Epiphone '56 Les Paul Goldtop Reissue

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.

i bought my 56 goldtop on-line from Bellones Music in London, On. it arrived in excellent condition
It was made in China.
This guitar is hands-down the best guitar I have ever played in it's price category ($650 cdn).
Very little noise, (it does have glorious p-90 pick ups, so some noise is inevitable. A hum-ex on my power bar virtually eliminated all noise.
This guitar switches from a deep, rich bright tone to an in-your face, thin lizzy-gary moore tone at the flick of a switch and a stomp on a box (i use boss overdrive). I would not beccessarily recommend this guitar for you `dimebad darrell' heads out there.
the action was a bit low, (easily adjusted). Had a litlle fret buzz but the action adjustment eliminated this. And lastly, this guitar is simply a beautiful piece of art. I highly recommend this guitar.

this guitar is solid, and i look forward to years of both studio and gig work alike with it.
The hardware is very solid, though I did have to tight two tuning heads.
I never use any guitar on the road without a back up. In this case, I actually use an Epiphone Studio Les Paul as back up.

I have never had to worry about warranty a I have never had a problem as of yet. I am an optomist, but a realist too. No guitar is Excalibur.

I have been playing twenty years proffessionally. If I lost this guitar, I would immediately seek out a replacement. I had a Gibson 56 re-issue, but due to its' worth, it was to valuable to take on the road. This guitar gives me everything my Gibby did, and plays a little less tempting to those sub-human axe snatchers out there.

Goldtop ie... Gold Metallic on the Maple/Alder top w/ dark cherry on the Mahogany Back and neck. Single cut away LES PAUL style. Tone -o- matic style stop and bridge. Grover tuner. 24 3/4 inch scale. Medium Jumbo frets. Rosewood fret board. Hand made in China in 2006. Three way switch, 2 volume, 2 tone. 2 Epiphone passive P-90's in the neck and bridge.

I run this Epi through a Peavey renoun 400 and a Mesa Boogie nomad 45 with a compressor and stero chorus. I find I use the effects much less with this guitar as I am usually looking for a more vintqage sound when I play it. While this guitar sounds great at all tone, gain, and volume setting it shines the most compared to my other guitars (12) when combining puckups and turning down the tone and cranking the gain. I found going this way gave me a very unique tonal quality that is not just fun to mess with but, really cuts through the mix. This guitar does pick some noise from external source but is far better than my strats in this category. I would give this guitar a 10 if I thought there was such a thing.

Everything on the guitar was perfect except the pickup mounting and height adjustment. I ended up filling and redrilling the mounting screw holes and adding some foam rubber padding to get the angle and height. This extra work paid off in spades as it really brought the guitar to life. I did refret the guitar with biggest jumbo wire I could find at Stewmac but that was just personal preference as my finger tips are a little doughy and I can play much longer and cleaner with the taller and wider frets. String height (measured with Capo at first fret) from factory at the 12th fret was 4/64 treble side and 6/64 base side. After refrett and leveling it is now 3/64 treble side and 4/64 bass side at the 22nd I did not have to level the fret board and it could go lower.

This guitar is a tank. It is heavy, has great perfectly installed hardware on it, and has a very durable finish on it. I would never gig with only one guitar/one amp unless that was all I had. But, this guitar would be a safe bet to go it alone with.

Bought at Guitar Center, Terre Haute, Indiana. First one of these I got had was a 2005 model made in Korea and the bridge posts were mounted too far away from the nut to set intonation. As I could fix this I refused to do this kind of work to a new guitar, period. That guitar was perfect in every other way and was the basis for setting the newer 2006 China made guitar up as far as pickup height and orientation. Guitar Center Imediately ordered the replacement for me from their warehouse. Had some minor communication problems concerning when the replacement would actually be in, but, all was great in the end and I am satisfied with the effort and service I recieved.

Been playing/giging for 25+ years and own or have played everything I could get may paws on. I am always looking for a new sound to go with what I have already. If I lost this guitar I would be heart broken and start looking for a replacement. While this guitar is great for vintage stuff 50's 60's it also does a very mean Little Wingand any rock or country until the wide use of active pickups; this is by far my favorite "electric blues and boogie guitar". This guitar's identity is made by the P-90's it came with. That sets this guitar apart from the other. I would not change a thing on it. I did compare this guitar to several others with p-90's most notable the Washburn WI-66 PROG which had buzz fieten and noiseless pickups. The Washburn had better fit, finish, and playablity stock for the same retail (start bargining here) price $599.99. The Wi-66 PROG had a more modern sound and I just could not get the killer vintage sound that the Les Paul could. Don't misunderstand me the Washburn sounded great too, just different and more like my hummbucker guitars. Rate this guitar as a 8 the way it came and a 10 now that I have it exactly the way I want it.

Mahogony body. Alder top. Same thickness as a Gibson Les Paul. Rosewood fingerboard with simulated MOP inlays. The top of the body and the neck have creme binding. The neck and back side of the body are finished in dark cherry. Two creme colored P-90 soapbar pickups, Grover tuners, chrome plated ABR-1 bridge and stop bar. Three way switching. Amber colored Tone and Volume knobs set up in the typical Les Paul configuration.

I play mainly Blues, old rock, and Rockabilly. This guitar suits those styles of music to a tee. You jazz musicans who like woody, mellow and clean in a small package buy one of these. You musicians who like raw and raunchy primal rock and roll sounds, buy one of these. You Blues players ??? YOU MUST GET ONE OF THESE. You pure country twang guys, it probably won???t be your cup of tea. Rockabilly, slide guitar, oldies ??? you bet. You thrash and death metal guys . . . maybe.

Even though these are single coils they do not sound anything like Fender SC???s. You can instantly tell it sounds like a Gibson. A Les Paul to be precise. Where Fender SC???s have a chime to them, the P-90???s have a clang. For pure twang I prefer the Fender SC sound.

The pickups are very touch sensitive and depending on pick attack and the settings on your guitar and amp you can get just about any kind of tone from them. If you are right in front of your amp the pickups are very noisy. Back off a few feet, or to the side, and you???re fine

The bridge pick up has some balls and, if cranked, really wails. Not nearly as thin as on a Strat or Tele Put both of them on, and depending on how you blend your controls, and it will sound like two humbuckers or two good Tele pickups being on. The neck pickup is mellow and sounds very similar to a humbucker but more woody. Some reviewers have mentioned that the neck pickup sounds very muddy. When I first got the guitar I found that to be the case too ??? but only on the three low strings. After doing some tweaking I found that a lot of that muddiness can be cleaned up by turning down the bass setting on your amp. Speakers also make a big difference in bass response and clarity. I am anticipating that a new bone nut will give even more clarity to those strings. Until I get that done I do not see any sense in messing with the pick up height or adjusting individual pole pieces.

You want raw power ? Think ???Won???t Get Fooled Again. Think ???Young Man Blues??? off the ???Live at Leeds??? album. You want raunchy and primal ? You want sustain ? Think Clapton on ???All Your Love??? on the Bluesbreakers ???Beano??? album. You can get some nice swampy sounds ( think CCR/ John Fogerty) out of this gutar too. Oh, by the way, this was without any effects pedals through either a Tweed Princeton 5F2-A clone or a Blues Junior. Makes me wish I had a Marshall half stack or at least a Bluesbreaker.

Weeks later . . . I finally got around to playing this guitar through my ???66 Deluxe Reverb. All I can say is WOW. This thing really barks though that. I thought it sounded good through the amps mentioned above but the DR elevated the sound to a whole new level.

Finish excellent. Binding excellent. Paint job excellent. Inlays on fingerboard, absolutely perfect. The routing for the inlays is so precise it makes me wonder if they were cut with a laser. The fingerboard inlay work is far superior to what was done on my USA made Gibson Les Paul Standard Premium +.

Much to my surprise the body appears to be a solid piece of Mahogony. I cannot see a joint anywhere. The neck is solid mahogony up to around the third fret. At that point there is a strange joint that I have never seen before. I think one reviewer said it was called a scarf joint. The headstock and part of the neck join the other part of the neck at around the 3rd fret. The angle of the two joined pieces is quite severe. The two pieces are glued together from the 3rd fret to around the 8th fret.

The rosewood fingerboard has been darkened with an ebony stain and looks classy with the gold body and the pearloid inlays. The MOP patterns on the fingerboard inlays are beautiful and look very realisitic. Again, better looking than on my Gibson. That has MOT inlays.

In a few spots there are some light file marks on the edge of the fingerboard that are only visible upon close inspection. I assume that was a result of beveling the frets and binding. Fretwork is excellent. The frets are not as huge as on my Les Paul.

Right out of the box the action was pretty darn nice. It came with .010???s on it. BTW I don???t know what brand of strings they are but I really like them and they held up well.

The nut was not cut real well. I get some binding on the G and the B strings. This guitar is too nice for that crappy nut. It deserves (and will get) a nice bone nut when finances allow.

The electronics seem quite good. The switch is quiet. The controls work like they are supposed to.

Minor nits: Side dots on neck a little too small for my taste. Although I like the amber colored control knobs I can???t read the numbers on the knobs. That is because the numbers and the knobs are the same color.

The neck is a dream to play. It is very similar in size and contour to the 50???s neck I have on my Gibson LP. The poly finish on the neck is slick and makes it a pleasure to play.

This guitar feels rock solid - like a Les Paul should. The chrome hardware will last just as long as any other chrome plated hardware will last. The Grover tuners have been time tested. Although I only jam with friends these days I would not hesitate to use this guitar on a real gig.

No idea.

I have been playing for about 40 years and have accumulated some decent guitars (Gibson LP, 2 AV '57 Strats, Epi Dot Deluxe, USACG Custom Tele to name a few) and amps ('70 Vibro Champ, '65 Princeton, '66 Deluxe Reverb, '59 Tweed Princeton clone, etc.) along the way.

I have been wanting to get an EPI gold top outfitted with P 90???s for a couple of years but was put off by the weight of them. Prior to finding this one, every one I picked up weighed a ton. This one is very light (almost too light for an LP) and the body is very resonant. As a point of reference it weighs about as much as your average Strat.

Although I have only had this instrument a couple of months it feels like I have had it for years. It???s like slipping on your favorite pair of worn-in sneakers. I get a real comfy feeling when I play it. That makes me want to play it even more. I love this guitar. It is a fantastic value. I would buy another one in a minute.