Epiphone Les Paul Standard

2008 China, 57clasic alnico 5 epi neck humbucker ohmed to 8.9. Hotch alnico 5 epi bridge humbucker ohmed to 13.5. Alpha pots, cheap caps. Fat neck profile. Black paint, beige trim. Laminate Mahogany body with maple top.Laminate Mahogany set neck, Ebony fretboard. Grover tuners. ABR-1 style epi tune-o-matic with stud bushings(big stud holes)

I play mostly rock and blues. I use only tube amps. This guitar is very quiet no buzzes, scratches, pops, or hums. Almost a Gibson LP, its pickups are moderately hot, with a well rounded warm but somewhat bright sound(I role back the tone knobs a bit). I can get most the sounds out of it I want. Great Sustain! I think the bridge pickup can get a little to crunchy sounding, still not bad.

Not the worst setup ever, but only o.k.. The action, string spacing, and fret work was very good. The pickups needed adjusting right out the box, the bridge pickup was so close to the strings it shrilled out of phase, lowered both pickups, no problems now. The ABR 1 style bridge has very little intonation range, so the G string stayed slightly flat on intonation until a bought a Gotoh model#1511 replacement bridge, perfect intonation now! The nut slots were a bit tight, a touch with a file and some "Graphit All" white graphite, no strings binding now! The nut was also a bit high so I sanded it down a bit and rubbed out some rough egdes. The finish is good, the only flaws were where the pick guard was mounted left some indentions in the uncured paint, and the binding paint is a little uneven in places, and sharp on a couple edges.

Think this is the best Les Paul for the buck! Period. Rock solid! Dependable!

Never used it.

I'm a fourteen year guitar player. I have lots of gear. If this guitar was stolen I would freak out, and buy the same one again. I actualy had a Gibson LP stolen from me, it hurt me bad. I could of have four of these great Epi Pauls for the same price as that Giby. I recommend this guitar to anyone who wants a Les Paul but dose not want to spend a lot of jack. Also, I highly recommend the Gotoh bridge upgrade($20-$30). As far as things I don't like, the bridge is the biggest issue, come on Epiphone and get it done right!

09 model, i think it's made in China. I've had it for 5 or 6 months. Got mine in black. It's a Les Paul, so you should know most of the features. This guitar has Grover tuners, and is solid mahogany (neck too). The neck is painted, which i would rather not have because it isn't as fast as say, an unpainted satin finish neck. It is pretty thick, and rounded, which makes it comfortable, although not extremely well suited for metal soloing.

I use this guitar through a Morley Bad Horsie Contour Wah to a Peavy Vypyr 75, which is great. I mostly use the Mesa/Boggie Dual Rectifier model, which is great for what i like to play (METAAL!). The stock pups are very good when played at low volume, and get an extreme sound if raised a little bit, although there is some hum if that is done. The only problem is when this guitar is played at gigging volumes, and i have gigged with it before. There is a lot of feedback, although i use do a ton of gain. If you put in some decent high output pickups, this baby would scream. With the stock pickups, you can get literally any sound, from metal in the bridge with everything at full blast to jazz in the neck with the tone turned down some. Would've given a 10 if the pickups would've been better for metal, but that's really just personal preference.

The factory setup was PERFECT. The pickups were in the sweet spot for just about anything, although they sound better for metal if raaised just a touch. Everything was dead on, the fretwork rivals any guitar i have every played. The only issue is that the pickup switch is very noisy, but if you change the switch lightly (don't bang the crap out of it) this isn't really an issue. Also, i really don't change pickups very much, so this doesn't really matter to me.

Like i said earlier, it's solid mahogany. It seems indestructible. The finish is great, and not the fake flamed maple like on the other finishes available. This guitar is extremely heavy. I have heard of people messing up their backs because they play Les Pauls a lot. The strap buttons aren't great, and my strap kept coming off until i got a locking strap (it wouldn't fit in the case with straplocks). Definetely couldv'e been a problem, but it's an easy $20 fix.

The warranty is a limited lifetime, which is great. Nothing has gone wrong on it, and probably never will. I've never had to deal with the company, and i doubt i will have to.

I've been playing for a year and a half, and am starting to get into soloing. For this reason, i would've wanted a guitar with jumbo frets, but i really didn't know better. If this guitar was stolen, i would buy an ESP or a Jackson with a Floyd Rose, and then go track the guy down and beat him with this guitar. It would take it, and there probably wouldn't be much of a scratch. Still, i wish it wasn't so heavy.

Dunno when it was made but it's a Chinese one. Tobacco burst with what appears to be a decal showing the grain of the maple top, not actual wood. The back and sides are painted black and don't allow you to see the wood either, so even though it's supposed to be mahogany I tend to wonder.

The tuners although Grover were installed unevenly and the d-string tuner has way more play than normal so it was probably damaged from the factory.

The bridge piece is too slim and forced me to flip around a couple of the saddles in order for it to intonate, frustrating. The bridge screws into the body also are a little outside, look like they could come off.

The sound is the best part, although not a Gibson, it sounds similar. Still as close as you can get without buying the real deal, better in sound than the offbrand copies. Great sustain as expected, classic rock in all its glory. But, I attribute most of this to the design that Mr Paul came up with, not Epiphone.

The pickups are noisy yet not that hot though. But I imagine with burstbuckers in it, you could make it so nobody knows the difference. Why anybody would want to invest in one of these is beyond me though. Not worth upgrading.

The setup was terrible from the store. I intonated it and set the neck and action and got it so it sounded good with no buzzes through the amp, but was never able to lower the action as much as I wanted without it buzzing out massively unplugged. Although this doesn't affect the amp sound, it still reminded me everytime I picked it up of what a cheap, sloppy instrument it was.

The finish was the sloppiest part. The bindings not straight, crooked trapezoid inlays. The dovetail piece of the neck that is rounded at the back and meets the body was notoriously uneven.

From a far it looks just like a Gibson, but for anybody who's owned one, they know instantly it's a cheap copy.

This is the category that finally motivated me to sell it. Sure, you can get by with it for that LP sound, but if you are serious enough you will spend enough time with this thing to notice exactly how inexact it is.

A quick mention of its case: since the Les Paul has an angled neck, it's very hard to find a good case for it that fits if you don't want to buy the brandname version, which is always more expensive. I bought a hardshell case from Epiphone since I never ended up finding an offbrand and was also disappointed with its build quality.

Despite being more expensive than any other comparable case on the market, the thing started falling apart on its own without even subjecting it to hardly any travel.

It was a "hardshell" case but was pretty flexible anyway and the cheap vinal on the outside started coming unglued. Pathetic.

The input jack always kept unscrewing itself, which although seems like something totally minor and fixable, is frustrating and is a possible shortout on stage. Plus, the tuner had a problem and the bridge gives me the impression it could actually come off cause the bolts like I said before were halfway out from the factory. So no, it isn't very reliable for continued stage use.

Don't know.

I bought this because I was so obsessed about replacing a Gibson Les Paul back in the day I had to sell. I was blinded by the glory of the concept that is the Les Paul in the store and I did a very immature thing and bought it despite the fact that I knew all along it really wasn't the same thing.

Don't do the same as I did. Be honest with yourself, this is no Les Paul, no matter what you do to it later. And upgrading it is like putting a turbo into a Yugo, you can always improve on it but why on earth would you want to waste your time and money.

I finally sold it on ebay cheap and with the money bought a brand new Ibanez AG75 hollowbody for less than what I sold the paul for used.

Amazing since the Ibanez has perfect finish, decent hardware and is an all-around better instrument. It's a guitar that is actually useable and likeable by a pro, not just a toy for bedroom playing like the paul.

But in retrospect, I am still a little annoyed with myself for having bought it in the first place. I'm also seriously disappointed in Epiphone.

I know there are exceptions and every once in a while one came come across a charmed Epi that was made well, but the great majority I've tried are like mine was, poor on most levels.

I don't consider it a good value, because to make it as good as my Ibanez I would have had to spend at least another US$200 to fix the tuners, have the frets dressed and leveled, get a new bridge and possibly even swap out the pickups. And even then the craftmanship would still be poor.

People, if you absolutely must have one, get a Gibson and buy it used or a Studio model, even an SG as a substitute, but don't buy this lemon.

Furthermore, shame on you Epiphone for trying to card this piece of junk off as an LP. If he were younger, I imagine Mr Paul might have done the same as he did in the 60s and told the company he didn't want to have it put his name on the SG.

Even the case started falling apart. To me Epiphone=junk.

Same as the Gibson Les Paul. A special mention for the Grover tuners that came with it. They are excellent tuners but my particular set came with the D string tuner messed up with way too much play. Poor quality control on the part of Epiphone. Also, the jack input kept unscrewing itself, a very frustrating issue.

Finally, the tune-o-matic bridge piece was too slim and in order to get the right intonation I had to flip around the saddles because I maxed out their range. This was with 11 gauge strings, so I suspect if I put any higher gauge on it the bridge would not be able to intonate correctly. Cheap and amateur.

Considering the price, the sound was really good, very similar to a Gibson but not as hot because the pickups aren't Gibson. It did sound a little colder and emptier than a Gibson but again, considering the price, one shouldn't complain. All in all, very respectable sound, thanks to the Les Paul design, which to me is the best solid body guitar design in the world. You can make this baby scream because although it is a copy, it is still a Les Paul.

If you close your eyes and forget all the guitar's other problems, for a few minutes the sound actually makes the guitar redeem itself.

The factory setup was horrendous and like I said before, is very close to not able to intonate correctly with heavy strings because of the thin bridge piece. The action is not bad because the angled Les Paul neck allows for great action just because of the genius design Mr. Paul came up with decades ago. But the frets were very uneven, forcing me to raise the action higher than a well-made Les Paul in order to avoid massive fret buzz. In the end I made a trade off and just set up the action to buzz like mad as long as it didn't come through the amp. Still, kinda a downer if you pick it up without an amp. Reminds you instantly of what a cheap guitar it is.

As for the finish, it just plain sucked. Poor paint finishing, uneven bindings, the fretboard had glue and carelessly selected wood. Looks great from a far but if you're holding it, you know immediately it's a cheapo copy.

My particular one I think was worse than most though, I've seen some Epi Les Pauls much better crafted, leading me to believe one can actually get a good one if they absolutely have to own a Les Paul and can't compromise and buy a better-made copy from another brand.

Considering the loose input jack and the crappy D-string tuner, I think this thing probably is not reliable for stage work. I didn't have any problems with the electronics, but I got the feeling they would likely arise later on, if I hadn't sold it first.

Don't know.

I wouldn't buy this guitar if I were serious about playing. I ended up selling it cheap shortly after I got it and bought a brand new Ibanez AG75 hollowbody for less than what I got from selling this used. Amazing considering the Ibanez is a far superior instrument in craftsmanship and sound. Embarrassing for Epiphone if you ask me. I was just so obsessed about getting another Les Paul after I had to sell an excellent Gibson Les Paul Studio a few years back, that I got this, because I'm not about to spend more than two grand for a real Gibby standard. Too much if you're not a pro. But this is not a good compromise. If you can't afford at least a Gibson Studio model just be honest with yourself and don't get a les paul. It's like buying a Ferrari kit car. Looks great from far away but pop the hood and you're in for a good laugh, or a belly ache thinking about how you were duped into buying this lemon.

2000 model made in Korea. Has the basic features you'd expect on a Les Paul. This is my second Epi Les Paul. The first one was a '97 model with a neck that twisted beyond hope of repair. Gibson replaced the guitar and trasferred my pickups and tuners from the old one to the new one.

I've never heard the stock pickups for this guitar. Gibson transferred the 498T (bridge) and the 490R (neck) from my old LP. After 9 years she still sings like a lady and just gets better with age. The bridge pup has the nice fat Gibson crunch and the neck pup has this warm tone that's great for blues and jazz. Never played it along side a Gibson LB but to my ear (since it's got Gibson pickups) it sounds like a Les Paul.

No complaints at all here. When Gibson replaced my old LP they most have chosen the cream of the crop. This old girl has a luscious ebony finish that's flawless. The binding and inlays are perfect. The stock tune-a-matic bridge is rock solid. I had replace the stock Epi tuners on my old LP with actual Gibson Classic Tuners so the guys at Gibson transferred those to this guitar and did a GREAT job. Tuning is not a problem. The controls and electronics are stock and have never given me any trouble. Gibson even transferred my Schaller strap lock buttons to the new guitar.

Can you say, "Built like a tank"? this Les Paul is made on mohagony all the way. No alder here. I tend to treat both my guitars with the respect a fine instrument deserves. I'd have no worries about gigging live with it.

As I mentioned above, the support I got from Gibson when the neck on my '97 Les Paul warped was outstanding. They transferred ALL the custom hardware from the old guitar to the new one and did an excellent set up job on it. When it arrived back at Boykin's Music in Richmond, Va the guy I was dealing with asked if he could check it out. So he plugged it into a Marshall head with a 4X12 cab and he was blown away.

I've always loved the look and sound of a Les Paul Standard, but just couldn't justify the cost of a Gibson. The Epiphone Les Paul Standard with a couple upgrades fills the roll perfectly for a fraction of the price. I play though a second generation Peavey Bandit 112S with a 112S external cab. My other guitar is a heavily customized Ibanez Blazer BL1025. I call that one my "Stunt Guitar" because of the mods it's had done to it to turn it into a do everything axe.

If someone stole my Les Paul, let's just say they had better book passage off the planet and leave it at that. I'd defenetly get another one, but would probably have a hard time finding one as good as the one I have.

Righto! Epiphone les paul standard, made in China 2003. Good solid run of the mill Les paul replica. Mahogany body with a maple cap on it, not 100% sure of the neck, probably maple. Heaps of sustain so maybe mahogany?

Neck is ... Not as chunky as I'd thought, my hands aren't huge nor are they small but it feels great. Gloss finish and rounded in an odd but comfortable way. Headstock is the... Actually, not so appealing Epiphone shape. Adorned with grover tuners.

Has the Gibson style fat and chunky bridge and tailpiece. They come to bits easy with loosening of the screws, but they're rock solid when you're playing and strung up.
The pickups are raw and raunchy; the middle position gives one a nice growl on clean. The bridge has the usual humbucker grunt (don't get too happy, it lacks a little low end power.) The neck ... Gawd. Don't replace it. It's fine. Gets an 8 for being second hand. Harhar.

The pickups are stock standard, and do what they should. I am a poor student so what I have at the moment is a blessing! After playing a telecaster for a year, moving to a les paul for... Hell, less than 1/3 the price the tele. was, it has blown me away. You have the power of a cool jazz sound, something you'd expect from BB King, something else that delves into european metal, and a rock and roll flamethrower strapped over your shoulder. This mother f... This guitar does... More than what I'd expected it to do [being a chinese made replica]. I play through a zoom 505ii pedal to a behringer bx600 bass box [that gives me a gruntier sound than anyone else!] and Phwoar, this is... This thing blows you away. It does all sorts of stuff from the clean, smooth as a baby's bum jazz tones, great for picking and blipping around with, right the way through to really hard stuff, getting to the point of death and black metal, which is pushing it a bit [perhaps take the covers off the pickups?]

The sustain is very Gibson. It does not die. [If you know what you're doing.] The low end blows your head off. Good for mimicking the p.a.f sound like on Brothers in arms [Dire straits].

There's one thing I don't like [that doesn't really get to me that much], and that's there the cutaway sits on my leg. Not something I won't get used to.

Gets a 10 for value of second hand goods and being the man.

Seeing as I bought it used, the thing was sorted right out of the case. The bloke I bought it off reckoned the strings needed a change, but, they didn't. They'll be good for a while yet.

The pickups were a bit... Odd. I dealt to them [not alot to do] and put the action down slightly... After I'd figured out how the bridge worked. [Haven't had a proper look at a Paul before!] Tuned it up, and away I went.

The finish is very thick; it has binding [single ply] on the body and neck. Very smart looking guitar. Being the second hand guitar it is, it had the few imperfections and a hardly noticeable belt rash on the back you'd expect. I think I can see the lines in the maple top through the finish, but, oh well. It's excellent. I think one or two frets might need being stuck in, but, who uses 21 anyway? That's c#. Yuck.

The neck pickup's tone pot [dedicated!] was scratchy, but a bit of twisting it round fast fixed it in 30 seconds. This section gets an 8 also for being second hand.

I reckon I could play at the vector arena [local huge stadium], in a few bars etc, this thing would hack it no trouble. The catch being I'm not in a band.

The hardware is solid as... Something really solid. This is not a flimsy $300 guitar.

The finish on it is lovely and thick; very pretty looking guitar in gloss black and cream adornments with all the other **** being chrome.

The strap buttons are bigger than on my tele and don't look like my strap will fall off anytime soon. If it does, it will be picked up and played as is.

This dept. gets a 9, because I've heard of Epiphone [moreso Gibson, actually] headstock joints being quite weak, and easy to snap.

Who knows. Changing bits of guitar can't be that hard. I know a few people that will do it for me and not f... Bugger it up.

Since I've been playing [started 2004. it's now Sept. 2008] I've owned absolutely bugger all guitars; a cheap ashton acoustic [ooh, ouch.], a squier bullet strat, a Fender '60s classic tele [first decent guitar!]. Then there's this thing, the Epiphone les paul. Playing through a behringer bx600 bass amp with a zoom 505ii pedal. It's neat if you know how to use it.

If this bugger of a thing was nicked, I'd definitely not be happy, Jan. This is not a guitar to be taken lightly. Though, a DEFINITE WORD TO POTENTIAL BUYERS : Epiphone les pauls etc. these days [chinese made] are strictly hit or miss guitars. You're either going to get a Ferarri or a Lada; find a dollar on the pavement or get kicked in the shins. Play around on a few les pauls before you settle on buying one. The build quality varies astonishingly.

I compared this with an Epi. flying v which I think has the same specs as a Lp. studio model [yuck]. the V was brand new for about $750 nzd no case; The paul was $550 used with a case. They retail for $1099 without a case. I wish it had previously had the bridge pickup cover removed. Just for a meaner look and more high end in it, and coil taps on both pickups.

Gets a 9 all round cuz I decided to be a bit picky. If you see one for sale, don't hesitate to give it a shot, especially older korean models.

2006 Korean Guitar. You know the specs by now. Mine came with HSC.

I would like to give 2 different reviews for the sound of this guitar. I have owned it for over a year, so I have had time to weather the storms of ownership, and believe to have found the highs and lows of the instrument.

The pickups on the stock Epi are just too muddy for my style of music. They seem best suited for players who are mainly playing power chords, or possibly for players who are linked to a digital modeling amp like a Line 6. They are ok when distorted heavily, but not great for sounds on the verge of breakup.

The tone of the guitar on the other hand is a completely different story. With a mahogany body, maple top, and rosewood fretboard this guitar sings when not plugged in. That made me decide to install better pickups (Anderson pickups specifically) into the guitar. Once this was done, the guitar had clear voicing, creamy distorted tones, and is a real pleasure to listen to.

So with the stock pickups, for the style of music I play I will give the guitar a 6.5. With the andersons, I will give the guitar a 9, so overall I would give it a 7.5

I can't speak for the factory, as I purchased the guitar used, and I always take my guitars to a luthier for the initial setup. I will say this, there is a fret buzz on the open "g" string that drives me up a wall. Also, the pickup selector broke off, so I had to have a new one put on.

Reliability wise, I have no fear to use this guitar live. It is made of solid wood with hard binding and chrome hardware. There is nothing to be afraid of there. Unless you like to throw your guitars in the middle of shows, but then again I guess if you break this guitar at a gig, you could probably break any guitar at a gig.

Why deal with the company when you can work with a quality luthier you can go see.

I have been playing for the better part of a decade, and have owned a lot of gear during that time. If it were stolen or lost and $600 was my limit I would probably buy this guitar again, but I would rather save money for an anderson.

Epi LP standard, plain top, 22 frets, trapezoid inlays, vintage sunburst, chrome hardware, grovers, alnico v humbuckers, rosewood fretboard, maple neck, dedicated tone and volume controls, toggle switch.

I play hair and glam metal with my band, and death metal for myself, this guitar fares well but not amazingly. The pickups have a very dull sound and the palm mutes just don't produce the grinding tones my EMG jackson does. I wish the sound was brighter on both clean and distorted settings. But don't get me wrong I only get these problems on my practice amp. On my Fender Deluxe Reverb I get a great grinding distortion with a digitech death metal pedal.

The action is low which is fine, however there is a horrible amount of fret buzz and I dont think the fretboard was sanded properly. The strings were very rusty and scraped the wood, I immediately changed the strings to Ernie Ball Customs and the playability soared. I also had to re-adjust the frets.

This guitar is not a good live guitar for me anyways, because I dont like the weight. The strap buttons are nice and solid though and if necessary I would use it live but not unless it is the only guitar i had available.

Bought from Guitar Center, extremely helpful and caring I recommend to everyone to go there.

I've been playing for about 3 years. I own a ****** LP special from epiphone, a gibson invader, fender deluxe players strat, and a gibson es-335 (from a garage sale 200$ yeah!) I made the mistake of buying a guitar solely on looks. I saw the LP and I thought holy crap! a REAL LP but i didnt consider my playing style and sound. Yet again dont get me wrong, I love it just dont LOVE it. I compared it to the fender deluxe and the deluxe played better and felt better but the LP had that powerful humbucker sound which i needed for metal. I recently traded the LP in for the fender i mentioned earlier, love it alot! If it was stolen I would probably buy an sg or another strat.

We all know the classic Paul setup- 2 alnico classic hummers, 2 tone 2 volume controls, 3 way selector. mine is a mahognany bck and maple top. Replaced tuners with Grovers, mulling a pup change.

Good Paul sound from nice and chunky to a ringingly sweet treble. Running thru a Crate VTX65b with a Ts 9 overdrive. Able to get that J Page tone with no problem. Also grest on jazzier stuff. With the amp pedal combo really able to get almost any sound I choose to emulate.

Setup great out of the box from MF. Had it for almost three years now looks as good as the day i got it. Nice ebony gloss finish. Have been over the axe forwards, backwards and sideways and so has my local tech shop, no complaints or problems. Grovers made a big difference but the stock tuners were just fine.

AS i stated earlier almost three years in and the Paul is better now than when I got it, finish is great, tone is awesome. I know that a ploy finish isn't suppose to enhance the sound with age like Nitro does, but it sounds better, can't wait for it to reach ten. Have a Carlos acoustic(don't laugh) that is 29 yrs old and it sounds(no ****) as good as the Low end Martin I tryed out two months ago, so some inexpensive guitars do get better with age too. I gig without a backup with no worries.

Life time warranty, but i haven't needed it.

Been playing 41 years. Dad and granddad had pauls..one a '58 standard and the other a '66. I have them both now..too afraid to take them out of the house and won't pay two plus Gs for a new one. the epi gets the job done. Also have a Tele and an Es 335 custom copy, the Epi holds its' own in fast company. Use the VTX65B, a rewired Fender "franenstein" tube with two 12's and 100 watts all tube and the tube screamer, in combo with the Epi I get all the tones I ever wished for and then some. Buying an Epi Goldtop and a Prophecy LP one for my B'day later this year and the other for Christmas. I would burn any ***** that lays a hand my Epi.

No idea when this was made, probably in 2007. Seeing as how its an Epiphone, it was likely made in Japan or Korea. Has 22 frets with pearl-block style inlays, very classy! I'd say its a solid top but then again I don't know the difference. This model has a tone and volume knobs and what I'm GUESSING to be pickup knobs (I can't tell what they do). The guitar has two humbuckers, whatever comes on an Epiphone Les Paul standard. Has a beautiful sunburst finish, I wouldn't ask for anything different.

Now this guitar sounds WONDERFUL, for just about anything except metal (with the exception of hard rock). If you couldn't see the headstock you wouldn't know the difference between this guitar and a genuine Gibson Les Paul. This guitar hardly buzzes at all. Like a Gibson, this has that beautiful warm, rich sound.

Well I'm guessin' that this guitar was set up at the store I bought it from. But when they set it up they knew what they were doing! Although the action, when set low or at medium, the frets buzz on the low E and A, especially when power chords are utilized. But hooked up to an amp, you can't tell that the frets buzz at all so its nothing to rant about really. I wouldn't replace the pickups in fear of losing that warm Gibson tone, after all, it'd be more than a shame to lose that! As far as that goes though, the guitar contained NO flaws whatsoever.

This thing is tough. Quite. Although I wouldn't suggest taking a hammer to it! I've had this guitar since December '07 and the finish hasn't even begun to phase, still looks brand new. If the hardware doesn't last, then I'm a monkeys uncle, because like every Gibson-made product, its built to LAST. The strap buttons aren't coming off any time soon, even if you wanted to rip them off (not that I've tried). Without a doubt though, this thing is 100% reliable! If I gigged or went some where with it (and not a backup guitar), I would be confident that this guitar could stand up to about any challenge.

I bought this from the Dexter Music Center, the employees there gladly demonstrated how well the guitar played and were very friendly and helpful. The thing came with a warranty, but I don't remember how long it was, but it was long enough that if anything happened to it now, I'd still be under warranty.

Its a Gibson Les Paul standard without the trademark Gibson headstock practically. Just think of what a Gibson Les Paul standard is like and visualize it with an Epiphone headstock. I would reccomend this guitar to just about anybody for the tone and price. I have a 1961 Melody Maker, and really, they're quite equal in tone, but that also depends on what tone you want.

Just as a warning, this thing is made for hard-rock and lower. Not quite metal friendly.