Epiphone Les Paul Standard Quilted Top Limited Edition

Well, it's a typical Epiphone Les Paul in June 2002 in the UnSung Factory in Korea. Here's the complete description:

A. HEADSTOCK : - All Black.
A.1. Front : - Epiphone , Les Paul Model, the word "Gibson" inscribed on the Truss-Rod Cover.
- Somesort of white plastic "binding" round the Truss-Rod Cover.
- Binding - No.
A.2. Back : - Black plastic-looking Tuners with the Epiphone "E" inscribed on the back of the machines.
- Serial Number U02064377.
- Gold Circle with the insciption "Epiphone-Limited Edition".
- "Made in Korea" sticker below it.
B. NECK : - Material Mahogany
B.1. Front : - Binding - Yes.
- Fingerboard - Rosewood
- Inlay - Trapezoid , Material
- Neck is Set-in in the 16'th Fret.
- 22 Frets.
- Scale I guess it's the regular 24.75" of all Les Pauls.
- Nut - Black , width 1.68".
B.2 Back : - All Black.
C. BODY : - Material Mahogany
- Right Handed.
C.1. Front : - Two open-coil Humbuckers, with a "Designed by Gibson" transparent sticker on them. No Pick-up covers.
- Black pick-up rings.
- Black Hardware (Stopbar/Tailpiece , Tune'o'matic Bridge , Strap Buttons).
- Black Speed knobs (With white numbers) , two volume , two tone.
- Black Switch plate with Gold letters : Rythm/Treble.
- Black Output Jack Plate.
- Binding - Yes.
- Pickguard - No.
C.2. Back : - All Black.
- Black Control Plates for the knobs and switch circuitry.
- White Circular Sticker on the knob control plate which says "Passed-Inspected by-1".
D. TOP : - Material ??? Mahogany/Maple/Alder ???
- It's black with a gray-ish "wavy" look, something like a reptile scaly skin.

What I don't like on this guitar, and thus the 8, which is a general complaint about Les Pauls, is the positioning on the pick up switch (i prefer the strat position), and a few other more specific things i will discuss on later.

I play all sorts of things on an amateur basis (no gigging) but mostly rock,blues,jazz and some metal now and then. I guess this guitar can cover pretty well all these styles.

The stock pick-ups are surely not this guitar's best part, but they're ok for a cheap practice guitar i guess. They are described as "hot" due the lack of pu cover. The bridge pu is quite bright and cutting - good for blues/rock lead licks, but the neck pu is a little dull and muddy and it's only warm and smooth if you're playing softly with the treble rolled all the way back, otherwise it sounds... empty. The setting i prefer is both pu's together which gives a nice punch and good sustain while maintaining the tone definition and clarity quite well.

None of the settings on this guitar is noisy even though i play it in a small room right next to a PC monitor. My other guitar, an AriaProII Strat copy with s/s/s configuration used to buzz really loud.

I also noted that the controls on this guitar had very small impact on the sound. The tone pots don't change the sound at all until you roll it back to 1-2. Strange. I don't know if that's because of the humbuckers (i used to have a single coil guitar) or it's a fault of my guitar.

Overall with a change of pick-ups this guitar can become really versatile and cover a wide range of styles. I'm giving it a 7 because of this. A coil-tap to switch from humbuckers to single coils would be really handy.

The store i bought it from gave me a good setup for free so i didn't have to worry about action, fret buzz etc. I needs some adjustment every 2-3 months i guess.

The playability of this guitar is amazing. The neck, although a bit thick, felt so right and easy. The frets and the fretboard are really really nice making playing smooth and "liquid". I noticed that tapping was very easy too, which i guess has to do with the frets. My only discomfort was when i tried to do some thrash stuff (fast palm-muting) because the bridge is quite high compared to my old strat-like guitar making it a little uncomfortable. But i'm starting to get used to it.

This guitar is a little heavy - about 4-5 Kgr but feels very comfortable playing both sitting and standing. Reaching the higher frets can be a little ankward some times due to the set-in neck construction.

The finish of this guitar was quite good except from a few nicks on the fretboard and the neck binding which could easily be taken away though. The inlays were also a bit crapy looking (as someone said the material is Mother-Of-Toilet seat) but nothing too dramatic for this price range. This guitar's Quilt Top looks amazing but if you inspect it a little closer you can't miss the "plastic" look. The top wasn't exactly bookmatched but i don't find this a drawback.

Overall i'm giving it a 9 because of it's great playability.

Now here's the issue about Epiphone Les Pauls as they come out of the factory: Reliability/Durability = 2. BUT with a few mods and up-grades they can make that 2 almost a perfect 10.

What i'd advise anyone buying an Epi LP to do is before they even play it to change the PU selector, the output jack and do a close check on the rest of the electronics. That's about 20-40$. If you can spare some more ~80$ (Really worth-it) the next part to go are the tuners which also seem too cheap and weak. Fortunately mine have worked quite well, mainly because i don't do many string bends, so tuning stays dead-on. Normally i tune my guitar once a week (!).

Making these changes and taking into account the "plastic" nature of this guitar i'm sure they could live for ages. I think it's highly unlikely for anything to happen to this guitar's looks with so much plastic on it!

Overall i'll give it a (2+10)/2 = 6 on this category.

This guitar is supposed to have a 1-year warranty, BUT that doesn't include the spare electronic parts. So it's useless. The store gave me another year warranty under the same terms which was also useless.

I tried to contact Epiphone/Gibson a couple of times in order to learn the exact model of this guitar and some other specs but they never replied. I eventually figured it out myself with a small "field research".

They have a quite cool site with an interesting forum.

I am almost 22 and I've been playing guitar for about 6 years - electric 4 years, but really sparsely until now. I've had this guitar for 4 months and i like it very much. My other guitar is an AriaProII which i got used and it's a total, TOTAL mess compared to this.

I wanted the LP cut from the beggining so my choises (as was my cash) were limited. I was between this one and an Epi LP Custom Flametop but i finely bought this because the Custom looked even worse than this (plastic-wise) and costed about 150 Euros more.

Overall with a change of electronics, tuners and Pick-ups on a total of about 250-300 $ you can make this baby a REALLY good guitar as regards to sound and playability. I'd say about 90% Gibson (The other 10% is the looks which don't mean so much to me). So I'll give it an 9.

Black hardware, amber quilt finish (fake, of course - but looks amazing). Looks like 2 pieces of alder sandwiching a piece of mahogany. Then there's a thin veneer of solid mahogany on the back to give the illusion of one piece of wood. I would guess that there's no actual maple in the top. Bound fretboard, pearl inlays (also fake, but look good), Grover-labeled tuners (not the best, but a step up from the ones I had on an Epi SG a few years back).

I've had this guitar for about 3 months and I still have no desire to make any pickup changes. The only mod I've done is to solder a 200K capacitor on the volume pots so that the sound doesn't get mushy when I turn the volume down (I wish more guitar makers would do this). I mainly use a Tele, and I only use this Epi to satisfy my distortion cravings. It does this very well, right out of the box - especially for the price. If this were my main guitar, I might want to swap the pickups to get a more rounded sound.

The '9' in this category is factoring in the low price. The frets, finish and setup of this guitar far exceeded what I would expect for this price. The same could not be said for the other 9 Epi Les Pauls I tried in the store. Try as many as you can and you just may find a gem. The action was perfect for my taste and the neck has a very beefy, solid feel to it. The action was low, but I can still bend without fretting out. No buzzes anywhere - Impressive!

Pots and pickup switch do NOT inspire confidence - however, replacing these is an easy task - and not expensive. The rest of the guitar seems fine to me. Usually by this time (3 months), I've ripped apart and swapped various parts in a guitar - but not this one. I guess that says a lot.

I'm a 20 year player. Once again, I only use this guitar for that full-blown distorted sound and use a Tele and a G&L strat most of the time. Stock, it fills my needs perfectly. With a pickup change it could easily be someone's main guitar. Outstanding value for the money.

My Les Paul was made in 2003 in Korea. It has 22 frets, a wide neck and is in a quilted topped maple blue. The guitar has a three way pickup selecter as usual in Gibson models to select two humbucking pickups designed by Gibson. The guitar is made from Mahogany and Maple. The bridge is Tune-o-matic and the tuners are grover tuners. All hardware is a beautiful black. No accessories were included.

I play grunge and alternative rock in an originals band, sometimes jamming covers from bands such as Silverchair, Nirvana, Foo Fighters, Incubus and Pearl Jam at home. The twin humbuckers are perfect for this and create a great Les Paul tone for a fraction of the price. I run it through a valve amp with Big Muff USA fuzz and it sounds amazing. I also use a home made octave pedal and it really wails with that. It can get a great rich, rather bassy sound but does not have as much access to treble so If you want that then look towards another guitar such as fender strat. I really like the sound this has and its pretty near perfect for me

The guitar seemed well set up in the factory. I got this shipped from Brighton where GAK is and I think they gave me the one that I tried out in the shop a week earlier as it was tuned down. No problems with the finish or setup of the guitar. Everyone I have shown the guitar or shown a picture of it thinks it looks lovely. An amazing finish. The Korean Epiphone factory seem to have turned out a winner with this one on everything except for the screws holding the strap buttons in, they were replaced with 3 inch monster screws. The originals came out easily but then that seems to be a problem with many guitars.

The guitar seems pretty well durable. Before I had a Vintage SG and because of the unbalenced top heavyness of the guitar I was forever hitting it into things. So far this has no knocks. The hardware looks solid and short of getting run over by a tank I think this would stand up to just about anything. I shouldn't need a backup for this guitar. Its solid and reliable. The finish looks great but needs a bit of a wipe down sometimes to get rid of the dust ;)

Have'nt dealt with Epi and hopefully shouldn't have to.

I have been playing 1 1/2 years and this is my first real guitar. It's perfect for just about everything and if stolen would definatly go and get another one. The only qualm I had with the guitar was the fact that the headstock seems slightly different from the Gibson. Over all though the guitar is a fantastic buy, especially if you get it for #319 instead of the RRP of #500 odd! I am one happy Les Paul owner.

My Les Paul was made in 2000 and I think it was in Korea. It has 22 frets and a quilted maple top. 1 volume- and 1 toneknob per HB and a 3-way selector. It has 2 HB's, Gibson designed passive HB's. Maple neck with I guess a rosewood fretboard and a mahogany body. The body and neck have a tranlucent red finish and the top is laminated. Tuno-o-matic bridge and stocktuners.

I played a Vester Trad. Series '94 (stratcopy) for about 7 years. After playing that the Les Paul was heaven on earth. It sounded great. I think that was because I always played on single coils and now on humbuckers. After a year and gaining a lot of wisdom about guitars and how they sound, I replaced the stockpu's for Seymour Duncans ('59 model in the neck, Jeff Beckmodel in the bridge). And now it rocks even more. Smooth warm tones come out of the neckpu and playing leads with the bridge is breathtaking.
I play through a Fender Ultimate Stereo Chorus 2x12 and a Marshall Valvestate V80 (only the poweramp and speaker, so toghether it is a 3x12). Sometimes through a Digitech RP200 (stereo) (with a Boss Turbo Distortion in front) and the poweramps/speakers of my amps. Both ways I love the sound. So much character these pu's have in compare to the stockpu's. I play mostly blues, rock, hardrock, sometimes heavy metal and these pu's get the job done. Maybe I replace the Jeff Beck for a Pearly gates or a distortion/custom/customcustom, but for now I'm very very pleased with this setup.
With stockpu's: 6.5
With SD's: 8.7

Smooth neck, just the right size of frets makes this guitar easy, comfortable and fast in playing. The action was set very low, it doesn't take much to push a string against the fretboard. I really fallen in love with this Les Paul....after making the necesarry adjustments. Besides the pu's I'm planning on replacing the tuners, which are plastic and go to fast out of tune for my liking. For creating more sustain the sadles (maybe the entire bridge for eas) and the nut I'm going to replace. The black paint on the saddles came of fast. It now has gray spots on them.
Without mods: 6.5
With mods: now a 7.5, I hope it becomes an 8.5.
Im not giving it a 10, because there are tons of other guitars that I haven't tried yet and because otherwise I don't have anything to dream about anymore :-)

Well, I don't play in a band, so I don't now if it withstands live playing. But I think it has a realy good change :-)
I put on straplocks so it won't fall of, which happened before. Luckely I always caught it before hitting the ground. Although this Les Paul is made of cheaper materials than the Gibson LP it will probably outlive many of us.

I never had to use them. However my modifications were made by the owner of a small guitarshop nearby and he this his work very good.

What do I have to say more?
This is my 2nd elec. guitar. The other is my Vester.
If it were lost or stolen I would replace it, most defenitly.
Everything I love about it, execpt the tuners and the already replaced pu's.
I have choosen this Les Paul, because this one comes close to the original Gibson lp's and because this LP has a very good price in relation to the quality.

Mine is a 22 fret made in Japan with a red quilted top. Standard Les Paul features 2 volume, 2 tone and 3 way pickup switch. This thing looks killer and with a little tweeking, it sounds killer too. The first thing to go were the extremly cheap tuners. I swapped them out with a set of Grovers tuners. I was disappointed with the cheap quality of the tuners, but you can't expect much for $400. Mine has a beautiful top, but the binding is rather cheap.

Next was the pickups. Those didn't last one jam session and they had to go. I switched those for a set of EMG's 81 & 85, and now i couldn't be happier. I love this thing !!! The original pickups weren't bad, just not what i was looking for. I play it through a Peavey VTM 120 and it sounds great. I play more heavy metal and alternative music

Right out of the box, this thing was good. I was actually pretty impressed because it was almost perfectly in tune. The pickups we adjusted to low and the bridge to high, but again, with a little tweaking, the action was awesome !!!

This thing is built rock solid. No complaints there.

Haven't had to deal with Epiphone yet, so i can't say.

I've had this for about 6 months and couldn't imagine playing anything else. The sound is great and with a little work, this guitar was what i always wanted. If it were stolen, i would buy another one if i could actually find one. As a matter of fact, i bought a second one in blue from Mars Music because i liked it so much.

Functionally a classic LP. If it's what you want call it a 10.

Made in Korea and I guess the wood quality is second rate or worse, but well disguised, neck is not mahogany, crown inlays are not well-matched

Full, even, balanced. The bridge pu might use a bit more output for front/rear balance but if you don't like these pu's you must have very refined or specialized taste.The volume pots roll off the top end. Yeah, the neck is a bit mushy sounding at higher distortion levels, maybe a bit more low end on the bridge could help. Picky, picky.

This one has black hardware, open p/u's and a too-good-to-be-real quilted looking top. These have to be plastic overlays or the world's thinnest veneers. Looks fantastic from a few feet away and as perfect as a plastic place-mat up close. Nobody could (or would) supply that top at this price if it was all real.

Thick looking finish all over. Nicely applied binding, good bridge alignment etc. Almost invisible joints,a little stain overflow around the back but overall terrific. Probably quite a bit better than my 70's LP Deluxe that I sold several yrs. ago.

However, this one was damaged. The top nut is badly chipped but still functional and the neck truss rod must be set to minimal pressure with 10-52's to achieve a flat fretboard. No relief is possible yet, but I'm hoping the neck will eventually come around. Plays nicely with the current setup.

The neck looks like maple with a short laminate near the heel and the interior shows a lightish coloured mahogany that is also light in weight. The maple cap is also joined so I know the top is not the AAA+ quilt it appears to be.

-metal jackplate- I had to tighten the jack
-had to clean the p/u switch already- mighty suspicious quality there
-otherwise as good as most

The dealer basically left me on my own re the problems but for $300Cdn
it was a FANTASTIC deal.

It sounds like I expect a LP to sound, maybe not like a rockstar's fave LP, but darn good. It handles and plays easily, though it is kinda light(!).

I thought I had gotten over LP's and moved to 25.5 inch scale guitars but I'm hooked again. It's still hard to finger above the 15-17th fret though.

I got a great deal but it is genuinely worth the "normal" price. You really have to wonder about Gibson prices now.

Korean 2001 model, 22 fret, laminate quilt top (beautiful). Standard LP config, 3 way PU, 2 vol, 2 tone/ HH config. This one is transparent red, which really looks killer with the all black hardware and bound neck and body (faux binding it appears. Cheap Tuners and hardware, but hey it was only $399

I play through a JCM900 with little effects and this puppy growls and screams with the best of them. The pickups arent really high output, but really sound nice through an overdriven tube amp.

This thing played very nicely from the factory, a little bridge heighth adjustment and some 10s on it and it was ready to destroy the planet. Finish is pretty good, a little sloppy around the neck joint/binding but decent. Trap inlays are perfect. Laquer is a little thin and non polished as I would like, but again less than $400!!!!

I played it saturday night, and it performed stellar. Played great, sounded great, looked great, time will tell how long that lasts

not dealt with Epi. Have the utmost of confidence in them thought if trouble should arrise

Great guitar especially for the cash

Mine is much the same as the one above with the exception of colour, mine is an Amber Quilt-top..
The body is made of two pieces of laminated Mahogany. What does this all translate to when you put it side by side with a Gibson? NOTHING, not a damn thing (if your using it for what I'm using it for that is, hard rock/heavy metal)
The guitar is pretty standard, all black hardware and is really sharp.

TOTAL CRAP!!! I hated the sound from the minute I picked this guitar up! But, I wasn't buying it for the pickups anyway.. I swapped in a set of Seymour Duncan Alinico Pro II's and I was in heaven! This thing has amazing sustain and sounds just as good as any Gibson Les Paul (far a LOT less money)
The sound is much like that of anything that Slash played during his GNR years.
My advice, since your getting this guitar for a lot cheaper then a Gibson. Replace the Gibson "Designed" open coil humbuckers with any quality Humbucker and you'll be fine.

STOCK SOUND - 6
WITH DUNCAN's - 10

Where to begin..
Like most Epiphone\Gibson Guitars the fretboard is dry looking, but a little fretboard conditioner and thats fixed.. There is also enough yellow glue around the frets to totally make the neck look ugly..
But I was able to get around that when I cleaned the frets and oiled the Fretboard..
Everything else is in it's place and the action was fine from the factory.. What do you want for $650 Canadian!

I've dropped my Paul about a million times.. I play hard and I jump around a lot.. Not only does it stay in tune! But it's no that easy to mark up.. I find this guitar very dependable.. Much more then other guitars I've owned.. Infact, it looks almost new!
This thing was made to last and they have a good warrenty!
I would feel more then safe using this guitar without a backup!

Haven't had to deal to much with them..
But thats a good thing, this puppy hasn't broke down yet..
The place where I bought it - Murch Music (Cambridge Ontario)
Is great! They have awesome support, and have taken good care of me!

This guitar is worth the money if you know what your getting..
It's not a Gibson, it's a clone made by Gibson..
With a little work (new pickups) this guitar can easily be your main axe, and will shock others when they realize that even after the work you put in it's still cost you much less then theirs!
If I lost it, I'm not sure if I'd buy another, not because I don't like it.. But because I've fallen in love with other brands that better suit my needs (I like my floyd Rose!)

In the end, if you don't have the coin for a Gibson, but still want the look and feel of a Les Paul.. Go pick up an Epiphone.

This is a limited Edition Quilted maple top Epiphone Les Paul. It has a solid mahogany body with a quilted maple top and is a cool blood red in color.It has cream color body binding and all black hardware. It has 3 way switching and the pick-ups are USA gibson open humbuckers, and the neck is made of mahogany with a rosewood top. This guitar was made in Korea and didn't come with a case. I paid 700.00 canadian for the guitar and case.

I play drums in a rock band, so guitars are not my expertise. I play my Epiphone through with a Crate Vintage Club 30 for fun at home. I find that this guitar performs great on both the clean and the distortion channels. You can go from super clean to shred is a second. The pick-ups are not noisy and the playability is good.

The action on the guitar was good when I bought it but the strings had to be replaced afew days after. The pick-ups had to be adjusted but other that that everything else was pretty good. The tuners works pretty well and keeps the guitar in tune. The fret were a bit tarnished when I first got the guitar but a bit of polishing took care of that. The fit and finish of the guitar is as good as I've seen. I've played Gibson Les Pauls, Fender Strats & so on that hasn't been any better.

I don't intend for this guitar to be played at gig's but I'm sure it would be up to the task. I love the feel and the sound that this guitar makes. I have only had it less than a year, so I really can't say what it will be like in a few years time but I have the feeling that it will stand the test of time.

There is a limited lifetime warranty with this guitar. No warranty repairs so far.

I have been playing guitar for the past 25 years, and I own an Ovation
Electric Acoustic. I also have two sets of drums, five piece Yamaha stage Customs and a 12 piece kit of 70's Ludwig classic's. I just recently purchased my Epiphone Les Paul and the Crate VC 30. If it was stolen, I would certainly buy this guitar again. I love the look, sound and the ease of playing. I have read alot of negative comments and reviews about Epiphones in the past few months but you won't hear it from this dude!