Hi all, I was reading some info on Czech Epis after I purchased one a few days ago on ebay and I want to add some considerations.
Firstly, the long post about the value of craftsmanship of Czech Republic in the 90's is quite wrong.
They may not have been the leader manufacturers in high-tech, but remember that many people consider their Skoda a no-frills cheaper version of a Mercedes. I am no car expert so I'll leave that to your judgement.
Secondly, between WWII and the fall of the Soviet block, several communist countries were able to produce high-standard items, including electrical equipment. I am 41 so I have personally seen a bit of that. I'd like to remind you that when Zeiss was raided in WWII and lens designs were brought abroad, USSR started mass producing some photo lenses that are still sought today for their peculiarities, see Helios, Jupiter and so on. Not on par with current Jap counterparts from Canon or Nikon for sure, but at the time they knew what to do and until the '60s USSR was second to none, including the US.
Personally, I have never been a lover of Gibsons and LPs, I am a Fender fan and I own several models, including USA ones. That's now.
10-15 years ago, between graduation and the time I started working, I have played and purchased dozens of brand new and old guitars. Since I had quit playing for more that 10 years I started from cheaper models, Eko first, then Epiphone Les Paul Studio, Standard and so on, before realizing they were really not what I was looking for. But I realized that only after owning almost 20 of them, which gave me quite some practical knowledge.
One day I saw an auction on ebay, Les Paul Standard, from Ireland (I live in Italy and the exchange rate was good back then), 350 euro or a bit less including solid case.
Take this with a grain of salt, but believe me when I say I am not a Les Paul fan at all. That guitar was awesome, very resonant even unplugged, tobacco sunburst with light brown in the middle and medium-light brown instead of black edge, something so cool I have not seen for the last decade on auctions. I plugged the guitar and the sound was simply excellent (tube amp), no real need to replace the pickups, of course that would have improved the situation, but it was not the desperate need I felt after buying other contemporary and more expensive Epis from the '2000-2010s, from China or other countries.
Then I looked at the serial...boom...B ...after searching a bit I found out what it meant and man...I could never believe I could love a Les Paul (call it a successful blind test).
To cut the story short, I sold it before emigrating for a decade in 2010, and that's the top guitar I regret selling in my "I should have not done that" list. Other contemporary Epis sounded and felt like toys compared to that. ALL of them (the top price was about 500 Euro then, not the crazy 700 Euro they ask today).
The buyer sent me a message...I still have it printed in my memory: "Wow, this guitar sounds unbelievable!" "Thanks, I know that, but I can't play it anymore" "Do you want it back?" "Erm...cough...cough..no thanks, enjoy it". And I started looking for Czech Epis as soon as I moved back to Italy a few years ago. I wanted the very same cool light brown/middle brown tobacco sunburst but I didn't find one yet. I hate those sunbursts with black edges, they looks so cheap!
As I said, I am the happy owner of several USA and Mexican Strats and Tellys, I bought an Epi a few days ago (block red), and I did it only because finally I found one made in Bohemia (it took me since 2016), and for less than the price I sold mine for. It's hard to find them below 400-500 Euro now, actually it's hard even finding them, I activated notifications for the past 4 years to see that one.
A mystique reputation? Maybe, but trust me on that: for a well deserved reason. It does sound like a real guitar indeed. The only Epi Les Paul I liked so far. The only one I would keep and on par <at least> with my Mexican Fenders. Comfortable well finished neck, full solid resonant body, good pickups, good tuners...try to find one...
