I'm going to buy a new Epi LP custom - Give me your opinion

[KY_GuitarMan]

I already have a couple of different black ones.

I want a lighter color and it's between these two:

Alpine White:

Musician's Friend - Multiple Images - Product Detail


Antique Ivory:

Buy Epiphone Les Paul Custom Antique Ivory Electric Guitar at Musician's Friend


I usually like a little color, not pure white. Take a look at both and let me know which one you think looks best. Thanks!

[savage118]

Antique, cause different is cool. Won't see dirt, or dust in scuffs as easily.

[fam]

Wish they had silver hardware instead of gold. Im sure antique would look nice in person but I dig the white in those pics. The white one looks like it has plastic tuners :-(, but it could just be the pics. I love white (cars etc) but have you ever considered the silver?

[rode2008]

My 2 cents: I personally like the look of the ivory one better. It's really all a matter of personal taste.

I have an ebony Standard. It has what I would call an ivory trim (pick guard, binding, etc.). Personally, I like the contrast (against the black) of ivory versus white. It looks "richer" to me. Personally, I think a Strat type of guitar looks better in white than in ivory, however, the LP looks more "traditional" and, accordingly, I personally think the ivory color (it is, afterall, more traditional a color of an instrument than bright white.

That's just my 2 cents on this matter.

In any even - good luck!

Rich

[diceman]

I like Alpine White - it'll show more in the way of aging - I have a feeling that you're the kind of guy that keeps his guitars for quite a while, so I think that the white will "tell a story" when it gets older, moreso than the antique.

Your call though!

[diceman]

My Epi is the one w/ the zebra pup, next to me Elitist when it was new - you can see how much the Alpine White Epi has changed over just a few years.

[KY_GuitarMan]

It does take on a nice aging. One thing that concerns me about the ivory is it might age to look too yellow. Banana pudding colored. I used to have a strat that did that and I named it nanner puddin.

[rode2008]

It's a nice looking pair, Diceman. I see what you mean in terms of its change of hue. Maybe the trim on mine was originally white - though I bought the guitar new recently - but it's been around the shop for a while.......

Back in mid December I originally bought a Telecaster in black with white trim (very white trim). I didn't particularly like the feel of the Telecaster and swapped it out for the Les Paul. The sharp contrast on the Tele between the jet black and the bright white didn't look as good as the ebony LP I have with what I call ivory instead of white.

I wish that my ebony LP didn't show fingerprints as much as it does, however, I really do like the overall feel of the LP (and even the sound) better than the Tele I had.

The last guitar I had - before giving it all up years back, was a Fender Jaguar. I loved that guitar and wish that I held on to it. I believe it was a '65 original driven through a Fender Dual Showman amp stack. Those were the days......

[diceman]

Nanner Puddin' - thats funny!

I really like the look of the antique, but I also like the look of the Alpine that has aged "naturally."

Rode - I'll bet you miss that Jaguar - there is a Gibson LP Studio out there somewhere that I miss the hell out of - and it had aged perfectly!

[KY_GuitarMan]

Originally Posted by diceman

Nanner Puddin' - thats funny!

I really like the look of the antique, but I also like the look of the Alpine that has aged "naturally."

Rode - I'll bet you miss that Jaguar - there is a Gibson LP Studio out there somewhere that I miss the hell out of - and it had aged perfectly!

We've all got guitars in our past that we loved and lost. I guess we took them for granted at the time. You don't know what you had till it's gone. I regret guitars that I've given up more than I regret women I've given up. Guitars have better tone and they never run their mouths for hours non-stop.

[diceman]

Amen.

[rode2008]

Diceman, I do miss the jag - I also miss the whole late 60's/70s. They were great times. Man, I'm dating myself now.

Not a word of lie or exaggeration.... back in the late 60s, I was, like any red-blooded American male, playing in a garage band, aiming to become the next Beatles. We were playing a few gigs here and there - mostly just having a good time. A girl I was dating (ended up marrying her in the mid-70s) was working for a large insurance company in Boston (I was living south of Boston). She befriended a co-worker (a bit older than her/us) whose husband, this woman figured, was going through (in her opinion) some sort of a mid-life crisis and took it upon himself to manage a start-up, garage-type band like I was in.

Long story short - she asked my girlfriend whether I was interested in auditioning for the group her husband was managing. Like I said - that group was just like the one I was in in terms of what they were doing (i.e., just starting out). Her husband told her to tell me to drop by some night to listen to them and told me I could probably come on board if I liked them and they liked me. They were, at the time, in need of another guitar player.

My girlfriend (at the time) told me that they were practicing in Boston, that they really weren't doing anything different from what my group was doing - as I said, they were in the early stages and not even fully complete yet.

I declined the offer, figuring at least my group was doing some (not many, but some) sort of steady, modestly-paying gigs. The other group, afterall, was only doing some occasional free practice gigs at Boston University Student Center and other small venues. Plus, for the practices, I'd have to travel 15 miles or so to Boston and my band was located in my neighborhood. Wow, what an inconvenience.

I asked my girlfriend what the name of the groupo was - she said they called themselves Aerosmith. At that time, of course, they were not known at all. I didn't even like the name.

Today, I teach college classes (marketing, business management, etc.). I tell my students that story. I call it my claim to SHAME.

True story, my friend....

Moral of the story: never refuse a gig or a tryout.

[diceman]

GOOD LORD!!!

I'm sure you think about that every now and again...

[KY_GuitarMan]

Originally Posted by rode2008

Diceman, I do miss the jag - I also miss the whole late 60's/70s. They were great times. Man, I'm dating myself now.

Not a word of lie or exaggeration.... back in the late 60s, I was, like any red-blooded American male, playing in a garage band, aiming to become the next Beatles. We were playing a few gigs here and there - mostly just having a good time. A girl I was dating (ended up marrying her in the mid-70s) was working for a large insurance company in Boston (I was living south of Boston). She befriended a co-worker (a bit older than her/us) whose husband, this woman figured, was going through (in her opinion) some sort of a mid-life crisis and took it upon himself to manage a start-up, garage-type band like I was in.

Long story short - she asked my girlfriend whether I was interested in auditioning for the group her husband was managing. Like I said - that group was just like the one I was in in terms of what they were doing (i.e., just starting out). Her husband told her to tell me to drop by some night to listen to them and told me I could probably come on board if I liked them and they liked me. They were, at the time, in need of another guitar player.

My girlfriend (at the time) told me that they were practicing in Boston, that they really weren't doing anything different from what my group was doing - as I said, they were in the early stages and not even fully complete yet.

I declined the offer, figuring at least my group was doing some (not many, but some) sort of steady, modestly-paying gigs. The other group, afterall, was only doing some occasional free practice gigs at Boston University Student Center and other small venues. Plus, for the practices, I'd have to travel 15 miles or so to Boston and my band was located in my neighborhood. Wow, what an inconvenience.

I asked my girlfriend what the name of the groupo was - she said they called themselves Aerosmith. At that time, of course, they were not known at all. I didn't even like the name.

Today, I teach college classes (marketing, business management, etc.). I tell my students that story. I call it my claim to SHAME.

True story, my friend....

Moral of the story: never refuse a gig or a tryout.

I was lucky enough to be in a band in the 80's in the L.A. area. We played all the big clubs on the strip alongside bands like Guns N Roses, Motley Crue, Poison, LA Guns, and about every other metal band that came from that area. Of course all of us were nobodies at the time. Some of us stayed nobodies. The thing is, on the strip we all were the cocks of the walk and that felt pretty good.

[rode2008]

It's easy to say that you come to crossroads in life and that you make decisions that change your life (or, fail to change life). The old adages also follow that you should never look back.

Well, easy to say that you should never look back - but that one is hard not to do.

So many variables - I might not have even made the band (though honestly, at that stage of the group, I feel I probably would have). If I had made the group, who's to say that they would have been successful (I mean, the composition would have been different). If they had been successful with me in it, I wonder if I would have survived the "demands" (not to speak ill of them at all, but didn't they all go through some heavy "issues" at some point with drugs, etc.???)

THis story has become somewhat of a legend amongst the student body. I shared it with them originally to drive some points about challenges and decisions in life. It's perpetuated now because word-of-mouth (from other students) has kept the story (and the demand for its telling) alive.

[rode2008]

Guitarman, life is amazing. Nobodies become "somebodies". Maybe some deserving somebodies remain nobodies. Maybe some somebodies deserve to remain nobodies.

I/We lived in different times (compared to today). You may not have personally cared too much for the Beatles or the Stones, for example, but has there been another group since them that had such incredible appeal and fame since the Beatles???? Serious question. Has there been any other group that even comes close to the magnitude of impact (and mass appeal) of the Beatles or the Stones? Sure, there's been some pretty big name groups - but BIG to the extent of the Beatles or the Stones? I don't personally think so.

Maybe what happened - again, it was pretty universal - with the Beatles/Stones might not ever happen again. Maybe it's impossible. Not due to a lack of talent. It's just that the world is different now.

[KY_GuitarMan]

Originally Posted by rode2008

It's easy to say that you come to crossroads in life and that you make decisions that change your life (or, fail to change life). The old adages also follow that you should never look back.

Well, easy to say that you should never look back - but that one is hard not to do.

So many variables - I might not have even made the band (though honestly, at that stage of the group, I feel I probably would have). If I had made the group, who's to say that they would have been successful (I mean, the composition would have been different). If they had been successful with me in it, I wonder if I would have survived the "demands" (not to speak ill of them at all, but didn't they all go through some heavy "issues" at some point with drugs, etc.???)

THis story has become somewhat of a legend amongst the student body. I shared it with them originally to drive some points about challenges and decisions in life. It's perpetuated now because word-of-mouth (from other students) has kept the story (and the demand for its telling) alive.

I know what you mean. You never know if a band will make it or not. Talent is only a part of it. Some of the greatest metal guitarists I've ever seen, guys easily as good, or dare I say better, than Eddie Van Halen, people have never heard of.

My band was as good as anyone else's at the time. We even got a record deal. Our problem was we were totally living the rock & roll life. Beer and pot soon turned to JD and cocain, by 87 that had all turned to heroin habits for all 5 of us. For me my son being born in 88 did two things. Saved my life and ruined my music career. I knew I had to staighten up for his sake. I walked away from music for years. Got off drugs and joined the Marines. Still, everything is great now so if I could go back I wouldn't. I wouldn't want to chance messing up where it all ended up.

I still play my guitars no less than 2 hours per day, every day. I own a music store that does a lot of guitar customizations. Life's not bad. Still, just once I would have loved to play one of those 20,000 seat shows and really rock out. I've never played in front of more that a couple hundred people (usually less than 50 people). Oh well, c'est la vie dude!

[rode2008]

Guitarman - you made the right choice and did the right things thereafter.

All the glory and excitement of a missed music career isn't worth your own life and the compromises (and losses) that your son would have endured.

You AND your son saved your life my friend. You should thank him, thank yourself - and he should thank you, too.

I, by the way, thank you for your service to our country. Semper Fi.

[hedzeppelin]

Ivory.