Honestly, what the difference between Gibson and Epiphone?

[eakinj]

Just so there's no confusion (Because I think I'm confused) wasn't Epiphone an American company that Gibson bought? I know a lot of old Epiphones are highly valued. I know this has little to do with the current product, I'm just curious.

[SEEGERMANY]

I posted this a long time ago here at these forums and you might be able to find it with the search function, but I was at the Dallas Guitar Show and as I was strolling down an aisle, I saw an Epiphone dealer in a far corner. He was yapping on his cell phone, so I just started looking through his inventory.

The first thing I noticed were his EXTREMELY low prices and the majority of his Les Pauls were the higher end models. Now, I don't know about you guys, but when I pick up a guitar, its usually by the neck where it connects with the headstock. Every single guitar had a crack behind the nut.

When fruitloop got off the phone, I inquired about the broken guitars and he stated that it was a design flaw, that the necks were too thin and made from sub-par material. Once the guitars were strung to pitch, one good boink on the neck and they became a musical hand grenade. He also said that these guitars were not designed for heavy gauge strings such as .010 and .011.

The second thing I noticed was the overall width of the neck from about the first fret to the fifth. It felt extremely narrow, almost like a toy guitar. Actually, it felt more like a banjo neck than a guitar.

One thing about it, they sure are pretty. I'll be the first to admit, I love pretty guitars. But I also love quality, playability, and tone. Yes, Gibson has screwed the pooch over the years when it comes to quality control, but so has every company! If you like Epiphones, that's great. I'm not gonna sit here and knock your choice. At the same time, don't try blowing smoke up my ass and telling me that they're as good as comparable models of Gibsons. I've owned a buttload of LPs and I've played a bunch of Epiphone LPs. The only thing they have in common is their shape and they fucked that up with the Epi's godawful headstock!

[Accept2]

The difference is when you buy a Gibson, youre paying for the guitar, when you buy an Epiphone, youre paying into Gibson's profits. Guitar companies have import lines to stay profitable. I would rather pay $2,000 for a guitar that cost $2,000 to produce then to pay $600 for a guitar that cost $50 to produce. The whole "bang for buck" arguemnt is ass backwards with most people. If they were the same price, you'd always take the Gibson, so there must be a difference.............

[surfreak]

Okay, so Epiphone Les Paul bodies are made from mahogany. Gibson Les Paul bodies are made from "Honduran" mahogany (oooohhhh!!!!!).

So other than maybe some hardware differences, are Gibsons worth the 400% or higher price difference? Something in me says that the answer is no.

I would also apply the same question toward Fender and Squier. The Fender Strats seems to have thicker necks and are a tad heavier than their Squier counterparts, so that's probably a body wood difference.

I can notice the difference in Jacksons, but not in the others.

Discuss!

If you can't notice the difference between a Gibson Les Paul and an Epi Les Paul, then you're definitely better off with an Epi.

[WarPig]

Honestly does it matter? If you find a guitar by any maker, from any country and feels good in your hands that you can get the tone and emotion out of it - buy it. brand names mean nothing. I like my Epi, it's sweet as can be, but if I suddenly ran into a boat load of cash I'm buying nothing but custom shop jacksons and gibsons. the epi will be played but probably not much

Amen.

[MetalHeadMat]

/thread

[Mr.Shreddy]

Ya it's all up to personal opinion.

Exactly. I think the Gibson's are built better. -But it's all about what moves YOU and it shouldn't be the the brand.

[MetalHeadMat]

Ya it's all up to personal opinion.

[eakinj]

Honestly does it matter? If you find a guitar by any maker, from any country and feels good in your hands that you can get the tone and emotion out of it - buy it. brand names mean nothing. I like my Epi, it's sweet as can be, but if I suddenly ran into a boat load of cash I'm buying nothing but custom shop jacksons and gibsons. the epi will be played but probably not much

[MetalHeadMat]

What does neck thickness have to do with anything? That's a preference thing and no measure of quality at all.

And if you think an Epi Zakk is a good guitar than you and I clearly have different ideas of what a good guitar is. I couldn't get rid of that thing fast enough.

Same with the sound, so what would I compare, the look? The Quality? They were both used so I can't see how I could.

[eakinj]

Ha! Perfect! I owned both at exactly the same time a couple years ago.





At the time I bought these, I believe an Epi Zakk was about $749 and the Studio was $999.

The Zakk wasn't even close to being as good a guitar. Every bit of hardware and electronics was cheap as shit. The neck was uncomfortably sharp on the fingerboard edges. The guitar felt cheap. It sounded terrible. The Les Paul Studio was fantastic - great neck, nice thick tone, very solid feel, much better fit and finish.

No contest.

Next...

If I lived anywhere near you, I'd bring mine by and let you play it. I may have just gotten extremely lucky because it was one of the "guitar of the month" things and they may have paid some extra attention to it. I like mine more then the standard I have plaid in recent years, but that might not mean anything to the quality of the Epi more so the lack of quality in the standard i played.

[hippietim]

the Gibson Studio I played a while ago had a very thick neck

What does neck thickness have to do with anything? That's a preference thing and no measure of quality at all.

And if you think an Epi Zakk is a good guitar than you and I clearly have different ideas of what a good guitar is. I couldn't get rid of that thing fast enough.

[MetalHeadMat]

I hear this sort of thing a lot so every so often I go give Epiphones another shot and they always suck donkey balls. So if you would, please name the models you've compared so I can try a good Epiphone (and don't say "Les Paul", be specific).

I've owned several Epiphones and at least a dozen Gibsons and the Epiphones were a joke by comparison. Not even close.

I've played a ton of Epiphones at various stores and they aren't even "good for the money" - other than the $299 ES-335 copy which they have at GC, a couple of those have actually been worth the asking price but they still don't hold a candle to a Gibson.

This reminds me of the guys on the Telecaster board talking about how their Chinese Squiers smoke a Fender USA Custom Shop.

Having said that, the other guitar player in our band has a very cool Epiphone LP double cut. It has a great neck, resonates well, and has a nice thick tone. Oh, it's made in the USA too. They did a bunch of USA Epiphones in the 80's - very cool stuff.

One example is my friend buying a Goth Epiphone Explorer, and I found a Gibson Explorer at my local music store. The Gibson did feel preetty nice, but nothing compared to the Goth. The Goth's neck was painted flat black like the paint, so I wont really compare that. The sound was amazing, yet very... Airy. The Gibson sounded better, but for $1200 more, not worth it.

Ha! Perfect! I owned both at exactly the same time a couple years ago.
...
At the time I bought these, I believe an Epi Zakk was about $749 and the Studio was $999.

The Zakk wasn't even close to being as good a guitar. Every bit of hardware and electronics was cheap as shit. The neck was uncomfortably sharp on the fingerboard edges. The guitar felt cheap. It sounded terrible. The Les Paul Studio was fantastic - great neck, nice thick tone, very solid feel, much better fit and finish.

No contest.

Next...

You're kidding right? I compared the exact same two guitars and found different results. The neck on the Wylde felt really nice and not sharp on my fingers at all, the Gibson Studio I played a while ago had a very thick neck, the sound was flat, and over all just sucked compared to the Epiphone.

[roodyrocker]

The Epi's do not compare to the Gibsons. I'm not bashing Epi but seriously, just go into your local GC and play a Les Paul then pull an Epi version of the same thing off the shelf and play that. If you think it doesn't warrant the price difference then buy the Epi. Something tells me you'll hang the Epi back on the wall. As for the mahogany lower end guitars are made of, have you ever picked up one of those fake made in China Les Pauls? Well, they're mahogany too but they feel as light as an acoustic guitar practically.
BTW, I was at a local gun show this past weekend when a friend and I spotted what at first appeared to be an Ace Frehley Les Paul. Yes, it even said made in USA on the back of the headstock and on the case, had Ace's face on the headstock, 3 cream pickups, lightning bolt inlays. Asking price was $1500. Only problem was it was a made in China fake! Don't know if the seller knew this or not but others heard me point out the differences from a real Les Paul to my friend. That thing was as light as a feather! Anyway, pick them up and play them and you'll be able to tell the diff

[MetalHeadMat]

Bullshit. My Gibson SG Standard will BLOW AWAY any Epiphone version. I've done so multiple times.

I've only found 2 Gibson's I've actually liked, and were modded.
The Gibson's I've played have felt fairly bad, and didn't sound as well as everyone puts them up to be. For the price the Epiphone's felt and sounded a lot better. But that's just my opinion. I'm also the guy who dislikes neck through guitars, so I dunno.

These brand comparison threads always end in "My [Brand X guitar] rulez and your [Brand Y guitar] droolz"!!!

Which is why only posts with proof should be taken seriously.