Epiphone Les Paul Custom And Black Beauty 3

[ChrisDee]

Hey dudes i recently got my brother into playing guitar, hes picking up pretty fast like power chords and stuff (under my tutorage lol) and picking off some smashing pumpkins and a perfect circle tunes (he hasnt been enlightened yet to the world of vai and satch) and the guitar he is using atm is a piece of turd. Anyways i suggested to him to get the Les Paul epiphone, because the stuff he plays is basically bottom end riffage and ive heard les paul's r good with that kind of tone etc, and also because a perfect cirlce use les pauls. these r the three models in mind

http://www.epiphone.com/default.asp?Produc...&CollectionID=6

http://www.epiphone.com/default.asp?Produc...&CollectionID=6

http://www.epiphone.com/default.asp?Produc...&CollectionID=6

Anyways im pretty much a guitar retard in terms of specs and electronics and tone quality and pups and all that jazz, i want to noe your thoughts and suggestions on these guitars and other prospective axes that are good value and provide the sound synonymous with the type of my music my brother listens to. Also are the Les Paul necks cumbersome and fat like ive been told? can u get them thinner, because hes a bit of a girl and complains about fat necks hurting his thumb (poofta)

Peace in the Middle East

[Maiden69]

Chris, were in the world are you! If you are in the states I would suggest you take your brother to a Guitar Center or a big guitar store and have him take a look at the guitars they have and let him make a decision. The Epi LP is a good starter guitar, I got one! But I think that fret access is a little bad for the higger frets! Also like you mentioned, the neck is a bit thicker than strats and the alike. The SG is a nice compromise in the neck department since it's thinner than the LP, but the body is thinner and lack a little of the thick sound that the lp is known for. Go to the store plug and play as many as you like! stay on the $450 and above range, I think that most out there cheaper than this is mostly garbage (there are some exeptions but beware!)

[Sindlei]

for mid range guitars, check out Ibanez and Jackson too. Ibanez necks are superbly thin and smooth, and access to those upper frets is no problem at all with their All Access Neck Joint(AANJ). most models however have floating tremolo systems(Lo-TRS, Edge, Edge pro, Edge pro II), that could be daunting for a beginning guitarist, but who knows, maybe he'd love such a technical system, and become quite the whammy technician, i know i love it so much i don't even care about changing strings. for low end riffs...pretty much ANY guitar with humbuckers can pull that off, LPs do it no better than any other, all it takes is some skill, good EQing, and decent pickups. LP necks are pretty chunky compared to most fender/squiers, ibanez, jackson, pretty much everything, LP is probably the biggest. LP is a pretty mellow tone, because of the mahogony, and cause it's so bulky, a strat with a maple fretboard is going to be alot more bright and twangy compared to it, lending itself also to single coils.

in the end, make sure he plays a similar model first, and not just pick it out based on brand name, or looks, that's a big mistake when it comes to ESP guitars, the LTD line anyway, they look real nice on the internet, and sometimes in person, compared to other guitars, but the hardware and playability is right down in the crapper compared to jacksons and ibanez, i was quite surprised that the most expensive LTD i could find in the store was about 600, and upon fine tuning the tremolo, the cheapness showed, and had dead notes all over the upper register.

one of the most important factors is the neck, is the neck smooth, is it fast, and is it comfortable, it's pretty much half and half when it comes to nut size, 1 5/8 is what you usually find on strats and lps, 1 11/16 is what you usually find on ibanez, jacksons, but not always. that 1mm makes alot of difference to most people, some people prefer the larger nut, i switched from a 1 5/8 myself, and i love the added size, much more comfortable and cleaner in my opinion, but i don't HATE 1 5/8, it's all personal preference. painted necks are going to be slower, so are laquered necks, sanded necks are the finest in my opinon.

well enough blather, take him to a nice guitar store, and have him pick out nice ones to play, play them for more than 2 min though, unless it's like those ESP LTD i played...YUCK!! back to the shelf you go.

[ChrisDee]

yeh i myself have an ibanez rg 1570, its a wizard neck so u dudes can imagine how thin and fast it is. however my brother is a poof and hates listenin to any type of awsum guitar virtuosity, let alone try to play it, so super thin necks arent really the premise of a guitar for him.

Its funny u shood mention esp/ltd's i was actually plugging them to him tonite, telling him they r good metal axes....but now uve told me they suk anus i dunno

well ive got a good 2 weeks before i go to the shop (in sydney australia i mite add) and christen sum 6 stringed newb guitar so keep the opinions flowing,

[Sindlei]

i'm sure not all ESP LTD suck, but i'm sure there are more lemons in that line of guitars compared to other manufacturers.

[sepultura999]

sometimes you just get a bad guitar. The best is to go to a store and have him try out every guitar in your price range that looks good to you and on the same amp. I wouldn't go for any of those epiphones. The baritone is a good concept but it's easier to just have a standard size guitar and use heavier gauge strings. If I were going to go with an Epiphone LP it would definitly be the Epiphone Goth LP because the sound is so deep, and I'm a sucker for ebony and flat black.

-Jamie