New Guitar Help

Janacopolis

Hows it going lads, thinking of upgrading a little and been looking at a few guitars lately. I'm not the most knowledgeable man on guitar specifics (to say the least) so any help would be really appreciated!:

http://www.thomann.de/thoiw6_epiphone_les_paul_standard_prodinfo.html

http://www.thomann.de/thoiw6_epiphone_les_paul_custom_black_prodinfo.html

http://www.thomann.de/thoiw6_epiphone_les_paul_black_beauty_prodinfo.html


These are basically the top three in the running. Firstly, the 3rd humbucker on the last one, how beneficial is that to me and is it worth going for rather than the second one?

Am I to assume that the 'built in neck' that the second one has is a big advantage??

Whats the difference between Mahogany and Alder body and just plain Mahogany body? Which is better??

Also (possible stupid question), when they're talking about a mahogany neck and the mahogany&rosewood necks can I assume they're including the fingerboard? Which type is better??

Basically looking for the best bang for my buck

Which do you think is the best to go for?!

As I said advice would be greatly appreciated, or if anyone has link to anything that could inform me on this sorta thing.

Cheers

deaddonkey

they all have a "built in" or set neck.

the 3rd humbucker gets in the way for me anyway, i'd rather have the sound of the 2 buckers in parallel than a 3rd single pickup sound.

mahogany body in theory will sound warmer and more midrange focused than an alder body, but at the end of the day in normal playing situations there's no real difference.

the reference to mahogany neck/rosewood fretboard is just that: the neck will be built of mahogany and the fretboard will be rosewood. As far as i'm aware they all have mahogany necks with rsoewood boards, the ebony is just a reference to the guitar's colour, commonly referred to as "black".

Apart from the 3rd pickup in the last one, they're the same guitar... you're paying more for neck and headstock decorative inlays... and as i said i'm no fan of the 3 pickup config on a les paul.

I would without a doubt go for the first one: the les paul standard... it's what's closest to the Gibson LP standard, will sound like a LP standard and doesn't have the fancy inlays which drive up the costs of the other 2.

I've played all 3 and frankly apart from the 3rd pickup, there's no functional difference... it depends if you like gold hardware and whatnot too. I don't.

for what it's worth, I own a black epiphone LP standard (early 90s) like the first one there and it's a perfectly respectable guitar... very nice indeed. It's not as good as a real made in usa gibson, but it's 20% of the price too, and a lot of guitar for the money imho.

hope this helps.

Thomas from Presence

deaddonkey wrote:

they all have a "built in" or set neck.

the 3rd humbucker gets in the way for me anyway, i'd rather have the sound of the 2 buckers in parallel than a 3rd single pickup sound.

mahogany body in theory will sound warmer and more midrange focused than an alder body, but at the end of the day in normal playing situations there's no real difference.

the reference to mahogany neck/rosewood fretboard is just that: the neck will be built of mahogany and the fretboard will be rosewood. As far as i'm aware they all have mahogany necks with rsoewood boards, the ebony is just a reference to the guitar's colour, commonly referred to as "black".

Apart from the 3rd pickup in the last one, they're the same guitar... you're paying more for neck and headstock decorative inlays... and as i said i'm no fan of the 3 pickup config on a les paul.

I would without a doubt go for the first one: the les paul standard... it's what's closest to the Gibson LP standard, will sound like a LP standard and doesn't have the fancy inlays which drive up the costs of the other 2.

I've played all 3 and frankly apart from the 3rd pickup, there's no functional difference... it depends if you like gold hardware and whatnot too. I don't.

for what it's worth, I own a black epiphone LP standard (early 90s) like the first one there and it's a perfectly respectable guitar... very nice indeed. It's not as good as a real made in usa gibson, but it's 20% of the price too, and a lot of guitar for the money imho.

hope this helps.

Same situation cept mine is a mid nineties three pick-up Custom. Personally I bought it for the look of the three, didn't like the sound and put in two EMG passives and wired it for the two then experimented and tried the three wired in again and love it! You gotta try em I suppose to see what you dig. The gold will wear off over time though so be prepared for that if its a problem!

I'd rather gig with a good Epiphone. If its gone I'm not €2000-€3000 down and they are more than up for it. 60+ recordings and hundreds of gigs later and it still works grand and sounds sweet. Thats not to say I'd like to play gigs that would allow me to have a real Gibson...!

noh showband

I just invested in an LP Custom and haven't regretted a penny. tbh, I had the look of it in mind as well as the sound and having had a Columbus LP in black as a youngster, I didn't want anything that looked too similar to it. So now, just looking at it makes me smile and that's worth the extra moolah. Three pick-ups? Not sure why I'd want them all, frankly.