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Epiphone Les Pauls are popular with players at all levels, from beginners to budget-conscious pros—and with good reason. While a Gibson Les Paul will generally set you back north of $2,000, their Asia-built Epiphone cousins offer excellent bang for the buck at prices in the low-to-mid hundreds. The new Epiphone Les Paul SL, however, ups the value ante by reducing the actual price to less than $100.
Similar in shape to a Les Paul Junior, the SL’s poplar body is slim, compact, and very light. None of the SL models have the deep mahogany grain of the Les Paul Junior or the flamed tops that some Les Paul Standard enthusiasts drool over. But their quirky solid colors (my test model came in a bright sunset yellow finish), contoured pickguard, and top hat knobs will turn heads. (More traditional sunburst and black finishes are also available). The controls are straightforward: A 3-way pickup selector switch and two knobs that control volume and tone for both pickups. The input jack is located on the pickguard, rather than on the side.
The quality control on the SL is remarkably good for a guitar with a two-figure price tag. There are no sharp fret ends, and the volume and tone knobs have a smooth, noise-free—if somewhat limited—taper throughout their ranges. I saw a few minor cosmetic flaws, like yellow paint sprayed on the edge of the fretboard overhang and what looked like buffed out file markings on the tail end of the fretboard. But I didn’t see a single structural flaw that would affect playability.
The factory setup was good, too. The guitar was set for medium-low action, and the intonation, though not quite perfect, was close enough to fix with a few tweaks to the wraparound bridge. (Keep in mind that adjustability is relatively limited on this type of bridge, so you’ll want to make sure intonation is as close to correct as possible before you buy.) Playability was great all over the range of the SL’s bolt-on, 24 3/4"-scale “slim taper” mahogany neck. There was no buzzing or choking-out on bends, big-grip chords were comfortable to hold for extended periods, and the guitar didn’t fight back when I played faster licks. The 14" radius fretboard is quite flat (Gibsons typically have a 12" radius), which probably saves some manufacturing costs, but also provides a very comfortable playing experience across all 22 of the guitar’s medium jumbo frets and prevents fretting out during deep bends.
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