Epiphone Les Paul Custom Black Beauty

2009 Les Paul Custom with 3 PUps, Made in China
Standard Epiphone Les Paul Custom features (see below)

Sounds good right out of the box.
I swapped the neck PU for a GFS PAT Hot as I had one sitting in my drawer. Much better and fuller tone, though louder than the other two.
I wonder what a set of 3 Duncand would make to this little guy.

I tested it with a Fender Twin Reissue and a Fender 70s SuperTwin.
Compared to my 1981 Gibson Les Paul Custom it sounds a little bit muffled and unfocused, but a little twiking at the EQ enhances the tone.

My Gibson is far better, though when I bought it used in 1984 for really cheap, it sounded HORRIBLE.
It bloomed 10 years ago, I guess it has to do with the wood aging.

Anyway I find this Epiphone to be a MUCH better deal for the money!!

I was ready for a complete setup when I got the axe, and I've been really amazed when I released that it was almost perfect, action, intonation, etc.
The Pickups were well adjusted, the tuners do their job (though they don't FEEL like REAL Grovers).
Bridge and tailpiece look the part, we'll see in the future.
I guess I'll replace the nut with a bone one, but at the moment I can live with this one.
Finish is flawless.

We'll see.
It will be one of my spares, so it should last long

I first played a Gibson in 1972. It was a 2PUps black Les Paul Custo.
I borrowed it from the guitar player I had to replace in "the best band in town", but I got sick so the band broke up and I never bought it from him. My dad bought me a Goldtop a few months later, and I had several SGs and Les Paul since then (not countin all the Fenders, a Guild, a Rickenbacker and more).
I have also owned a few Epiphones, a 67 Casino, and many Japanese and Korean Epiphones. Except for the 67 (which was fantastic, but too dangerous to carry on the road) I alway got sick of all those eastern EPIs, as none was up to my "serious" guitars, even after upgrades.
A few of them were real tuning and intonation nightnares.
I'm sure I've been lucky to get a guitar way above average.
Or maybe Chinese crafters have learned how to make guitars.

Anyway, I wish I could have this one in 1972....
With the money saved, I could have bought a REAL amp one year earlier!!!

Same features as listed, the most important of which are those three glorious pick-ups and those grover machine heads, for the price i paid for this beauty its perfect.

It has a rich, warm, chunky tone which begs you to play more, when its clean you stick it in rhythm and it gobbles up any blues riffs you throw at it perfectly, when distorted i keep it in treble which uses the bridge and centre pick-ups which begs you to play blues, rock, or metal and it just oozes a quality tone and sustains for days on end.....

This is just about the only one of my guitars that didn't require any setting up. so far as i can see it's flawless

Its actually really well made, considering it's chineseive had it six months now and even after gigging it's pretty much as new, the mahogany is tough so there are no dents in the wood and the finish seems thick enough to stop any scratches from showing.

Never needed it.

I know it may seem like i've fallen in love with guitar giving it such rave reviews above, but thats cos it really is the dog's bollocks, it feels like a gibson, i mean if you just sat down and played the thing and you were told it was an epiphone, you would tell the person to shut the hell up and leave my gibson alone....

I have a Epi Black Beauty (Epi's reissue version of the 1957 Gibson LP custom) There seems to be some inconsistent descriptions, perhaps happened through the years. Mine was made in Mexico. I should preface this by saying that I never really liked Les Paul guitars, they just did not do it for me and seemed really bottom heavy. One day I was waiting at a shop and picked this one up, I was surprised that it felt great, I then tried out all the LP's both Epi and Gibson, the only other LP from anyone that I liked better was the Gibson version of the same guitar, but I did not feel it was worth the extra money for a gibson version. This is a very strudy guitar, it has a set mahogany neck which gives it lots of natural sustain.
The ebony fretboard is nice and the abalone fretboard inserts and logo are very nice looking. As it has standard controls I am not commenting on a rating for features, nothing bad, nothing special.

I have owned this guitar for about 2 years, I have several other guitars for different types of playing and sound. I often change pickups out on my guitars but not on this one. I like the sound of the stock pickups, in fact it is the only guitar I have ever played where playing through all 3 pups at the same time actually sounds good. There seems to be a lot of opinions on the pickups in these guitars, but I notice that there are a lot of old reviews and guitars that were made in other factories while mine came from Mexico. Set up correctly this is my go to guitar, meaning if I want to play through something this is the guitar that stays in tune with no locking device, just Grover tuners, if you dont knock the tuners in to something it is always in tune, even if you hammer on the strings. It can sound great playing totally clean or distorted up to a point, if you want the more agressive pickups I would buy a different guitar, assuming that your BB has the same pups that mine came with. It gives me a sort of standard that I can play items I am considering purchasing through because it is sort of middle of the road as far as how much gain the pups have and it reveals the real sound from the device you are checking out. This guitar is at its best playing chords, it does not have a particularly fast neck, but that is why I have more than one guitar, for metal I use a Jackson. One thing I have found out and hope to steer people away from is some of the other Epiphone LP's, it does not cost much more to get a Black Beauty than some of Epi's other line of LP's and they do not have as nice a neck or construction as the BB, so if you are considering buying an Epi LP, make sure you try this particular one before you buy one, it is worth the few extra bucks.

My BB is built like a tank, that is how it gets such a great amount of natural sustain, and depending on the strings and amp you can get really nice sound out of it, personally I just leave all 3 pups on the time. The fit and finish are excellent, like any guitar, especially ones that are not super expensive, most guitar shops dont set up or even tune guitars, they just stick them on a rack, so the only way you are going to get the most out of any guitar is to have a really good luthier do a full set up on it, professional guitar players have this done, it brings your guitars attributes out and solves any perceived playing issues. My guitars finish is just like the day I bought it and none of the gold metal plated parts, which are all the metal parts have not flaked or lost their finish so far.
No noise from any of the electronics.

Like I said, built like a tank, dont be clumbsy and knock the tuners in to something and you will be fine.

Have not needed to contact them, but have talked to the Gibson hotline and they seem down on the Epi, it is like they are back pedaling on the Black Beauty, my first call to them had him telling me that in fact I did not even own a Black Beauty! It was sitting in my lap and I was reading off the name plate to him, yes I do have one. I think Gibson who owns Epiphone may be wishing that they did not offer such a good guitar as it eats in to their profits for the Gibson version, just my opinion from talking to the person at Gibson.
For the poor attitude and arguing with a customer about one of thier guitars I bought I have to give them a zero. It is likely just one bad apple, but that is who they had me talk to so.....

If you like LP's and can afford one of these and you dont play something that requires the neck profile for speed such as a USA Jackson, then try one, try to demo it with your own amp if possible and make your decision with your own fingers and ears, at 597 out the door new I think I got a lot of LP for my money.

This is a very beautiful guitar. It has all the standard features of Les Paul guitar execpt from gold hard ware, grovers machine heads and three humbucking alinco magnet pickups. Body wood is mahogany with alder top while the fret board is of rose wood probably painted black thus giving it a ebony wood look. This guitar is made in Korea, year of production 2005. It has a fat round neck which does not seem to me a fast neck, however I found it quite good for warm and long string sustian purpose. It has no coil tap switches for making the sound of humbucking pickups to single coil tone.

I found the sound of this guitar very impressive. It easily produces rich/full and bright sounds. But it is not that bright as compared to any Les Paul with a carved maple top. This guitar is capable of producing all kind of sounds from Hard rock, rock, bluses and country music styles. It is a very quiet guitar with excellent sheilding and does not make any noise at any volume level. It has very impressive pickups with alico magnets which produces warm and sweet sounds. The middle pickup is a brillant sounding pickup if you play it in clean amp setting. It has a very sweet, round and bell like tone somewhat like a vintage single coil pickup. I simply love it. This guitar has a brillant singing sustain. The overall sound quality of this guitar is great.

The factory set up of this guitar is perfect. I found the action very comfortable and fast. The pickups are being adjusted at factory with complete accuracy. Overall action and fit of guitar is excellent. I rather did not like the gold plated hard ware as it does not seem to me durable. Some brown spot stains have appeared on the gold hard ware after using it just for few months. I am a very guitar caring person and I am afraid that the quality is only lacking right here. The gold plating is also thin which is wearing off quickly especially tail piece and its studs. I did not like the high sharped edged saddles of tune-o-matic bridge which tend to irritate the palm of right hand. On first day of its purchase I found a chipping of paint in small spot near the neck heal. For action and fit I will give it 10 and for finish it is 9.

This is real robust guitar. I can use it anywhere, anytime no problem for me.

I live in Pakistan and I found their customer support not good atall. They never replied my emails. Once I seeked help from their China customer support, they only guided me but directly not offered any help. In this sense the Yamaha and Behringer are great people. They try to understand your problem and finally provide you tremendous support even if they have to go out of the way to help you. So both Yamaha & Behringer arranged suppliers against my requests and delivered me the equipments in Pakistan.

I have been playing for the last 27 years. I have lot of gears like Yamaha Studio Lord SL400S copy of Les Paul 1980, Yamaha AES620, Yamaha Pacifica 412V, Ovation CS257 electric acoustic, Fender D6 twelve string guitar, Yamaha FG470S, Yamaha amps G50 112 III, Yamaha JX50, Fender FM212R and Behringer ultra acoustic amp ACX-900. Lot of Boss effect pedals, Zoom G1, MXR dyna comp, Danelectro tuna melt tremolo, Ibanez CS9 chorus, Ibanez SD9 sonic distortion, Seymour duncan woody pickup. If this guitar is lost I would buy it again because it is a very well build guitar with lot of sweet and powerful tones. I love the most about it is the tonal quality. I hate the sharped edged saddles on the bridge which hurt your right hand palm. I wish it would have coil tap switch for pickups and a slim-fast tappered neck.

I don't think it really comes with any hardware on it that is amazing.
As I said earlier, if you can afford to change the pickups, the nut, the machine heads, the saddles, it would be a VERY good idea. The guy who set it all up for me commented that after making the alterations he didn't really think there was much of a difference between this and a USA gibson.
The important thing to think about is that the construction, the body, and the neck are high quality.
You could possibly get away with just changing the pickups and the machine heads.

I play Rock/metal. Tool, Radiohead, Foo fighters style stuff.
I'm using a JCM 800 head running through a Rivera quad. I use assorted effects, mainly the best stuff. Sovtek Big Muff (the green) Boss SD1, Jim dunlop crybaby, BOSS DD20, Ibanez flanger(80s), BOSS GE7 EQ.
It gets a great thick sound. Lots of variations available.
The only thing I don't really like is the shape of the headstock, I wish it looked the same as a USA les paul custom... you can't have everything at this pricerange.

I bought the guitar second hand so I can't really comment on the setup. I doubt it would be that good from the factory.
The pickups were junk, I didn't even bother with them. I changed them to Dimarzio evolutions which are the BOMB!
It was second hand so I can't really comment on the fish. Mine had scratches, brand new it would be pretty damn good i'd say.
I changed the nut, the saddles, the machine heads. They were pretty cheap.

This guitar rocks live. I've given it some pretty rough playing. It can take it. I'd never throw it around or anything stupid like that so I wouldn't know.
I put strap locks in it, they were ok. (Always use straplocks kids!)
The finish is excellent. I've been using it for 7 years and haven't seen any wearing. The gold hardware fades but I don't care about that sort of thing.
It's a very dependable guitar. I have a backup for gigs but would only change guitars if I broke a string.

Haven't needed to contact them, the guitar is totally solid.

I've been playing for about 15 yrs. If it was stolen I'd probably want to find something a little more unique like an Ibanez pre lawsuit Les paul, or a USA les paul custom. I'm a left handed player so finding stuff like that is a hard task.
If I was gigging a lot more often and touring and was doing music professionally I'd buy the real USA stuff but at this point this is fine. It's totally awesome for recording as well. With a good rig and good effects it sounds as good as a USA gibson.

My black beauty has 22 frets, 2 humbuckers2 volume, 2 tone and a three way it was a major step up from my first guitar. the neck size is perfect it's awsome to play and the frets holy shit there amzing perfect size for me.

This beast suits my style which is heavy metal all the way it plays heavy like a dream. the sound is perfect for playing metal escpecially with some ghs zakk wylde strings. the only thing i dont like about this baby is that the sqeals are hard to find but thatsnormal just have to treasure hunt a little.

The only thing that i would change would be that theres a slight bend in the neck but doesnt make fret buzz. Its an amazing guitar.

This guitar is one of the best ive ever played with i had a jam sessionand it performed beautifly playing metallica and iron maiden and it took everything i could give it. It actaully took a fall when i had to go get one of my pedals but there were no marks on it at all it was crazy.

ive only been playing a year im fourteen this was my second guitar my old guitar was a fender starcaster. i would never ever seel it its with me forever i would never trade it for anything i love you warm full tone when playing master of puppets.

I have had the BB (mine called B to spare blushing moments in me vs. other more experianced band confrontations lol) for almost 6 months now and am quite confident in saying i wont buy another beast for atleast 2/3 years until i become mega good and have to get a better sound. though epi have pulled out some dastardlt stops in presenting us with a 3 humbucker guitar, and for the price i paid, its well worth all the effort in finding one and playing. Having said that 'features' wise, u have to remember its a les paul anyway, so its quite standard and only real equipment can actually pull it forward of competiors.

i play a great vaired mix, having only had a (peice of sh..) squire strat, i wanted something harder than the twang-fest. the sound is great/ fatastic, and with every harder song i play, seem to lurch forth, now iam only limited to its suspect bridge and my amp. WHICH brinhs me to my only quaril with this fantastic machine. the bridge isnt the best, ive tried stepping it up and down with the screws b4 u say, it makes things worse, so whats the problem, well, iam fingerly impared lol, from my dads side, my middle fingers is a mere 2 and 1/2 inches long and ikkle finger? forget it lol. and its clear that the bridge cant recieve the higher note put onto it, in retrospective, it only just manages in standard tuning, so if u wanted to do a DAGDAD tuing like kashmir, get a new pickup. Iv just put a seymour d's JB to reach the metal feel (which it lacked in ernst) to compensate and seems to be the replacement i needed. if there was any other problem, it would be the middles to average sounding and a P90 for 'rock' would be needed if you was playing on some real stages.

I almost forgot, CHORD HEAVEN!

overall, Blues/ Jazz/ Rock'n'Roll/ early days metal/ thrash requires re-tuning to C's n D's alot but obtainable, but new bridge pup essential first buy along with a 20 quid lead and clip-on straps (just thinking about your toes if this thing falls on em lol)
i give it a 7 cos its only stockware isnt it, so you cant rate it highly, but they arent that bad anyway + they where designed by gibson 7 years ago, so its LIKE having a gibson that doesnt pick up retuned really high notes i guess

excelence in all areas, i was going to get a zakk wylde guitar cos of its finish when i was les paul shopping, then i saw the cellest of the BB, a little stip shine and this baby can be seen for miles and is so amazing, iam findnig it hard to really get the message accross, the crappy picture on the webiste doesnt do it justice, gorge one word. the paints really thick too cos i dropped a stanley knife on it and it scored the work, but its only noticeable when u get up close, no chipping, nothing, relief was great.

as above, you will need clip on straps cos of the weight, and apperance is everything, coupled with the sound, you'd look like u knew was doing to have this on a stage

this guitar stands me thashing it around 3 hours of every day, every week and so on, its withstood so much battering and punishment (spesh from me, i can destroy anything given a few weeks given beer weed and some heavy music) with the new JB in replacement for the bidge iam quietly confident of being on a stage by myself, and deff for solo's, B takes me to places a strat dreams of when its lying in its cold undecorated student flat with only a plate of stale re-fried beans for sustinace. That good lol. i want to play as rhythm/ lead in a band to truely get out every facet of this near perfect intermediate~experianced only with age. quality machine

well, she aint let me down yet, even if it was falsy advertised by aireguitars.co.uk for having actual gibson burstbuckers, shame rele.

nothing left to say rele, for the tiny price, Must be warned ive seen it as much as 700-800 quid in shops, which is a ripoff LONG LIVE EBAY! i cant ever stress the value of my instrument and is a perfect guitar for solid sounds and heavy chord playing, trust me, i had a good go around atleast 15 strats of vairous makes etc, the custom had me the first time i strummed Iron man. pure heavy rock. must dash to uni lol, enjoy the reveiw, you wont be dissapointed if you invest in one of these. in a years time, you'll be next to tony iommi lol, maybe a steve vai in 26 years hahahah

2002 Epiphone
Les Paul Custom BLK BTY. Just picked it up,I've wanted one for years.I didn't feel like dropping 2,000 + for a Gibson.It has the 3 Gibson alnico pickups in it.Although I don't really belive stickers that come on guitars. The frets and hardware are just like every other gibson\epiphone that I've played.
The body is either mahogany or lead! Good thing I'm a big guy.This guitar is not for a beginer.

The guitar sounds good. I use it for blues , it has that solid body sustain that my "srats" lack.The pickups are louder than the ones on my single coil eqtp. guitars.The neck pkp sounds warm and rich, while the middle is just warm. The bridge pkp gets loud and very trebley.It also depends on how you attack the strings. I use it with a 74 fender bandmaster, a maxon ds2,a dod corosion, and a crybaby wah.The DS2 tubescreamer type dist do it no service for leads ,but the DOD pedal makes it sing for days on end.

The guitar was set up good, I played it for 15 min. then bought it. The only flaw the guitar had that I noticed in the store was to much clear coat on the head stock. Has a hazeyness to it. The G and B stings go out of tune.But I play alot of Buddy Guy type leads so thats my fault!!!

I just picked her up on Jan. 25 04 so we will see. A guitar this nice has to have straplocks.I never go to a gig without a backup guitar. But we will see the longer I own this blk bty.

N\A

I've been playing for 10 years. Other guiatrs are all fender.I should of waited for a sale, but then again everything that has to Guitars has gone up in price this year.

Good job I've no criticism of Eastern guitars, as this baby hails from Korea. Couldn't tell you when it was built, as I've only just treated myself to it. Like any other Les Paul, it's got 22 frets and the top is, I believe, made of mahogany (judging by the weight). Nothing unusual about the controls - two volumes, two tones and a three-way. The pickups are okay - not duff, but not special either - and the circuitry does what it says on the tin. Embarrassment time - my one reason for getting a black model was to look cool, like Huey Morgan from Fun Lovin' Criminals (not that I resemble him, although I do wear a black suit on gigs). I'm actually a long-term strat fancier whose main axe is a black Squier Silver Series model (see my review), so this is a bit of a departure for me, but I like the feel of the neck and thankfully the weight's not too heavy - I don't have a bad back, but I'm getting on a bit... The tuners, like all the metal, are gold plated, which looks nice at first but as my sweaty digits wear it off, it'll look dodgy. Might have to wear gloves on string chages...

My guitar playing is confined to solo gigs in bars and clubs, where I cover pretty much everything. I've not gigged it yet but a rehearsal in my garage suggests that it'll do just as well as my strat without sounding anything like it. The twin humbucker sound is still a bit of a new beast to me (apart from a brief liaison with a Sheraton) but I'm finding good tones every time I plug in at home. My main thing is rhythm so that's always my main concern - I like the sound. I can't really comment on the lead sound as that's more to do with the specific patch on my pedalboard, but I've no problems there either. I did think of getting the pickups tapped but on reflection, I can't see the point as I already own a strat. The only real criticisms I'd level are those you'd throw at any Les Paul (apart from the weight) - accessibility of the top fret (and I've got long fingers!), shorter scale if you're used to Fenders... but it's all academic, really.

Someone at the factory had me in mind when they set this up! I found it with a fab action - does it help that the shop I got it fom hang all their guitars by the head (not all of them do)? The pickups seem fairly well matched to me, although if you tap 'em, it comes through your amp. I guess they can always be changed, although I'd rather not consider that yet. I've gone over it with a fine-toothed comb and couldn't find any flaws - everything works as it should. Black guitars do pick up fingermarks really easily but that's something I'll have to endure

Not having gigged it yet, I can't tell how it'll stand up to a few shows - I reckon the build will be up to it although the finish might not last the distance - we'll see. I'll probably change the strap buttons as a matter of course as these are slightly too big for the staplocks I always fit as standard. I don't see why I shouldn't depend on it

Having only just bought it, I hope I won't have to contact the company quite yet, thank you.

This is the latest in a long-arse line of guitars I've owned in the 27 years I've been playing - this and the aforemention Squier strat will now be all I need. If I lost it, yes I'd try and get another; I certaibnly wouldn't get a Gibson as I've got to watch my back (I'm very tall and quite skinny). OK, I know it's sad to buy a particular guitar to look cool, but thankfully it's a good axe anyway! If you really want criticism, wait until I've had it for a while and I'll try and nit-pick for you!

This is an update on my last review, ive since put a Di Marzio PAF Classic HB in the bridge position, and its the best sounding guitar i own! Even out sings my gibson!

With the new pickup, all the power it was lacking for heavy chord work is gone, now has shed loads of bite, and the muddyness has gone from the lead playing, even inspired me to start learning some proper solos! Ive recently been playing it through my Boss BD-2 pedal and somebody elses vox ac30, and it sounds absolutely amazing! I can hear a huge improvement when i put it through my peavey, but i was amazed at how good this sounds through a really good amp!

Same as before, plays beautifully, only now with the sound i want.

The new pickup is the only thing thats changed, and for what it cost it should be reliable. Seems to be very well made, and when plugged in, i can tap my pick on the neck and middle (both stock epi p'ups) and the tapping will come through the amp, however, do the same on the di marzio and you hear nothing! baffles me quite why, but im not complaining.

erghhh......i dont even wanna think about it, the thought of my poor baby needing professional help makes me sad,lol.

It was a good sounding guitar, great playing, well made and stunning looking guitar before the pickup change. The new pickup is as identical in appearance to the old as i could get, so its still stunning looking, it still plays like a dream, and its still made to survive a nuclear holocaust, but now it sounds awesome!!! I still stand by my previous thoughts, no need to buy a gibson when, with a little bit of help, this surpasses them in all the important areas!

as covered by others

No humm and such sound is decent varity is good too

Intone was good as I said action was good Finish Is THICK LIke its been dipped in it Frets were good Switch is loose in the middle setting but its a design flaw not a Manufactuing flaw The Fret board Has a gap But the finish is so thick it filled it in it has no square edges where wood mounts because the finish is sooo thick. The nut was made improperly But that can easily be fixxed

As given By others But these gutiars seem to vary

Since mine has a Mahogany Top on it Gibson Designed Pickups dipped in wax Mine Has Grover tuners Pearl inlay on the fretboard and head stock

For the price cant be beat

Its Versitile As hell Sounds good for Metal Rock What ever Im running it though a Traynor Ycv 40 T No hum at ALL The sound is Rich And it sustains like Few
For the price It sounds amazing

Action and intonation were both great The frets Were pretty good Only one could be critizited Finish Was great there were a Few Hard to find flaws but none affect its sound or are noticable till you Look like nuts Like the head stock had the littlest flaw in the point. The pick Guard Has a slight Chip.
Everything else was good Except the fact these guitars arent 100% consistant Mine has a Mahogony Top while others have alder Personally I would Rather have Mahogony

Built Like a tank and it weighs like one too Tuners Are grovers Which will last a heck of a long time Iv Heard of The switches/pots failing Both are cheap so its not a big deal to me Finish is Thick But glossy Seems like it will last Strap Buttons are good and gold I would Depend on it 100% if I swapped out the switches

N/A

All in All Its Not a gibson But it is nearly as good

2002 korean made les paul. Mahgonany and alder body, carved top and set mahognoy neck, all finsished in ebony (black to normal people!). 22 frets, all easily accessable. 3 humbuckers, 2 tone and 2 volume pots and a 3 way toggle switch. P'ups are epiphone passive HB's, which are nice, but cud do with being a little stronger. Kluson type tuners, finshed in gold like the tunomatic n stoptail.

Its ok for what i play, nice rich tone, especially on the neck and a bright treble tone on the bridge, but i find that the middle selection is a bit weak and i always get a noticable drop in volume, even with all the knobs on 10. Sustains for ever, which is great, and chord work is great on this, but lead stuff gets a bit muddy and with a lot of drive on it gets quite noisy, but im a rhytm player so it doesnt really bother me. Much more variety in sound than my ibanez, but this has more knobs and pickups so i was pretty much expecting that.

I got it second hand, but it was set up beautifully, plays like a dream! Pickups are nice and high and the ebony finish is flawless! The bridge, tuners, pickups, neck joint etc are all really solid and i reckon this thing cud survive a war!

Built like a brick s##t house! Invincable! The most solid guitar ive ever played, inspires new confidence after my POS peavey buggered up on me!

Havent dealt with, ive only had it a few weeks.

Great guitar, very versatile, but im not that versatile so it's capable of doin much more than it is at the mo. First time i plugged this in i had my amp and pedals set up for heavy metal on my ibanez, and this sounded so heavy! Unbelievable! Scared the s##t outta me! lol Im used to it now and its a great rhythm guitar and its not to shabby at not so showy solos cos of the sustain and tone. Id definately buy another, i love this to bits! So well balanced, so well finshed, so good to look at! If you really want a Gibson but like me cant afford 1, and you've got any sense about you, buy 1 of these, people often say there no better than any other copies, but trust me, the fact that GIbson own epiphone and theyre the only company legally allowed to directly copy the design you get so much attention to detail its unbelievable! Buy one of these and keep it for years to come, it'll serve you just as well as a gibbo without empting your wallet!

Ok, I have a 2002 Made In korea, Les Paul Black beauty....and I love it!. I've got standard Gibson Pickups In it. Its comes with 2 Volume, 2 Tone. Locking Tuners, Real Fast Neck..all in all great guitar.

Great metal, Rock, Punk, blues, pretty much any style you need...it has the lack of any type of "whammy sound" if your looking for that, I'd say i like verything about the sound

The Finish is great...except I've come to find out, the chemicals in your sweat does a Number on the gold humbuckers, and wil lstart to discolor them, just make sure you wipe off ur guitar, once ur done wrecking havoc on it, also, on the black, smudges and fingerprints, also dust shows up easily. Tuners were a little flimsy, but just need to tightened same with Input jack.

I'm Very Careful with my guitars.....so i wouldn't know, because I haven't dropped it.

I've been playing for 3 years, I own the Black beauty, an Aria Pro II XR Series, and a Epiphone Sg Bully. I run it Through a Crate GFX1200 Full head on a 412 full stack. I love this guitar, its a good buy.

I've had this guitar for about 2&1/2 years. Korean-made Les Paul with an extra humbucker in the middle. Most stock Epiphone harware is sort of low budget, and this is no real exception. The pickups have all sorts of microphonics, and while wax potting fixes some of that, it doesn't fix the cruddy tone. I personally disdain Epiphone pickups for any other purpose besides filling the pickup cavities Something to be cleared up: the stock 3-way selector is wired 1-Bridge/ 2-Bridge-Middle/ 3-Neck. Tuners, tailpiece, etc. are all OK, nothing special, nothing horrid

I replaced the middle p/u with a PRS HFS, which goes a long way toward making the guitar a better instrument. As previously stated, the major downfall of this guitar is the stock pickups, but the rest of the guitar seems to work quite hard to make up for their shortcomings.

OK setup from the factory. The fret ends weren't dressed too well, and there was some noting out on the 19th fret, but these were easily remedied.

Tough guitar, this one. The tuners don't strike me as the most durable, but they've held up for me so far. The rest of the hardware is sturcturally durable, but the gold is quite prone to wearing off (just like 98% of most gold hardware these days). My strap button holes stipped quite early-on, but again, no big thing. You'd be hard pressed to find a more solidly built guitar--this thing wieghs about a metric ton. Smack your bass player around with it, the guitar will take it.

Haven't dealt with 'em.

Overall quite a good guitar. Not great, not crap. With proper electronic modification it has the potential to be a much better instrument than the price would suggest. Solid, versatile, pretty good looking (especially if you like gold). Nice.

Ordered from Musicians friend made in Korea, 22 frets, 2 volume 2 tone
v&t for bridge, v&t shared for neck & mid , this model has stopbar tailpiece, and three way selector the thing is wired for bridge, all or mid neck, but I fixed that, has epiphone 57classic copy pickups sound OK have a sort of weak vintage tone not horrible very meaty but weak, finish is all black and again is OK not great look at the price for pete's sake but not horrible but anyway I bought it because I could afford to mod & rod it a bit but sounded fine as is.

It is a good bluesey sound but again the pickups are kind of weak
I use it through a Marshall JCM 2000 DSL 100 and 1960B 412 sounds great need no other effects the amp IS THE TONE the pickups are wired a bit funny but this is the vintage way, doesn't allow much versatility so would personnally change that, since purchase I have found the desire to mod the guitar by adding a 500T in the bridge position and a 496R in the Neck Position both wired switched to the same set of V&T controls, and a 57 Classic plus in the Middle hotwired
to its own discrete V&T setup for blendability and the ability to select any pickup alone or all if I want, I also play it through a 62 fender concert head and it sounds great through that as well again I use no effects but have played it through a GSP 21 legend (as a practice amp)and it works fine too sounds good even better with the new pickups.

Factory setup was no good for me however I want everything setup like my 54 Strat well you get it I like all of you have a personal like or dislike for me it was just too high tones got muted etc. so I lowered it has been fine since I got it setup like I want the pickups were a little low which might have accounted for their weekness I raised thenm but ended up changing them.

has done fine so far have had no problems would trust it for live duty and have. always have a spare handy anyway. finish is a good poly fairly durable. I change everything to straplocks so I have no problem with buttons.

N/A I do all my own work.

I have been playing a long time and bought the guitar because it was inexpensive and I could afford to mod it out for my purpose it was a ten as is I would give it a ten it seems decent for a beginner or a seasoned players backup/backup or a second axe for an intermediate player

I just bought a 1998 Les Paul black beauty which is made in Korea. It has 22 frets which are nicely layed in the Rosewood fingerboard. It has the standard Les Paul layout (two vol. and two tone and a 3 way Pickup selector), however the 3 way toggle is different. The treble selector is the bridge pickup, the middle selection is the middle pickup and the rhythm selector is the neck pickup. The frets aren't as flat as the vintage Gibson Black Beautys, but they still are nice and low, allowing even an amateur to fly around the fretboard. The tuners are relatively cheap, since the "G" and "B" strings go out of tune frequently. I don't know if it's because the strings are new or what. It has a Bigsby style bridge, but Epiphone calls it something like vibro-tone or something. It too causes it to go out of tune.

This guitar suits my style very well, in that it sounds wonderful distorted and especially clean. I play most musical styles including Blues, Rockabilly, Rock and roll, Alternative and Ska, and this works wonderfully in association with my strat. The pickups DID feed back in high gain settings, but I got them "waxed" or something, and that cured it. The guitar has a rich, bright sound, and the pickups are quite sensitive, allowing intricate fingering patterns. It can produce a variety of sounds, most of which I like.

When I got the guitar, it was set up very well, with a VERY low action (the old black beauties were often know as fretless wonders because their frets were so low) which allows easy fingerings. The pickups were well adjusted, and sound great. The finish is flawless, however I might replace the nut, which I think is causing me string slippage.

Right now, it doensn't hold tune too well, but I think it will when I get the nut changed. I think that the hardware will last, but as with every guitar, the gold will come off. I replaced the strap buttons with schaller strap locks, just for safety. I would depend on this guitar because has amazing tone, and great value. I always take a back up to a gig incase I break a string, but other than that, I would rely on this beast.

I haven't dealt with them, so I don't know.

Overall, this is one awesome guitar. it plays Absolutely amazing, and sounds even better, and looks stunning. The only beef is the nut which is cheap to replace and the factory strings are crap (very minor, but I had to find something wrong with it.) I played it through a fender blues deluxe, Ampeg reverberocket and a marshall solid state piece-o-crap and they all sounded good. Most importantly, you MUST READ THIS. Do not replace the pickups, just get them dipped in wax at the music store. IT will completly get rid of all shreiky feedback, and greatly improve your tone. I paid $50 canadian for my 3 pickups which is a lot cheaper that $100 per Seymour Duncan Pickup. just trust me on this one. :)