Epiphone

[GuitarHitman]

What's everyone's opinion on an Epiphone Les Paul Custom Flame ?

[steve]

hey, I've heard that Epiphone's are a forgein version of a Gibson thus being less expensive, so you should probably think about if you like the sound and if you ever played a gibson or epiphone, If it's in your price range I would recommend it but try it out first because I've never tried it out.

[ESP_Viper]

Well I own an epiphone and I am not happy with it. I actually hate it. I put a different pickup in at the bridge and it sounds worse than the stock pickup. No bass response. I would say avoid epiphone unless you are a beginner... They are great for beginners, but not experienced players. I HIGHLY recommend the ESP:LTD series. They are lowish priced and have great quality. Surpasses epiphone's quality by far, and even some gibson's. Ibanez is also another great possibility as well.

[cyberfret]

Now this is just my experience, and I know others have loved there Epiphone Les Pauls...but. I find that they are way over priced and are lower in quality than other guitars in that price range. All of the ones that I have played have had faulty machine heads, and all of them had some sort of weird buzz on the 3rd string (I don't know why, but I always look for that now, and it is always there). And necks that look like a roller coaster. I think they are going for around the $500 dollar range, and you could get a much better quality guitar for the price.

--Shawn

[GuitarHitman]

What do you reccomend?

And is the ESP Les Paul (can't remember the model) style guitar any good and how much is it?

[GuitarHitman]

Actually I like the ESP (LTD) EX-250. Is that any good?

http://www.rmedirect.com/page_ex_250.htm

[ESP_Viper]

The ESP Eclipse is the les paul style you were referring to. I have played a few, and they were pretty nice. It's been a while since I've played one, but I remember that it's very comfortable.

The EX guitars are pretty sweet. I'd say get one and put some new pickups in it, I know for a fact that the stock Duncan Designed pickups suck. They are decent, but they aren't anything like a REAL duncan! If I knew what style you play and the tone you're looking for I could make some recommendations. But off the bat I like the EMG 81 for bridge postition and EMG 85 for neck position. An 81 in neck position will give you more edge to your sound.
Duncan makes great pickups as well. I have the Duncan SH-5 Custom at the bridge on my ESP: LTD. It is a great pickup. It can do extremely clean tones to high gain metal tones. Coil tapped it sounds almost like a strat. I can't be happier with it. Check out the seymour duncan site and the EMG site. They offer good descriptions of their line.

Bottom line, that LTD will be a great guitar. The construction will be sturdy and of much higher quality than the Epiphone. My LTD's quality surpasses that of a lot of gibson's i've played (which happened to be about 5 times as expensive).

[Elmo45]

...Gulp, I feel like David going into the Lion's Den here! :)

But I've bought my Epi Les Paul about four years ago as my second guitar for about $300 new at Guitar Center and it has served me well since then with NO troubles.
I don't know what kind others have played but I know I'm not the only one that ended up with a genuine gem.
It's no Gibson by any means but whenever I have played with other players I notice a little smirk when I take it from the case, by the end of my friendly jam sessions with them, they are wondering why the horror stories came from about that guitar.
Mind you, I'm just an Intermediate player and these guys were better.
I don't think they are worth the $500 nowadys, and I'm at the point in my playing where I am considering puttin new pickups in it.
I am a Blues-Based player so the look of this guitar suits me better than those ESP's. Those are a great deal!
I like the H series myself and there's one I might pick up in the future.

Peace.