MichaelW
Well-known member
I know I've been making a lot of NGD posts lately, I swear this is the last one......at least until Christmas....or I may be a single man again and needing to sign up for an account on eHarmony 
I mentioned in another post that I've been super impressed with this new line of "Inspired by Gibson" Epiphone guitars.
Between @Dan0h and @jjjimi84's recent Epiphone acquisitions it really ramped my GAS into high gear.
I've been wanting to get an LP Special for some time now. It's a hole that's been missing in my tonal arsenal. My P90 Tele Build kinda gets me there but there's nothing like a short scale, mahogany body, dual P90 guitar.
I've been agonizing over whether to get the Gibson version of this or the Epi. There have been so many rave reviews of the Epi on Youtube (although I generally take those with a grain of salt).
I may still wind up with the Gibson version somewhere down the line but I couldn't resist the offer from Zzounds on Reverb when I put the Epiphone on my watchlist.
I paid $404 for this guitar. There have been a couple of reviewers that have said this guitar is underpriced. I would have to agree with them.
The rave reviews of this are not BS. I can't tell you how impressed I am with this guitar.
The build quality is impeccable. When I threw it on my bench there was very little for me to do. The nut was cut perfectly to my tastes. The frets were level and even polished. Fingerboard is already rolled. I touched up a couple of fret ends just to have something to do....it didn't need it.
The Indian Laurel fingerboard is gorgeous. It needed a bit of smoothing out to suit my preference. So I scraped it with a razor blade (as I've documented in some of my other guitar build reports). I put a couple coats of Danish oil on it and buffed it. Then oiled it with Dr. Ducks Axe Wax.
It looks so good and if you told me it was Indian rosewood I would not bat an eye. I know these are "luck of the draw" kind of things but the one on mine looks like Indian Rosewood, nice dark color.
These "Inspired By Gibson" Epiphone's use CTS pots, 50's style wiring and the pickups are built to the vintage spec's of the originals.
Weaknesses:
- The finish, which actually looks much better in person than the pictures, it has the right TV Yellow tint (which is hard to do) but is more opaque than the Gibson version. An authentic vintage style TV yellow should show some of the mahogany grain. It's there on the Epi but hard to see.
Nitro on the Gibson vs Poly on Epi. Age old debate. I personally prefer nitro but have no expectations of it at this price point. The poly finish is actually pretty nicely done. It's thin enough and not "glopped on" like many imports at this price. You can actually see the ridges of the grain through the finish.
- Neck profile: I've heard a lot of reviewers complain about the "shoulders" on the Epiphone guitars. This is definitely not a 59 neck shape, and it does have some more meat on the shoulders as compared to the Gibson. (The PRS Standard carve on many of their guitars is very close to a 59 Burst neck carve for frame of reference). I think way too much has been made about the neck profile, I find it's very comfortable and easy to play although it's not my favorite neck profile.
Pleasant surprises:
- The lightning wraparound tailpiece is actually very well made and and built to vintage specs. And Surprise Surprise intonates perfectly!
Having said that, I do have a Music City tailpiece en route for this guitar.
Pickups: Epiphone calls these the Pro P90's and they're used in some of their other P90 guitars. As mentioned they're built to vintage specs and sound surprisingly good. The bridge pickup especially sounds awesome. Not shrill or ice picky but meaty and full with a lot of snarl. The neck pickup sounds a bit muddier than is my preference in a P90. I prefer a lower wind, more open, airy sounding P90. Nothing wrong with the pickup, just my preference. So I may be swapping out just the neck pickup.
Wiring: They really did use CTS Pots and 50's wiring. So that's definitely a plus. I thought it was supposed to have Mallory caps but I may be mixing that up with another guitar. They're not Mallory but some generic polyester film. I'm probably going to swap out the caps at least to my preferences. I generally like an .0015 in the neck and a .033 in the bridge (I know I'm weird but that's what I like to hear on a 2V 2T setup on the tone roll off).
Tuners: They're superb. Not sure who makes them, but I would suspect they're Ping's. But they are way smoother than real Kluson's and work very well. No backlash and hold tune.
Overall playability: Super impressed with this as mentioned. It plays, sounds, feels way above what the price would indicate. And I did not have to put much effort into getting it there. It came out of the cheap cardboard shipping box like that! This one is definitely a keeper and a great player if you don't care what's on the headstock.
This is not a SwitchCraft toggle but feels really good and like a quality switch. Probably the same Korean switch on the PRS S2 and SE line. I'm probably going to leave it in until/unless it breaks.
You can just see some of the wood grain in the reflection in this pic. Nicely done finish for poly.
Looks a lot like Indian rosewood to me. After a fluff and buff, it's smooth as silk.
I mentioned in another post that I've been super impressed with this new line of "Inspired by Gibson" Epiphone guitars.
Between @Dan0h and @jjjimi84's recent Epiphone acquisitions it really ramped my GAS into high gear.
I've been wanting to get an LP Special for some time now. It's a hole that's been missing in my tonal arsenal. My P90 Tele Build kinda gets me there but there's nothing like a short scale, mahogany body, dual P90 guitar.
I've been agonizing over whether to get the Gibson version of this or the Epi. There have been so many rave reviews of the Epi on Youtube (although I generally take those with a grain of salt).
I may still wind up with the Gibson version somewhere down the line but I couldn't resist the offer from Zzounds on Reverb when I put the Epiphone on my watchlist.
I paid $404 for this guitar. There have been a couple of reviewers that have said this guitar is underpriced. I would have to agree with them.
The rave reviews of this are not BS. I can't tell you how impressed I am with this guitar.
The build quality is impeccable. When I threw it on my bench there was very little for me to do. The nut was cut perfectly to my tastes. The frets were level and even polished. Fingerboard is already rolled. I touched up a couple of fret ends just to have something to do....it didn't need it.
The Indian Laurel fingerboard is gorgeous. It needed a bit of smoothing out to suit my preference. So I scraped it with a razor blade (as I've documented in some of my other guitar build reports). I put a couple coats of Danish oil on it and buffed it. Then oiled it with Dr. Ducks Axe Wax.
It looks so good and if you told me it was Indian rosewood I would not bat an eye. I know these are "luck of the draw" kind of things but the one on mine looks like Indian Rosewood, nice dark color.
These "Inspired By Gibson" Epiphone's use CTS pots, 50's style wiring and the pickups are built to the vintage spec's of the originals.
Weaknesses:
- The finish, which actually looks much better in person than the pictures, it has the right TV Yellow tint (which is hard to do) but is more opaque than the Gibson version. An authentic vintage style TV yellow should show some of the mahogany grain. It's there on the Epi but hard to see.
Nitro on the Gibson vs Poly on Epi. Age old debate. I personally prefer nitro but have no expectations of it at this price point. The poly finish is actually pretty nicely done. It's thin enough and not "glopped on" like many imports at this price. You can actually see the ridges of the grain through the finish.
- Neck profile: I've heard a lot of reviewers complain about the "shoulders" on the Epiphone guitars. This is definitely not a 59 neck shape, and it does have some more meat on the shoulders as compared to the Gibson. (The PRS Standard carve on many of their guitars is very close to a 59 Burst neck carve for frame of reference). I think way too much has been made about the neck profile, I find it's very comfortable and easy to play although it's not my favorite neck profile.
Pleasant surprises:
- The lightning wraparound tailpiece is actually very well made and and built to vintage specs. And Surprise Surprise intonates perfectly!
Having said that, I do have a Music City tailpiece en route for this guitar.
Pickups: Epiphone calls these the Pro P90's and they're used in some of their other P90 guitars. As mentioned they're built to vintage specs and sound surprisingly good. The bridge pickup especially sounds awesome. Not shrill or ice picky but meaty and full with a lot of snarl. The neck pickup sounds a bit muddier than is my preference in a P90. I prefer a lower wind, more open, airy sounding P90. Nothing wrong with the pickup, just my preference. So I may be swapping out just the neck pickup.
Wiring: They really did use CTS Pots and 50's wiring. So that's definitely a plus. I thought it was supposed to have Mallory caps but I may be mixing that up with another guitar. They're not Mallory but some generic polyester film. I'm probably going to swap out the caps at least to my preferences. I generally like an .0015 in the neck and a .033 in the bridge (I know I'm weird but that's what I like to hear on a 2V 2T setup on the tone roll off).
Tuners: They're superb. Not sure who makes them, but I would suspect they're Ping's. But they are way smoother than real Kluson's and work very well. No backlash and hold tune.
Overall playability: Super impressed with this as mentioned. It plays, sounds, feels way above what the price would indicate. And I did not have to put much effort into getting it there. It came out of the cheap cardboard shipping box like that! This one is definitely a keeper and a great player if you don't care what's on the headstock.
This is not a SwitchCraft toggle but feels really good and like a quality switch. Probably the same Korean switch on the PRS S2 and SE line. I'm probably going to leave it in until/unless it breaks.
You can just see some of the wood grain in the reflection in this pic. Nicely done finish for poly.
Looks a lot like Indian rosewood to me. After a fluff and buff, it's smooth as silk.
