Epiphone Les Paul Custom Ebony GH

I previously owned another very good '59 les paul copy made by Hodson but after it was signed by The Rolling Stones, it became an object d'art and now graces the living room wall, never to be played again!

So in my search for a suitable replacement I looked at the Epiphone protfolio and decided that the impressive ebony livery and gold hardware offered on their Les Paul Custom would look good draped round my neck. After reading all the advertising blurb and a few reviews, I took the plunge and bought one.

The first thing that strikes you is the quality of the finish because black is notorious for showing up inperfections and having gone over it with a very fine eye for detail, it was flawless! The fret ends were impeccably dressed and the neck felt comfortable enough for my dumpy digits and not the least like holding a baseball bat. The attention to detail was evident all over the guitar and the fret marker were very accurately cut with no excesses of filler masking poor fit. The rear inspection panel fitted like a glove and the factory set up seemed pretty good with no immediate remedial work needed to get it to play nicely. As has been mention on other reviews, the quality of the gold plating does leav a bit to be desired and for the sake of a few extra microns of plating, this does slightly detract from the rest of the build quality and is an unnecessary corner cut.

Plugged in, the guitar immediately shows its best foot forward and any reservations of this Epiphone Les Paul Custom being just a poor relative of it's Gibson badged sibling are quickly dispersed. The humbucker tones are impressive with subtle jazz runs to full on high gain rock being easily obtainable through the range and switch configurations. If you want a great sounding guitar that looks sensational with the all the kudos of a Les Paul Custom minus the Gibson price tag, then this really is it. You don't have to spend nearly £2500 on a Gibson version because it is not 5 times the quality, or 5 times better sounding than this Epiphone model.

I think the average guitarist would be hard pushed to tell the difference between the sounds of them both and that doesn't make this Epiphone guitar a copy, it makes it a real tribute and contender.

My first proper guitar was an Epiphone, and my Scroll 450 still hangs proudly on the wall some 30 years later. Cracking instrument, actually, and it's great to see that Epiphone is still not a joke brand cranking out in-house copies of "proper" Gibbos. For the Epiphone Les Paul Custom is a very proper guitar, well made from quality materials and marketed at a competitive price. It's not as heavy as my Gibson Les Paul Studio but that's no bad thing for the shoulders and back. The neck is slim and plays well, and the frets are finished to a high standard. It's a Custom, so you'd expect binding on the body and neck and the floating scratchplate, and all are executed flawlessly.

But it's not all good news on the finish. My guitar (my son's, actually) is black with gold hardware. Except it's not. The "gold" plating on the tailpiece and bridge was so thin that it's cmoprehensively worn off after less than two weeks. Not only that, the gold plating on the pickups was so crap that it was rubbish even before the protective plastic film was peeled back - a process which only served to reveal how poor and blotchy it was. The machines are, it should be said, rather better, and are in any case of good quality.

There's a simple answer, of course. Buy a guitar with chrome hardware.

Unplugged, the tone is bright and open and this is reflected in the basic amplified tone. Plug it in and - it's a Les Paul. Quite a good one. Not a brilliant one, until you look at the price tag, and compare it with the price of a Gibbo Custom which is, er, five times as much.

Now, given that 99 percent of the people who buy these guitars will not be plugging them into anything by Matchless or Soldano, the slight tonal shortcomings from a Gibson are really, really not a problem.

To summarise, then: it's not a copy, it's a Les Paul. It's great value for money and a guitar that could last many guitarists for years. It would be a fantastic backup instrument for a Gibbo, but is a very good guitar in its own right. If I could only knock off half a star for the shonky gold plating I would, but there you go.

This is, without a doubt, one of the most enjoyable guitars to play around today. From the sturdy, smooth neck to the incredible tonal qualities of the humbucker pickups, this guitar never ceases to impress in terms of looks, sounds, AND playability.

I own two electric guitars (and have played virtually all the mainstream models at some point or another) and the advantages of this guitar can be seen especially when compared with my Ibanez JS-100, which costs almost twice as much as this Epiphone. The Les Paul's sensible bridge delivers a pragmatic, attractive feel; and boasts more character and far fewer headaches than the JS's Floyd Rose (provided you can bend strings without a whammy bar).

In terms of looks, though occasionally ostentatious, this beauty never fails to impress and maintains a classic feel.

Adjusting the tonality of this guitar is incredibly simple, especially when contrasted with the complex saddle system of my Ibanez. The value of humbuckers is often underestimated, but when it comes down to it, in my opinion, if you want a sound that you can manipulate most effectively through effects or subtler changes, the clean input of the humbuckers on this guitar wins over the single coil systems hands down, every time. Also, you get the impression of an actual change in the voice of the guitar when switching between pickups, as is not the case with less versatile pickup systems. When you keep the tone knobs at zero, the sound is pure, raw pitch - no messing around, and as you twist them up to ten, it's as if the guitar suddenly becomes a 12-string, and the vibrant tones are clearly identifiable as those of a Les Paul.

Disadvantages are few... one being that the jack input it at the bottom of the guitar, meaning you can't sit with it over a surface at that point, without bending the jack. That's it. Don't be discouraged by the "Epiphone" label, you won't hear any real difference between pure "Gibson"s and "Epiphone"s til you're playing through Mesa's anyway.

A GLORIOUS GUITAR!