Essex EG161 CSB

Features were pretty much covered everywhere else. If i didnt know better, id say this thing is would have cost around 400-500.

I love its sound... All i can say, i mean i have my Ibanez for my metal, and this for my hard rock. But this can also spit out some mean blues or jazz tones. Even the stock pickups sound great as far as stocks go!

hmm... all covered previously mine except mine came with 11's on it. Action was high, but a few quick screw driver turns fixed that.

Well this guitar will see its first gig in 2 months, but i see it handling it great

This is one of the main reasons i wrote this. I bought it in person at the Rondo Music in West Union. Their staff is one of the most knowledgable, and friendly staff ive ever delt with. I went there just to try out a few guitars, and they brought me over and showed me exactly what i wanted. Best staff i have ever had to deal with!

Great guitar!! If i lost it I'd be very upset, but would surely buy another. I love everything about it, the tone, the sustain, although the strings that it comes with are a bit stetchy, but a set of D-adarrios fixes that one.

The Essex EG-161 CSB is a Made-in-China version of the Gibson Les Paul Cherry Starburst; I'm guessing it was made in 2002. It has 22 frets and a solid-body, made, I think, out of alder. It comes with two humbucker pickups with twin volume and treble knobs and a three position (treble/rhythm/combined) selector switch. As I said, it is a cherry straburst finish, with chrome hardware, and (imitation, I'm sure) pearl inlays on the neck.

I haven't touched a guitar in ten or fiften years and, while I did want to play again, I didn't want to make a huge investment. (Hell, I;m 52 years old.) So, I bought this guitar because it was alow-cost way to have an axe that looked like a :es Paul. All in all, it looks, to this guy, like a Les Paul.

One more hting, it weighs a ton! You could use it as a weapon.

I give it a nine, because I don't give tens.

I have no music style, per se, but it sounds fine (after adjusting the volume and treble and three-way) on everything from Neil Young through the Lovin' Spoonful, Kinks, and Ramones, to the Sex Pistols. OK, it plays sixties and punk just great.

I'm using a fairly simple 10 watt Johnson (yes, from China)that allows me to have volume and controllable feedback. maybe, if I get good in my mind, I'll add power with or without the J10 as a pre-amp.

The sound overall is pretty good, though the pick-ups seem prone to buzzing. Also, while the volume and treble knobs have settings (1 to 10; gee, no 11???), there's no base-line on the guitar. So...settings are less than exact.

Some reviewers said the action was high when they received their EG-161. It does sit up a bit, to be sure; being aware of that I adjusted to suit my needs. The treble pickup wasn't set right, with one side higher than the other; a simple turn of the screw fixed that. Other than that, all was correct

I've had the guitar one week. With one exception, it's a solid as a rock, and will likely last a long time.

The exception is that the strings that come with it are a bit cheesy. I find I have to re-tune after every five or so songs. I'll bet this will be alleviated when I restring it.

The finish looks great; however, my scratchguard is showing a bit more wera than I'd care for it to be showing. Not adeal-breaker, though.

If I were good enough, I'd play it in public.

The guys are very good on order entry and follow-up on shipping.

I failed to become proficient on the guitar at 14, 29, and 35. I just didn't have the commitment. Now, maybe I'll stay the path. This guitar is just about perfect for what I want to do; that is, fulfil the dream of playing rock 'n' roll.

If this guitar was lost or stolen, I'd buy another.

This Rondo Music outfit has a real good deal going here.

Year Made: 2002
Frets:22
Controls: 2Volume 2 Tone
PickUps:2 Humbuckers Brand?
Body and neck woods :body solid alder,neck maple with rosewood fingerboard
Finish:Cherry Sunburst (NICE)
Body Style :Les Paul
Bridge Style:Stop bar tailpiece
Nice features for the price tuners are a little cheap thats my only complaint

First of all I play all kinds of styles mostly blues ,classic rock .This guitar deffinately suites this style . Awesome when I was jamming steppenwolf and credence yesterday with the neighbors.I was playing on a older Fender amp I think it was a 60's reveb model ,with a boss metal zone pedal . Thats it the metal zone is a great pedal very versatile .Sounds great in all three positions however I prefer rythymm sounds so rich and full . This guitar kicks ass also in the treble position for the leads .Harmonics sound nice too. This guitar is versatile great for leads ,rythymm ,blues ,rock etc....

The action was bit high for my personal tastes and the strings were tinny sounding .Thats ok though my plan was to put .010's on it anyhow .However when I installed the .010s I had reset the intonation which was difficult at first because three of the adjustable saddles were installed (backwards). They were the D A low E strings . I didn't notice this until I e-mailed Kurt from Rondomusic and asked him what i was doing wrong .Let me also say that I have never worked with this type of bridge before so it was a learning experience for me .Once they were turned around i had no problem setting the intonation . The guitar sounds great with .010s on it.
as far the finish it was perfect . No scratches,smudges,snot or anything like that on the guitar . Finish looks beautiful too ,I like the sunburst .

I think guitar can do great in a live performance . I played it about three hours straight yesterday bendind ,soloing etc... and it stayed in tune just fine. Tuners are the only cocern I might have in the future they seem cheap and they were a little loose when I received them .The straps stayed on fine ,the strap buttons seem to be solid .I would love to play this guiatr in a live performance if get a cahnce to . Right now I am not in a band.I would not play this guitar at a gig without other guitars simply because I like differrent guitars for differrent songs or styles .

Customer support is great .I bugged Kurt a few times and he responded quickly .For instance the problem I had with intonation ,Kurt e-mailed me back in about 15 minutes with the solution to my problem .I am not sure if theres a warranty on this guitar or not .It was so cheap though ,I not sure they could afford to give one on this guitar .ALso the guitar is pretty well made I dont think it needs one.

I have been for about 10 years now . Just getting serious about a year ago and really studying and practicing.I own 2 charvels,a MIM Strat,and a yamaha bass.This guitar deffinately compliments my collection nicely I always wanted a Les Paul But I'm a cheap bastard not willing to pay 2000-3000 for a guitar and to be honest from the les pauls I played at guitar center and the essex theres not much differrence in sound,quality and appearance.
I would be pissed off if it was lost or stolen .However if it happened I could afford another one easily.
I would tell anyone interested in owning a Les Paul style guitar buy this guitar or any Essex like this ,you'll be happy . For the price this is awesome guitar soundwise and appearance wise.

2001 LP copy. $179 including shipping. The same features as a LP standard, except for a bolt on neck.

This is the best thing about this guitar. The sound varies alot with the amp used. Through my old Gibson ga19rvt Falcon it gives a very mellow, smooth, bell clear clean tone. Great for clean blues/jazz. Through my Fender blues junior, it can put out a real mean growl; super driven blues or rock. I own 4 tube amps, but I tried it through a solid state Fender. It sounded pretty thin, but then again I'm a tube freak.

Looks very nice for a guitar again as expensive. Nice fit, hardware and finish. However, I've had alot of trouble with the action. The nut slots were too deep, and after six months of moderate playing and string bending, the A and high E strings were both hitting the first fret. I built a new aluminum nut to cure that problem. I had to dress a few frets also to stop the buzzing. Also, the barrell nuts for the stop tailpiece pulled out of the body.Epoxy fixed that. Most of the hardware came loose. It's like the wood wasn't cured and everything came loose when it shrunk. After spending 7 or 8 hours on it, right now it's playing pretty well. I hope it's permanent?

So far I'm pretty sceptical after all the problems. The neck seems a little on the soft side. Hardware is nice.

Ive heard they're pretty good.

Been playing 35 years. I can't complain too much about this guitar because of the price. I'm a Fender man, and I mainly play my strat and tele. I bought this to get an ocasionally wanted fat sound. It does that very well, without a big extra expense. I have to give it a decent overall rating because of the price and sound

I bought this guitar brand new from Rondo Music's web store (www.rondomusic.com). I was particularly impressed by the cherry sunburst paint job, which looks incredibly "Gibson-esque". Upon further examination, I found that the electronics are also set up in the "proper" Gibson Les Paul style, that is two passive humbuckers, each with their own volume and tone controls and a three-way selector switch. Naturally, the bridge is fixed with a stop tailpiece, which is chrome, just like the rest of the hardware. Two of my guitar friends examined this one closely both on the web site and when it arrived less than a week later and found that in terms of appearance and features, the only difference we could find between this and a real, $2000 Gibson Les Paul was that the Essex employs a bolt-on neck. This is really not a concern to me, particularly after paying less than 1/10th the price of the real thing. I was in it for the look and feel, not the name. The guitar came with a couple of allen wrenches and was extremely well packaged.

I play various degrees of Rock/Metal, from Weezer to Rush to Metallica, as well as instrumental Rock such as Vai and Satriani. This guitar was intended more for the Led Zepplin type music that I often crank out, but I've found that it'll happily play basically anything that doesn't require a whammy bar. I play through a variety of pedals, including several different Boss distortions. The DS-1 Distortion and SD-2 Dual Overdrive both work well, though the HM-3 Hyper Metal is a little too bassy for this guitar. The combination of the DS-1 and my Vox Wah is my favorite sound. All of this ends up going through my Fender Frontman 25R amp, and I generally play through headphones, since I'm in an apartment and really play for my own pleasure anyway. The guitar also sounds very crisp when played clean. I tend to use the Treble pickup position all the time, though the combined pickup selection sounds good too, particularly clean. I tend not to use the Rhythm position (neck pickup) since it sounds somewhat muddy to my ears. Maybe this is normal for Les Paul style guitars, I'm no expert on them. Also, I expected great sustain out of this guitar, and I was not disappointed.

The factory setup was by no means perfect, but it was certainly playable right out of the box. The action was decent, but there was a fair amount of buzz on the lower strings down near the nut. Having read other reviews of Essex LP's, I suspected the factory-installed strings may be somewhat to blame. I promptly replaced them with a set of D'Addario Lite Top/Heavy Bottom strings (10-13-17-30-42-52) and this improved the situation greatly as I was able to achieve a reasonably low action with no buzz. The other thing I noticed at first was that the pickguard was slightly loose right out of the box. Once I got it home, I tightened down it's screw a bit and it's now nice and snug. The paint job holds up to close inspection and looks great either from a distance or close up.

Having never played an actual concert, I can't offer much of an opinion on whether this is a good live guitar or not. But I don't see any reason why it wouldn't hold up to it. It has plenty of weight behind it, lending it a very solid feel from the moment you pick it up. All four pots have a nice hint of resistance to them, so that they feel high quality, to my fingers, at least. I've only had it for a few weeks, but the finish seems as though it will stand the test of time. If I were to play a gig, I don't think I would use any of my guitars without bringing a backup, that just seems like its asking for trouble. But this guitar would definately be with me, just for the style and presence it offers if nothing else.

I haven't dealt with Essex at all, and don't really expect to. If anything were to go wrong, I'd probably try to fix it myself. For the price paid, it wouldn't really be worth jumping through a lot of hoops dealing with the factory in my book. I can, however, offer an opinion on the vendor, Rondo Music, who seems to be one of the only suppliers of these things. Their website is nicely laid out and easy to use, and it was a snap to place my order and pay for it via credit card. Shipping costs were very reasonable. I was also very pleasantly surprised that they shipped the guitar out on the same day that I placed my order. I ordered on a Friday afternoon, and it arrived the next Thursday by UPS Ground, for $20.00. My only wish is that they would offer better shipment tracking, either by automatically e-mailing a tracking number when it becomes available, or making it available via their website. Still, they were quick to respond to my e-mailed requests for this information.

I've been playing for almost 10 years now. I got by on a really basic Strat clone (a Harmony, I think?) for the first several years, before realizing how much I liked to play, and that better things were available for a reasonable price. I next picked up a Charvel-Jackson Strat clone, which I still have and play occasionally. This lasted me for a couple more years, after which I decided it was time to try something a little nicer. My Ibanez RG270 came next, and this and the Charvel were my only guitars up until late last year. At that point, I finally realized a guitar dream I'd had for some time and picked up a used Washburn 7 string off of E-bay. I now also have two Saga kit guitars, a strat copy and a P-bass copy, as well as a Frankenguitar that I'm building based around a Kramer body and a Washburn neck. This Essex is by far my sharpest-looking guitar, and one of the best-playing as well. I would certainly buy another if it were destroyed or lost. My favorite thing about it is definately the look, and I don't think I really dislike anything about it as it plays nice and sounds good. In a perfect world, I suppose I'd wish for a set neck, but that simply isn't happening at this price. It's a fine compromise in my book.

This guitar was made in 2001. It was made in china.It has the standard frets with laminated top. Heritage cherry sunburst finish.It has two volume and two tones and three way selector. It has two nickel covered humbuckers.Body is made of alder with the top fow finish of the classic cherry sunburst.Very appealing! LP style with standard tune o matic brigde and looks like a grover style tuners. The neck is thin closer to a strat neck but not tapered as much as a real Gibson LP.

This guitar suits my style which is ROCK!I am using a Marshall JCM800 2204 ,a digitech RP100 ,and a Tube Works Real tube 901 pedal. The pickups are a little noisey when not playing. It sounds very good for a LP copy.It came with 9 strings but I changed them to 10's. It sounds more fatter now. It has a lot of sustain.Surprisingly the pickups are usable for stock pickups. The bridge is much more brighter than my Epiphone SG stock bridge. Overall it sounds great clean and distorted.The only thing that I would change is the bridge pickup to a Gibson 498T.

The guitar is set up to standard settings. Some other reviews replied that the action was too high but I think it is fine. I could not see any major flaws in it. The body looks sweet.The pickups were set up fine.The neck is dead straight,the tuners stay in tune(even after tuneing down and doing bends).The pickups a little noisey when not playing,selector works great.

Well for $160 plus tax and shipping it is worth it. I would never buy a new Gibson for $2000. It's not worth it.I could buy 10 of these and change a few things and be satisfied.The hardware is great.The finish looks like it will last.The strap buttons are better than the Epiphone strap buttons. It stays on much better.I could depend on it.I would still have a backup.

Well I ordered on a wednesday and received on friday.That is great service.For a warranty standard 30 day but if there is any problems Kurt said it could be replaced.Great service and support.

I have been playing for three years and this is my third guitar. I love music and want to have a big collection. I looked at the Epiphones but did want to spend $600.I love this guitar and would buy another.The finish is sweet.I recommend this guitar and some of their others because they are great sounding and affordable. Buy this and save your money for a Marshall stack.Its rockin!