Honestly, what the difference between Gibson and Epiphone?

[SEEGERMANY]

"The Gibson guys think nothing compares to a Gibson."

"They more you spend the less you get for the money, and no Gibson lover will ever admit anything I've just posted is true. They are indoctrinated. Drank the Kool-Aid. They can't be saved."

Well, let me ruin your day. I'm a Gibson lover. I've probably owned as many, if not more, than anyone on these forums. I've had some great Gibson guitars and I've had some real toads. Matter of fact, I have a Custom Shop Gibson Explorer that had so many QC problems, it had to be shipped back to the custom Shop. Even after a second re-build, it still has some cosmetic issues. However, it's a tone monster, plays great, and it's beyond cool. That makes me tend to overlook a couple of cosmetic problems.

I've had custom shop Jacksons and Fenders that had equally bad problems and as we all know, they don't give those puppies away for free either. For me, it's no difference in me paying $2800 for a Les Paul Custom versus a $700 Epi than some of you Jackson snobs paying close to 3 grand for a custom shop V versus a Jap import model.

I've played a lot of Epiphone Les Paul guitars and just for shits and giggles, I'm gonna run up to my buddies music store today and give his new Epi arrivals a good fingering. As I'm playing, he'll look at me and smirk and I'll do the same. Then we'll bullshit about how bad the economy sucks. About that time, mom or pop will walk in with "junior" to buy his first guitar. He'll spot the Epi's and my music store friend will say "great choice, every as bit as good as a Gibson!" Nothing quite like a sale prior to lunch to help digestion!

[JetFixxxer]

I've played a lot of Epiphone Les Paul guitars and just for shits and giggles, I'm gonna run up to my buddies music store today and give his new Epi arrivals a good fingering. As I'm playing, he'll look at me and smirk and I'll do the same. Then we'll bullshit about how bad the economy sucks. About that time, mom or pop will walk in with "junior" to buy his first guitar. He'll spot the Epi's and my music store friend will say "great choice, every as bit as good as a Gibson!" Nothing quite like a sale prior to lunch to help digestion!

That's so true. You got to love how real life rolls.

[john.w.lawson]

Korean & Chinese guitar makers riding camels.... whoda thunkit?

Sorry!

[Endrik]

I never noticed before that this board was full of fans of sloppy seconds

[hippietim]

Now I know you must have never seen the avg American line worker.
Pride and commitment to quality aren't their top thoughts.

Getting through to Friday is.

So you really think Americans suck that bad? Nice spirit there. So playing the averages you probably aren't proud or committed to doing a quality job either. But if you are the exception then why don't you just move to China where you can be proud of your fellow countrymen?

[john.w.lawson]

I never noticed before that this board was full of fans of sloppy seconds

You been getting passed around or something?

[hippietim]

Is it one of the newer ones, or the Zemaitis style guitars? Mine is the Zemaitis style from the first run. Solid mahogany, maple top, set neck, fantastic fretwork. It even has a properly cut bone nut. It's one of the few guitars I own that I haven't had to make a new bone/Tusq nut for. I changed the tuners to Grovers, because the stock ones were cheap junk, and I put in some SD pickups, but other than that it was a kickass guitar right out of the box.

Ok, let me get this straight. To get a good one you have to limit yourself to the Zemaitis style ones from the first run. Then you have to change the tuners and pickups. Then you can be sure to have a kickass guitar right out of the box. Of course that means you have to put it back in the box after all the mods.

[john.w.lawson]

So you really think Americans suck that bad? Nice spirit there. So playing the averages you probably aren't proud or committed to doing a quality job either. But if you are the exception then why don't you just move to China where you can be proud of your fellow countrymen?

No shit! Dont like the U.Sof A get outta here and dont let the door hit ya on the way out.

[john.w.lawson]

Ok, let me get this straight. To get a good one you have to limit yourself to the Zemaitis style ones from the first run. Then you have to change the tuners and pickups. Then you can be sure to have a kickass guitar right out of the box. Of course that means you have to put it back in the box after all the mods.

[hippietim]

Someone forgot to tell Dimebag Darrell that when he played solid state Randall amps for his whole career.

Well, they were made in USA amps and very good quality - not Chinese made pieces of shit combos with 8" speakers.

Also note that he used a number of pedals to get his tone. And let's face it Dime got a great brutal tone that worked killer for Pantera but it wasn't the pinacle of great warm guitar tone.

[toejam]

True. I guess I was more addressing this statement... "You can trade guitars, pickups, pedals, strings, etc. and no matter what, the lack of a tube amp is holding you back."

[hippietim]

plus dimebag was a badass guitar player and would have made the $99 POS work.

[j2379]

an epi will never be a gibson & a gibson is over priced!

same arguement as when i was a kid i bought a model6, was it as good as a USA jackson soloist, some could argue yes. did it have the same look, features & hardware, pretty much except the rosewood board yes. at 14 could i justify the extra $500-700 for the usa jackson NOPE; not mowing lawns & paper route to pay for it....would have taken me an extra summer or 2.... Do i own a USA jackson soloist now, sure do, but i still think my mod 6 is a killer guitar.

companys make sure that the cheaper versions of their guitars are not as good on purpose, if they werent why would anyone buy the more expensive ones. thats not to say imports arent good. they just arent as good if the parent company makes expensive USA made guitars too. BTW ide put a PRS SE up against almost any production USA gibson & most times the gibby would lose.

[Sinistas]

No shit! Dont like the U.Sof A get outta here and dont let the door hit ya on the way out.

I was hoping the camel comment was a joke. This obviously proves that it wasn't.

[Flatpicker]

So you really think Americans suck that bad? Nice spirit there. So playing the averages you probably aren't proud or committed to doing a quality job either. But if you are the exception then why don't you just move to China where you can be proud of your fellow countrymen?

Take that nationalism bullshit to the politics thread.
Jeeze. I put a fucking smiley there for a reason. Haven't you heard any music about "working for the weekend" or "finally friday".

Most line work sucks. Deal with it. it's a fucking tedious job that awards quantity not quality. Don't matter which country that they are in.

Hell, you work at MS, so you must know all about substandard work.