Epiphone Les Pauls. Bad?

Schwiiing

I was looking to get an epiphone les paul for my first guitar but having been looking through the forums here there doesnt seem to be a lot of love for them.

I seen 1 on waltons.ie for 250 brand new which seems to be the cheapest I can find. Are they good value at that kind of money? What are the things I should look out for if I buy 1?

I seen many mentions of Tokai guitars. Do they do new guitars in a similar price bracket and where in Ireland sells them?

wild turkey

Don't always believe what you read on the internet , for every one that hates them there's someone who loves them

If its this one, It would be perfectly acceptable for starting out on.

http://www.waltons.ie/Product/View.aspx?id=29401&cid=272

Schwiiing

Whats so bad about waltons that could warrant a comment like this,

'Walton's is at the top of a list of one shop that I actively encourage students to avoid. Based on a solid 100% "I'm sorry I ever bought this" or "I'm sorry I bought this in Walton's" hit rate...' ?

*from a user called endacl in a different thread.

Ravelleman

When was the thread from?

Schwiiing

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056855078

this 1. 14th of jan. post #12

wild turkey

They used to sell Gibsons, Epiphones & a lot of very budget crap but seemed to have upped their game in the last while with fender Takamine etc
There's also a lot of ego's on both sides of the counter ; can cause friction

Personally, never had a problem.

666irishguy

I have always thought they are decent guitars for the money especially If you drop a bit of cash into them down the road. Do that and you will have a great guitar. I gave my own one a bit of an upgrade with good second pickups and a few simple new things like a good nut and I think it's as good as anything I have paid over 700 or 800 for off the shelf.

Celly Smunt

Look at jack and danny les pauls,i have two and both seem far better built than my epi.

MrECameraman

Have to say, I'm not at all a fan of the jack & danny stuff. Felt very cheap; particularly the rosewood on the fingerboard. Granted, I've only played 3 ever, but none were good. The lower end of the epiphone range is not great, but at the price it's as good as anything else. That said, the second hand market offers some nice ones from their standard range, which on the whole are very playable. Like another poster said, if you swap out the pickups, maybe get a fret redress and some better hardware, you'd have a very nice guitar. It'll never play like a gibson standard, but it'll never cost as much either...

wild turkey

The OP could always bite the bullet & get the Gibson Melody Maker for an extra €90 if the Epiphone name bothered him.

You need to go in & try a few & see what feels best for you, different neck profiles, your style of music,
Have a look at the Squier range also!
I've been so impressed by my Classic Vibe strat which in my opinion would be the best value for money. My American strat is getting an overhaul at present to keep up with it.

pauldla

I have an Epiphone Les Paul and I quite like it. It's good for the price, you can get a good sound off it, and it's fun to play.

Schwiiing

wild turkey wrote: »

The OP could always bite the bullet & get the Gibson Melody Maker for an extra €90 if the Epiphone name bothered him.

You need to go in & try a few & see what feels best for you, different neck profiles, your style of music,
Have a look at the Squier range also!
I've been so impressed by my Classic Vibe strat which in my opinion would be the best value for money. My American strat is getting an overhaul at present to keep up with it.

Ive never played a note on a guitar in my life so i wouldn't know what im looking for in terms of feel or neck profile.
The epiphone name doesnt bother me it was just that people seemed to be down on them. I was trying to work out was it from epiphones being bad quality or brand snobbery.
Ive watched a few videos of guitars on youtube to get an idea of what they sound like and I dont like the twangy sound of strats plus im hoping to be able to play gnr/vr songs in the distant future and les paul model guitars seems to be the model the their guitarists play.

Ravelleman

For €250 it would be hard to go wrong, to be honest. They're not fantastic instruments but if you find a nice example with no obvious flaws you'd probably struggle to find anything that's much better for the same price.

7ofBrian

I love Epiphones. One of my favourite guitars was a les paul custom black beauty. Gorgeous to play and didnt have the annoying Gibson trait of having to carry the headstock.

c-note

I bought an epi les paul (WAY back in 1998) because gibson was way outta my price league, (had dreams about gibson les paul from early age!) the epi cost me me c£IR400 which is what entry level gibsons cost now.(allowing for £>€'s and inflation)
Was gonna upgrade to a Gibson 2yrs ago and tried a couple out, wasnt overly impressed tbh,
so instead just upgraded pickups on the epi, plays very nicely and sounds great for the €€€'s

If you've never played guitar before dont even worry about what make you're getting. Any guitar is enough to get you started and you'll figure out in a year or so if you want to drop serious dollars, at which time you'll know what you're looking for.

Ravelleman

7ofBrian wrote: »

... and didnt have the annoying Gibson trait of having to carry the headstock.

What do you mean?

7ofBrian

I have found with any gibson les paul ive played, when you let go of the neck, the headstock constantly wants to drop down. Its a balancing issue when on a strap. Makes you feel like you constantly have to "carry" the neck.
This may have been addressed on later models though as the last time i picked one up was about 5 years ago.

Grolschevik

7ofBrian wrote: »

I have found with any gibson les paul ive played, when you let go of the neck, the headstock constantly wants to drop down. Its a balancing issue when on a strap. Makes you feel like you constantly have to "carry" the neck.
This may have been addressed on later models though as the last time i picked one up was about 5 years ago.

Never noticed this on a Les Paul. An SG, sure, but never on an LP...

endacl

Schwiiing wrote: »

Whats so bad about waltons that could warrant a comment like this,

'Walton's is at the top of a list of one shop that I actively encourage students to avoid. Based on a solid 100% "I'm sorry I ever bought this" or "I'm sorry I bought this in Walton's" hit rate...' ?

*from a user called endacl in a different thread.

Hi!

I'll send you on a pm later. A further expansion on the above would be bordering on the libelous. Will give you some more specifics.

macpac26

I have a 2011 Epiphone Les Paul Standard that i bought online last year. Im a beginner and a lefty so price and model range was limited. I think they are a great starter guitar and well worth the money. The new models also have coil tapping so you get more sounds from it. You can always upgrade the electronics and pickups if a Gibson is out of your price range. I viewed mine as something to learn on and when i get better i might look at buying a Gibson.

I took it to Gerry in Haze Guitars to get set up and he said it was pretty much spot on from the factory it just needed a few adjustments probably due to being in storage for so long.

Kev M

I think the older epiphones were better quality than the newer ones, I've heard alot of people agree with that. I have a LP standard from around 2001 and it's a very nice guitar, it has seymour duncans in place of the original epi pickups and is all around very well put together, even the quality of finish on the top looks great. The only differences I've really found with it and the gibson equivalent is, apart from the headstock, smoother control knobs (which you could change), and the bridge/saddle posts have better craftsmanship on the gibson. It might be a little controversial to say but good pickups on a nice epi and you won't tell the difference on a recording between it and a gibson, all other things being equal. The other massive thing is set-up. Most new guitar players pick up epi's and obviously know nothing about setting them up, and half the time they weren't even set up well in the shop. A well set up epi will be a very good guitar.

If I was you I would look on adverts for a good condition older epi maybe with some upgrades, you'll get a great deal.
This particular one might be a bit out of your price range but there's a lot on there, any of the late 90s ones for 200-300 are pretty much all good guitars in my opinion. http://www.adverts.ie/electric-guitars/epiphone-les-paul-with-400-worth-of-upgrades-no-trades-slash-style/2446461

edit; and no that's not me selling it

Ravelleman

Kev M wrote: »

It might be a little controversial to say but good pickups on a nice epi and you won't tell the difference on a recording between it and a gibson...

You might not be able to tell the difference in sound on a recording, especially a professional one, but you definitely will if you play them side by side - there's an immense difference in feel, finish, quality of electronics and all that.

pastorbarrett

Ravelleman wrote: »

... and all that.

Yep, you're primarily paying the approx. extra grand (varies depending on model) for prestige, heritage, brand etc. Yes, they are superior in respect of hardware, and generally (not always I've found!) better in respect of fit and finish, but could you be a professional musician with an Epi? Yes, plenty are.

Check out a few models in town-for starters, they're grand guitars and will see you through learning and into gigging. Then, or even before then, you'll get GAS like the rest of us

pauldla

meridiangroup wrote: »

Yep, you're primarily paying the approx. extra grand (varies depending on model) for prestige, heritage, brand etc. Yes, they are superior in respect of hardware, and generally (not always I've found!) better in respect of fit and finish, but could you be a professional musician with an Epi? Yes, plenty are.

Indeed. This man is playing an Epiphone Casino.

Ravelleman

pauldla wrote: »

Indeed. This man is playing an Epiphone Casino.

Hard to compare MIA Epiphones from the 1960s to the Chinese Epiphones of the present day. Before Gibson sent production to the far-east, Epiphone was one of the top archtop producers in America.

pastorbarrett

From what I've seen, their archtop guitars are still great guitars-granted, perhaps not as good as those of yesteryear but very good nonetheless. Sheraton II's have a great reputation (Korean I think?). Good enough at one point or other for the likes of Vampire Weekend, Kings of Leon, Noel Gallagher etc -perhaps reason enough to turn some folk off But I can attest to this model being a quality guitar.