How different is the tone between an Epiphone Standard and a Custom?

[ilikeminis]

hello all,

I am considering buying an epiphone les paul. I cant decide between the standard and the custom though. the price differences I have seen amount to about $140. I have heard the differences in wood and gold hardware. My question is, do the customs have better setups, action, tone, intonnation, electronics, and whatnot? And do these "upgrades" warrant the increase in price?

[whpprsnpprr]

 

Originally posted by ilikeminis hello all, I am considering buying an epiphone les paul. I cant decide between the standard and the custom though. the price differences I have seen amount to about $140. I have heard the differences in wood and gold hardware. My question is, do the customs have better setups, action, tone, intonnation, electronics, and whatnot? And do these "upgrades" warrant the increase in price?

 

 

That's a real subjective answer but in most cases I'd say no lol. Especially when you're talking about Epis, their pickups, setups and all that jazz are pretty {censored}ty. But that's the great thing: with the money you save, you can afford to fix those things.

[Paladin2019]

 

Originally posted by ilikeminis My question is, do the customs have better setups, action, tone, intonnation, electronics, and whatnot? And do these "upgrades" warrant the increase in price?

 

 

No. As I've already said they use the same wood and are the same guitar under the surface. The differences - gold, binding, colour options - are cosmetic.

 

If you must have the custom's looks, then it's worth the extra. If you're considering a custom because you think it's a better guitar, the buy a standard.

[-=Pennywise=-]

I bought the white custom with gold hardware brand new. The electronics suck, the pots and switch are friggin terrible. and the gold hardware just pisses me off because it wore off very quickly in anyplace I rest my hand on. After a year of owning it the bridge and stopbar looked like {censored}.

 

I loved the guitar for it's feel in my hand however, thats why I bought it. So anyway, the hardware sucks on Epi's, so I changed all the gold hardware to Chrome from Epi parts i found on ebay for a total of $20. Replaceed that {censored}ty switch with a Switchcraft, took out the stock pups and install seymour duncans and RS Guitar works wiring kit (pots and caps).

 

Good workhorse guitar now.

[angus_old]

it's downspecced on the site but what yours will actually be depends on what they were making them out of that day. i know just about all of the MIK ones were straight mahogany/maple

[Rick 381]

Originally posted by timmy210 The epi site is so out of date I wouldnt go by anything it said. The Custom is Mahogany/Maple. There is a picture showing that it has a maple top somewhere, you'll find it if you do a search. I believe the picture was posted by an Epiphone higher up as well. The standard is probably the one thats mahogany/alder.

 

Originally posted by Jim "Epi",

 

[RaVenCAD]

 

Originally posted by thepoisonchef I dont own any les pauls but ive played em before both gibson and epiphone but i was gonna say something about epiphone in general... I remember my attitude toward epiphones a few years back and that was that they sucked and for no reason I thought this. But lately ive been getting into this band 'interpol' and their guitarist Daniel Kessler uses a epiphone 'casino' the same axe as john lennon another hero of mine (not saying daniel kessler is my hero but i like his style) anyway i put 2 and 2 together and decided i wanted an epiphone i went into some off beat shop in my town and saw a black sheraton 2 and knew it was mine and after looking at the gibson 335 (the guitar they compare it with) im glad i got mine because it looks nicer (the headstock) and plays sweet and of course I saved some dough but the only famous guy i know that plays a sheraton is john lee hooker

 

 

The Casino that Lennon had was made by an entirely different company than today's Casino. Yes, it is still Epiphone, but the Epiphone of old wasn't just the low end Gibson knockoff. Back in the day, they were great guitars. I played an original Epiphone a few years ago, and today's Epis don't hold em a candle. I own one, and I do like mine, but it doesn't compare well to the old school stuff they made.

 

re: the standard vs. custom question, the custom is the traditional blend of mahogany and maple, where the standard is mahogany and alder. Both have sub par pickups and electronics, so don't decide based on that. Your best bet is one of the LP classic models from MF. Same body and neck as a custom, yet it makes no bones about having crappy electronics. Rip the old out, put in some decent Duncans and it's ready to rock for less money.

 

edit: btw, don't assume any of these have a solid slab of mahogany for the body. They gave that up a long time ago. The lp classic in my signature does indeed have a solid slab body, but it was a limited edition that I paid way too much for about 6 years ago.