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Does a real Gibson really smoke a Epiphone by a mile?


Dr. Scottie C

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I bought a 2003, Korean, Set neck Epiphone Les Paul Custom the other day off Craigslist.

 

I bought it dirt cheap (in 9.5 out of 10 condition easily).

 

The guy had 2 new in box pickups for it as well.... A Dean Dimebag for the neck, and a Dean Lesile West for the bridge.... so I install those, set this thing up...and man (I'm a tried & true strat man) ....but this thing absolutely smokes.

 

So my question.... can a real Gibson LP custom be 5 or 7 times better?

Maybe they are?

:idea:

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NO. /thread

 

 

play a few, and then go back to your epiphone and see which one you prefer.

 

too many people love to bash gibson on here, based off of some experience they had at a guitar center... or something...

 

and this isn't a bash on epiphone, i have 2 that i enjoy a lot, but i don't try to convince myself that they're just as good as a gibson.

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How would one go about quantifying how one guitar is 5-7x "better" than another guitar?

 

 

 

how does one go about convincing them self that one guitar is "really" $1000's better than another:idk:... it all boils down to preference, i've only played a handful of high end guitars, my two favorites being the Gibson "56 RI Gold Top and the PRS Custom 24(my dream guitar:D). and while all of them were great, i personally cannot justify the price in any way, shape, or form:idk:

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I'd say that with both guitars stock, the Gibby wipes the floor with the EPI but with a few mods, things even up real quick.

 

Yeah, you'll get better wood with the Gibby, the nitro, better electronics as well, not to mention the all powerful and "magical" name on the headstock... and let's not forget the eternal resale value argument. You'll also pay a {censored} load more money for the Gibson than the EPI. Personally, I can't hear the improvement in tone the nitro is supposed to bring and I sure as hell can't hear the wood breathing.

 

In my opinion at least and I know many here don't agree with it, if you have a nice EPI to start off with and do a few mods that still won't bring you close to the price of the Gibson, you'll get really, really close in feel and sound... just don't look at the name on the headstock. I think the only significant difference would be the pride of ownership, snob appeal or whatever you want to call it.

 

If you don't want to mess with it and play it straight out of the box after a basic setup, although a lot of guys mod theirs Gibsons as well, just get the Gibby. If you have a nice EPI though, drop a set of 57s in and hang on.

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I have seen some very good musicians playing a 300 dollar fernandes, squier affinity, esp ltds. I wouldn't buy one for a dream guitar, but I have an old squier and its fine to play..

 

You can get a Gibson for cheap still, though, mine is a '96 Gibson "The Paul 2" and it cost me $550 out the door (has a sweet acoustic sound).

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... However, as with anything you do have to take into account the economic law of diminishing returns, and if it's really that important to you or not.

 

 

...and where you are with your playing, how seriously you take your hobby/passion/career, what your economic situation is, what your priorities are, etc.

 

To say any guitar "smokes" another guitar is silly. There's always going to be something a little nicer than what you have. Take what you have and make it work for you. If you want something better, figure out a way to get it.

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Is a Gibby Custom better than an Epi Custom? Absofreakinlutely; the Epi doesn't even come remotely close. 5-7x? Not sure how to quantify that; are you basing that on price? If so, well that's a personal thing; for me the answer is yes, for others probably not. The bottom line is do you like the Epi better than the Gibby when all things are taken into consideration? If so, very cool, if not, buy a Gibson. I have both, but when it comes down to eliminating guitars, guess which ones are going first?

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Any comparison is riddled with subjectivity which all boils down the player and the player alone.

 

So diceman1000 doesn't nor will he probably ever see it as a 5-7X difference. dcooper830 owns a bunch of both and he doesn't see it either and probably never will.

 

Ask 50 other people and you're going to get people on both sides of the fence with different opinions. Me personally; it all comes down the guitars in question and even then a 5-7X 'better' is unattainable except perhaps in the case of the {censored}tiest Epiphone ever built and one of the best Gibsons ever to grace the planet. The likelihood is more in the .05-2X nicer in even the more extreme cases and for many even a 5% difference is enough to justify the price which is clearly what the 5-7X 'better' is really all about.

 

So here is are the questions you have to ask yourself:

 

1. If you had to choose between this Epiphone for $300 and a Gibson for $300 which one would you buy?

 

2. If you had to choose between the Epiphone for $2000 and a Gibson for the same price which would you buy?

 

Now try to explain the answer to yourself and perhaps you'll be onto something because I don't know why it is either. I'm going to take the Gibson in just about every scenario I can imagine and I'll sit here and admit to it.

 

The price difference isn't on a linear scale so the 5-7X better question is flawed from the beginning. After a certain price the percentage of 'better' drops and the price increases substantially and it's not just with guitars. Ask Diceman1000 to explain it using cars as an analogy; he enjoys that. :poke: :thu:

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I think the problem with Gibsons is the quality/price ratio (QPR). I've seen some Gibsons at Guitar Center that are visibly b-stock material (binding all wobbly, noticeable drips on the finish, terrible fretwork) - selling at A-stock prices. It's a little disheartening . . . I know the QC issue isn't just my imagination - I was talking to a guy a local mom & pop and he said they dropped Gibson for 2 reasons - first, Gibson made them carry way more inventory than Fender (including a lot of Epis they couldn't move) and second, he was sending every other Gibson back because of QC issues - 50%! Stunning! My guess is that all his returns went to Guitar Center :-)

 

In comparison, most of the Epis I've seen are pretty well made. Ultimately their resale value is for {censored} unless you have something like a Casino, which seems to hold up pretty well in the used market, so that's a pretty big driver. I think the best QPR is Rickenbacker - I had a 620 (which when I bought it in 2002 was $700!!) - what a spectacular guitar. Beautifully crafted . . . I understand they are about double the price these days, but I still think that's a pretty good value given the quality. Pity their necks are so dang narrow!

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In general "Real Gibsons" are better than the somewhat equivalent Epiphone models. But definitely not 5 times better - and I say that as a "Real Gibson" owner. Right now I'm hankering for a goldtop with P90s... It won't be my "main" guitar (or even close to it) so do I want to spend three grand for the Gibson version or five bills for the Epi? Hell that's a no brainer. Even if the pups sucked ass I could swap them and still be a couple of grand ahead. The harder question (for me) is Epi versus Agile...

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How would one go about quantifying how one guitar is 5-7x "better" than another guitar?

 

 

You can't which is why I think it's bogus when the Gibson fanboys attempt to do exactly that to justify the outrageous amount of money they spent.

 

If I dig a guitar that's 400 dollars and I also dig a guitar that's 4,000 dollars, I really can't bring myself to sit down and mathematically deduce that the latter is ten times better than the former. I'll buy the former.

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