My 3 Epi Les Paul and their story (illustrated). What's yours???

[itasoulas]

Hey all,

I thought i could take some time and present to you my 3 Epiphone Les Paul and the story for each one of them. Before i continue i 'll have to say that lots of guitars have pasted from my hands through the years. I started playing when i was 15 and now i am 30. I'm planning now to stick with those three below....

1. I got my first of the three i own, second hand from a person who posted an add on a newspaper. It's a 2007 EE Honey Burst. He bought it in 2008 from Thomann, i got it from him in 2009. Absolutely beautiful... I changed the pickups with a SD SH-1 '59 (neck) and a SD SH-JB (bridge). i also changed the volume and tone knobs. It rocks and has a warm tone.



Here are also pictures of the headstock and on of the bridge height...





2. I got my second one when i was fired ( ithought i new guitar would do me good!!!) from work from a shop here in Greece. It's a 2006 DW Heritage Cherry Sunburst. It stayed in the shop almost 3 years but it has a very good sound in comparison with others i tried there so i went for this one. It's heavier than the first one, has more precise and bright tone than the first one. The neck is also slimmer and allows better reach of the high notes close to the neck. Also i replaced the pickups with a SD SH-2 Jazz (neck) and a SD SH-4 JB (bridge).



Here are also pictures of the headstock and on of the bridge height...





3. My third one i got it after i sold my 2002 Fender Mexico HSS. It's a 2007 EE Les Paul Studio in Worn Cherry and has the dots on the fingerboard. I thought it would make a difference that's why i didn't go fot the trapezoid inlays. For a reason i always wanted a Studio and i wasn't wrong. This one has an awesome sound, abslolutely perfect build, lightweight, modern look. It was perfectly set up and i am not considering changing the pickups cause they sound very, very good. I bought it also from a shop here in Greece. I really like this a lot and i am very pleased that i sold my Fender. I never thought that a Studio has that good of a sound...



Here are also pictures of the headstock and on of the bridge height...





Here are also some pictures of my guitars all together...













If i had to pick up on of the three i would say this...All of them are diamonds but for some reason i'd say the first one.


Some differences between DW and EE Standards


a) As you have noticed, the one from DW has a slightly different headstock. The logo "Les Paul Model" is closer to the top of the headstock.

b) Also the logo "Epiphone" is slightly written a bit different. I've checked that out and it has not got to do that is fake or something. The guitar is genuine cause i've checked all the parts that must have the Epiphone Logo on them such as bottom of the bridge, pickups, etc...

c) If you look the guitar from the front you can see the volumes and tones are placed more to the right. That is that the volume of the neck pickup is placed in line with the stopbar in comparison with the ones from EE where the volume of the neck is not in line with the stopbar but placed a bit more at the left, just before the stopbar.

d) As i said before the neck is slimmer, thus faster. I think the neck is slimmer by almost 1,6 mm (that is if measure the distance from the left to the right of the fretboard)

e) The DW is heavier than the EE. I've played some other EE's and they all were lighter than the one from DW.

f) The bridge is set higher on the DW than the EE cause the end of the fingerboard near the neck pickup is 1.00mm higher than the one from EE


I point all of the above out cause if you were to buy a DW guitar you would see those small differences with the ones from EE. It's natural...

I'll stop here saying only that the action an all of my guitars is set to be the same. At the 12th fret, bottom of string and top of the fret 2.1mm low E and 1.8mm high E. That's work for me... Hope you enjoyed this. I'm waiting your stories with pictures too. Take care

[ojedad23]

beautiful guitars

[JohnnyKane]

That honeyburst is gorgeous. Same with the Studio (I also have an EE07 Studio but in ebony).

[Brian_C]

I really like the Cherry Sunburst, but I have to say, my first thought was it's fake, because of the h being in the middle.

[itasoulas]

Originally Posted by Brian_C

I really like the Cherry Sunburst, but I have to say, my first thought was it's fake, because of the h being in the middle.

Yeah, i know what you mean. If someone was to compare the two logos, would say that the one at the front is fake. I thought that myself in the beginning. But what convinced me was not was:

1. Epiphone logo under the bridge
2. Epiphone logo under the humbuckers i replaced.
3. Compared the epiphone logo under the pickups i replaced from both guitars and was the same.
4. The wiring, pots and caps are the same.
5. The shop i bought it from is well trusted and famous here in Athens. All shops that want to sell epiphones here in Greece must buy from one and only one major importer called Bon Studio. As for Fender there is a major importer who provides shops with Fender Guitars. That's the policy...!
6. I purchased it with her box. Inside there was a manual including Epiphone Story,a small poster of the Casino, and the allen key for the trussroad.

I'm trying to point out those things cause a lot of people are confused with the fake ones. Ok the logo must be due to a crap painting job or something. Did you know that none of my Epi's have exactly the same headstock as far as concerning distances between this and that and the other....???

All comes down to the fact the different Epiphone Plants may produce slightly different guitars as concerning the visual thing. Let's not forget that from the same plant, the same year you can play two different guitars and the differnce between them can be like day and night.

To end, i am glad that Epi has its own plant finally. That of course doesn't mean that it can't produce crapy ones. Before i buy my DW guitar i played a 2007 EE Standard Plus in Wine Red. It was dissapointing both in look and feel. It was supposed to be Wine Red but it was so dark coloured that even from the very close it looked like black. And it was ubelievably light...it wasn't feeling like a les paul at all.

But let's not make it another fake thread. It is suppoded to be like "What's your Epi story". By the way, check laso that thread Need help with possible purchase. Scroll down...It's the same case as mine.

Thanks!!!

[JohnnyKane]

My Epi story is this: I wanted an Epiphone Goth. The day I was going to buy it off MF through Amazon I noticed that only one was left in stock. Being the stupid ass that I am, I said "bah, I'll order it tomorrow!" So tomorrow came and when I went to order it, they were out of stock. I waited a month to see if they were coming back and no, there were no more Goths.

So, since I wanted a black guitar, I ordered the ebony Studio. When it came, I didn't like it all black so I changed my stuff around a bit. Here's a pic of her (I call her "Elena"):

[HecklerDanny]

Thanks for sharing these. Here's mine.

Epiphone Les Paul Custom - Ebony Finish



I bought this guitar because I just really wanted it.

Epiphone Les Paul Custom - Antique Ivory (Limited Edition)



I was debating between this one and the ebony custom, in the end I couldn't decide, so I bought this one soon after the ebony one arrived.

Epiphone Les Paul Custom - Candy Apple Red (Limited Edition)



I got one of the last ones of these guitars. They don't make them anymore. Boy am I glad I found it.

Epiphone Les Paul '56 Goldtop Reissue:



Changed out the stock P90 Pickups for humbuckers, and added all of the black accessories. Man I love this guitar now. It's one of my favorites. And it stays in tune like I've never seen before.

I took all of these images except for the first one, everyone knows what the ebony customs look like, so I just found that image online.

[itasoulas]

Originally Posted by HecklerDanny

Thanks for sharing these. Here's mine.

Epiphone Les Paul Custom - Ebony Finish



I bought this guitar because I just really wanted it.

Epiphone Les Paul Custom - Antique Ivory (Limited Edition)



I was debating between this one and the ebony custom, in the end I couldn't decide, so I bought this one soon after the ebony one arrived.

Epiphone Les Paul Custom - Candy Apple Red (Limited Edition)



I got one of the last ones of these guitars. They don't make them anymore. Boy am I glad I found it.

Epiphone Les Paul '56 Goldtop Reissue:



Changed out the stock P90 Pickups for humbuckers, and added all of the black accessories. Man I love this guitar now. It's one of my favorites. And it stays in tune like I've never seen before.

I took all of these images except for the first one, everyone knows what the ebony customs look like, so I just found that image online.

Wohh, cool... i just wrote in some other thread that customs are not my type cause of the gold, but i gotta tell you this...the modded '56 at the end is something else. I really really like it... GOOD JOB!!!

[itasoulas]

Originally Posted by HecklerDanny

Thanks for sharing these. Here's mine.

Epiphone Les Paul Custom - Ebony Finish



I bought this guitar because I just really wanted it.

Epiphone Les Paul Custom - Antique Ivory (Limited Edition)



I was debating between this one and the ebony custom, in the end I couldn't decide, so I bought this one soon after the ebony one arrived.

Epiphone Les Paul Custom - Candy Apple Red (Limited Edition)



I got one of the last ones of these guitars. They don't make them anymore. Boy am I glad I found it.

Epiphone Les Paul '56 Goldtop Reissue:



Changed out the stock P90 Pickups for humbuckers, and added all of the black accessories. Man I love this guitar now. It's one of my favorites. And it stays in tune like I've never seen before.

I took all of these images except for the first one, everyone knows what the ebony customs look like, so I just found that image online.

Wohh, cool... i just wrote in some other thread that customs are not my type cause of the gold, but i gotta tell you this...the modded '56 at the end is something else. I really really like it... GOOD JOB!!!

[itasoulas]

Originally Posted by JohnnyKane

My Epi story is this: I wanted an Epiphone Goth. The day I was going to buy it off MF through Amazon I noticed that only one was left in stock. Being the stupid ass that I am, I said "bah, I'll order it tomorrow!" So tomorrow came and when I went to order it, they were out of stock. I waited a month to see if they were coming back and no, there were no more Goths.

So, since I wanted a black guitar, I ordered the ebony Studio. When it came, I didn't like it all black so I changed my stuff around a bit. Here's a pic of her (I call her "Elena"):

your guitar is cool dude...don't worry. i believe you' re already have the hots for her. I believe this is an EE Les Paul so you'll be very pleased with the sound.

remember this, models as the gothic, ultra or prophecy (great sounding guitars by the way) will come and go. Classic standards, customs and studios will always be there. Just remember that!

[The_Sentry]

My beater/mainstay....('05 Std Plus)

Even since posting about it last week it's gone through more mods.

Current config: CTS pots, Sprague Orange drop caps (.022 for the bridge, .015 for the neck), Planet Waves locking tuners. Tone Pros system II Bridge and tailpiece (faded gold), Gibson Burstbucker 1 and 2 setup (got it back in!)

I also put the poker chip back on, the cream pup rings, and went with amber speed knobs vs. top hats since I'm using 'em a lot more lately.



My bitch. ('07 Custom)

This was a really crappy guitar when I bought it. I make no bones about that. I've sunk a lot of money into it...so much that I probably could have bought a Gibson, Tokai, or an Edwards and had a better guitar. Still, it's very light now (just over 7lbs) and it's got great tone.

Stuff...

Sperzel locking tuners
bone nut
hand filed frets (all the frets were re-glued and that stuff was scraped off the fretboard)
EMG 81/85 pickups
Graphtech superbridge (and this was the final piece that helped this guitar "get it together")

Currently it's set up for an E flat tuning with .011 gauge strings.

And...the best of the lot...



It's finally coming together. I may order another bridge for it (the original one I ordered went to the Std plus). A MIK Sheraton II....

Grover tulip tuners
Gibson P-94 in the neck
A hand wound pickup in the bridge....
300/500K pot setup (Gibson pots), .015 caps all around...

[JohnnyKane]

Originally Posted by itasoulas

your guitar is cool dude...don't worry. i believe you' re already have the hots for her. I believe this is an EE Les Paul so you'll be very pleased with the sound.

remember this, models as the gothic, ultra or prophecy (great sounding guitars by the way) will come and go. Classic standards, customs and studios will always be there. Just remember that!

Yeah, I do have the hots for my dear Elena. She sounds great, although I still need to upgrade some things and fix the sticky neck.

She's and EE07, by the way.