Which are the best non Gibson Les Pauls

[gl3nnium]

New Plan..Looking at a few secondhand Epiphone Les Paul specials and special iis (the good ol dependable common as hell black ones). Really want to use one as a base and upgrade it into something more special (pun intended)...i know they did that with the special GT's but you cant find any here anyway...any ideas on that would be appreciated!...also whats the difference between the original Epi Les Paul special and the special II? So far the only differnce i can actually see is the word 'gibson' is on the original TRC and the II series has a black nut..surely there must be more difference than that!

 

[gibbykohner]

Depends on your budget actually. Dealing with prices I'd go SX<Agile<Greco, Edwards, Burny...

 

[tonebone]

New Plan. secondhand Epiphone Les Paul specials and special iis ... and upgrade it into something more special

That "plan" has been tried ... by many ... many times.

As the old saying goes, "You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear."

Save up. Get something off the MIJ classifieds here. Plan on spending $600 to $1,000 for something you will truly be happy with. May have to make a few changes, electrical and/or simple hardware changes.

 

[logen99999]

That "plan" has been tried ... by many ... many times.

As the old saying goes, "You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear."

Save up. Get something off the MIJ classifieds here. Plan on spending $600 to $1,000 for something you will truly be happy with. May have to make a few changes, electrical and/or simple hardware changes.

Agreed, forget epiphone. Get a mij, buy some great pickups and you have a guitar that will sound and feel like a 3000$ Gibsont.

 

[gl3nnium]

Actually yeah i agree with you both totally..but i also kind of want to do it...i wouldnt want to pull apart and start modding a guitar that i paid alot of money for to begin with...just plan to have fun with the experience and learn as i go....a soldier's gotta learn how to break down his rifle.

 

[tonebone]

You have a valid point there.

Have fun with it then!

 

[gl3nnium]

Oh I plan on it....It's freaky how fast the Les Paul bug has hit me...I got my first one (the SX) only a month ago and now all of a sudden i own two more (LP specials) and planning their mods and upgrades....Ive been thrashing away at guitars for years (strat variants mostly) with moderate success but nothing really clicked until now.