The 99 Dollar Les Paul

[artis_xe]

looks very similar to a Hagstrom I have on order

may be that the retro look is coming back . I just wanted something really lightweight to put some good pickups in

 

[Filipem]

Meh you get what you pay for.

 

[Hector Arcadius]

Epiphones can range from fine all the way to great. But... not the low-end Epis, in my opinion (which I have owned). I would advise someone to save up a little and get, at least, a mid-price Epi, which will get him a very nice guitar.


Then again... there are worst ways to spend $100 / € 100 today, so there is that...

 

[Thumpalumpacus]

Particle board bodies.

From the link above:

FEATURES
Body
Body shape: Single cutaway
Body type: Solid body
Body material: Solid wood
Top wood: Not applicable
Body wood: Mahogany
Body finish: Gloss
Orientation: Right handed

 

[NewDayHappy]

I think they're cool, what ever it takes to get more people playing.

 

[rogue3]

The single coils in the video give it a tone, not bad at all.

 

[pnuggett]

Bought this one with P90's. Put some Gotoh vintage style tuners on it for about 36 bucks. Plays and sounds really good. Might have to pick one of those new ones up too.

 

[vintageguitarz]

Looks suspiciously like a early 60's melody maker, but even then they were a set neck guitar.....
Not really an LP at all.
View attachment 275174

Spot on! A FACT of history is that Gibson DID intend the Melody Maker (name applied later) to be a "budget" (Student Grade) Les Paul when it was released back in the late 50's ( very late Christmas season '58 I believe) when it was NOT called a Melody Maker, the name added in late 1959 as Gibson was afraid it would affect real LP Junior sales. I have a late serial number 1959 "Melody Maker" which is mostly the only year that Gibson used the "Fat PuP" single-pole pickup; then switching to the physically thinner dimension and thinner /weaker sounding SP "PuP" found after very early 1960 models. BTW only some VERY early 1960 MM's snuck through with this Fat PuP, undoubtedly Gibson was using up some remaining inventory. Collectors are well aware of the "Fat PuP" Melody Makers and they are coveted for a "fatter" tone than later MM's have.

Billy Spooner of the Tubes played a "Fat PuP" 1959 MM, Mick Jones later with the Rolling Stones played a 1960 MM with the Clash, Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day has a collection of very early MM's he uses in recordings and on stage. I'm sure there were countless others that also found the "baseball necked" early "poor man's LP" Melody Maker to perform and make famous recordings.

Pictured here is my late 1959 "LP" Melody Maker with the original "Fat PuP" SP Pickup. An early owner changed the original "pill style" 3-in-a-row cheap Deluxe tuners that were notorious for not holding tune, to real Gibson Les Paul "keystone" tuners. It never goes out of tune and the damage is done, so I've left it as is. It also had an added Gibson accessory Tune-O-matic bar bridge on it which I pulled off and put back on the correct plain vintage Gibson "stop bar" bridges. Intonation is just fine.

 

[Kamen_Kaiju]

View attachment 275217

This is my Epi Special. My wife bought it from GC for $99.00 to use as a birthday card for guests at my 50th birthday bash to sign.

I didn't play it "in anger" for a couple months after she bought it. My Traditional has a 50's neck, and the Epi has a 60's neck, which takes me a bit of getting used to. I much prefer the 50's neck. The P-90's are Alnico 5's, and the body and neck are both mahogany. The pickups absolutely kill. The mahogany is not of the greatest quality, but it does what it's supposed to do, and it does sound pretty OK acoustically.

The tuners suck, and I had a helluva time getting the guitar in tune with itself. Even now, the B is out in relation to the others, but its better now than anything else I've been able to set up on the guitar. It is here that I begin my struggle with the guitar. It's a $99.00 guitar. It was originally purchased to be a wall hanger, but if it plays, its a bonus. Tuners will cost $45.00. Almost half of the original purchase price. A simple wraparound, intonate-able bridge will be another $40 from Stew-Mac, and a Pigtail wraparound bridge is $89.00. Lets not forget that the inserts should be replaced to maximize the transfer of vibrations, so there's another $20 to $30. To this point, you'd be in for $110.00 (on the cheap side) of upgrades to a $99.00 guitar. Is it worth it?

For me, I want each guitar to have its own strap, strap-locks, and case. The straps I like now are $50.00 each, strap-locks are $15 or $20, and even a cheap used case is gonna set you back $30.00.

The hell of it is, I like the guitar. Even more now that it has all the Happy Birthday wishes scrawled across the guitar in gold and silver sharpie. But at what point are you polishing a turd? I've asked this same question in another thread, and Malikon tells me to just play the hell out of it. I get it. I really do. But if the investment to upgrade the guitar make it that much better and enjoyable, is it worth it?

Its a vicious circle of doubt on my Epi. If the headstock said Gibson, and the neck were to be set in rather than bolted on, I'd be even more tempted to lay out the money, even though I know the money is wasted.

I look at it like: Are you gigging and recording with it? Do you need it to be A1? Or is it good enough 'as is' to beat on around the house? If it's good enough to beat on around the house,..beat on it.

My Squier isn't perfect, hell when I plug it in I keep thinking the high E string isn't quite loud enough. But it's good enough to beat on around the house. I'm not sinking money into it though because it's just a beater for tossing around the house. Eventually I'll get a decent Fender Tele and probably toss this one to the kids to beat on for a while.

People (imo) get so hung up on upgrading every single aspect of their guitars instead of just playing them. And I always sort of wonder whether they're doing lots of gigs or going into the studio and working 'on the clock' to where they need the guitar to be the most #1 badass guitar it can possibly be?

Most people aren't doing that. They get caught up in upgrade fever instead of just playing.

And that's fine I guess I know some people are more into collecting and modding than actual playing, I guess. I don't understand it but I understand it's a thing.

Maybe if people figure out which kind of guitarist they are they'd stress over it less. Like, if you know you're a collector and you're going to upgrade everything, just do it, because that's what you do,..and don't feel bad about it.

I upgraded everything on my Epi, but at the time it was the best guitar I had and I was gigging and in Studios pretty much every week, so I needed it to be as good as it could be.

I hate modding. I'd rather be driving the car than fixing the car. If I have to pick up a screwdriver and take it to the guitar I'm already annoyed.

But I see people stressing over whether or not to upgrade guitars and it's like, ..do you NEED the guitar to be #1 badass? or is it good enough to beat on? Are you a modder or a player? Just ask yourself a couple honest questions and carry forth with gusto, either with a pick or a soldering iron.

But have fun with either direction chosen, because that's the most important part, having fun. We play/buy/mod/collect these things because they're fun ... and beautiful.





....also this thread gives me Melody Maker GAS, so you guys are jerks.

 

[BadPenguin]

Played a couple of them at GC the other day. I would say they are on par with Gibby's Firebird Zero POS, but affordable enough to mod the hell out of. It wasn't a bad playing guitar, and the singles weren't hideous. It's under a 100 bucks, what can you expect?

 

[anothersixstringer]

I'm waiting for these to be available in Canada.

Long McQuade has them already. The Brampton store has a full display of every color and variation on these. The std, vintage, humbuckers...

 

[Kamen_Kaiju]

the vintage burst and torquise (surf green? ) look cool.

the black and white almost has a Danelectro vibe which is pretty neat.

 

[judson]

..........

Most people aren't doing that. They get caught up in upgrade fever instead of just playing.

And that's fine I guess I know some people are more into collecting and modding than actual playing, I guess. I don't understand it but I understand it's a thing.......

But have fun with either direction chosen, because that's the most important part, having fun. We play/buy/mod/collect these things because they're fun ... and beautiful...........

good post, i have resisted the "only XX dollars" because i have enough guitars to play, enough guitars to work on if the mood hits me and it would only become one more that would be fun for a few hours maybe then it would end up in the "guitars i should sell" or guitars i can "work on" and taking the time to do that seems less and less as i am playing more but will get around to the other things one day.

playing is #1, buying and selling is #2, and modding/working on guitars is #3 and i do enjoy them all but my playing needs the work and is the most fun for most days......and im not going down that amp hole!!

 

[Kamen_Kaiju]

amps are Voodoo boxes best left to Witch Doctors and crazy people.

...or crazy Witch Doctors.

 

[Sp8ctre]

Good luck with those...I bought the M2 on sale from Amazon last year for $299...it went straight back.

Maybe for $99 or better yet $49 for an XMas blowout someone could do something with it...

I'm still messing around with my $69 Epiphone Les Paul Special I

 

[LDS714]

So tempted to get one of these to practice making pickguards and put all kind of different pickup combinations in...

 

[NewDayHappy]

I hate modding. I'd rather be driving the car than fixing the car. If I have to pick up a screwdriver and take it to the guitar I'm already annoyed.

But I see people stressing over whether or not to upgrade guitars and it's like, ..do you NEED the guitar to be #1 badass? or is it good enough to beat on? Are you a modder or a player? Just ask yourself a couple honest questions and carry forth with gusto, either with a pick or a soldering iron.

Hell, I don't even like changing my strings, it's a PIA to me but it helps to know how to at least do the basic things like setting the action and the intonation along with raising and lowering the pickup height to get the tone you want. I understand not wanting to fix a broken headstock or changing the pickups but every player should at least know how to do a setup to their liking. My dad sold his SG because the action was high and the intonation was off I tried telling him that it was a 15 minute fix. Hell, I adjust the truss rod probably twice a year, the intonation I also set 1-2 a year as well when the weather gets hot/cold. I agree with you that I'd much rather play than work on my guitars, I own 4 guitars and I think that's my limit, I don't have the patience to constantly be dicking around on them.

 

[Kamen_Kaiju]

string changing doesn't bug me because I'm usually watching tv or something while I do it. At this point I could do it in my sleep so it goes quickly.

..except nylon string guitars. Changing strings (and stretching them) on a Classical guitar suuuuucccckkkkkssss.

 

[Thumpalumpacus]

..except nylon string guitars. Changing strings (and stretching them) on a Classical guitar suuuuucccckkkkkssss.

Understatement of the week.

 

[pnuggett]

↑
..except nylon string guitars. Changing strings (and stretching them) on a Classical guitar suuuuucccckkkkkssss.

Understatement of the week.

suuuuuuuuuuuucccccccccccccckkkkkkkkkkksssssssssss.
Is that better?