Several months ago my wife and I visited her family in Florida. Her cousin let me spend a couple of hours with his '78 and '03 Les Pauls. We had a blast and I couldn't get those guitars out of my head-even though the Paul has never been "metal" enough for me. They sounded great and played wonderfully-especially the '78.
Just the other day I was browsing on MF and I saw that the Gothic Epi Pauls were reduced to $299.00! I couldn't resist. They also sold me a Coffin flight case that fit perfectly.
Here's my review.
This guitar was made in Qingdao, China at the Gibson Qingdao plant and set up and inspected by Gibson/Epiphone in the US. Here they make only Epiphones. This plant was opened several years ago with the intent of having a higher quality and more consistent product. Let's see if they succeeded here...
The finish of the guitar is almost perfect. Does sport a nicely carved top. Guitar is heavy. Neck and body are supposed to be mahogany or one of it's family members. Weighs about 9 lbs! Checked it on my scale. One very minor dip in the finish is all that keeps it from a flawless score 8.5/10
The neck plays perfect. Frets are excellent. No sharp ends-although I did dremel them with some metal polish. But thats something I do on all guitars.
Fretboard has no inlays which I dig save for a gothic XII at the 12th. Rosewood board is almost black. High quality and no complaints. 10/10
Hardware and electronics. Strap buttons look smallish. Has 2 Alnico V pickups. Bridge pickup polepieces are not exactly under the strings. Turns out it doesn't matter-you'll see. Tuners are Grovers-solid. Bridge and tailpiece seem high quality. 8/10
Guitar also came with a quality control checklist and full color owners manual!!! Hint hint Jackson!
Sound. Meat. Dense. Relentless. See for yourself
Just the other day I was browsing on MF and I saw that the Gothic Epi Pauls were reduced to $299.00! I couldn't resist. They also sold me a Coffin flight case that fit perfectly.
Here's my review.
This guitar was made in Qingdao, China at the Gibson Qingdao plant and set up and inspected by Gibson/Epiphone in the US. Here they make only Epiphones. This plant was opened several years ago with the intent of having a higher quality and more consistent product. Let's see if they succeeded here...
The finish of the guitar is almost perfect. Does sport a nicely carved top. Guitar is heavy. Neck and body are supposed to be mahogany or one of it's family members. Weighs about 9 lbs! Checked it on my scale. One very minor dip in the finish is all that keeps it from a flawless score 8.5/10
The neck plays perfect. Frets are excellent. No sharp ends-although I did dremel them with some metal polish. But thats something I do on all guitars.
Fretboard has no inlays which I dig save for a gothic XII at the 12th. Rosewood board is almost black. High quality and no complaints. 10/10
Hardware and electronics. Strap buttons look smallish. Has 2 Alnico V pickups. Bridge pickup polepieces are not exactly under the strings. Turns out it doesn't matter-you'll see. Tuners are Grovers-solid. Bridge and tailpiece seem high quality. 8/10
Guitar also came with a quality control checklist and full color owners manual!!! Hint hint Jackson!
Sound. Meat. Dense. Relentless. See for yourself
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