My favorite Epiphone is a '93 MIK LP Custom that has been an awesome guitar, especially coming from a south Texas pawn shop for $220 quite a while back. I recently replaced all of the gold parts except for the original tuners, which cleaned up nicely.

Before:



After:



This Epiphone is nothing short of a great guitar. Buy used - better bang for the buck IMO.

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Dennis in CR
Rockin' since 1963

I have a few Epiphones this is a Les Paul Custom Plus which was made at Saein in Korea a small instrument manufacture that makes high end epi's for them. This is a Custom Plus that was made with a maple neck they only did that for two years at this manufacture. The ( I serial number ) is looked for because of the quality of their guitars. That is not a veneer top you see. Next to it is a American Telecaster.

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The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.

Thomas Jefferson

My awesome wife gave me this for Christmas! The only non FMIC guitar I own! Fantastic guitar which plays and sounds like a dream!
ABS

I have 3 Epiphones and I would put their build quality on par with MIM fenders. I have a Korina Explorer that I put GFS humbuckers into. I also have an Epi Les Paul Custom with Seymour Duncans. I have a Dot hollowbody that I left the stock pickups in and I'm extremely happy with all 3.

I would say the only place where Epiphones are lacking are the electronics. They have addressed this in some of the newer models which come with Gibson electronics installed.

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I must say, I wasn't expecting to see this much Epi love on a Fender forum.

I've probably bought and sold close to 40 guitars since I started playing about 16 years ago. Of those, 9 were Epiphones, and nearly all of the Epis were Les Pauls. One was a P-90 equipped LP Junior doublecut, one was a korina explorer, one was a doubleneck SG, and the rest were Les Pauls... 4 standards, a custom, and a studio. I've also owned a fair amount of other brands and styles... Gibson LPs, MIM and MIJ Fenders, Squiers, Parker Flys, some Ibanez, Schecter, PRS, PRS SE (thier import line, equivalent to Epiphones or MIM Fender, but higher quality IMO) and a few cheaper off-brand guitars (including Agiles, which were awesome for the price)... I'm sure I'm forgetting some brands... Anyway, the Epiphones were definitely decent guitars overall, but I did swap out pickups in just about every one except the junior and the doubleneck. Epi is not known for quality pickups... they're generally muddy and bland, although they aren't so bad as to be unusable.

If you plan to gig it frequently, you'll either need to get a used Epi that has already been upgraded, one of the recent factory upgraded models that have upgraded pickups at least, or plan to make your own upgrades. If you're not hung up on the headstock, I'd definitely reccomend an Agile. They are built better than the epis, no question. Better quality materials, thicker maple caps... just generally more solid guitars out of the box. You'll still want to upgrade the pickups, but you can do that and still come in under the cost of a new Epiphone. Better yet, look for a used Agile. They are pretty horrible for retaining resale value, so if you're looking for a keeper, you can snag a used Agile for nickels. If you're a quick gear mover however, don't buy a new one expecting to get any more than half your money back out of it when you sell, and even that much only if you get lucky. Other than that snag though, they're great guitars... and they come in a slew of very nice finishes too.

Another option I would highly reccomend would be the PRS SE line. They are Korean made to (nearly) USA PRS standards, and the fit and finish in my experience outclass just about all other import guitars in their price range. Especially the 2011 and 2012 models... they now come with the bird inlays at no extra charge, and the recently re-designed pickups are absolutely worth keeping. In some people's opinions, they are better than some brands' stock USA pickups... and they now come wired for coil tapping, which is a sweet bonus. They've also started adding a slight top carve (they call it a bevel) on thier double cut models too, where they used to only do that on the singlecut models. Definitely an amazingly high quality guitar for about the same price as an Epiphone, and they totally blow an Epi out of the water. The SE One is basically PRS's Les Paul Junior killer... single P-90 with no tone control, only a volume knob. It's an amazing guitar, and can be found used all day for under 300 bucks. If you buy something else without at least trying a few SE models, you're doing yourself a dis-service.

And the hardware like tuning pegs, bridge, pots, nut. All cheap, poor quality compared to Gibson. Compared to a Gibson the difference is night and day.

The vast majority of them need a lot of work done to them to make them play well.

Save up your money and buy a Gibson i'd say.

Poor quality instruments hence the cheap price. You only get what you pay for at the end of the day and there's a reason why they're cheap.

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Luck won't do it and ignorance can't

George Van Eps.

The upper end Epi's are nice. Blanket statements like "the vast majority of them need work to play well" is total nonsense. Unless you played the vast majority of the Epi line. The sub $300 Epi's aren't great, and have pretty cheap hardware etc, but the higher end Epi's are really nice guitars. Some of the Epi tributes have Gibson pickups, hardware and electronics and play extremely well right off the rack.

I was originally looking for an Epi LP Tribute but came home with a Gibson LP Studio 60's Tribute only because no one had the Epi locally and the studio was love at first strum.

Check out some of the lower end Gibson guitars too, you'll be surprised at how well they sound. You won't get the flashy finish of the Epi, but the tone will knock your socks off.

I would take a higher end Epi over almost any MIM Fender or Squire. Just my opinion.
I like all different brand guitars and would never be caught up in just one brand or model of guitar or amp for that matter. I never quite got the whole owning a dozen Strats syndrome. I'd rather have a dozen different guitars and I do. They are my sonic pallet. The best guitar for me is whatever works best for the style of music I'm playing at that particular moment.

If the guitar picks You, then take it home and don't worry about what anyone else says.

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Life...... It's sexually transmitted and always fatal

I couldn't agree more. I just LOVE guitars in general, currently owning 70 different guitars (+ or -) and dozens of different brands. That said, I am not a fan of new Epiphone guitars. The only Epiphones I own have been bought used and worth every penny invested, without upgrades!

This is the last Epi I bought used:

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Dennis in CR
Rockin' since 1963

I bought a used Epiphone Les Paul Standard to add to my herd of Fenders, mainly because I had never owned a Les Paul style guitar. I love playing that thing. The only other Epiphone I own is a "Lucille" BB King style which is a very nice guitar but I don't play it much because of it's size and I don't like large guitars. I think the Epi's are a good value for the price paid.

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OK, I'll hum a little bit, got it now?

I've never had any issues with any of my Epis regarding the quality of hardware,tuners,fitt and finish etc.The are all original I'm very satisfied with the sound and playability of all of them.Before anybody questions my ability to judge what constitutes good sound and playability,build quality etc. I have been playing guitars for over 45 years,professionally for almost as long and own at present 30 guitars plus I have been repairing and restoring guitars for almost as long as I've been playing them also.No matter what one of my amps I use I'm able to get great tone from any of them.Some people have a knee-jerk reaction to changing the pups and think that it's a necessity in order to get a good tone,that may be the case with some older models but in recent years they have been designing and using much more responsive and better sounding pickups than they have in the past. So I stick to what I stated in a previous post about Epiphone. They have been making the highest quality guitars that they've made since they were taken over by Gibson in '57-'58 and I'd have absolutely no qualms about buying another,in fact there are several on my wish list now,including the incredible Joe Pass model.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

great guitars for the money , i've had a few over the years , sheratons , sg , lp's and anytime i get rid of one i usually regret it , right now i have an sg400 and a lp custom , go try a few out , the newer ones are meant to rock with gibby wiring and pups , cheers
Alan

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I bought an ES-175 Epiphone in around 2009. Some aspects of the guitar are good but on the whole it is an incredibly cheaply made instrument and in no way could be given the praise you're giving Epiphones guitslinger.

The tuning pegs are a nightmare, tight at one bit then loose then tight. Hopeless for tuning. The nut is hopeless and the guitar never plays in tune. Also very difficult to intonate properly which again is usually the trademark of a cheapo guitar.

Bridge parts are the same, cheap rubbish. I only use it for bashing about a bit so i'm not that bothered about the intonation being screwed up and so on but the standard is not good and i've heard a lot of horror stories about Epiphone.

Also your Lennon is a USA made instrument, you can't compare that to some of rubbish that is made in the far east.

As for my ES it says it's from the "Epiphone Custom Shop" Eh! that can't be right! If this is from the custom shop what are the rest of them like?

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Luck won't do it and ignorance can't

George Van Eps.

I have like guitslinger have been playing for over 40 years much of it professionally and know junk when I see/play it. I also see no problem with the higher end Epi's. Just because you had a problem, doesn't make the "vast majority" of them a problem. I also stand by my statements.

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Life...... It's sexually transmitted and always fatal

They are cheaper instruments. How are they made cheaply? by using cheaper components and skimping on the quality of the guitar and components. I mean i own one if they were great high quality instruments then i woulds say so. They are not usually.

It's not just me unfortunately. I know tons of people who have bought Epiphone LP's and related guitars and not been happy with the crap quality of machine heads and general hardware.

Don't try to make out they're high end a la carte instruments on a level with Gibson. They most certainly are not and that of course is reflected in the cheap price of them.

As for guitslinger the Epiphone he's singing the praises of is a USA made instrument! the John Lennon Casino.

It's the usual situation of someone who wants the real thing but can't afford it, so they buy a substitute and try to convince themselves it's as good as the real deal. It usually never is.

BTW what do you mean by "high end Epi's"?

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Luck won't do it and ignorance can't

George Van Eps.

Lower labor costs are probably one major reason for a lower cost guitar. Maybe its more a case of the Gibson's being priced at a premium, with less discount because of the Gibson name... The Epiphone Les Paul Tribute Plus has Gibson pickups and upgraded electtronics. It looks to be a very decent guitar..