Epiphone Les Paul Black Beauty

well,what can i say about this instrument. there is such little this guitar cant do, apart from be light its unreal. iam so pleased i bought this guitar, a true rhythmist weapon of choice, astounding. sound, sight, strength, its perfection for the always welcome epiphone lower-than-just-a-little-weaker-than-gibson price bracket.

standard 22fret board/mahogany-ebony block inlays
full-on gold/black/cream body finish, the pic on the site makes it look nasty.
pick-ups are some what of a let down without good old fashioned valve amps that rele take this beaut hurtling back to 1963, this sounds fairly tactless and plain. to remedy this, try the following layout i have (trial and error irritatingly)

N - Seymour n d P90(any will do)or same manufacturer - pearly gates
M - either S n D invader for nu metal/punk(euch) OR bill lawrence L490 (mail order) but the middlebucker is actually madeby gibson anyway( even if it is still in korea) and may not need replacing
B - you will wanna change this btw if you want stage presence over lead if its metal or more. S n D - JB SH4, or a dime bucker

the over-all cost is alot if you dont know what youre doing, ebaying second hand pups is a good idea only if you know what youre doing. i will of spent close to ?470 on pups, not including me selling them off again mind, imake a small return. but i now have a guitar that can play every style,and make every other instrument around look feeble to the ends of the earth.

however, i have had this guitar for just under 3 years and i doubt i will ever let it go. for a starter, you wnt want to ever change anything less thebridge for a more metal sound asit is a rock instrument

as before

this is a rock guitar

just because hetfield has the 2 pup version, and plenny of other actually heavy metal bands feature this guitar as rhythm,chimaira , BLS and speed horn to name a few, doesnt mean its meant fr it. they have hadloads ofmods done to them, the alcino (if correct) pups are rarely that good and burstbuckers are often used.

for a fresh-off-a-squire player, bored as i was of the light, fradgile, puny and emotional wreck guitars like cheap-ass strats (you really have to pay too much for a quality one) a heavy duty and down and dirty LP is what you need,if not,maybe a tele.

if you are lucky enough to get the gibson brightwire strings as i was, this guitar will immediatly jump out of its shell, it took a full year of playing every day god knows how long to break the E alone!

after 2 years a new pup

or dipped in that crazy pup wax decently dodgy guitar shops have

new pups will be needed, see the crazy set up

this is a tank

solid to the bone nothing is weak on it, excelent.
the pups are alright, i stress it all over when they just loose the feel of the instrument
everythingsin orgerand the finish is imaculate, absolute gorge and no other word
the pup selector starts to get a lot of crackling between changes if changing amps quickly,most likeyl due to impedance changing. this is sometimes a drag and no one likes a deafening crackle froma pup change during song, however i do slam the toggle likecrazy, so im prolly to blame

invincible

never needed it

doubt i ever will, im more useful around it than a phone call anyway

if some devil possesed gypsy from the wrong side of town stole this baby, i would pull out the third student loan to buy and upgrade the whole thing again, this is one guitar i couldnot live without, infact, thing in my life, its just been such a great enhancer and driver of skill, it cant be riveled for how much ive came along. its a great confidence booster and brings a certain element of prowesse that very very few others can safely off without being overpriced. be weary of actual guitar shops,some can sell this for nearly ?6-700 nearly a$1000 which for an epi is abit pricey. but even if you had a LP for a starter (never met a guy who did and stook with them, they went back to bumming their light "responcive" - what ever that dictates strat that cost ?1099)you should be saving up for this guitar and buy online to save time and money, the dealer that supplied me is still up now i checked and has a website www.aireguitars.co.uk, they better pay me for this lol. ive played 19 gigs with this guitar alone, not including the epi archtop es-295 or tanglewoods, i think thers about 27 all in all. the inclusion of new pups however is amust for a definate pro however, dontforget, this is a gibson wired model!

i hope this has propted you to get the best thing since sliced bread, you wont be too disapoiinted, time sows the virtues of this beast like nothing else though, so dont be hasty and say its too difficult, its worth amount of playing to love it

A 2005 Model, absolutely gorgeous. I got it at Guitar Center in Atlanta. I had run into some inheritance money from a recent death. $13,000 dollars. So, I did what any 14 year old guitarist would do, I spent it all. I got four guitars, an Epi Black Beauty, an Epi LP Custom, a Gibson LP Standard, and a Gibson SG with maestro. This is the best of all of them. Sure, the Gibson has the flashy headstock, but this guitar sounds just as good for a third of the price. H/H/H, god, what could be more perfect. I have only been playing for a year, but I am damn good. Normal LP Settings. All Maple. The finish is amazing. It looks like you could try to scrape it off, and it wouldn't work. Heavy as hell, but that comes with the sustain, so it's allright.

I was born in the wrong decade. I can't stand that the world is being taken over by a whole bunch of whining emo bands. I miss the days of AC/DC, Aerosmith, The Ramones, Rolling Stones, and my favorite, Guns N' Roses. This guitar was made for that music. Sure, the neck is a little fat, but if you are good, it shouldn't matter. It sounds so round and rich, it is astounding.

Well, at Guitar Center, I had all of them professionally set up, so they are b-e-a-utiful. So, I give this a ten!!!

I have dropped this guitar 4 times, and it sounds fine, nuff said.

Don't know yet, but for all intensive purposes, 10.

I own the four other guitars I've mentioned, plus a shitty Yamaha. Read my review in the Yamaha Section on this site. I am in guitar heaven. If it were stolen, I'd kill myself. My favorite feature is the genuine Les Paul sound. I don't know what to say. Get a Gibson if you want Amazing Looks and Amazing Sound. Get Epiphone if you want Great Looks and F***ing Amazing Sound.

Enough frets
Laminated
Enough Controls
Humbuckers
Ebony finish
Les Paul style

I play from heavy metal to classic rock to death metal to southern rock to blues guitar
Most of the time the guitar does its job
May take a little screwing to get the perfect sound
Enough sound variety
Better pickups maybe

One word...gorgeous

yes yes yes yes

Very helpful

I love this guitar

2004
Made in Korea,Standard LesPaul features...tune-o-matic,stopbar tailpiece,2 vol. 2 tone,mahogany body,alder top,gold plated hardware,3 humbuckers,grover tuners,full binding,rosewood fretboard,22 med/jumbo frets,3 way pickup selector in the usual place.If you wanted a Les Paul then you got what you payed for.

This is one the more versitile units you're gonna find in this price range.It has a terrific range of sound possibilities from the 3 pickups.If you're looking for a strat sound from this thing...forget it.Don't get me wrong,it can do clean and jazzy with the best of 'em but there's a thick quality to it.Dirty it up and you got hard rockin' heaven.Don't expect much from a little practice amp though...you don't experience the full potential of this thing unless you go through tubes and a decent cabinet.I have a Marshall JCM2000 DSL50 through a Peavey 4/12 and it just rocks!I also have a small Marshall G30RCD and although it still sounds good,it's nothing compared to the "monster".You can get everything from Slash to Still of the Night/Whitesnake stuff and beyond.If you think your sound is too muddy,roll the damn gain off a little...too much distortion on this can be mistaken for mud but you have to EQ it right too.I own another Epi Les Paul Standard Plus and this one has a much thicker sound...just like it's supposed to.Stock pickups are good from Epi these days.Thick but clear if you have a decent sound setup.

I expect the gold hardware will fade as other players have stated but no biggie.I like to have a nice low action and the factory setup was good except the intonation needed some work.Piece of cake with the tune-o-matic.It plays sweet.Like to hit the Zakk pinch harmonics and this thing helps me pull those off.I'm self taught so I'm not the best at soloing but what I can do is effortless with this setup.Action set to borderline fret buzz.Examine yours before you buy by looking down the neck from the body near your face to make sure the neck is straight and you can set these up to play smooth and fast.I've had it only a week and have not found any defects or have any issues with switches,control pots,tuning,or anything.With anything you buy it's possible to get a lemon so check it out first.Had to lower the middle pickup though only because it gets in the way of picking sometimes.Just a preference.The finish is beautiful and the inlays done well.I know they're not real mother o'pearl but they look good.I agree with some of the other reviewers on the headstock...there seems to be an extra thick layer of clearcoat or something but you don't really notice if you aren't looking for it.

Never really cared for Epi's cheaper bridge piece but I think it will last.Some are real string eaters but my Standard Plus has not had that problem and so far this one hasn't either.I've played the crap out of it this past week with the original strings and haven't lost one yet.Strap buttons on all Les Pauls should be changed to straplocks unless you want to see if hitting the floor with it will hurt it.I think it would be gig worthy although a backup is kinda risky not to have.If the finish wears off then it's a player...if you want to keep a collector piece then shell out the 3 grand for a Gibson and put it in a case forever.Even the high dollar guitars will wear over time.I do expect to have to replace vol. or tone pots someday but this is one of the reasons it's a $700 guitar instead of $3000.

No experience trying to contact Epiphone.
Warranty is a "limited lifetime" warranty which means if you break it,then you fix it usually.This is usually only good for factory defects right out of the box,but in that case you go through the place of purchase anyway.

Been playing 22 years and I've owned my share of guitars.My first guitar was a dept.store Les Paul copy which I still own(it's junk).Most of the rest of the guitars I've owned I've sold....Japanese Jackson Dinky EX,2 Jackson Performers,a Jackson SL4 neck through,2 Gibson Les Paul Studios(which aren't any better than a nice Epi),an Epi Les Paul Classic Quilt,Epi LP Standard Plus(B stock made in China!!!with a Dimarzio Tone Zone in the Bridge,a BC Rich Warlock NJ Quilt.Sound wise there was an old Kustom Challenger amp,a Crate GXT-212(NOW THERE'S A COMPANY WITH SOME CUSTOMER SERVICE AND WARRANTY ISSUES)and the 2 Marshalls mentioned earlier in this review.I've done away with the stomp boxes for now and run through a Digitech RP300 for that beyond Marshall sound and acoustic sounds.For all you winers who think the p-up switch is in a bad spot and the damn thing is too heavy...buy something else.If you know you're after a real Les Paul sound,then this tank is for you.Part of the reason they sound that way is because of the density of mahogany-Heavy.If money was no object then of course I would buy Gibson stuff but since I don't have between 2-4 grand burning a hole in my pocket,Epiphone's Les Paul Black Beauty is the next best thing.I can't say it's as good as Gibson but I've had virtually identical Gibsons behave differently.One had issues and one did not.A higher price tag isn't a guarantee of higher quality.Check them personally...where you can play 'em b4 you buy 'em.Get yourself a good one and you won't be disappointed.If you steal mine,I'll come getcha.

What year was it made? Where was is made? (Japan, Mexico, USA, etc...)
How many frets?
Solid-Top? Laminated top?
Which controls are given (volume, tone, 5-way selector, 3-way, tap, etc...)?
Pickup configuration? (S/S/H, H/H, S/H, Piezo, etc...)
Make and model of pickups?
Active or Passive electronics?
Body and neck woods? (Maple, Mahogany, Alder, Ash, Basswood, Koa, Plywood, etc...)
Finish (Satin, transparent, quilted top, flamed top, etc...)
Body style (strat, tele, dreadnought, cutaway, thinline, etc...)
Bridge style (Tune-O-Matic, Floyd Rose, Wilkinson, Tele-style, String-thru body,
stop tailpiece, etc...)
Tuners (Locking? Non-locking? brand of tuners - Sperzel, Gotoh, Grover, Schaller, etc...)
Neck/Scale (Fat, Thin, Jumbo Frets, Rosewood, Maple, etc...)
Any included accessories? (Case, gig bag, strap, cable, tools, humidifier, etc...)

How does it suit your music style (and what is that style)?
What amps and effects are you using it with?
Is it noisy? On what settings?
Rich/Full sound? Bright sound?
What kind of sounds can the guitar make? How much variety?
Likes and dislikes?

How well was the guitar set-up at the factory? (How was the action?)
How well were the pickups adjusted?
Properly bookmatched top? Properly routed bridge?
Did the guitar contain any flaws? (misaligned bracing, poorly filed fretwire,
finish flaws, poor quality wood, rusted or oxidized hardware, loose tuning pegs,
poorly cut nut, poorly fit saddle, noisy pickup selector, loose controls, etc...)

Will this guitar withstand live playing?
Does the hardware seem like it will last?
Is the finish good enough to last, or does it seem thin and easy to wear off
with lots of playing?
Are the strap buttons solid?
Can you depend on it?Would you use it on a gig without a backup?

If you've dealt with the company, how helpful/friendly were they?Ever try and get it repaired? Was it under warrantyHow long is the warranty

I'd like to share, that why dont you go make a review and not make me do a review

I think this is a 2003 model but not sure, it has 3 humbuckers and tune-o-matic with a stoptail. I came with Grovers, which is nice. Not sure of the wood on these Epi's but the board is identical to the ones on my Epi SG Custom and Epi Fbird7. The neck is fatter like my brother's 56 goldtop Epi as opposed to the faster profiles on my axes. It came in an SKB case, but I payed 25 extra for it so as not to have to build a case for it. On my SG and Fbird I changed the wiring to be like a LP Std, cutting out the middle p/up-but I left this one stock, switching-wise.

This guitar suits what I do in the band well-gives me a powerful lead tone and a nice Clapton "woman" tone on the rhythm p/up with the tone turned almost off. I use this thru a Laney ProTube 50 watt head into and old Ampeg 412 with Eminence speakers. I use a small stone ,TS-9, and analog delay.It was noisy but I removed the p/up covers and potted them in wax and changed out the cheap selector. This axe is great for ballsy rhythm, but the lead sound was shrill until I potted the p/ups and removed the covers. The guitar also benefitted from a bone nut(I replaced the crap plastic nut on all 3 of my Epi's.) This guitar gets a very gutsy detailed and rich tone in all positions and at all settings. I especially like the middle selection as the guitar gets a Strat-like sound but with enough heft to still have some punch when riffing. I gotta say-I like it and it fits in well with not only my brother's p-90 fueled sound, but also compliments the tones of my Firebird and SG. I am giving it a tad lower score because of the switch's poor quality and the need for working on the pickups to get them gig-worthy

It came set up with .009's that I swapped for 11-52 guage. the action needed jacked up and I adjusted the rod for a bit more relief. My other Epi's had sort of rough fret ends but this one was fine as-is. The guitar has some discolered binding from the factory so it was a second. The grover tuners were nice but had to be adjusted a little tighter to hold in tune with the heavier strings. As mentioned above the selector and nut were changed, and the pickup covers removed and pickups wax potted as they sqealed. Keep in mind they were fine at normal levels, but onstage at very high volume they sqealed like a stuck pig...this is probably only a concern to those who plan on using this axe for high-powered hard rock at ferocious volume! Like me!

My Epi Firebird and SG Custom are ruad dawgs from hell and this LP is built even stouter! The gold hardware is wearing like mad as I sweat a lot, but that is the norm. The finish is thick and durable. I screw the strap directly to all my guitars. This sucker can take a beating, but I never would play a paying gig without a backup, as too much can and will go wrong. But, I think outside of a busted string this one is tuff enuff to handle anything I can dish out!

Used axes...never dealt with Epi/Gibson

I've been playing 10 yaers, taght by my brother Cyrus. Our band 3rd Strike plays a mix of original hard punk/rok and covers. I got this axe because we play high energy for 2-21/2 hours without a stop and 3 guitars makes it easier on our tech guy. If it were stolen, I'd get another as I like it. It looks better w/out the p/up covers in my opinion, and looks kick-ass sitting between my white Firebird and white SG. I cannot think of anything I hate about it. These Epi's need a few minor things to be working-musician-gig-ready, but they are cheap so upgrades aren't that painful! I recently bought a Les Paul Special with Humbuckers for 400 bucks and it was a sorry cheap piece of garbage-I was shocked!!. I'll stick with my hotrod EPIPHONES!!!

You've read them before surely! But grover tuners are good, tho not as pretty as the klusons i geuss.. 3 humbuckers and 3 way selector switch each distinctive with the mid setting mixing the bridge and mid PU but slightly outphased like the Gibson original,but different...more funky! Just solid!!

I play a lot of varied music from country to metal, mostly i play Sabbath style stuff tho. This guitar really suits those old school meaty riffs and because its such a fat fucking guitar it has tons of sustain...ooohhh yeah!! you'll want to play anything with vibrato with this, sounds just like Tony Iommi with the right gear! But honestly this guitar has great harmonics, sustain and that proper gutsy warm Les Pau tone you'd expect from such a lovely guitar! Versatile as a motherfucker!

This is my only problem... ok the thing is tho i bought this off the tinternet in my homeland of england for the awesome price of #350, i thought id have to pay #600!! so when it came i was still upset (pissed off) that all was not perfect. You see, these are mass produced, in Korea nonetheless, sooo the set is quite crap unless your lucky. At the moment it sounds great, it really does, but because of bad set up there was sum nasty buzzing etc. a bit of fiddlin solved that but im gonna have to get it professionally set up and id advise anyone buyin this guitar to do the same. You see my mate did and it brings the best out of a fantastic guitar. Also neck was filthy and near the edges look dodily done, but still it feels great. adn some minor flaws with the finnish (but hardly noticeable, still looks like summut u wanna shag). Still like i sed i cant really blame epiphone tho (lazy fuckers go eat shit and make sumfin with quality)

Gold hardware looks like its gonna come off pretty quick, so im being careful and im hopin i can make it last by doin nothing but lightly rubbing it from time to time to keep it buffed. I jump around a lot with it (even tho it is heavy, so get your weights out and do sum push ups while your waitin to get one!! I think its about 8lbs by the way) and its not broke,strap butons worked fine. black guitrs are a pain in the arse to keep clean and there are a few light scratches but has not chipped and i dont think it will, the finnish is quite thick. It is rock solid and to be honest i cant wait till the gold wears off and sum more scrtches pop on, because at the moment its a pretty beast

Haven't ad to. But i bet they're shit and i have to go to korea and get a translator to get any answers

Iv been playing for about four years but i strive to learn as much i can about the guitar and musical world, so i know the sounds of a quality guitar and this is one. this is my first decent guitar if you get me but it plays (if set up properly)just as nice as a gibson Les Paul, i don't see this as a budget gibson, just one for people with more brains than money. The amount of tone you get per buck with this guitar is awesome! Its Gibson thru and thru just cheaper. I also want a Gibson SG Voodoo next coz i love that guitar and its meaty riffage potential! but for the money you get great versatility, tone, sustain and blah , blah , blah!!! What you readin this for you dumb Bastard??!! Just go buy it!!!!!!

I have a recent model of the black beauty with grover tuners, 3 pickups, gold harware and all the other stuff.

I play mostly indie and punk stuff like fugazi and minor threat and it is perfect for it. I use various marshall combos and heads and it sounds so sweet clean and distorted with a nice bright sound. It has a good variety of sounds from soft melodies to screaming gain.

This guitar's action is beautiful. The finish is beautiful and everything plays extrememly well.

This guitar will definetly withstand the road but of course i wouldnt use it without a backup on the issue of string breakage. I know its heavy but all les pauls are, and you get used to the weight really easy and im tired of people complaining about it.

limited lifetime warranty never dealt with the company.

ive been playing for about four years and im 14. Ive played a lot of gibson and epiphone les pauls and i love them all and fortunately, since i dont have a lot of money, i can get an epiphone les paul that feels almost exactly like the gibsons for thousands less. If it were stolen and i couldnt find who stole it, id get my dad to get me a new one.

damn there are 50 other reviews with this same exact information look at them.

ok here we go... the whole thing sounded bassy, even with smaller strings on them, theeen i went to play with my band. the th9ing wudnt stop squeeling. anything above like music store amp loudness makes it squeeel. it sounded fine in teh store, but not with teh volume above 2.

everything was perfect, except i had to lower the middle pickup becasue my pick wouold hit it when i was playing.

if the sound didnt suck shit, i wud use it without backup, its very reliable, and everything is solid. it did chip right on the heal tho but just a little one and i covered it up wil a black sharpie :-)

i bought this from zzounds. when i called them abouit my feedback problem they answered instantly, and gave some advice that moght help, and then when that didnt work, i called back, they answered emediatly and refered me to a gibson liscensed workshop right near my house. when he couldnt fix it either, they gave my a 100% refund.

giving that i had to send it back becasue it sounded bad im gonna give it a six. if it didnt squeel this baby wudda had a ten

it's a remake of the gibson '56 LP.22 frets. arched top mahogany of course. 2 volume, 2 tone, 3-way switching.
rythm-neck, middle- middle, treble- bridge.
alnico magnet humbuckers.
i dont know- haha.
mahogany neck, mahogany body, mahogany top.
black satin-like finish.
LP body style...oohh yes. i love that so much.
stop-bar tailpiece.
grover tuners.
mahogany neck, i dunno what kind of frets.
hardshell case and a gibson lightning strap got bought along with the bad boy.

it suits my style completely. i can have 3 different volume levels with the 3-way/ pickup arrangement. i play christian rock/ praise and im so stinkin proud of it. Jesus rocks.

i mic a little 30w rogue cg-30r amp at my youth group and play through some behringer v-amp2(effects tweaked exactly to my tastes.)

it's passive on middle and very strong on the rythm.

very deep gutsy rythm sound. yet i can still get great lead tones when i want to.

tons of variety. heck i have 3 humbuckers!

love the gold hardware. i've heard that it fades, but hey everything in life does except for Jesus.

i took it to my guitar lesson after i got it and my teacher didnt have to make any neck/ action/ intonation adjustments. GREAT JOB EPI!!

the pickups didnt need adjustment. another great job by epi.

very proper;y bookmatched top. properly routed bridge.

no flaws whatsoever.

its passed the live play test wonderfully.

the hardware is solid as a rock as far as i'm concerned.

the finish will last for a long time. it's put on pretty thick.

the strap buttons gold finish is starting to wear. but i don't care.

i depend on it more than my jackson dx-10d reverse.

i would use it gigging with no backup without a doubt.

never dealt with em but they sure do know how to make guitars!!

haven't had to repair anything yet. i still have the warranty and it's lifetime.

i've been playing close to 3 yrs. and i own an old sigma acoustic, a jackson dx-10d reverse, a peace 5-piece zion series drumset, a zildjian 4 piece ZBT+ rock pack, a pearl sensitone custom classic(discont.), and a zxt splash.

i wouldve asked the retailer why in the heck don't you charge more for this??!?!

i would definitely buy another if it was stolen/ broke/ lost.

i love the gold hardware, classic gibby sound, and the weight.

i compared it to the gibson LP faded special and the BB had way more features and quality.

i wish it had a blender and pizza oven built-in to it. but, yeah you can't be that happy.

i'd like to thank gibson for making this guitar and for it's features and Jesus Christ for giving me my musical ability to play this guitar for his name and glory! JESUS ROCKS HARDER THAN ANY BAND OR INDIVIDUAL EVER COULD!!