Sam takes a closer look at the new, upgraded Epiphone '50s Les Paul Standard, part of the 'Inspired By Gibson' range. Check out all the different Epiphone Les Paul Standard guitars over at PMT Online.
Epiphone 50s Les Paul Std - Metallic Gold: https://www.pmtonline.co.uk/epiphone-les-paul-standard-50s-metallic-gold
Epiphone 50s Les Paul Std - Heritage Cherry Sunburst: https://www.pmtonline.co.uk/epiphone-les-paul-standard-50s-heritage-cherry-sunburst
Epiphone 50s Les Paul Std - Vintage Sunburst: https://www.pmtonline.co.uk/epiphone-les-paul-standard-50s-vintage-sunburst-satin
With the 'Inspired By Gibson' range of guitars, Epiphone have given their old Les Paul Standard range a bit of an overhaul, so they’re now available in either 50’s or 60’s models, with each guitar offering period correct specifications including vintage style hardware and finishes, plus upgraded electronics including a pair of Probucker pickups, and this all adds up to give the new Epiphone Les Paul Standard the more authentic feel, sound and look of their bigger brothers from Gibson, but still at that much more affordable Epiphone price.
Being a Les Paul, this guitar features a traditional Gibson 24.75” scale length, a solid Mahogany body with a maple cap, and a glued in Mahogany neck, all adding up to deliver the kind of resonance and sustain that you’d expect from a Les Paul.
As this is a 1950’s inspired model, the neck features a nice rounded, chunky feeling medium C profile, as opposed to the much slimmer feeling necks on the 60’s Les Pauls. That neck is topped with an Indian Laurel fingerboard fitted with 22 Medium Jumbo frets and the bound fingerboard edges have been rolled off slightly so they’re really smooth and comfortable, giving the neck a much more authentic Gibson-like feel than on previous Epiphone Models.
Besides that neck profile, other period-specific features for the 50’s Les Paul Standard include set of Vintage deluxe tuners as opposed to the Grover machineheads found on the 60’s models, and a set of 50’s style gold top hat knobs to compliment the classic 50’s finishes.
For these inspired by Gibson guitars, Epiphone have also tweaked the design of the headstock, something they’re calling the Kalamazoo shape, and this looks much closer to the classic Gibson open-book style headstock than older Epiphone headstocks did, it may only be a minor upgrade, but when combined with the bell shaped truss rod cover and iconic Les Paul italics, it does help add to that new level of authenticity.
As for the rest of the hardware, the guitar’s fitted with quality components such as a Graphtech NuBone nut to help with tuning stability and string vibration transfer, and back down on the body , a quality LockTone ABR Tune-O-Matic bridge with a stop bar tailpiece.
One of the biggest criticisms of older Epipihone Les Pauls was their weak sounding pickups, but these new Inspired By Gibson guitars come is fitted with a pair of Epiphone Probuckers, which are a massive improvement, offering a richer, bolder tone much closer to that of a classic Gibson PAF humbucker, and these are then wired though a traditional 3 way switch and utilise high quality CTS volume and tone pots, to allow for smoother, more precise control, all the while maintaining tonal clarity.
Take a quick look and listen here with PMTVUK and try one out at your nearest Professional Music Technology store...
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