Epiphone Les Paul Standard Flame Top

Not sure what year but around 2000 i guess. Got it used. Made in Korea. 22 Medium Jumbo Frets. Carved Top with a Maple flame - cherry sunburst. Mahogany back and neck with a rosewood fingerboard. Neck is fat similar to a 59. Ordinary looking trapezoid inlays. Binding on the neck and body, quite thick aswell. Usual controls, pups and bridge. What distinguishes this model from the rest is that it's a bolt on and has chrome tuners rather than the useluss ugle plastic ones. The bolt on neck has been done very well and the sustain is there just like a set-in neck.

Good for blues with the neck, classic rock and hard rock. But the pups do need to be changed. I'll give an update when i do. But at the moment the sound is full, a little muddy however, the bridge is a bit too raspy. Sounds much better than strats i reckon(too thin for my tastes) i play it through a Marshall Silver Jubilee, which i will be replacing since its too much for home use and more suited to harder edged late 80s stuff.

Slight buzzing on the low E, and well if u hit the strings hard there will be buzzing in many places, therefore setup wasnt brilliant. Pup heights are adjusted fine, the maple top is matched nicely, everything else is solid - input jack, switch, tone and vol controls, nut is good and the tuners are excellent. Good binding job aswell.

Dont play live so i wouldnt know. Hardware looks lastable but mahogany wont last as long as alder in terms of durability. Maple top looks like it will last. Strap buttons are ok. Always have a back up tho.

I've owned a 88 MIJ squier strat whose neck i prefer, but with the bolt on neck this lp has, i could get one custom made and replaced if i want. If it was stolen i would save up for a tokai because i reckon japanese guitars have greater quality over the korean stuff. Compared to the strat tho the sound is much more full and round, and usable.

This one was made in 96, I believe. I bought it used off of eBay, but in great condition. It's a cherry sunburst flametop finish that is absolutely beautiful. When I got this one, I had only been playing a couple years and was upgrading from my Samick. I loved it. Now when I look back on it (and compare it to my Fender MIA Strat), I see just how much it sucks! Well...not that bad, but the tuners are really lousy. Leave it to Epiphone to put on some crappy plastic tuners that keep breaking. They do a lousy job of staying in tune and frankly, I'm sick of tuning the thing! After about 6 months, the pickups started falling into the pickup holes. This is an easy fix, but the quality leaves a bit to be desired. The stock pickups sound just like stock pups on an Epi should. Muddy. I bought it for about $400, and I still think I payed too much. Don't let this sway you, this guitar is just fine for a beginner...but I wouldn't buy another Epi LP unless someone showed me a good one. Again, the finish was beautiful and the binding seems to be good.

As stated above, the stock pups left a lot to be desired. For a beginner, they sound just fine...but as you progress they just won't do.

The setup (when I received the guitar) was actually way too high...but I can't blame that on the factory...just the previous owner. The only flaw I really saw in this guitar was the hardware.

Still in one piece. The tuners break way too easily, but that can be remedied with some new ones.

Can't help ya.

This one wasn't a good one, but I've been told you gotta dig to find a good Epi. Maybe I'll try again sometime...those Rivieras look nice.

Its the best budget Gibson Les Paul you can get. Probably made somewhere like Indonesia or Korea or wherever. Its got a blue flame/quilt top. Regular Les Paul setup, same 2 humbuckers, tune-o-matic bridge. but it has a Maple top and Mahogany body.

Its no different from your average Les Paul and everyone is probably familiar with what sort of music you hear Les Pauls in. I play it through a Korg multi fx pedal so the sound of the pickups doesnt matter. I'm not great at pointing out small things in tone, and this guitar is alright clean into an amp, except you might find the neck pickup and neck/middle muddy on clean settings, but you can easily solve that by reducing the mid and/or bass on your amp/pedal.

Action is OK, works best with 10s. not quite so great for anyone who likes to give their guitar a good thrashing though, partly because the pickup selector gets in the way and you end up accidentally flicking it, and that problem meant it has worn away the connectors and in the middle position it cant decide what it wants to do. it also meant the bit of plastic on it might break, and the disc with the words "Rhythm" and "Treble" on it fades quickly. Construction and Finish when new ok though.
The guitar was once dropped, and the plastic tuning pegs broke, meaning we had to buy a whole Schaller set of Les Paul replacement machineheads. we had to drill the holes a bit more for the Schallers to fit through, and we accidentally chipped a lot of the neck. At the moment it plays very well, and there are no major problems.

This guitar would be brilliant for live playing, just as good as a real gibson. for #300 its quite good value. they seem to have marked them up to #500 now.
Epiphone is to Gibson what Squier is to Fender, except Epiphones are of a much higher quality.
one small problem is the jack which can come loose sometimes.

We havent required any customer support.

Much better than any other cheap alternative to a real Gibson. Our best guitar we have at the moment.
If we lost it or got it stolen I'd replace it with a Epiphone Quilted Top Les Paul, or a PRS Santana SE.
If your more of a thrasher I'd say go for an SG which is more or less of the same quality, but if your a soloist youd be better off with a les paul.

1999 Epiphone Les Paul Standard with flamed cherry sunburst finish. After working as a manager in a local Gibson dealer, I've seen lots of these sold and returned for repairs (usually switches, jacks or bad pickups). A friend needed money and showed me this guitar and it is one of those rare guitars that just has IT! Beautifull sound before plugging in. I immediatly bought it and went and found an old set of Lindy Fralin humbuckers and put those in before I ever plugged it in. I also got the hardshell case for it. Mahogany neck and body and a beautiful flamed finish. If this were a Gibson it would cost $4000 just for that top, even if it is just a vaneer. I will eventually change the tuners and electronics but for now everything fine. I'm giving a 7 rating only because you have to change the standard electronics to be able to consider this a pro level instrument.

With the Lindy Fralin pickups in it it sounds GODLIKE! The pickups are a matched set (7.2 reading) and combined with the spacious chambered chambers in side of this guitar sound beautiful. I instantly started playing old Bowie songs which never would have come out on my Tele. If you pick up an Epi be sure to try them out first before plugging in. If a guitar does not sound good acoustically than no pickup will help it!

I bought the guitar used and it was set up good and I haven' t had to touch the truss rod even though I changed gauges from 9's to 10's. Like I said before if this was a Gibson it would cost thousands. One of the best finishing jobs I've seen come out of the Epi factory.

So far so good but I know I'll end up changing the toggle switch, jack and tuners eventually so it only gets a 7.

Gibson/ Epi are okay to deal with IF you can get them to answer the phone. Try and work with them.

I've been playing for over 20 years and own 2 Custom Strats and a Custom Tele. This guitar is now getting played as much as those. I never thought I'd own an Epi but this one is a good one. Some one must have been having a good in Korea. This is true even of old (pre-CBS) Fenders, I'd better watch out here, the vintage snobs will come looking for me, but honestly I've seen and played 50's and 60's Teles and Strats that would make better firewood than guitars!

Beautiful guitar with great tone, everyone knows this!

Great tone, No noise, I love this by comparison to my Strat.

great action, beautiful finish. No Flaws

This is the only problem..When i bought this guitar and took it home, I played it for about 10 minutes and the bridge pickup went out..so i returned it and got a new one that day...here we are 2 months later and the bridge pickup is out again. besides that, there's been no trouble

So far they have been helpful, but we'll see if they fix my guitar.

Standard Les Paul features...Read other reviews, or go to Epiphone's Website. Mine is the heritage Cherry Sunburst. Flame top is really nice. Just shines. It's about a 1999 model, bought in Korea for $250 bucks new.

I really liked the sound of of this guitar at first. I play classic rock and metal, and the sounds the guitar made were to my liking. That is until, I upraged to a better amp. One of my other guitars was a late 70's Pan LP made in Japan. The Pan squeeled horribly when plugged in so I replaced the pickups in that with Gibson 57's. I now realize how the stock pickups of the Epiphone just don't compare. They sound muddy are are not very clear in comparison. Personnel taste here, but I plan on replacing the Epi's p/up's with Dimarzio's.

Guitar looks mavelous when new, and has held up nicely for the three years I have had it.

The strap buttons are weak, and thus the reason for a nice chip in the lower part of the guitar as this beauty dropped to the floor one night. Quick fix with straplocks, and I was mad at myself for not changing them out sooner. The only onther thing, is the selector switch does not seem to work great. It switches between the pickups, but not fluently enough to get that great sound of rapidly switching between the pickups for a "vibrato" type of sound. Plan on fixing that as well, when I replace the pickups.
Also, the plastic/rubber selector switch cover broke off, and I have had a hard time replacing it. The Gibson's didn't fit it perfectly, but so far this is of little matter to me, and I have stopped looking for a new one. But overall, built real well.

never tried

Been playing for six years, and have had four guitars and a bass, all fairly low end: the Pan LP, a Washburn Strat, an OLP axis(great guitar) and a Turser bass. (I have a hard time justifying spending lots of money when there are so many good inexpensive guitars out there and with a few upgrades can sound good.) This is by far the best looking of the ones I own, and soon with the pups replacement will sound as good as many top dollar guitars for about a $1000 less. I am really happy with this guitar. If stolen I might opt for something different cuz I like trying new guitars out, and for $500 bucks new in the States, I might get something else, but I would have been happy with the time I owned it.

Everybody knows the Les Paul features I suppose, so I won't bore you with those details.
Mine's got a real nice flame top and the finish is perfect.
But the real question is: how good is an Epi Les Paul compared to an Gibby?
The difference is...ehrm not big.

Everybody says the stock pickups are crap. Well, they are not. I replaced them with the Gibson 57 classics, and the sound was not...satisfying. The Stock pickups had more power, warmth and depth, so I switched back again.

The factory set up was awful, like most Asian made guitars. But in the hands of a good guitar tech, it's a minor prob. Intonate it properly and lower the strings and: voila - a great guitar!
Great finish, absolutely no complaints there, and I'm very, very picky about looks.

Theres not a single thing that needs to be changed.
For an example, the tuners have been barked at - change them to Kluson, Grover etc? US made stuff? Does anybody believe that KLusons are made in America nowadays? Silly. US made Gibson, and Fenders for that matter, Have A LOT of asian made parts, they are just put together in the US. So what's the difference? You tell me.

No need.

I've been playing for 30 years, and have had a lot of guitars. My all time fav was a Firebird. Nothing compares to it. But this great sounding little Epi comes close to it. My Fenders don't come out of theirs cases anymore, and my old Gibson SG junior from 1963 is not so well used these days either, I only play this Les Paul now. And HAVING FUN!

I'm the original owner of this 2000 Les Paul Standard. It's HC-SB on a flame top. This is a flame top. It's remarkable. I played a few different Les Paul, including ones with Bigsby's and even a few Gibson's.... This one has stuck out to me and I knew this was going to be my new baby. The clear sound of two Humbucker's is so much better than what my Stratocaster has. I love the guitar. However, I'd like to see it with coil splits. Which I am going to install in the future.

At first, I wasn't sure if I'd like a Les Paul. I instantly, had to lower the neck pick up about 1/16-1/8" because I play a lot of lead and the e and b strings would slightly brush the pick ups, giving a nasty sound. However, after doing this, I couldn't have loved it more. This guitar brought out a lot of meaty, punch and cruncy distortion I never knew I could get out of my amps and effects loop. I play mostly hard rock and heavy metal, and it sound suprisingly great, all stock.

I don't know if I'll do it or not, but I want to some day, put in a set of EMG's in a Les Paul, it's heavy metal bliss... the sound, is fantastic

My finish is nearly flawless... I found one small finish flaw. On the back of the headstock, near the serial number, the clear coat has experienced "orange peel". It is about half the size of an eraser head. However, you can only see it in some lights, but who looks at the back of the headstock anyway?

The flame on this is better than on many Gibson's. I truly believe this is a one in a million top. You can see a slight center joint line on the bookmatched top. The wood looks like it's burried under a mile of thick, deep, glossy glass. I could never ask for a better finish.

If you look at the binding, you can see some of it was painted over (very small, 1/32") with some of the finish in a few areas. However, most people would probably not notice this, I am a perfectionist almost, so I saw this after some expection. I am very pleased to say you cannot feel the binding edge. They didn't skimp out on laying the clear out on this baby!

The set up was great from the factory, except the one pick up adjustment I had made, and listed above. The TOM bridge could afford to be moved down just a hair.. So I gave each a slight turn and lowered it just a tad bit more.

This guitar has left my others on the wall and in the cases. I couldn't tell you the last time I played my stratocaster or telecaster. I'm fairly disapointed with the strap buttons, they are better than most stock ones, but if you move around a lot, or hold your guitar on extreme angles, you will need to replace them with some locking ones, but you could do without.

The tuners, are great, for stock ones. I'm upgrading to some Schallers when I install coil splits. But it's not a must, it holds tune nicely.

Never dealed with them.

This guitar rocks... I've been playing for 6 years and I love it to death. I consulted with several people before my purchase and they said the craftsmanship of Epiphones are that nearl to Gibson's. I love everything about this guitar and if someone tried to steal it, they wouldn't get very far. I have a shotgun waiting for them.... But if there attempt was sucsessful, I would hunt them down like the rabid dog they are and tend to them accordingly. I plan on buying another Les Paul, the only question is, Epiphone or Gibson?

It is your typical stock les Paul

I absolutely love teh sound that I get. I have it tuned drop-d down 1.5 steps. The sound is great. I haven't adjusted anything on it yet to make it perfect.

This guitar has a great sunburst finish with the flame maple top (Is there anyother way to get a LP?) the only thing that I don'y like is the tuner knobs have a greenish plastic that I don't think goes with the guitar itself, I will get new ones later. A very well thought out design.

It is a tank. It gets bumped a couple of times and it still takes a beating, kinda like the TIMEX watches.

The only problem that I really had, was that the pick-up selector switch is finicky at time, It would sometimes get very quiet. I will fix this soon before I start gigging.

I haven't had any problem.

A great guitar for any style of playing. I would recommend this to anyone that can afford one.

2000 LP standard. Made in Korea. 22 frets. it's a LES PAUL.. you know the deal.

the ONLY problem i have is the bridge stock pickups from epiphone which suck more than anything on earth. It must be changed. I have an Epi les paul custom also that i put a Seymour Duncan JB in the bridge and it sounds amazing. I think i'm going to get a Dimarzio Super Distortion for this one. however, IMHO, i really like the sound i get out of the stock neck pickup, when used to play blues and jazz stuff. for the bridge i need something with higher output though, being that i am playing punk rock through a mesa/boogie Dual Rectifier.

Action was way high when i got it. lowered the action (i like it real low) and it plays awesome now. Everything is put together great. The flame on mine is one of the most beautiful i've ever seen. I couldnt sleep the other night because i kept turning the light on to look at it.

These guitars can take a beating. Lots of things have improved since i bought my custom 6 years ago, better strap buttons, the tune-o-matic bridge. The main reason I got it was for a backup guitar because i break alot of strings, but after i change the pickup it's probably going to become my main guitar.

Don't think i'll ever have to.

Been playing for about 9 years. If it were stolen i would cry like a girl for a few days because i sold alot of my favorite things to get the cash for this (marshall jcm900).