Morkolo

Ahhh I wouldn't send the guy down the river just yet, many people don't get a chance to be on the forum everyday.

Laminate tops from Epiphone have been called "select" spruce, maple whatever for years now. I know recent EJ200CE's have solid tops and they sound great. There are different versions of the EJ200 guitar available so this could be where your confusion stems from.

I'm happy with my Epiphone Les Paul Standard Plus and I'm happy with the Epiphone EJ200CE that my Father owns. I'm happy with the Epiphone Les Paul ProFX my brother picked up last year that I did a full set up on for him that left me thoroughly impressed. There's no doubt if I had money to blow I'd probably replace every piece of hardware that's replaceable on my LP, but that's just me being anal because it does the job as is for the moment and when I'm ready I'll probably be moving up to a Gibson anyway. Keep in mind the price you pay for an Epiphone in comparison to a Gibson... you can't expect a comparable Gibson at an Epiphone price. There are very nice Gibson style guitars from other brands on the market as well if Epiphone doesn't do it for you, almost every manufacturer makes their own version of the Les Paul, but they're all different. Who knows maybe it's Epiphone you're looking for or maybe it's something else, the one thing I do know is I can't make up your mind for you... you'll have to do that all by yourself. A good place to start would be to let us know what gear you already own and what music you play so people can do a better job of suggesting what models for you to look at if you are indeed interested in one.

That is gorgeous.

Nice! I've been thinking about picking one up for a while now.

I can't say it will work for you but if you plan on throwing those old pickups in the parts bin and never using them again try this. Get a hair drier and melt the wax out of the pickup, then re wax pot it with less wax. That's what I did with the pickups from my Samick HJ650 and it turned the muddiest humbucker I've ever heard in my life to one of the best sounding neck pickups I've ever heard. It is a bit noisier but to my ears it's well worth it.

It's simple to do in person, kind of hard to explain over the internet. You said the buzz was on the low E string, do you mean when you hit the open E string or in a certain fret position? First check the neck relief, there should be a slight amount. If it looks good then proceed to the bridge where without any tools you can detune, turn the adjuster knob counterclockwise to raise the bridge. Keep an eye on how much you turn it so that you can put it back to stock at anytime. Retune and check for fret buzz again. If the neck needs to be adjusted I could only imagine it being a quarter turn at the very most, but I would wait until the neck settles before doing that.

Could a slight action adjustment at the bridge or a small turn on the truss rod to allow for the extra relief.

To the best of my knowledge I believe the Emperors are a bit smaller than the Broadways. Going by the specs both have the same woods for theirs tops, back and sides and necks. They both use the same pickups too, but the Broadway uses the Frequensator tale piece which many believe to make the lows lower and the highs higher if I remember right. Beyond the spec sheets I can't help you because I've only had a Joe Pass Emperor II in my hands briefly and haven't been able to try out a Broadway yet. I would doubt that they would sound the same unplugged though because of the difference in the shape and size of the bodies.

I'm partial to 10's over the 9's, I just like the extra bit of tension. For the sake of five or six dollars go out and buy a set of 9's, if you like them great.. if you don't, well you didn't spend that much trying to find out.

I'm pretty sure that's the same arm that was on my brother's guitar.

My brother has the same tremolo in his 80's Bc Rich Warlock, I just hope you have better luck with it than what he does. I don't find the one he has any better than a Strat tremolo, no where near in the league of tuning stability as a good Floyd. He has 5 springs in his which I think is overkill, but that seems to work for him. But you could be lucky and have a good one.

Nice studio, those guitars look and play great!

Thanks, I'll have to take a look. Every Studio I've played rival the high end Gibson's in nearly every aspect, definitely a great value.

Does Gibson still make these? That Studio looks beautiful.