Jay Turser JT-200 Gothic

Simply put, this is a Chinese made knockoff of a Gibson Les Paul Gothic. ...pretty nice one though. All features are typical to what you'd expect on a Les Paul Studio model. Unsure of what wood it's built from, but it's defintely not plywood...no binding anywhere on the guitar. Tune-O-Matic bridge... two humbuckers, a volume and tone control for each... Sealed tuners... Arch top... Satin black finish... black hardware... set net... not too thick or too thin, jumbo frets, rosewood fingerboard and block inlays much like you would find on a normal Les Paul... as opposed to the minimalistic inlay you'll find on the genuine Gibson gothics. The guitar is very black. Unsure of what brand of pickup was used... you can be sure they were inexpensive. The guitar is plenty beefy. Also, the horn on the cut away is much more like what you'll find on the LTD EC series guitars, than it is of a traditional Les Paul. I like the look of the LTD Les Paul knockoffs, perhaps more than the real thing, so this guitar bearing a body resemblance to the LTD is a good thing.

I cover a lot of ground musically, from clean to bluesy drive to raging gain. This guitar sounds decent... not fabulous for any of these sounds. Playing it through a variety of things... a J-Station, a PODxt Live, and a Boogie Subway Rocket. The bridge pickup seems a little thin at this point, not bad for rhythm, but not good for lead, and the neck pickup is better, but still doesn't have quite the body I'd like. We'll see what it's like when I get the 9s that it shipped with off of it. I prefer 11s or 12s... that should help. It'll probably get new pickups at some point.

This is where I was surprised... this guitar arrived via the Big Brown Truck and was pulled from the box with a fabulous setup. Intonation was set right, action was low, no buzzes, no dead spots... remarkable. ...Especially considering that the guitar traveled from NJ to WI in the dead of winter. I could not find a single flaw. ...Remarkable

Only had it a couple of weeks... Seems solid enough... the finish seems plenty thick... We'll see how she wears...

Would I gig with it? ...sure
Do I think I could depend on it? ...sure
But it'd never be the only guitar at the gig.

Haven't had chance to deal with them... couldn't tell ya how they do.

I've been playing now for around 20 years...I'm not a great guitarist, but I'm competant. I've had good gear and bad, so I can tell the difference between the two. Right now this is my 4th guitar and it's probably comparable to the others in terms of quality. In terms of what you can get for your money on a budget level, this guitar is phenominal. It's certainly no worse than any guitar you can find costing up to around $500. I choose not to compare it directly to highend instruments, because that's not what it is. Make no mistake, this is entry level Les Paul knockoff... a damn fine one, but still an entry level guitar. Considering what's available in the same price range, and the fact that it came out of the box flawless, I'll give it an overall rating of 9. Were I to compare it to higher end guitars, I'd probably fall somewhere between a 5 and 6.

Basic Les Paul Configuration:

2 - PAF voice humbuckers
Gothic Satin Black
Set Neck
Dark Rosewood Neck
Sealed Tuners
2-Vol & 2-Tone
Standard Gibson LP Style Bridge
Black hardware
Mother Of Pearl Block Inlays in the neck
3 X 3 on a side tuners
Body & Neck is solid maple

This is your basic Gibson/Epiphone Les Paul Gothic Knock-off. This Jay Turser has a set in neck, it also has the large mother of pearl block inlays instead of the dots like the Gibson Gothic LP. Also the bridge is about 1/16" wider so it is more heavy duty and you can tell because this puppy will sustain like no tomorrow. The pick-ups were ok, they did not squeal, but they were not as high of output as a real Gibson/Epiphone so like I usually do, I replaced them with my favorite Dimarzio X2N in the bridge and Paf pro for the neck, Now this gothic LP kicks some serious ass!

I play mostly Metal & Hard Rock, I play through a Crate GFX-2200 Head and Slant cabinet with 4-12" speakers, it's loud and kicks ass real hard!

With the original pick-ups it sounded fairly good, no squeals, they did not have the harmonics that I wanted or the output so I replaced them. I changed pick-up due to my own tastes.

No finishing flaws what so ever, the neck & frets were polished to a high degree, the hardware was black chrome plated with no flaws.

This guitar was set up really well with fast action right out of the box, it was basically in tune with a small adjustment of the A string.

This is your basic Gibson/Epiphone Les Paul Gothic Knock-off without the big price. The nice thing about this model is that, just like the real Gibson LP, the Jay Turser has a set in neck, it also has the large mother of pearl block inlays instead of the dots like the Gibson Gothic LP. Also the bridge is about 1/16" wider so it is more heavy duty and you can tell because this puppy will sustain like no tomorrow. The pick-ups were ok, they did not squeal, but they were not as high of output as a real Gibson/Epiphone so like I usually do, I replaced them with my favorite Dimarzio X2N in the bridge and Paf pro for the neck, Now this gothic LP kicks some serious ass!

I've only had it a few weeks, so time will tell.

Dennis was great at Musicland Central and very helpful when ordering. No issue have arisen as of yet.

I've been playing since I was 15 and I am now 36, I've had my fair share of junk equipment and good equipment so I think I know the good from the bad. about 2 years ago my prized Gibson SG custom was stolen from me and I looked into a replacement. I was not happy with the SG that Epiphone was offering and I considered an Ibanez artist series but I ran into a frien that had a nice Jay turser 335 knock-off and I was impressed by the workmanship, so I ordered a jay Turser JT50 Custom from Musicland Central it is a black with Gold Harware SG copy that I wound up liking more than my Gibson so when it came to get a les paul I looked toward Jay Turser and I must say the Jay Turser line is top notch as far as clone of Gibson goes, yeah, yeah I know it is not and never will be a Gibson, but a then again I would rather pay for the Jay Turser and spend the rest on something else. I play for the music and could care less about the name. If it sounds good the so be it, like the old saying goes if it aint broke don't fix it.