Epiphone Les Paul-100 E1, Vintage Sunburst

This guitar is as good as it gets for an electric guitar for $500 or less. This is a great first/student guitar because it has good quality components and workmanship. It is lightweight, good looking, and is set up well, so it is easy to play and sounds like a Les Paul should. The bridge pickup is overwound for high gain, so I replaced the pickups for more traditional PAF style ones to get that 1960's classic rock tone.

Buying guitars online is always risky. However, this has to be hands down the best budget friendly electric guitar out of over 30 that I have purchased. When I say budget, I'm talking $400 or less. If you are looking for a great guitar, beginner or intermediate player, I can honestly say straight out of the box, all I did was tune it. Plays beautifully. You will not be disappointed as a beginner, but as an intermediate player you will notice the tuners are average, but they do stay in tune. The fret board is dry, so the frets have very slight sharpness to them on the edges. Nothing some 600-grit sandpaper can't take care of. Surprised that the finish was perfect. And I do mean flawless. Now for the advanced player, down to the nitty gritty picky stuff. Guitar could use locking tuners, a bone nut, and I would definitely change the bridge pickup. The neck pickup was sweet. Although, the bridge pickup was okay, a little upgrade is needed. My opinion. I like something a little hotter. The setup was little high. Easy to adjust. Still no fret buzz. No high or low frets for a bolt-on neck. The neck does feel a little chunky; but it is Les Paul style. And I didn't like the gloss finish on the back of the neck. The volume pots were very easy to move, while the tone pots were a little tighter. Could find no spurring on the bridge piece, and it didn't rattle at all. Like I said, this guitar is a steal for the money.

The headline of this review is not intended to start any debates over what constitutes a "great axe". I'm sure we all have our opinions and there is little question as to how this model would compare to a top-shelf Gibson or Fender. This is a great axe for me and for what I'm doing, and it's quite likely that it will fit nicely into your arsenal.This is my second six-string and is the one I play the most. It has an attractive tan and black sunburst. The knobs and pickup selector switch are in the correct places for the classic Les Paul look. There are lower-priced Epiphone Les Pauls available. I chose to spend a bit more on this guitar because the less expensive guitars had two knobs with the pickup selector between them, rather than the four-knob "diamond" arrangement with the pickup switch above the neck. It's my opinion that the lower-priced guitars don't look right, almost as if parts were forgotten to be added and the selector put in the wrong place. The discussion of how the guitar looks may be irrelevant to some, but the look was a factor in my decision to go with this one.A disclaimer is in order before I continue with how the guitar plays and sounds. I'm not a professional guitarist. I'm an enthusiastic novice Metal God. I'm not good at playing guitar yet. I have tons of fun playing in my room, learning new chords, and mangling old rock-n-roll songs. My enthusiasm and lack of experience and skill destroys what little objectivity or credibility I have. It's best to disregard what follows as the ravings of a wannabe, talent-free hack.This guitar plays and sounds AWESOME! It has a much fuller sound than my Squire Strat. It's a heavy instrument, but I think that adds to the sound. There was a little bit of fret rattle when I first got the guitar, but that was fixed without a truss rod adjustment by raising the bridge with a flathead screwdriver. The guitar comes with an instruction book that explains how to adjust the bridge. Clean or distorted, this guitar sounds great. It's also easier for me to play, as the neck is a bit wider than my Strat. Despite its weight, it's a very comfortable guitar. It feels really good to play it.It came with a sticker. The word "Epiphone" is printed in white script on a black background. It's a rectangular 11.5 in. x 3 in. (29 cm x 7.6 cm). All four corners are slightly rounded. The backing paper was easily removed from the sticker prior to installation on my guitar case. As of writing, the sticker has remained attached to the outside of the case, with no peeling and no noticeable movement on the case. Be advised that only visual inspections were made. No instruments or measurements were used to determine whether or not the sticker has moved. Five out of five stars for the sticker.The most burning question about this guitar has not been answered yet. That question is "What is the quality of the evil produced by this instrument of demonic possession?" The answer: top quality evil. Bust out with some old-school Heavy Metal through this bad boy and a distinct, undeniable portent of doom will instantly cover the general vicinity. Rodents may or may not die. Trees will shiver.I really like this guitar. It's first-rate for what I need it for. It's a good upgrade from the guitars that typically come with guitar/amp starter sets that are often the first step in a guitarist's career. I gave it four stars because of the buzzy fret, but other than that it's a fine instrument. Treat it well and you'll have lots of fun. Evil, too. Lots of evil.

Beautiful guitar! Top quality for the money.