[buliwyf]

Has anyone played,own or seen one in person yet.I have been looking at the EPI LP limited edition 50th anniv and really like the guitars look and spec's.Next I turned the page in the MF catalog I was reading and saw the Tribute LP standard and i think I like it better.I really dig the Gibson 57 classic and plus PU's they put in it,I have used them before and loved the sound/tone. With the push pull tone knobs giving parallel and series sounds it should sound killer,plus it's a hundred bucks less.The only thing I dont like is the Tribute not having a pickguard,
I really like a LP with a pickguard.It seems like Epi went out of their way to make two well made higher end LP's and as i said I'm very interested in the Tribute LP standard.What y'all think.
http://www.epiphone....asp?NewsID=1632

[bigneil]

cool guitar! you can always add your own pickguard.

[rocko]

played one today ....slim neck f serial number...fugijen ?????

[buliwyf]

Hey ROCKO I'm just a misplaced yankee now a southern boy so what does .fugijen mean.Basickly how did it sound,feel and would you buy it? I dont know if I'd want to drill out a LP for a pickguard.If I really need one I suppose I could have a luthier do it.Anybody else play one?

[brad1]

rocko, on 29 December 2010 - 04:21 PM, said:

played one today ....slim neck f serial number...fugijen ?????

May be Fine Guitars (Korea).

buliwyf, on 29 December 2010 - 04:42 PM, said:

Hey ROCKO I'm just a misplaced yankee now a southern boy so what does .fugijen mean.Basickly how did it sound,feel and would you buy it? I dont know if I'd want to drill out a LP for a pickguard.If I really need one I suppose I could have a luthier do it.Anybody else play one?

It's the name of the factory/city where it was made.

[RaSTuS]

buliwyf, on 29 December 2010 - 04:42 PM, said:

Hey ROCKO I'm just a misplaced yankee now a southern boy so what does .fugijen mean.

Fujigen is a Japanese factory, quote from Wikipedia:

Quote

FujiGen Gakki (Japanese) フジゲン 楽器 is a musical instrument manufacturer based at Matsumoto in Japan and is named after the famous Mount Fuji. Gen means stringed instruments and Gakki means musical instrument - the name being literally translated as "Fuji Stringed Musical Instruments". FujiGen does OEM guitar manufacturing for well known guitar brands and they also manufacture their own brands of guitars such as Heartfield and FgN.

Wikipedia Link

EDIT: It is a highly respected manufacturer and is sometimes referred to as Matsumoto also.

[Pennyman]

The 1960's / 2010 Tribute models are made in China. The "F" in the serial number is something of a mystery, as it WAS used to indicate the Fujigen factory in Japan, which indeed made some highly-regarded Epiphone guitars, but no longer. Why Epi has started using the "F again, no-one's been able to figure out just yet, but there you go.

(And just to clarify for those who may be confused - the 1960's / 2010 "Tribute" models and the new "1960 Les Paul Standard Limited Run" are very different beasts; the Tributes come with push/pulls on the tone knobs for series/parallel switching and Gibson '57 Classic pups; the 1960 LP Standard comes with Gibson Burstbuckers, and no push/pull that I'm aware of.)

Now as far as the Tribute guitars go - I have the 2010 model (asymmetrical neck) in trans black. I'm not enough of a player to say why or how that neck feels any different to me than on the 1960's Tribute model; when I picked it up in the store after playing a half-dozen other LPs, it just felt right in my hands and sounded more "alive" - and this was unplugged, btw. (The store didn't have a 60's Tribute to compare it against at the time.)

Quality of the guitar is fine; when I first bought it I took it to a local tech for a set-up, and he played it for a while and told me it didn't even need one. I am going to get a bone nut installed, though. Great sustain, no dead spots on the fretboard, no rattles or sharp fret ends.

The pickups are great, and while the push-pulls are a nice feature, this is probably going to be my one and only Lester, so to get the most out of it, I'm having a Jimmy Page wiring kit (4 push-pulls) installed.

I also swapped out the speed knobs for some silver reflectors and took out the poker chip. Here's a somewhat dramatic photo (natural light, no flash):



Hope that helps~

[rocko]

buliwyf, on 29 December 2010 - 04:42 PM, said:

Hey ROCKO I'm just a misplaced yankee now a southern boy so what does .fugijen mean.Basickly how did it sound,feel and would you buy it? I dont know if I'd want to drill out a LP for a pickguard.If I really need one I suppose I could have a luthier do it.Anybody else play one?

hi there didnt buy it...bought a korean cherry brust instead.....it had nicer neck i thought...little thicker...

[bytor1958]

I got the Epi LP Tribute Faded Cherryburst a few months ago the first thing I did was change strings. I put Dean Markley Blue Steel Lights on it and it made a big difference. I love this guitar it's GREAT. Now when I researched the serial number it said it was made in Japan in 2003. Could these be some left over bodies from Japan?

[stumblinman]

I have a Tribute Plus in Black Cherry, and I haven't sussed out the serial number yet. It's stamped into the headstock instead of silkscreened, so it's harder to read. Especially when you are always playing it..

[Hyote]

I bought a 60s Tribute Plus over the weekend. Has an F number stamped into it, and a sticker on the peghead that says Made In China. Oddly, the pickups are much older than I would have expected. Neck has a date stamp of 01/31/2011, and the bridge says 01/24/2011.

I also played a Gibson Traditional Pro at the same time, and though the Gibson was superior in some ways, there wasn't anything about its tone that I preferred. I'm probably eventually going to get an R9 or similar model, but I wanted to try a less expensive full weight Les Paul for a time to see what features I really need before I lay down the big bucks.

I put Elixers on the Tribute last night, and man, do I ever love those Grover automaticly locking tuners. They make changing strings so quick and easy. The stop piece and the bridge both have retainer springs to hold them rigidly to their posts, and they won't fall out when you take off all of the strings. I guess they might even improve the tone by some tiny amount. Caps are Mallorys for sure. The volume pots seem to be pretty high quality, with a good taper. The push pull tone pots are ok, but they turn a little more easily than I would like - very easy to bump them off their settings. The neck is more D shaped than a typical Gibson 60s neck, and feels quite good to me so far.

Anyway, this Epi plays and sounds just fantasticly well. Better than other Epis I've played over the years, at least for my purposes. The only thing I don't like is the choice they made with the push pull pots. As far as I can tell, the pots just switch each pickup from standard series humbucking to parallel humbucking. Not a bad tone, but I will probably rework the wiring so that I can actually shut off one coil on each pickup for a more true singe coil tone. No hurry though - I like just playing the humbuckers normally.

[Blueman335]

Hyote, on 10 April 2012 - 09:13 AM, said:

the push pull pots. As far as I can tell, the pots just switch each pickup from standard series humbucking to parallel humbucking. Not a bad tone, but I will probably rework the wiring so that I can actually shut off one coil on each pickup for a more true singe coil tone. No hurry though - I like just playing the humbuckers normally.

I thought all the Epi push-pulls were for coil cut, not parallel. Hmmm...

Let us know when you take it apart. I like coil cut much better than parallel.

[Hyote]

Blueman335, on 10 April 2012 - 01:17 PM, said:

I thought all the Epi push-pulls were for coil cut, not parallel. Hmmm...

Let us know when you take it apart. I like coil cut much better than parallel.

It is strange. If you look at the pics of new ones that still have the cardboard labels around the knobs, they clearly say they're for series/parallel switching. And when pulled, there is no hum at all, which seems to confirm to me that both coils are running.

I'll try and trace the circuit out, and I found a chart on the Seymour Duncan site that describes the Gibson wire coloring scheme.