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early '90s Epi Les Pauls.... what are the details??


MI_Canuck

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since I just picked up a '91 Epi LP Standard... curious as to the traits of early '90s Epiphone Les Pauls 'Made in Korea' (as compared to the newer Chinese made ones)....

 

body - were they weight relieved? (mine feels solid and weighs 9 lbs, but ???)

wood - is it real mahogany? or is it asian species?

maple cap - is it a real maple cap?

neck - i can tell mine is at least 2 piece... are one piece necks something only Gibsons (or maybe even just CS Gibbys??) get??

neck profile - feels nice and slim - is it close to a 60's Gibson neck?

tuners - on mine, they *look* like Klusen - doubt there are the real thing... but ???

pickups - are the early '90s p/ups the same as what Epi uses today (they're generic Alnico humbuckers) ??

 

 

 

cheers

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I'll tell you what I know based on my Epi Classic (2004)

Body: I'm told is Phillipine Mahogany

Cap: on most Alder, on some Maple, with a flame, quilt, etc. veneer of maple.

Neck: on my guitar, there's a scarf joint at the 3rd fret, and the heel is 2 piece, also Phillipine mahogany

Profile: supposed to be slim-taper, mine's pretty fast

Tuners: Asian copies of Klusens, mine came with Asian Grovers

Pickups: on the Classic, their supposed to be copies of the 496/500 combo stock on Gibsons, they were ok, I swapped mine for circa '70's Gibson pickups, Bill Lawerence something-or-others, sound WAY better than stock.

Mines been pretty extensively modified (bridge, tailpiece, pickguard, pickups, guts, pretty much the whole guitar), hell of a guitar stock though. Hope that helps...

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As I mentioned in the other thread, I had a '90 or '91 LP cherryburst with a more open-book style headstock. The ex trashed it about 6 months after I got it, but what I remember of it, it was a nice fairly average guitar. Nothing about it really sticks out in my mind, but at the time, I regarded guitars as nothing more than a means to an end. I didn't pay much attention to construction. If it worked, I was good to go.

 

I replaced it with a '95 tobaccoburst (not much to look at but played pretty nice - had passive EMG pups when I bought it) which was stolen in '02. Again, a nice average guitar. Nothing special.

 

On the other hand, my '03 transamber is one of those guitars I'd be royally pissed if anything happened to it. It's a great instrument (beautiful finish too). It's still bone stock because it really doesn't need anything else. Thanks to this forum, I've got a fair idea what it's probably made of - though I wouldn't want to swear to it on a stack of bibles.

I more curious what's under the finish than I used to be, but I'm still of the mind that if it sounds & feels good, does it really matter?

 

But that's just me...

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