Honestly, what the difference between Gibson and Epiphone?

[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.

[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.

[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]

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

You been getting passed around or something?

[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?

[Endrik]

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

[john.w.lawson]

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

Sorry!

[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.

[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!

[RacerX]

Hi ya Gil!

[JACKSONFREAK]

Ok from an objective point of view. Just stating the facts here as for comparison sake.
Gibson bodies are Honduran Mohagony. Les pauls have a solid maple cap of 1/4-3/8 of an inch in thickness
Epi's are Oriental Mohagony of a similar appearing species to honduran or north american mohagony. with a mohogany species carved to with a flame maple veneer over the top. Solid color models are all mohagony.
Gibson necks are Honduran mohagany.
epi necks are Nato. (an asiain mohagony in vast abundance all over Asia. (redilay and cheaply available)
Gibson hardware is made in the US In Elgin IL made out of a desner stroinger metal. (ie brass, nickle silver)
Epi hardware is made over seas out of a less dense material usually a white metal or a pot metal. (mixture of metals to save money)
Gibson pups are made in the US and use various types of magnets and gauge of wire to achieve their tone.
Epi pups are made in china or korea are made of a less expensive materials the bobbins are thinner, the wires is cheaper, and the magnets arent as good.
Gibson finish is Nirocelulose dries slow and takes a while to get right. Finishes are hand sanded and polished.
Epi finishes are polyester a very strong fast drying finish. Less time consuiming and are generally polished and buffed out by machine.
There are still a few more differances between Gibson and Epi but i think you get the idea.
As for Gibson buying Epiphone. Gibson bought them in 1954 because they couldnt compete with Epis better prices for the same quality instrument. But part of the reason Gibson bought them was due to the family issues and lack of business sense of the brothers who were running epiphone at the time. They made osm ebafd decisions and were in trouble financially. Along comes Gibson to bail them out with an offer they coldnt refuse. The rest is history.
All the current semi hollow and Hollow body models with the exception of the similar named gibson counter part models. (ieLes Paul, SG, Thundrbird, Explorer,V etc..) were original Epiphone model names. (ie The Sheridan, The Riviera, the Casino, the Dot. Were all Epiphone models before the Gibson purchase.

On a side note I recently picked up a broken headstock Epi Les PAul Std in honey burst. I fixed the neck and replaced the pups. And it made a huge differance It is still an Epiphone and will not have the full rich tone of my real Gibson Les Paul. But for the 12 bucks i paid for it. Its a killer little back up and a desent guitar. Just needs better hardware and electronics to help it get closer to the Gibson but no matter how hard i try to upgrade it it will still only be an Epiphone.
A guitar is only as good as the sum of its parts Period.
Whether it be Fender vs Squier or Epi vs Gibson. The debate will go on forever.
Hope this helped clear things up a bit
Gil

[VitaminG]

Aw, come on, guys. Really! Not going to hold riding a camel to work against someone, are ya?

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

[JetFixxxer]

It's all in the person who is buying the guitar.

I play the welfare guitars... I rather spend the money on those and then upgrade them.. There is only one Gibson Les Paul that I would purchase and that was the faded maple.. That is the only Gibson that when I picked up it felt and sounded better than my Epiphones.. Of course if I picked up another one of the exact same model it might have not played as well.

I can go out on a limb and say to almost certainty that if you heard some music the majority of you couldn't pick out what kind of Guitar is being played.. let alone what pups is being used. It's power of suggestion.

If I could actually play something I would do it...

[Grandturk]

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

To be fair, Dime wasn't playing a $100 Pignose. I used to get rippin' sounds out of my Peavy Bandit - Pantera style crunch or otherwise - a good amp is a good amp, solid state or not.

[Axewielder]

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

Funny how sweeping statements about what type of gear is best tend to get shot down pretty quick!