switching to both PUs gets a very intermediate sound: full but not harsh. Sharp but not too sharp.

I think I addressed this stuff in the previous paragraph. The only thing that I didn't mention was the pots. I think these are pretty cheap ones, because they go from nothing to about a three setting when you turn them. No gradual increase: just pop and their on. I may replace them in the future. No crackling or anything like that, just no smooth transition at the low end. That's really my only complaint with the guitar. Otherwise, it seems, to me, a very, very good value for the money.

On this question, it will remain to be seen how it holds up. But, I suspect that it will do quite well.

Nope, nothing yet.

I've been playing off and on for 20+ years -- sometimes more seriously than others depending how busy I was or what I was into at the time. I've owned a couple of other Gibson Les Pauls, and this one seems lighter in weight than they were. But they were both like anchors! I've owned a Gibson ES345, ES175D and a Taylor 310 acoustic. I now have this Epiphone Les Paul, a Mexican Strat, an Ibanez Artcore AG75 jazz guitar (I love that guitar!) and an Alvarez Regent acoustic with some sentimental value that I've had for years. I've finally gotten away from being stuck on brand-names, and focus now on value.

I'd replace this Les Paul because it seems to have a lot of value for the price. I had heard that the early Chinese guitars were pretty hit-or-miss on quality, but that they had gotten their act together by now. I think that's true. But my Ibanez and this Les Paul are Chinese-made, and though they both have some cheap components (easily replaced) they play very, very well. And, their prices make them literally too good to pass up.

This guitar's not about "features" -- it's about tone, fit and feel. You want "features" go buy one of those goofy guitars with all the switches on 'em.

Love the tone -- as others have said it's like a Tele on steroids.

I was amazed how good this guitar and felt. No flaws at all, nice smooth neck, etc. etc. Now I did try out another one at GC that was crap for crap--rusty strings, a volume pot that didn't work, no pretense of setup. Can't stand that place.

So far so good, tho' the input jack does seem to be a little fragile.

This is the coolest, best sounding guitar you can get for the price. I was looking for something between a telecaster and a thick ol' humbucker Les Paul and this fits the bill exactly. Go get yourself one.

Epiphone Les Paul '56 GoldTop Reissue, with gloss finish over traditional goldtop metallic & dark mahogany back & sides. Standard tune-o-matic bridge & Alcino P90 pickups. Possibly the best sounding Les Paul and I may even go as far as the best sounding electric guitar ever. Flawless finish and feels just right :)

This guitar suits my blues and jazz playing to a tee. Even more than my Ibanez AS-83 archtop which is utterly subline! A little hum comes from the pickups, but that's normal for P90's, I'm led to believe. Capable of all sounds, from bright on the back pickup, to mellow and full rich toned on the front pickup. Nothing to dislike at all!

The action and neck relief was just about perfect. Needs some lighter strings, but apart from that, I've played it for hours since picking it up. No flaws at all as far as I can see.

It hasn't gigged so far, as I mainly play as a professional bass player & guitar is mainly a hobby and a personal challenge! I'd play this guitar without a backup, no problem. Feels solid and built to last.

N/A

If you're after the most lovely sound possible from an electric, get a goldtop - I thought it would be inferior to my archtop 335 copy, but it's even better. I work with a player who has to real Gibson Les Pauls & this feels and sounds even better than the real thing. It feels absolutely right in the hands and I couldn't ask for anything more - Go buy one!

56 Reissue Goldtop, made in Korea in 2005. Bought new about a week ago. Features are the mentioned below, goldtop finish, P-90's pickups, etc...

The sound is very good. I was very impressed with the acoustic sound as soon as I played it acoustically. I had played one in the shop and the sound was exactly the same. The pickups are very good. Theres a huge imbalance between the neck and bridge pickups though, even with the neck totally lowered and the bridge totally up,this seems typical with Epiphone guitars, since my Sheraton was like that with the stock pickups. The neck pickup has a beautiful sound. It's loud and powerful, with a kind of nasal tone to it (a characteristic of the acoustic sound of the guitar also) and it's great for all kinds of clean sounds. It's a bit bass heavy for some stuff though. With the tone a bit rolled off it has a beautiful jazz sound. The middle position has a great sound too, similar to the neck but with less bass. Great for reggae sounds, funk, etc... The bridge pickup I don't really have much use for. It is very piercing, very bright, but a little underpowered. Generally speaking I rarely have any uses for bridge pickups, so I am not the best person to evaluate this.

The guitar had fret buzz issues with the open 6th string before I strung it with 11-54's but now it's fine. The intonation was close, but I don't think it's reasonable to expect a guitar to arrive with a perfe3ct setup if you buy it online. The temperature and humidity changes in the transportation are enough to throw everything out of whack. The finish is flawless. After one week I still didn't manage to find any flaws on it. The only let down with this guitar is the nut. Very bad cut job. It's a shame really. Such a perfect guitar with such a nut. I am replacing it with a graphtech next week. The binding and inlays are perfect. Bridge is decent quality, my only grip with it is that I much prefer philips type screws as they much better to adjust at an angle. Setting the intonation is easy.

Solid as a rock. Weights 3.8 Kg. Epiphones are usually very sturdy and this is no exception.

Never used epiphone costumer service.

If this guitar had a Gibson headstock with the Gibson logo on it people would happily pay 2000 more Euros for it. I am totally in love with this guitar. I also have an ESP 901 and a 91 Korean Epiphone Sheraton and this guitar is every bit as good as them. If stolen I'd buy another immediately. For the money is a 10, no doubt.

Nice "Goldtop" finish. Not flawless but for the price (asking price $599)you would expect way worse. I was in the market for a Gibson Goldtop but at $1800-$3000 and finding ridiculously flawed paintjobs I couldn't justify the price but that wasn't the only determining factor. I understand the $499 "made in China" models are available now. Look for the Korean model if you have a choice. It seemed to have a little better quality to it and it will retain a little more value if they stopped the Korean production. Regardless of the origin, it handles well and does what is supposed to. The Epi P90s are great. Cheaper hardware, but easy to replace. It's a Epiphone Les Paul so it has the same features you would fine a "Gibo"

The Epi P90s sound great. The bridge pick-up is "bitey" in a good way, but this guitar realy lights up with both the bridge and neck pickups engaged. The neck pickup alone is a little "woofy" but I haven't really spent a lot of time setting it up yet.
These are P90s so don't expect to sound like Zakk Wylde, unless you are of course Zakk Wylde. Think telecaster on steroids.
The pickups are as noisy as a single coil is expected to sound. Not a flaw.

A nice finish, not an exact copy of an old Goldtop finish. Take a look at the Guitar Center Special "Bullion Gold" Les Paul for $1899.00 (horrible paint job, slopped together guitar) and this Epiphone will seem like a steal.
Pickups may need minor dialing in, but what guitar doesn't.

Play this guitar. A ding in a $599 guitar hurts way less than a $3000.00 guitar, This guitar is easy to make your own.
It seems to be pretty durable. It does have a good weight to it.
I would absolutly use this with out a back up, but I would make sure I bring a back up tuner.

"Limited" lifetime warranty.

I own a nice selection of guitar including "real" Gibson Les Pauls so giving a good review to a "copy" seems like it should carry some weight ( No Les Paul pun intended).
If the Epi was stolen I would go down to the nearest guitar shop. Check the headstock sticker to see if the price is closer to $499 or $599 and buy it. Easy to replace seems to be a nice feature.
Don't be stupid, get a case. It's already in the cost even if it's not "part of the package".

56 Goldtop,Made in Korea,2 Gibson designed p90's,body seems to be three pieces of mahogany stuck together and covered in a dark stain so the grain of the wood is nearly invisible.It's fitted with grover rotomatic tuners, the mahogany neck is 60's style and has pearl inlays on a rosewood fretboard, Epiphone headstock logo is mop and the truss rod cover has 56 Gold Top on it. Its the usual set up for the electics that you get on a les paul 2x Volume 2x Tone 3 way switch for PUP's.(Would of give it 9 or 10 if the body was one solid piece of mahogany)

This is a totally different from a hummbucker driven guitar the p90's are single coil PUP's on steroids.The neck pup on a clean setting with some reverb = bluesland switch to the bridge pup ad some gain = growl some great lead tones,In the middle setting both pup's on it gives you a strange out of phase sound which I love.There is bit of 60cycle humm but it's soon forgotten about when immersed in play.

The action on this guitar is really low (no fret buzz and I'm a bit heavy handed)The pup's needed ajustment to get a balanced sound when switching between them.The grovers do the job nicely and keep tune well.There a no noticable floors in the laquer finish and the frets are well finished.Recently the tonepot for the bridge pup has become noisy but a squirt of switch cleaner should sort that.

I've owned it about 4 years now and the only thing that's gone wrong is a scratchy tonepot,There is no visible signs of failure It's reliable, you could and I do depend on it.

Never needed to use them

For the price I paid this is one good guitar and holds it's own against my other guitars,I own a Gibson LP Standard LE. With Burstbucker Pro's, a Tokai LP Standard (Made in Japan) an American Fender Standard Strat and a Fender Deluxe Player Strat.Overall I never compared the Goldtop To a Gibson Goltop in the shop I liked the sound it made and bought it for that.

This ia an update to my 2000 review. You can read all about the features in other post.

Since I've had this guitar for over 7 years I have to tell you I think it's been one of the best guitars I've ever owned. I have owned several other guitars, none I have I like better. This one is a keeper. Sure it isn't a $3000 Gibson but for the price it's way better. I have compaired it to a friends Gibson '56 Goldtop and they are very close, but the Gibson had a thicker neck and some of the plastic parts like the switch and knobs were a darker color and the finish was better, well for $2500 it better be better. There ate a few differenced in the Korean and the Chinese models. Mine is the Korean model with the "Limited Edtion" Logo on the back of the peghead and the Mother of Pearl Kluson type tuners. The newer Chinese models I've seen have chrome Grover type tuners and don't have the Logo. I'd go for the grovers but don't want to drill out the peghead to do it. I've never had tuning issues with this guitar, why bother changing it.

I could tell how wonder full it sounds but that's too subjective what I can tell you is I could not tell the difference in sound between the Gibson and the Epiphone versions of this guitar. My friend sez' he can tell the difference, I doubt it. One of these days I challenge him on this with a test. I like the tone better than my SG with humbuckers for most stuff.

For me the action is almost perfect. The finish is a tad thin, after 7 years it's still holding up okay but I've added a few scraches and dings to it.

The only complaint I have is the binding on the neck has little cracks in it where the fretts have expanded and pushed against the binding in several places. I think this is due to changes in tempature. Where I live it gets below "0" and over 100 F. so I think over the years it just happened. No other guitar I own has ever done this. I think they didn't trim the fretts back far enough into the neck to allow for expansion. But It has no effect on the playing at all.

7 years and still going strong.

Never tried.

I've been playing over 45 years, been in bands most my life and still gig off and on. Now days I mostly play jazz and 50's-70's rock.

Yes, I would buy another one of these guitars maybe a different color, Black or Sunburst? but the same basic guitar with P-90's. I usually play this guitar through a '75 Fender Twin or a Reverend Hellhound and sometimes a Roland Spirit 60.

My other guitars include a Fender '62 Strat RI, Epi 400 (SG), a home made Strat, Fender Tele Custom, Ibanez Artcore AF85 Jazz guitar and several acoustics.