Epiphone Les Paul Standard

Honeyburst finish. Maple top, Stop tailpiece, LP body with cutaway, two humbuckers, 22 frets, 2 tone/2volume controls, Pearloid trapezoid inlays in neck. Made in China, 2006 model. No bag, case or accessories included in purchase.

While I've read complaints on the electronics of the Epiphone LPs, I honestly can't complain about the specific LP I own. I think it sounds great through my Fender Blues Jr. amp. The neck pickup provides a meaty bass and the bridge pickup is actually brighter than I expected with a hint of creamy sustain typical of the LPs. I traded a Fender Mexican Tele for this guitar and am most definitely not disappointed. I should note, however, that I do use a Boss distortion pedal through the blues junior. Without the pedal, the LP still gives a great tone, just not as heavy. But that is due to the nature of this amp, not the guitar.

I played every Epipone LP standard in the store and they were all excellent. They were all also the 2006 models from China. I believe Epiphone bought their own plant in China that now specifically produces Epiphone guitars, as opposed to several other brands concurrently as it used to be. The guitar was set up perfectly. Absolutely no fret buzz all the way up the neck. Action was perfect, hardware set up great. Absolutely no flaws on the guitar and I studied it closely before and after I bought it.

I think this guitar would withstand almost anything. Hardware seems solid to me. The finish is top-notch (honeyburst finish). Strap buttons so far seem extremely adequate, although like any other guitar on earth, you probably need straplocks if you're rowdy and use a strap. I would use this guitar without a backup for 1.) I love the sound and verstility and can't make myself put it down and 2.) it seems to be one of the most solid guitars I've played. I also own an American Strat (the first year Fender made the neck and bridge changes - either 2000 or 2001) and I love that guitar. But this Epiphone LP blew me away when I picked it up and played it. I'm worried that my Strat may be not getting the attention it deserves.

Never dealt with customer support. It does come with a Limited Lifetime Warranty.

I've been playing for 12 years off and on and have always had Fenders. 60s strat, Mexican Strat, Mexican Tele, American Strat, Squire Strat. I play a lot of blues/rock and those have always suited my style. I am a Strat man. That being said, I picked up this Epiphone LP and was hooked. I will NEVER get rid of my strat, but I wanted a different sound to compliment my strat and was just not happy with the mexican tele I traded for it. I played a friends Epiphone LP before going to the music store. Then every Epi LP I played at the store seemed to rock just as hard (Just wish I had that Marshall I plugged them into!) This guitar is so easy to play, it makes you think you're a better guitarist than you are. Now, I've never played a Gibson LP. I figured there was no need because I could never afford one and I didn't want to know what I was missing. But that being said, I can't imagine the Gibson sounding much better than this Epiphone. I still can't believe the price tags on these Epis. I just can't get over the sound it delivers. I feel like I'm having an affair with this guitar and hope my Strat forgives me, but I can't put this lady down. I think when taking into account price and quality, this is the best guitar I've owned.

I am updating my last review. As I and others have said the guitar benefits from a pickup change. After I changed the pickups the guitar sounded much better but still dark, I said that I couldn't get sparkle from it and the tone still lacked compared to a Gibson with Burstbuckers. Well, back to the tech to cure the humming problem and he mentions that the caps are 47's. This value is a high impendence usually used on basses to roll off the highs. He said to install 22's. I had him put bumblebee caps in (22's, at $60 each) and let me say that this guitar sounds awesome. Better than the stock gibson. It is much brighter, punchier and just sounds alive. I can only guess that epi used the high impendence caps to roll off some highs to compensate for the rather brittle/shrill stock pickups. Next I have to change the pots from 250k's to 500k's. Apparently the lower value pots offer higher impendence and compress the tone of the pickups. Again I don't know why cheap guitars come with 100k or 250kpots. 250k is ok for a strat but most lps need 500k, some use 1meg. Change your pots and caps and let your replacement pickups come alive! Also, some people point to the wood as the tone culprit. My experience tells me the electronics are the main problem. Luckily, that problem is easily remedied.

your guitar is a fret leveling and polishing from nirvana. Unless your guitar is a Carvin or a "custom shop" instrument, you need this work.

Wail away!

I honestly don't know.

As the guitar sits now, it is awsome and makes me think I can get away with modifying epi's instead of blowing 2k on a Gibson that still needs a decent set up to play well. But, $200 for pickups, $120 for the bumblebees and I can only guess about $90 to have the tech change out all the pots plus I still have cheap tuners and loosey-goosey bridge hardware that should be changed, so maybe $200 more for that stuff plus $500 for the guitar and I have, lets see, $1110.00. So, still less then a Gibson, but I can sell a Gibson for $1500 or more. My Epi is still worth maybe $400 used. So, so you invest money into the epi or Gibby? I still don't know.

Your standard Epi Les Paul. Black with cream hardware. I paid $450 at Guitar Center after some haggling.

The key difference: I swapped out the muddy stock pickups for DiMarzio Virtual PAFs. Definitely worth the $140. I also got my tech to wire them Jimmy Page style (coil tap, series/parallell, phase switch) which is a nice touch too -- especially the series/parallell option, which gives a tougher, "boxier" tone. That was an additional $30 for the needed pots and $150 for the labor.

I'd rate this guitar a 5 before switching pups. Evidently how they shave money on these babies is building them in China (no problem there) and using cheap electronics. New pups are a must.

Set-up was OK, I took it to a tech for a better setup. The finish, etc., is fine. No problems elsewhere.

No problems here. Has held up fine at some pretty wild gigs for six months so far.

n/a -- not needed yet.

Again, new pickups are a must. You're paying $500 for a decent Les Paul, might as well spend another $120 or so to make it sound good.

2001 or 2002 made. 22 frets, standard Les Paul controls, hum/hum pickups, body is Mahogany with Alder top. Ebony gloss finish. Bridge is tune-o-matic with stop piece, standard LP type tuners, neck is kind of chunky, but when getting an LP, you should know that it's got some thickness to it already. I believe it's a mahogany neck, rosewood board, and it's setneck. Came with an Epiphone case.

I couldn't ask for more in a budget LP, feature are perfect, nothing missing.

This guitar is great for all the styles of music I play (punk, hardcore, gothic rock, etc.). Running it through my Marshall most of the time, but just for practice I run it through an Ibanez. It's got that Les Paul tone, definitly, but not quite as good as a Gibson Les Paul. The only real bad thing with this is the stock pickups, they're a bit weak.

Overall, sound is great, but lacking in the pickup area. With a swap of pickups, this is a really great sounding guitar.

Guitar came set up pretty crappy, but after setting it up, it was great. Had a little trouble with uneven frets on the upper few frets, but my tech filed them and no more problems. Again, as I notice on a lot of low-mid or mid level guitars, finish flaws come up around where the neck meets the body.

The guitar I got, after a good set up, plays really great.

This guitar has been gigged by me and a fellow guitarist in my old bands (we sort of shared it at times) many times, and definitly holds up well. The tuners on this could be replaced, and probably should be, because I found that this guitar had some trouble holding tune (nothing to serious though). With this, I'd definitly get some straplocks, I don't think I really trust the strap buttons on this. When we were gigging with this, I always had backup around, but never needed to use this.

This guitar is iffy in the reliabilty area, but strap locks and new tuners will fix this for the better.

Never dealt with them, but I have heard they were good from other people I know.

I've been playing for four and a half years, and own...a Squier Strat, two Fender Strats, an ESP/LTD H-250, and a ESP/Grassroots Forest GT. This guitar is rather high ranked in my line up, and one of my favorites. The only real thing that botehred me alot, was the strap buttons on this. If it were stolen, I'd probably upgrade to a Gibson or something similar. One of the best things about this guitar is that you can get Les Paul tone for $400 or so. Again, I'd like to bring up the strapbuttons and tuners, and I really wish they were both better.

Bought in Brazil at this date. Heritage Cherry Sunburst. Same specs as the others, but with Grover Tuning Machines...
Came with a Epiphone gig bag and a t-shirt.

I was looking for a guitar with humbuckers and decided for this one... No humming at all... nice highs and lows, suits every kind of music...

The factory set-up was preety good, the best i've got from a new guitar (I already own a 2001 Squier Affinity and other crapy Strat from an unkown brand here from Brazil).. The finish is preety good, but I've noticed a few painting flaws on the body... That could be just a little better... But overall it has a very nice finish.

I think this is a guitar that will last a long time... I'll just replace the pickups some time in the future...

I play guitar for almost 7 years and this is my third guitar... I own a Squier Affinity Strat, a Collins Stratocaster (this is a very crapy guitar), a Cosmic acoustic guitar (steel) and a Condor nylon acoustic guitar. I usually use this gear to record at home and to play once in a while with my friends... If you don't have enough money to buy a Gibson, this Epiphone is surelly the most recommended choice.

I got this guitar brand new from Mucicians friend. I cant belive this thing is from Korea. 2 volume, 2 tone, 3-way selector. Just the way I like it. The two pickups are perfect for me, add just a little over-drive and you get a nice smooth sound. You people know the rest.

I play rock & roll (early 60's stuff), blues, and hippie music. It sounds pritty good, no complants. When I got it I plugged it into my small Marshall i was pritty disapointed. I had allot of hum. I tried to angle myself to get red of it but couldnt find a good place. The next day i was at the local guitar shop and tryed it on a VOX and it sounded really good. Ive tryed it with some more amps since then and think that a rogue amp I played on was the best. Not by itself but when i used my cry baby and boss super overdrive it was great.

This is the first thing any one will notice about your guitar and i get so meny complements on this thing. It all looks so nice I hear a Heavenly band open up into gospel music.

This thing is solid. A little lighter then the gibsons i noticed, feels good really. IT stays intune like a dream.

Never had to.

I've bin playing about 3 years now and play a hole lot, my hole life is about music. If I didnt love the sound and feel of this guitar I would send it right back but this thing is such an honor to play I would die if any thing happened to it. There were only 2 guitars I could have afforded i would have posibly picked over it, Epiphone g-400 custom(3 pickups sound really good i think), or an Agile LP copy.

Made in early 2006, specs as already reported. Grover tuners, stock pups, Vintage Sunburst finish over a body of mahogany + alder, as heavy as a Gibson or only 0.01 or 0.02 pounds away... sure!!!

This one has no defects as stated by other people in electronic terms. Even, it is pretty impressive in this field. I had a Gibson with similar specs to compare it. The Epi can be only a step behind in these areas:

- sides and back of the guitar are, in the Gibson, transparent so you can see the wood colour. In the Epi is the same very dark tobacco of the finish.

- I think the binding is painted, and if it's painted it's very finely done. But I tend to think it's really a binding. You pass the finger over it and you feel an edge between the creamy line and the body. In the gibson it's clear a binding.

- seems quite glossy the finish. I wish it had less varnish. Doesn't affect the playing at all (it improves it instead) so... I come from satin finished guitars and had to adapt it, pretty quickly done. I prefer the satin nevertheless.

- the knobs are better in the Gibson. This one has kinda-hat volume and tone knobs in amber; the colour is very fine but the shape isn't. But it's one of the things very easily replaceable.

- the weight... well, you can't feel the difference if you blindly pick a Gib or this Epi. You can't. This guitar is PRETTY HEAVY.

There is a noticeable difference between this guitar and previous 2005 Epiphones as I saw in another shop. In every aspect. In every detail. This one is a superb instrument. Remember you must make a difference between what you can change from a guitar and what you can't. You can't change woods, weight, colour, shape (or you can hardly change it); you can change the pickguard, pick-ups, pick-up covers, tuners, frets. The review is in it all, specially the unchangeable terms. As for the others, I am very happy with them.

Sound is one of the most personal details in an instrument. What I like can be disliked by you. You can reckon it just scrolling down the reviews, but as for me.... Sound is unbelievable. Playing mainly through a Marshall MG15DFX, stock pickups (quite loud!). Thought of a change but soon discarded it.

Unplugged, it sounds brilliant. In the clean settings, the neck pickup is amazing, what a warm, clean/semi-acoustic sound; in the middle is the best, both warm and bright; and in the bridge pickup it is such a classic rock'n'roll sound.... uuuuuh. Those two pickups are sensational!

In distorted, you get such a great amount and variety of sounds from both pickups that you cover everything. My preferred style is blues and hard rock so the softly distorted sound turns this baby into the perfect blues machine, with such a crunch... I easily got Gov't Mule first album sound. No difference. I swear. With more distortion the bridge pickup shines more than the neck, getting into metal from Iron Maiden first albums, for example. But the neck is tremendous too for soloing.

Overall the guitar is capable of EVERYTHING, just play with volume and tone from the guitar or eq settings on the amp. If you don't extract anything you want from it it's YOU the one responsible. Because it was also tested on a Fender Twin Reverb by a pro player and he was pretty impressed. He is looking for a Gibson LP Custom and he couldn't stop praising the sound, this babe.

Action is untouched. I am fine with it. Neck pickup was a bit low, so I raised it. The problem came with the neck which was way too straight and it caused some buzz. Adjusted and... buzz went away.

More expensive guitars come with worse problems, come on.

A Les Paul can break a tank. This is no exception.

Looking at the other reviews, I am amazed at the electronics. A lot of people complain about them being very weak. The ones here are flawless at all. No crackles. Tone and volume respond as they should. What I suspect is that these people had bad luck. Or I have a lot, because every instrument I play seems not to have any defect.

Never needed. Only, when adjusting the truss rod. Apart from that, nothing else.

The perfect machine. A Gibson costs +2,000 euros more. The quality of this baby cannot justify any jump. Forget fashion and coolness. No justify. If it costed 600 or 700 euros, it would be worth it.

It's a Les Paul. Not a Les Paul copy as a lot of people here say. It's 100% Les Paul. Both Gibson and Epiphone (Orville too?) are allowed to wear the Les Paul logo. Remember a certain Lester Polfus first efforts at what factory...

I wouldn't be ashamed to bring this baby anywhere despite not putting Gibson in any place. This one doesn't need any important word to rule over far more expensive models. Because my fingers will make the difference; the baby will help me.

Look for early 2006 chinese Epi models. I have been reported in a lot of shops about their supreme quality. As for this model, they are true!

1999 from S.Korea, 22 frets, 2 volume, 2 tone controls, 2 stock humbuckers passive, appears to be made of mahogany, honeyburst finish with cream colored pickguard, Bigsby-style vibrato, vintage -type green tuners, got a free gig bag with it.

Suits my style of playing (classic rock, blues,heavy rock) I use it with a Laney LC-30 tube combo, usually just plugged in direct. I have some assorted effects, if i use anything it's just an RP50 for different amp sounds. I changed the stock bridge for a roller bridge I bought off ebay. I also routed the strings over the front bar of the unit instead of under it.What a difference that made. After using 10's I changed to 9's so I make bending a little easier. The vibrato unit stays in tune just as well as my Strat Plus with tremsetter. Of course I had to fiddle around with pickup heights and intonation but I am very satisfied with it's playability. Think Neil Young's "When You Dance, I Can Really Love"

I have no issues about how well the action, fit or finish was when I bought it. I have always done my own upgrades or set-ups. However two of the pots keep getting scratchy, I have taken them apart and swabbed them with electronic cleaner and they work fine for awhile. I may upgrade them eventually. The pickup selector switch seems very loose compared to others of the type I've tried in stores. But since it ain't broke I ain't gonna fix it.

I don't play for money, but I believe it would hold up well. I had thought about replacing the tuners, but the guitar stays in tune, so they'll stay. The strap buttons are still in tight, although I would suggest straplocks for anyone who likes to jump off their stacks from time to time. I have other guitars, but I would take it alone.

Have never dealt with them

Been playing 23 years or so, I have a '90 Strat Plus, customized '00 Mex. Strat, '76 Fender Musicmaster bass , old Washburn acoustic, Laney LC-30 with Celestion G12S-50 speaker, assorted cheap effects,practice amp, etc. This guitar has been a welcome addition. Because it looks so cool, it gets all the attention whenever someone sees it. I would definitely get another even with the bigsby unit, 'cause I know how to make 'em work. I just wish the electronic parts were on a par with the rest of the instrument.

2006 Chinese LP Standard. Same basic features as set forth below. Tuners purport to be Grovers.

Basic rock sounds. This guitar will be played by a 12-year-old through a Fender Hot ROd tube amp. It seems well-suited to that task.

I am writing this review to make a basic point that I've only seen touched on a few times below. The finish and action of the guitar I bought is not bad. However, I played and looked over 6 different guitars until I found one that was half way decent. The quality control on these Chinese LPs is awful. Some guitars had the pickup switch in sideways, others had uneven nuts, still others had loose screws holding the pickups in. Apparently "Set Up in the USA" means nothing more than that someone in the States peeled off a sticker and affixed it to the back of the headstock. DO NOT BUY ONE OF THESE ONLINE. It took quite a while switching guitars at Guitar Center to find one that was problem free in the set up department.

Feels solid. Pickup selector might not last. Good for a start. We'll see.

I agree with the general consensus that this is a completely different (and inferior) animal than a Gibson Les Paul, but is a nice guitar and a great value nonetheless. I bought this as a gift for my son's 12th birthday and think it is a great choice for someone like him who: (a) likes to rock, (b) has some talent and (c) is improving, but who (d) does not need a $2000+ guitar. The main point I want to make, however, is that there is no consistency in how these guitars are put together. Having looked into the matter I realize that the reason the reviews of this particular guitar vary so much is that the quality varies significantly from guitar to guitar. So, if you are considering an Epiphone LP Standard, be smart and test drive a few. You may be surprised at the level of inconsistency but could end up with a winner.

OK, I get a little tired of so many "experts" giving their opinion and realistically seem to spend more time playing around with their guitars than actually using them to make music.

I have played them all, Peavy, Ibanez, Gibson LP, Fender strat and tele and they all have merit. Personally I have chosen the epi les paul standard, sunburst. I have been playing for over 30 years, ( I am still well under 50)I find that each person has a different ear and will like a different guitar, that is a fact we all know.

I personally can buy a Gibson Les paul but I choose hands down the Epi les paul standard. I have not changed the pickups but I do have a wizard technition who has adjusted everything possible on this guitar and you can play the heck out of it. I have had 7 #1 songs on Sony Acid Planet out of 483,000 musicians which is pretty good. The guitar is light, I find the finish beautiful and no flaws. 23 frets if you can squeal the last one, act 22. I do a lot of recording and I use a Norman accoustic, Fender Bass, and the ONLY guitar is the epi les paul. A very famous musician told me about 20 years ago the following" you can have the greatest guitar with every feature available but if you can't make it sing it is useless to you. The price on the Epi was around $500 Can brand new and I do not intend to change anything, the grovers are fine, the tone is great, I use a fender twin. You should be able to use a bit of delay with either a Wah Wah or a flanger to get a screemin guitar sound. This was made in China and I do find this also to be extremely easy on my fingers.

Darrell

I play mostly blues and guitar rock. It can scream or be really tasteful, the epi does both

The guitar was not set up well at the factory, but it sure is now!

I would always take a backup guitar on a gig, more for breaking a string. Take a listen to Brian May with the home made guitar he has and tell me if he does not make magic with that guitar!

No comment

yes, do not buy a guitar because someone tells you too! If you like what it does for you, the price is decent, you have done some homework, go with your gut, not with your cheque book