Epiphone Les Paul Studio Review - How Close to Gibson is It?

The Epiphone Les Paul Studio is a extremely good beginner-level instrument at a competitive price.

Gibson's best-selling guitar is on a regular basis the Les Paul Studio, which is understandable, since it permits its owner some of the features of the more pricey Gibson Les Paul at a much more inexpensive cost.

Nevertheless, at over $1,000, the Les Paul Studio is still out of the price range for many people, especially younger players. The Epiphone Les Paul Studio is an attempt to bring the feel of the Gibson model to a more inexpensive level.

Features

The Epiphone Studio model features a mahogany body and set mahogany neck with rosewood fretboard. Chrome hardware is standard equipment, as is a tune-o-matic bridge and stop tailpiece. Pickups consist of two open-coil Alnico Classic humbuckers.

Performance

With a list price of less than $400, it's certainly much more inexpensive than the Gibson equivalent. But what about the guitar itself?

We were delighted to see that the instrument has a set neck rather than a bolt-on, which is what you ordinarily see with guitars in this price range. That's not a bad thing, since many good instruments (i.e. Fenders) have bolt-on necks, but having a Gibson with a bolt-on would seem just plain weird. Regarding the wood, it uses mahogany for both the neck and body and has a carved top.

With respect to the guitar's other features, it has a rosewood fretboard, chrome hardware, a tune-o-matic bridge, and stopbar tailpiece. Electronically, the Epiphone has two Alnico Classic open-coil humbuckers.

Given the cost, we found this instrument to be a strong beginner instrument. However, you might have to budget for some modest upgrades.

The action was very nice. Some buzzes were present here and there, though, because of some high frets (not uncommon).

The instrument's selector switch and volume pots were a bit scratchy, but not too bad. The humbucking pickups supplied some truly nice blues and rock tones.

Nonetheless, those are relatively bargain-priced fixes and minor complaints. When you realize that the price of a new Epiphone Les Paul Studio is around $350 and that a used one goes for around $200, it's difficult to complain.

The Bottom Line

All in all, the Epiphone Les Paul Studio is a extremely good beginner-level instrument at a competitive price. It would make a fine first instrument or even practice instrument for a more experienced player.

Name of Gear: Epiphone Les Paul Studio

List Price: $606.00

Manufacturer Info: The Epiphone Company; epiphone.com

Pros: Good value; nice guitar for the price

Cons:Noisy pots and pickup selector; a few high frets

If you need to locate the absolute cheapest price of a new or used Epiphone Les Paul Studio anywhere on the Internet, then you've only got one place to look! Ray's Guitar Shop offers the best prices on all used and new electric and acoustic guitars for sale anywhere. If you're searching for cheap electric guitars, then look no further than Ray's Guitar Shop!

The Epiphone Riviera - Classic Hollowbody Styling and Tone But Overlooked by the Beatles

The Epiphone Riviera helped reinvent Epiphone in the 1960s, after the faltering company's founder passed on and was aquired by guitar giant Gibson. This semi-hollowbody guitar with double cutaways and humbucking pickups was introduced in 1962, and was a departure from Epiphones other models to date.

Then President of Gibson, Ted McCarty, saw the opportunity to leverage Epiphone as a second Gibson brand, instead of the lesser idea of using Epiphone to produce acoustic Gibson basses.

The slightly smaller "mini-humbuckers" on the Epiphone Riviera were actually an attempt to keep the guitar on a lesser tier than it's big brother, the Gibson ES-335. Instead of the traditional PAF Humbucker tone, the mini-humbucker produced slightly lower output.

The Riviera has been overshadowed in the vintage market by the Casino model. While you could argue that both models are quite similar in design and tone, the Casino had one irrefutable advantage: The Beatles.

While the Fab Four would have been happy with the Riviera, it just happened that they (especially John Lennon) favored the Casino. Countless chance choices have shaped the fate of many guitars over the years, and such is life.

The Riviera has the standard Gibson pickup configuration: two humbuckers, neck and bridge, each with independent volume and tone knobs. This classic setup can also be found on the Les Paul, Flying V, SG, and plenty of others.

Top players of this guitar include Otis Rush, The Edge, and Nick Valesi of The Strokes, who has his own Signature Riviera, the P-94.

This is an excellent guitar for jangly rock sounds and excels capturing a vintage tone. This is no one trick pony though, as this axe is comfortable playing rock and country music as well.

The original is no longer in production, nor is the Epiphone Elite version of the Rivera, but these days you can find both on auction sites like eBay. Expect to pay a few hundred dollars for a reissue, and $5,000 or more for an original.

For a retro look and sound that you just don't see too often, the Epiphone Riviera is a great choice.

For a closer look at the Epiphone Riviera, including videos and more articles, check out My Guitar Guide

Top Epiphone Budget Guitars For Starters

A huge part of selecting a guitar when you are shopping for a brand new guitar will depend on your skill range. Gibson guitars are high end guitars, yet especially costly. More costly than the average beginner musician may wish to spend. One piece of information you might not realize is that Gibson has quite a few completely different brand names underneath their belt, including an incredible beginning electric guitar brand, Epiphone.

Epiphone Guitars look, sound, and feel similar to their costlier Gibson brothers. Why do they cost much less? First, Epiphones are built offshore where labor prices are low, whereas Gibson are built in Nashville, TN. Subsequently, Epiphone Les Pauls are manufactured from common mahogany varieties; Gibson guitars use unusual Honduran mahogany wood. Gibson also uses an intensive finish process; Epiphone employs a cheaper catalyzed finish.

Since Epiphones are built overseas, doesn't essentially mean they're low quality. For example, Les Paul pickups are crafted to Epiphone's exacting specification. They're double- dipped in wax and tested by Epiphone engineers at every step of development. It is this attention-to-detail which sets Epiphone apart. And it's these precise details that provide the incredibly rich, creamy sound which makes this guitar a favourite of rock, jazz, and blues guitarists. Epiphone's loyalty to music is reflected by a limited lifetime warranty on all of its models, no matter price.

Listed below are my personal suggestions for the best Epiphone guitars for beginners:

Epiphone Les Paul Special II -

One of the affordable Gibson guitars, the Epiphone Les Paul Special II is nice for newcomers for many factors. For one, it's inexpensive. You can get the Les Paul Special II for under $200 with no trouble, which is affordable. Not only is this guitar inexpensive, it surely is super versatile as well. Whether you are want to be a metal god or just wish to jam with some friends, this guitar will work for you. With a mahogany wood neck and a rosewood fretboard, this guitar not only sounds good, but is gorgeous too.

Epiphone Les Paul 100 -

The Epiphone Les Paul 100 is the electric guitar you will want, if you're beginning to get serious about your music. The mahogany body with maple top provides traditional solid, heavy sound whereas the bolt-on mahogany neck and rosewood fretboard are easy to perform. Features 700T/650R open-coil humbucker pickups and chrome hardware. The Epiphone Les Paul 100 guitar features classic Les Paul design and tone. This truly is a great axe for all ranges of guitar playing. It might be a bit more expensive than the other electric guitars in this article ($299). However it's worth it as you can use it all through your axe playing profession.

Epiphone G-310 SG -

The G-310 is a bit more costly than the previous 2 guitars, but not by a lot. Between $199 and $250, this axe is still groovy for novices but doesn't sacrifice as much in features. What the G-310 does better over the earlier two electric guitars is that it handles both warm and harsh distortion nicely. Just like the previous electric guitars, the G-310 has a mahogany wood neck and rosewood fretboard, so you're surely getting a high quality Gibson guitar with any of the three choices.

Epiphone SG Special -

Another electric guitar below $200, Gibson's Epiphone SG-Special guitar is a excellent beginner axe. This axe is a replica of the original Gibson legendary SG, so it is a classic guitar. The SG-Special is a standard rock guitar, so there aren't any unusual bells and whistles, but it surely does boast 2 open-coil humbuckers, a rosewood fretboard like the Les Paul Special II, and a beautiful tone for such an inexpensive guitar. A great aspect of the Epiphone SG-Special is that it is available in numerous different colors, so whatever your character there is a guitar for you.

I'd be comfortable with recommend any of these Epiphone guitars to a beginner, though I would recommend spending a few extra bucks and get the G-310 SG or Epiphone Les Paul 100. Starting out you might not notice the difference, but you will quickly grow out of the other two electric guitars and wish you had the flexibility of the G-310 SG or Les paul 100.

The resources that I used to write this article is from the Five Best Selling Guitars. Another resource that I used to help draw my conclusion was a YouTube video titled: Epiphone Vs. Gibson.

Please visit my personal website at Hardon4Guitars.com.