newbie needs knowledge.

[DADDEO]

Hello everyone. The name's Jim from Wolverhampton, England, and I'd like to get into the Les Paul swing of things without the outlay of limbs and organs so I've started looking at Epi's. Thing is, i'm a huge fan of Strat type guitars, but there's this itch that's REALLY bugging me, and i'd like some decent information to help me. Which factory makes the better guitar, which year is better, ( or worse ) and what should I look out for when buying 2nd hand.

 

Any info would be gratefully listened to.

 

Thanks.

[AlanH]

Hi Jim,

 

I come to you from a position of bias given that I've got two Epi LPs up for sale right now (although I'm starting to have second thoughts about selling both.)

 

Firstly, LPs are great guitars- the're is something about the feel of a LP when you've got one strapped to you and in your hands........and then there's that thick, fat resonant tone! If you already own a strat, you should also get yourself a LP.

 

Anyway, my advice in terms of what to look out for with Epi LPs, is as follows:-

 

1. There is much debate over whether or not Korean made Epis are superior to Chinese versions. Some say that the more recent Chinese made Epis are better than the earlier ones. All I can say is that I have a Korean made Wildkat, an '07 Chinese LP and a 2010 Chinese LP and the fit, finish and quality on all three is equivalent to my eyes and fingers. As such, the best advice really is to inspect and play the guitar first if you can rather than ordering online. If you decide to buy new, you've always got the distance selling 14 day 'right of return' on internet purchases.

2. In my view, to get 95% of the way to a Gibson LP sound you need to upgrade the pickups as these are the weak point on Epiphone guitars. Some say that rewiring and changing the capacitors and the volume and tone pots is all that is needed; others say that having a top quality valve amp negates a lot of the 'muddiness' problems associated with Epi pickups. Personally, I think that changing the pups to certain ones with brighter tones in particular will make a massive difference, especially if you play any sort of high gain music (see my youtube vid below.)

3 Buying second hand or online- This is risky at the moment as there are a lot of Chinese sellers advertising on ebay or amazon who are pedalling fakes/unauthorsed factory seconds and these are now in general circulation as people try to offload them. There are loads of threads on here which will tell you what sorts of danger signs to look out for- just do a search. However, the seller should hopefully be able/willing to produce proof of purchase from an authorsed Epi dealer to give you total peace of mind. If they can't, experienced members on here can give you an opinion on authenticity pretty quickly if you provide good photos. NB. Only buy new Epis online from authorised dealers. Again we can tell you whether they are but these days it's pretty obvious. There is a huge monopoly going on with Gisbon/Epi distribution deals meaning that the only stores who can now afford to front up the cash advance that Gibson/Epi insist on are the chains. They are easy enough to identiy on the web.

 

Anyway, I hope this helps a little.

 

Cheers

 

Alan

[vomer]

Hi Jim. I said 'welcome' over in the lounge as I liked your comment about the body contour . Yes, I like my strat too.

 

The first thing with Epi LP's is beware of fakes. There are a lot about. I could probably go on ebay right now and find some. There are lots of telltale features, and lots of posts here on the forum so I won't go into detail. The safest bet is to buy from an authorised Epi dealer. If you are buying SH then folk here are usually happy to comment if you post pics before purchase.

 

The quality of Epi LP's is generally very high. Korean or more recent Chinese models should all be well built, playable and sound half decent, although lots of us like to mod, particularly pickups and electrics. There are rare Japanese models but these will be much more expensive and don't come up SH very often.

 

I've never been aware of any major differences in quality between the Korean factories or years of manufacture, but others may disagree or have more detail.

 

Good luck with your search. And remember, Forum Rule 1, if you score one, post pics or it didn't happen!

[Parabar]

Welcome, Jim --- I think most of the folks here would tell you the following:

 

1) The Samick and Peerless factories in the late 90's and early 2000's are generally spoken of as highly consistent in quality, and the more recent output from the Qingdao factory is also well thought of. The Unsung and Saein factories also made some excellent guitars. But the only thing that really matters is a particular guitar you're interested in, not what else that factory did or what else got made that year.

 

2) Variations in individual guitars are more significant than particular years --- both in the quality of a particular instrument and the general trends. The first couple of years of Qingdao guitars seem to have been inconsistent --- there are some beauties and some real dogs. Qingdao seems to have gotten much better in quality control the last 3 years or so, and I haven't seen nearly as many bad ones recently as I did at first.

 

3) There are many, many things to be cautious about buying second hand, and many of those will be difficult for a novice to detect. My best advice is to get a more knowledgeable and experienced friend to accompany you whenever you look at used guitars. There can be neck problems that are easily fixed and those that are not, or flaws that are only in the finish vs those in the wood itself. Most electronic problems are repairable, structural problems with the guitar itself may not be.

 

If you don't have a realiable guitarist friend to advise you, then buying from an authorized Epiphone dealer is all the more important, as that will be your best assurance of having any problems dealt with promptly, and you may even be able to get a response from Epiphone in the unlikely event the dealer lets you down.

[brianh]

Welcome, Jim --- I think most of the folks here would tell you the following:

 

1) The Samick and Peerless factories in the late 90's and early 2000's are generally spoken of as highly consistent in quality, and the more recent output from the Qingdao factory is also well thought of. The Unsung and Saein factories also made some excellent guitars. But the only thing that really matters is a particular guitar you're interested in, not what else that factory did or what else got made that year.

 

2) Variations in individual guitars are more significant than particular years --- both in the quality of a particular instrument and the general trends. The first couple of years of Qingdao guitars seem to have been inconsistent --- there are some beauties and some real dogs. Qingdao seems to have gotten much better in quality control the last 3 years or so, and I haven't seen nearly as many bad ones recently as I did at first.

 

3) There are many, many things to be cautious about buying second hand, and many of those will be difficult for a novice to detect. My best advice is to get a more knowledgeable and experienced friend to accompany you whenever you look at used guitars. There can be neck problems that are easily fixed and those that are not, or flaws that are only in the finish vs those in the wood itself. Most electronic problems are repairable, structural problems with the guitar itself may not be.

 

If you don't have a realiable guitarist friend to advise you, then buying from an authorized Epiphone dealer is all the more important, as that will be your best assurance of having any problems dealt with promptly, and you may even be able to get a response from Epiphone in the unlikely event the dealer lets you down.

This advice should be a sticky or at least posted in the DIY section.

[Geff]

Jim, from your intial post I cant get a real feel for how much guitar you have played.

 

As a general rule though, the cheaper Epis are not great guitars. The more expensive ones are.

 

My main thing is SGs so I am not that familiar with the LP lineup but you should know that, like SG, MUST have a set neck, not bolt on. In the SG range the G400 (or up) are the ones to go for.

 

Im going to do a little research and come back to this thread.

[Geff]

OK done some basic research and the ones to AVOID are LP100, LP Special (including GT) and Les Paul Express models. That is from the current line-up. Reason being they have bolt on necks and therefore are not Les Pauls. As far as I can see all of the others are proper set necks and so have half a chance of giving you the authentic Les Paul experience.

 

If you can afford it, have a look for models equipped with "name brand" pickups rather trhan Epi's in-house pups. An example is the Prophecy Custom. I personally would avoid the signature series guitars (eg SLASH) simply for reason of over-pricing.

[Versatile]

Just a wildcard here....

 

Les Paul Juniors are great fun and generally lower price...Epi or Gibson

 

Or even a Melody Maker.... :blink:

 

V

 

[DADDEO]

Just a wildcard here....

 

Les Paul Juniors are great fun and generally lower price...Epi or Gibson

 

Or even a Melody Maker.... :blink:

 

V

 

 

Thanks for the input folks. At the moment I've got a shitty Lag Jet that I won off Kerrang Radio years back, but I've been strumming on & mainly off for donkeys years. I started off with a Maya Strat copy, natural ash, nice, moved onto a Westone Thunder 1A, now sought after, Strat kit guitar and various amps, and they all got sold to alleviate various redundancies in my teen years through the eighties. 20 years of marriage & kids put paid to all but daydreams but the kids grew up liking mom & dads AC/DC and stuff, so guitars once again became available via the kids through Santa. A squire strat, 2 ibanez superstrats and an impressive Dean Explorer have been aquired to satisfy their needs, so I've played single coils and buckers, belly cuts, double cuts, forearm chamfers and the Dean, but I haven't played a Les Paul. It's like 101 things to do before you die, " play a Les Paul 101 times ".

 

I hope I'm making myself clear, I'm certainly giving myself a headache.

 

Jim.

[DADDEO]

Thanks for the input folks. At the moment I've got a shitty Lag Jet that I won off Kerrang Radio years back, but I've been strumming on & mainly off for donkeys years. I started off with a Maya Strat copy, natural ash, nice, moved onto a Westone Thunder 1A, now sought after, Strat kit guitar and various amps, and they all got sold to alleviate various redundancies in my teen years through the eighties. 20 years of marriage & kids put paid to all but daydreams but the kids grew up liking mom & dads AC/DC and stuff, so guitars once again became available via the kids through Santa. A squire strat, 2 ibanez superstrats and an impressive Dean Explorer have been aquired to satisfy their needs, so I've played single coils and buckers, belly cuts, double cuts, forearm chamfers and the Dean, but I haven't played a Les Paul. It's like 101 things to do before you die, " play a Les Paul 101 times ".

 

I hope I'm making myself clear, I'm certainly giving myself a headache.

 

Jim.

 

 

p.s. I played an sg in a shop once, absolutely hated it.

[Geff]

Saw a buch of really nice flamed maple top Epi Les pauls in my local shop this weekend. Ok its a poly finish, not nitro like a gibson but they looked really nice and well finished for half the price of a very basic gibbo. The pickups wont be as good as the real thing but, if my recent Epi pickup experience is anything to go by, they will be "good enough".

[bonzoboy]

Hi Jim welcome to the forum.There is really no such thing as better between Les Pauls and Strats-although some may beg to differ-it is really a matter of which guitar is better suited to your style of playing.I have several Fenders and several Epis from various countries of origin and haven't had any issues with either brand.Back in the '90s there were some inconsistancies with Mexican made Fenders but such is not the case now and they have a high degree of quality.

The single coil Fender will give you more bell like chimey tones when played clean-such as in Jimi's Little Wing or Castles Made of Sand but when overdriven can give you the SRV crunch.A Les Paul with its humbuckers can sound downright nasty-in a good way-when driven hard through an amp yet can elicit some smooth mellow tones like Robert Fripp used to get on early King Crimson songs like Epitaph.

If you want the best of both worlds in one guitar look into the Epi Les Paul Traditional Pro which has coil tapping so you can use it single coil or with humbuckers or any combination of both.The single coil function is more of a cross between a Mustang and a Jaguar than Strat like but you still get the unmistakable single coil chime.In the humbucker position is where it really shines as it gives you the aforementioned Robert Fripp PAF tone.So that's about all the info I can give you right now.Basically both are great guitars it's just figuring out which will meet your needs better,try out several examples of each.

[tweed2]

Les Paul Juniors are great fun and generally lower price...Epi or Gibson

 

Or even a Melody Maker.... V

 

Welcome. Just recently sold a Gibson Melody Maker. I liked it a lot. I'd tried stock new ones, but ran across a 2010 that had a Lollar P-90 installed, and an itoneable Pigtail wrap around tailpiece. Easy to play, nice and light and great tone. The only thing that I did to it was have the frets leveled/lowered just a bit as they were a little too tall for my liking. It was a nice alternative to my Strat and the first P-90 guitar that I've owned. The only reason that I sold it was to get a casino that became available, that I'd always wanted. Otherwise, I'd still have it. The MM might be worth considering.

[fl00dsm0k3]

does anybody know were the wilshier is made at

[DADDEO]

Hi Jim welcome to the forum.There is really no such thing as better between Les Pauls and Strats-although some may beg to differ-it is really a matter of which guitar is better suited to your style of playing.I have several Fenders and several Epis from various countries of origin and haven't had any issues with either brand.Back in the '90s there were some inconsistancies with Mexican made Fenders but such is not the case now and they have a high degree of quality.

The single coil Fender will give you more bell like chimey tones when played clean-such as in Jimi's Little Wing or Castles Made of Sand but when overdriven can give you the SRV crunch.A Les Paul with its humbuckers can sound downright nasty-in a good way-when driven hard through an amp yet can elicit some smooth mellow tones like Robert Fripp used to get on early King Crimson songs like Epitaph.

If you want the best of both worlds in one guitar look into the Epi Les Paul Traditional Pro which has coil tapping so you can use it single coil or with humbuckers or any combination of both.The single coil function is more of a cross between a Mustang and a Jaguar than Strat like but you still get the unmistakable single coil chime.In the humbucker position is where it really shines as it gives you the aforementioned Robert Fripp PAF tone.So that's about all the info I can give you right now.Basically both are great guitars it's just figuring out which will meet your needs better,try out several examples of each.

 

Thanks for the advice. I do prefer h/b's for their fuller sound, but then you hear SRV or Mr. Johnson and you think damn thats good, so the Pro sounds like a good idea.