Substylee Posted December 16, 2013 Share Posted December 16, 2013 I recently purchased an Epiphone LP Standard Plus Top and used the serial number to find the following information about it: "Your guitar was made at the Saein Plant, Korea/China August 2002 Production Number: 0646 Saein Musical Instrument Co. Ltd The Saein Musical Instrument Co. Ltd. is located in the Namdong Industrial Complex in Incheon, Korea. Saein was established in July 1st 1991 and has a monthly capacity of 4,500pcs. In Oct 1st 1992, Saien Began manufacturing guitars for Epiphone, who they now consider to be their main business. They also started producing their own line of guitars called Shine in 1997. In February, 2001, a new factory was opened in Gaomi City, China. This factory boasts a monthly capacity of 10,000pcs. Saein was presented the ‘The Best Quality Award of the Year’ by Gibson Epiphone USA in 1998 and 1999." I'm interested in learning what distinguishes my 2002 Korean model from both older and newer LPs. I should mention that this is my first electric guitar and I'm learning, as I go. I'm happy to include photos, if they may help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whitmore Willy Posted December 16, 2013 Share Posted December 16, 2013 Substylee, Welcome to the forum!!! Congrats on the guitar. As to similarities and differences......well..... IMHO, a good guitar is where you find it. LP Standards can be good "as is" for most but also a good upgrade platform for others. Pics always help. How about a straight on shot of the guitar, as well as the headstock front and the headstock back (including serial numbers)? Willy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ralph F. Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 Congrats on the guitar. -------------------------------------------------------- I'll second that. I've had my Epi 339 for almost a year now. I'm a member on Flatpick-L since 1996. I was looking for a Les Paul and mentioned that on the mailing list. One other member who is most a acoustic player said he had a L.P. for sale and sent me some pics. It's a beautiful sunburst. Anyway, I agreed to buy it if he'd pay it off in 3 payments and he said ok. So early next year it will be mine. Ralph Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crust Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 I think you're going to like it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Substylee Posted December 17, 2013 Author Share Posted December 17, 2013 Substylee, Welcome to the forum!!! Congrats on the guitar. As to similarities and differences......well..... IMHO, a good guitar is where you find it. LP Standards can be good "as is" for most but also a good upgrade platform for others. Pics always help. How about a straight on shot of the guitar, as well as the headstock front and the headstock back (including serial numbers)? Willy Thank you! I got some photos. Here they are: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobF_ Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 Congrats! love that top and color and the gradual transition of the burst. Nice Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whitmore Willy Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 I should mention that this is my first electric guitar and I'm learning, as I go. Once again congrats...Looks good to me. I always worry about used Epi LP's. It is from the late 90's to today that the counterfeit market has been a problem. Everything on yours looks legit and the guitar itself looks like a winner. Your research information is all good and correct. I only wanted to see the serial number as as even a legit serial number can be put on a counterfeit. (which yours is not) However, they usually screw up the leading letter size on the counterfeits. Here is some more info: http://epiphonewiki.com/index.php/Les_Paul_Standard As you are new to electrics, here is some basic setup info: http://mysite.verizon.net/jazz.guitar/guitarsetup.htm The Saein plant has always had a top notch reputation. Rock On Willy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott0 Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 i like yer guitar man! a lot. congrats on that one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Substylee Posted December 17, 2013 Author Share Posted December 17, 2013 Once again congrats...Looks good to me. I always worry about used Epi LP's. It is from the late 90's to today that the counterfeit market has been a problem. Everything on yours looks legit and the guitar itself looks like a winner. Your research information is all good and correct. I only wanted to see the serial number as as even a legit serial number can be put on a counterfeit. (which yours is not) However, they usually screw up the leading letter size on the counterfeits. Here is some more info: http://epiphonewiki.com/index.php/Les_Paul_Standard As you are new to electrics, here is some basic setup info: http://mysite.verizon.net/jazz.guitar/guitarsetup.htm The Saein plant has always had a top notch reputation. Rock On Willy Thanks for the input and the resources! Greatly appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capmaster Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 Thank you! I got some photos. Here they are: Great looking guitar - congrats! Both graining and figuring are beautiful, and the colours as well as the burst are very fine. The condition seems to be nice, too, considering it was made more than eleven years ago. A very nice find, mate! B) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bender 4 Life Posted December 18, 2013 Share Posted December 18, 2013 nice guitar!! I have a few from that factory and that time period.....they're fine guitars ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny Seven Posted December 18, 2013 Share Posted December 18, 2013 Congrats! I've got a '96 Epi LP Standard Plus Top and love it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mgrasso Posted December 18, 2013 Share Posted December 18, 2013 Great burst. Clean headstock. Nice Korean model. Great find. Enjoy her. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ralph F. Posted December 20, 2013 Share Posted December 20, 2013 I won't have my used Les Paul til early next year but the guy I'm buying from, sent some photos. http://s253.photobucket.com/user/NM_HighPlains/library/Guitar/Epi%20Paul?sort=3&page=1 Ralph Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny Seven Posted December 20, 2013 Share Posted December 20, 2013 I won't have my used Les Paul til early next year but the guy I'm buying from, sent some photos. http://s253.photobucket.com/user/NM_HighPlains/library/Guitar/Epi%20Paul?sort=3&page=1 Ralph Nice! What year is this one that you're getting? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richs Posted December 20, 2013 Share Posted December 20, 2013 Beautiful figuring in the top, nice color to the burst too. I never get tired of looking at them, like beautiful women. Something you'll want to do, and it isn't hard, is normal care and maintenance of your guitar. For some reason people are afraid to work on them, and no I wouldn't tackle a fret job, but setting the intonation and cleaning/polishing the fretboard and frets makes a big difference in how it feels, plays and looks. Dunlop makes a nice kit which has everything you need to get started, for both the body and neck, including 8000 grade polishing cloth. I'm not selling them, just feel sorry for people who are playing a guitar with a poorly maintained neck. Lots of them leave the factory that way. I would do this even to a brand-new guitar, unless it's really top of the line. The reason I happen to be saying this is I just spent a couple hours polishing my frets, conditioning the fretboard (and the rest of the guitar) with just the materials from the dunlop 65 kit as a test, and the difference is amazing. But I bend notes a lot, I'm all over the neck, I play fast and hard so it matters to me. If all someone does is strum campfire songs then it probably ain't no big thing. They also give you a string conditioner that is excellent, between the polished frets and fast strings, I'm flying! My Epi Les Paul is only a few months old but the frets were oxidized and probably never polished out correctly anyway. Vibrato is smoother now too (fingertip vibrato, not from an idiot stick). Notes are sweeter and ring longer. I was able to lower the bridge by 1/64th measured at the 12th fret with no buzzes after I did the whole cleaning/polishing process. And you can learn about setting the intonation on youtube, Joe Walsh has a youtube series for setting up a Les Paul and he explains it (and other stuff, bridge and pup height) in his own unique way. Basically all you're doing is adjusting the bridge saddles so every note at the 12th fret is in tune. Then every other note on the neck will be true also. People pay other people a lot of money to do this, and it's not that hard. If you have a $12 Snark tuner or better, and little screwdriver you already have what you need. If it isn't set properly then your notes are going to be sharp or flat as you go up the neck, simple as that. And you'll always wonder why you can't get it in tune, notes will always sound sour up the neck. Here's the first video of the series with Joe Walsh, it has 6 short parts. Hope this helps, enjoy your new LP. They are like women, give them plenty of love. I know a lot of people will be getting them for Christmas so I wanted to take a minute to write this up, you may already know all this but maybe someone else won't. Dunlop kit: http://www.guitarcenter.com/Dunlop-System-65-Guitar-Maintenance-Kit-100725910-i1134779.gc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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