L
landwanr
New member
Need I say more? How does the epi stuff compare?
J
jvasey
New member
I've played alot and own a few of each. Are the Epi's anywhere even close to the Gibson's. No. Are the Epi's better than most other guitar's in that price range. Yes. I've got 2 Epi's, a Double Cutaway Jr. ($175 bolt on), and a double Cutaway Special ($350 set neck). Both have P90's, and you'd be hard pressed to find any set neck guitars in the $350 range.
I like both alot, but they don't compare to my Les Studio, or Studio Gem. They are fairly close to my Historic Coll Jr. though. I'll take flack for this, but I've sold my 3 US Tele's, and prefer the Epi Special, to all of them (including a 67). And a friend of mine who plays Tele's keeps bugging me to sell him the Epi Jr.
Hope this helps.
Jeff
I like both alot, but they don't compare to my Les Studio, or Studio Gem. They are fairly close to my Historic Coll Jr. though. I'll take flack for this, but I've sold my 3 US Tele's, and prefer the Epi Special, to all of them (including a 67). And a friend of mine who plays Tele's keeps bugging me to sell him the Epi Jr.
Hope this helps.
Jeff
Hard2Hear
New member
You can find Epi LP's that are great. I got a cool custom finished Epi LP and only replaced the tuning machines and the pickups. I think these are the 2 lacking areas in Epi's. The construction on the guitar itself was quite above average(joints, straightness, weight). Now with my small mods, it is quite the guitar.
Like I have said before, I like it better than my '77 Gibson LP. I DO, however, have a Epi LP goldtop, and it is a turd. So I truly think if you look hard enough you can find Epi's that are of better quality than some Gibsons, especially as of late with their poor factory quality. You DO need to do a little to them though. Just a couple of PRS Dragon pickups and you're off to the races!
Like I have said before, I like it better than my '77 Gibson LP. I DO, however, have a Epi LP goldtop, and it is a turd. So I truly think if you look hard enough you can find Epi's that are of better quality than some Gibsons, especially as of late with their poor factory quality. You DO need to do a little to them though. Just a couple of PRS Dragon pickups and you're off to the races!
S
skweeks
New member
I have an epi les paul standard... and for the most part I like it. As was said before, the pickups and the tuners are the worst parts of the guitar, and hopefully I'll be replacing those soon. Honestly, the epi's are clearly not as good guitars as gibsons (in most case scenarios... i'm sure someone can find an exception if they really try), but that doesn't make them bad guitars.
Tom Hicks
Well-known member
Surely you jest!
To compare the two isn't really fair.Compare like to like.Solid wood vs plywood.Vast differences in hardware and assesories.Differing standards of quality control.
Compare the Epis to other Korean axes manufactured under similar conditions like Jackson and Fender and others.That said,the Epi Pauls can be rather nice.My little brother got an Epi Paul Studio last year.I played it and thought it was a great guitar!He also informed me that he had spent MANY hours in the music store carefully selecting that one particular instrument.Another brother bought an Epi Joe Pass last month and he too got a good 'un.But he also cherry-picked that axe,knew what to look for and took his time to satisfy himself before any money changed hands.
I'm the QC supervisor of a company (Rhythm Band)that manufacturers musical instrument in Korea,Taiwan and China (including guitars)and a former factory tech for Charvel/Jackson.The QC of most of the stuff coming out of Asia is really iffy.Just to get them to address simple quality issues like properly gluing necks to bodies is a real bitch.You can get good stuff for relatively cheap,but you do have to separate the wheat from the chaff first.
Tom
To compare the two isn't really fair.Compare like to like.Solid wood vs plywood.Vast differences in hardware and assesories.Differing standards of quality control.
Compare the Epis to other Korean axes manufactured under similar conditions like Jackson and Fender and others.That said,the Epi Pauls can be rather nice.My little brother got an Epi Paul Studio last year.I played it and thought it was a great guitar!He also informed me that he had spent MANY hours in the music store carefully selecting that one particular instrument.Another brother bought an Epi Joe Pass last month and he too got a good 'un.But he also cherry-picked that axe,knew what to look for and took his time to satisfy himself before any money changed hands.
I'm the QC supervisor of a company (Rhythm Band)that manufacturers musical instrument in Korea,Taiwan and China (including guitars)and a former factory tech for Charvel/Jackson.The QC of most of the stuff coming out of Asia is really iffy.Just to get them to address simple quality issues like properly gluing necks to bodies is a real bitch.You can get good stuff for relatively cheap,but you do have to separate the wheat from the chaff first.
Tom
L
lazyboy
New member
The two guys I play with most both play epi's. One plays a Sheraton II and the other an LP. The Sheraton has a really nice feel to the neck and fingerboard, seems to have nice pick-ups and tone, and has quality tuners. The LP is pretty lackluster in all of these areas, particularly the tuners. I don't know why they would put such junky tuners on the guitar. The LP friend's little brother bought an epi SG a few years ago and it was a total piece of shit. I'm a fan of SG's and can honestly say that that guitar did not have one redeeming quality. To top it off, I have an epi acoustic of marginal quality(yes, we're all poor).
They're marketed as affordable Gibsons, but there is certainly more to it than that. From my experience, I probably won't buy another Epiphone. But I would echo Tom's sentiments; don't rule the epi's out entirely, but be very, VERY selective.
They're marketed as affordable Gibsons, but there is certainly more to it than that. From my experience, I probably won't buy another Epiphone. But I would echo Tom's sentiments; don't rule the epi's out entirely, but be very, VERY selective.
Hard2Hear
New member
Yeah, I agree. I know for a fact that I played 60 - 70 Epis before I bought the one I really liked.
But also- My guitar player in my group came over last night and he is shopping around for a new Gibson LP. He was ticked because of the poor quality he was finding. We were talking about this thread and we concluded that being very selective about finding a good guitar in the 400-600 dollar range is cool, but when dealing with 2400 dollars, you shouldn't have to weed out 50 bad ones to find one good one.
But also- My guitar player in my group came over last night and he is shopping around for a new Gibson LP. He was ticked because of the poor quality he was finding. We were talking about this thread and we concluded that being very selective about finding a good guitar in the 400-600 dollar range is cool, but when dealing with 2400 dollars, you shouldn't have to weed out 50 bad ones to find one good one.
T
trucker dave
New member
Epi's are pretty good if you resign yourself to replacing the suck-ass tuners and pickups before you even play it. They really ought to put better tuners on them. I just bought one and stuck a set of seymour duncan "seth lovers" that i yanked out of a little les paul special 2. It sounds fantastic, although the special 2 sounded much better than the new epiphone les paul when it had the seymour duncan pickups in it.
T
Tweedville
New member
Epi vs. Gibson........
As Tom Hicks said,you really can't compare the two....the Epi's are good alternatives to get you in the ballpark of a Gibsonish sound,but once you pick up the real thing,you will know.The worst '70's Les Pauls are better than the best Epi copies.Having said that,I did play a few Epi 335s
that were really nice.Most people don't know this,but the Epi's are actually manufactured by Samick.
As Tom Hicks said,you really can't compare the two....the Epi's are good alternatives to get you in the ballpark of a Gibsonish sound,but once you pick up the real thing,you will know.The worst '70's Les Pauls are better than the best Epi copies.Having said that,I did play a few Epi 335s
that were really nice.Most people don't know this,but the Epi's are actually manufactured by Samick.
Z
zinone
New member
As mentioned, cheap Epis are not so good.
My bass player bought an Epi SG bass and, sure enough,
the pickup is noisy and the tuners don't function properly.
The Epi LPs I've played have been uniformally unimpressive,
and anything with a Bigsby on it is even worse.
I'm sure, as with any guitars, there are some diamonds
in the rough, so keep searching! Play everything!
And while you're there - try out Tokai guitars - they make
some great LP copies - way better than Epi (I have one from 1980 and it is GREAT!) They make several models.
They have two price ranges, the cheaper being about $400-$500 and you can find a sweet one if you keep looking.
Remember the golden rule - Play a lot of different guitars
before buying. Some American Gibsons and Fenders are crap, so make sure to try as many different examples as you can
stomach! Don't buy a guitar just because it's expensive, and don't ignore a guitar just because it's cheap.
Guild's DeArmond guitars make a nice LP style called the M75 in the same price range.
The Dean EvO looks great but the ones I've tried were garbage.
One last note in this price range - I played a Dillion PRS
copy the other day and it was SWEET and only about $400!
Happy Twangin'
- Christian
My bass player bought an Epi SG bass and, sure enough,
the pickup is noisy and the tuners don't function properly.
The Epi LPs I've played have been uniformally unimpressive,
and anything with a Bigsby on it is even worse.
I'm sure, as with any guitars, there are some diamonds
in the rough, so keep searching! Play everything!
And while you're there - try out Tokai guitars - they make
some great LP copies - way better than Epi (I have one from 1980 and it is GREAT!) They make several models.
They have two price ranges, the cheaper being about $400-$500 and you can find a sweet one if you keep looking.
Remember the golden rule - Play a lot of different guitars
before buying. Some American Gibsons and Fenders are crap, so make sure to try as many different examples as you can
stomach! Don't buy a guitar just because it's expensive, and don't ignore a guitar just because it's cheap.
Guild's DeArmond guitars make a nice LP style called the M75 in the same price range.
The Dean EvO looks great but the ones I've tried were garbage.
One last note in this price range - I played a Dillion PRS
copy the other day and it was SWEET and only about $400!
Happy Twangin'
- Christian