Epiphone Les Paul Special II

[bsman]

My son got one of these (MIC) guitars from a friend and brought it over last night (didn't bother getting the camera out). In looking it over, it seemed like the fit and finish were good. It LOOKS nice. The fretwork was pretty smooth and the neck feels nice in the hand. It's also heavy as hell -- at least as heavy as my all-mahogany Godin LG

 

Unfortunately, when I picked it up, the problems became apparent. First, getting it in tune I noticed that the tuners are particularly rough feeling -- uneven movement on and almost feels like there's sand in the gears. Then, I plugged it in.

 

What can I say: that was the deadest, least-resonant guitar I have played in a long while. The pickups (two chrome-covered HBs) were lower-output than the duncan-designed single coils in my Route 101, which surprised the hell out of me. I figured that with the H-H configuration, at least I'd be able to get it to make some noise! :poke:

 

Anyway -- I realize that this is the 'lowest-of-the-low' in terms of Epi's product line, but I have to say that I hope that the quality improves drastically as one moves up the Epi food chain.

[fu2jobu]

You expected more from a Guitar that cost $170 new?

[jkay]

I had one for a while, and it was not a bad sounding guitar.

 

I also like the playability of the neck.

 

The tuners, however, are absolute pieces of garbage. If you replace them you'll have a decent guitar, but it's not going to sound like a real LP.

 

It's kind of LP light, which is not necessarily a bad thing. You just have to be realistic about what this guitars capabilities are.

[Hotrod Lincoln]

slap some EMGs in it and it won't matter what it's made of lol

[Elias Graves]

They aren't worth much. My SG Special had the same crap tuners and pickups. There was a glop of polyester finish on the edge of the neck pocket that made the neck wonky. Fixed, but still

My older one was made in Indonesia and is all mahogany. The new MIC versions are plywood.

Once you get into the set neck Epis, things look up but those cheapies are firewood. (Assuming they will burn)

 

EG

[Woody_in_MN]

I agree the Epiphone Les Paul Special II is a true POS. The Epi LP Junior is a much much better choice.

 

- w

[Cpt Albatross]

Could just chunk the Epi and man up to an Edwards.

[steve_man]

I dunno...my brother has one, and for the money...it's not a bad guitar...

[soundcreation]

My first electric was a black special II. Played it for a year and it did it's job well. It is what it is. The quality on mine was decent for the price. Sounded just like a poly coated piece of plywood should...like you're playing nothing but the pickups. And the pickups in mine sounded OK for the price of the guitar. Mine would growl very easily, but very pronounced highs and lows. No balance. But it's a cheap guitar.

 

{censored} there are shoes that cost more than those...Not really sure why anyone would complain about them. What do you want for that price? To me if it feels OK and makes a sound then its all good.