@Pandaman The question is whether people would pay $150 more for a better quality of EPI LP (Switchcraft switch, Pots and jack) vs the PRS. I think they would, but at that price, they can get the In the Image Of series.
Seriously appreciate the honest review. I'm a 48 year old guitar noob and luckily I bought a decent budget guitar with no issues. If I had a ton of issues out of the box I probably would have just thrown my hands up And not continued. Cheers.
You should start testing the fret work. A lot of these guitars come out of the factory with dodgy fret work and need a levelling. I want to see if they got it right on reviews like this. Kinda important.
Yep, I had the same issue. I didn’t notice it at first because I was too busy fixing other stuff. I should have sent it back right away, but I’ve been an electronics tech for years, how hard could it be to find a little intermittent hum? Not too bad if they’d put real wires in it instead of ones that break if you look at them wrong, and I’m not even going to talk about the horrible plugs that connect the pickups and everything together. Usually easy to unplug without breaking the wire so tiny I don’t know if it even rates a gauge. I’ve got all new switchcraft parts for it unless I just go trade it in and get the Gibson I wanted in the first place. All that said, when the connections actually connect it doesn’t sound awful.
I wish more people would start doing this with the Epiphones. They consistently have some of the worst fretwork for guitars in their price range. I feel it's being overlooked to get to the pricepoint they're aiming for because they are giving you a lot of features for the price. The QC is almost non-existent on many that I've tried.
I have one exactly like that. It is superb. I did just a little bit of fret work and it plays great !! IT IS SIMPLY SUPERB, even the pickups are great, I bought it from ZZ last year.
I just bought a Gibson-inspired Epiphone left-handed LP 50's edition in Cherry burst and I'm totally in love with it. The quality was amazing. I went over it with a fine tooth comb (said as an amateur luthier). Wiring was fantastic. Binding- perfect. Paint job/finish- perfect. Neck (including fret finishing)- perfect). The PAF-like humbuckers let you know it's a Paul from the first note. As far as I'm concerned, I would have paid twice the $649 price tag to own this guitar. To be fair, I did get the guitar through Sweetwater and may have had an advantage because of their 55-point check plus it went through their luthier shop to change out the nut in order to string it right-handed and then intonate and set the action. In any event, my Gibson 1977 LP Deluxe has a worthy mate.
My Caribbean Blue Fade Modern is really good. No issues. Feels great, neck and weight wise although I did swap out the pups to DiMarzio 36th Anniversary PAF's for now. If you find a good one you will love it.
There's absolutely no excuse for a guitar to leave the factory in that condition. There couldn't have been any quality control for that to happen. Great review. I will be subscribing to your channel.
OK, over a year and a half ago I bought a pelham blue Epiphone Modern. i had to take it back to have them bend the input jack so I could plug the cord in. Didn't know it was a problem on a bunch of them. That said it was the only problem I've had. Love the guitar and it plays like a dream. Love the guitar so much I also bought the SG Modern in fade to black. Both great guitars. No problems with the SG at all. Finally, despite some small production issues, Epiphone is definably on the right track with their inspired by Gibson line and it's about time. They are making some incredible guitars.
I have purchased two Epiphone Les Paul models in the past year. The first, a 1959 in the limited edition Lemon Burst available from select retailers, came with no output. I found that the solder tab for the tip contact was bent in such that when the jack plug was inserted, the tab was contacting the 'ring' of the plug and shorting the whole guitar out. It also has a couple of noticeable dings on the 17th fret, as well as the usual Epiphone slightly crappy fret finishing. The second, a Slash signature model in Appetite Burst, came with a misaligned neck pickup ring (not catastrophically so, but visibly noticeable), and a very stiff bridge volume pot, also leading to no output from the bridge HB. I haven't had the cover off but I assume some debris has gotten into the pot, maybe even some solder, and has busted the insides. I very nearly sent that one back but I really liked the veneer on it, once of the nicest I've seen on an Appetite, so I will resolve the problems myself once I get through the 3-4 other guitars I already have lined up for setups. And the thing is, these little problems were tolerable when Epi models were under $500 (or £ in my case), but much less so now they're heading for double that price. If I didn't have the knowledge and the tools to correct these problems I would have sent both back and bought an LTD EC1000 instead.
True my Charvel (Fender) mim great guitar but the bridge pkup mounted directly was set crooked and a bitch to move .... Plus no case no bag a cardboard box ....
Love honest reviews like this. Even though it is a case by case basis with the specific problems you mentioned it stands to reason that for your money you might want something that is a little more reliable and I would argue that even at that price you shouldn't tolerate mechanical issues in that way. I was considering picking one of these up but I might wait now, scour for other options.
I had his almost same experience when I bought an Epiphone. My frets weren't leveled. I ended up learning a whole lot fast about guitar, but this is what I experienced.
I have one with no problem and love it, but glad to see you can raise out what you found honestly!❤ (bad luck for you…) by the way, my pick guard is not pre installed
I’ve had bad experiences with brand new Epiphones twice. The first was the worst: my mom wanted to get my dad a LP custom for Christmas one year, and the one she wanted to get from GC had sharp fret ends so bad that my fingers were scratched up just playing it in the store. And no, she didn’t go for my idea of going to my preferred local shop I knew had them in stock. GC said they wouldn’t do any work for it to make it not scratch the shit out of whoever plays it. I got to practice some fretwork for the first time, but didn’t do enough for fear of doing too much. Thankfully dad seemed happy with it and I’ve never heard him him complain. That guitar was just awful to play when it was purchased, and acceptable enough when he received it. My second new epiphone experience was with my 2021 LP Prophecy. I bought it off Reverb from a seller. Overall it was okay, but had Fretbuzz all over, and one fret would choke out when you bend a note. Those two experience made me never want to purchase a brand new epiphone online ever again. Used and already played in? Cool. Brand new in a shop where I can feel it and play it first? Great. Brand new from the factory online? No way Jose.
I bought an IYV LP copy, had it gone over and set up nicely and I love the thing. Stays in tune, action is low, sustains forever and plays like butter. And had $ left over.
Wow l, i just found you, I am so impressed and thankful.!!! I am new to guitars, a 65 year old man battling a rare form of Parkinson’s disease but determined to try to learn how to play the guitar !!! I’ll be subscribing and looking forward to watching your other videos, God bless you.
This is what I love about this channel, you tell it like it is and give it to the audience straight, No Bull Shit, Lies or fancy editing to make the product look better then it really is. Thank you Guys👍👍👍😎
Great review! I picked up one of these with a faded flame top on sale. Loved the neck carve, locking tuners, weight relief, guitar balanced well and the ebony fret board felt really nice. But... Hated that the frets were so uneven the strings buzzed like mad. Asked the shop to resolve it. They raised the action, and then tried to give me a load of BS about string gauges and scale lengths. Makes you wonder why the action on some guitars in the shops are set so high. Ended up returning it. Checked out the other one they had on display and it was the same. Lesson learned, check the fret job before you buy...
I have the graphite version and play it more than my Gibson. Great neck and weight. Pots need to be sprayed a lot with deoxit as they start scratching after a little bit of use. Mine arrived with crooked tuners, mile high action, unlevel frets, and a mis-installed pick guard. Got it cheap due to these issues. After realigning the tuners, a fret level, neck adjustment, nut filed, pot height adjusted, and intonation setp, it now rocks like a great guitar
I got one when they 1st came out. It was well built and shipped in good shape. I did have the frets checked before they shipped it to me though. It was a great guitar, I just didnt bond with it over my other LPs. For some reason, all the coil-splitting options bug me. I prefer LPs that dont have that option...for whatever reason.
Yessir, I just purchased their Les Paul classic and got the same issue with the outputjack- ordered from GC so I took it back to them and let them deal with it. Great videos and information!!
That's what I did, research and reviews about this Epiphone Les Paul Modern exactly in the Vintage Burgundy Red, I tried it in the shop with another Guitarist having a Jam with me and even unplugged sounded great. The 3 way switch is not a great problem as one of my other guitars has a similar problem, just get a guitar Tech to fix it. Jack plug seems to work OK but hard to pull out so again get a guitar Tech to fix this. I have a couple of other Epiphones and no problems what so ever and now 8 years old. Thanks for the in depth test and demo..
I bought one of these guitars exactly the same as this, right down to the burgundy sparkle color. Mine is lovely and hasn’t had any QC issues at all. The setup only required very minor tweaks out of the box and plays great. So I would say buy one from a place with a good return policy in case you have an issue, because these really do play and sound great.
I had the same input jack problem with an Epiphone Les Paul Classic and sent it back. How could that guitar ever have been checked? Got another that was 100% OK. Construction of both guitars was great.
I almost bought an Epi LP Modern (Caribbean blue) back in 2021 but I got turned off because of the bad fret job with lot's of glue marks on the board. I tried another one last 2022 and bought it because the craftmanship was clean on that. Hit or Miss. I just hope they would be more consistent with the QC. :)
I’m surprised. You guys reviewed an Epiphone Modern a while back and you totally loved it. I played my friend’s LP Modern Figured in Caribbean Blue recently from Sweetwater, and it’s incredible. Not a single flaw on it. Immaculate. Plays like a dream. The neck is incredible - the thicker bass side gives my weak thumb/palm extra support while the thinner treble side makes reaching over to the bass notes super easy. Tons of tone possibilities with really amazing pickups. The components all feel solid and the workmanship under the hood is clean. I actually think this is the first time that I’ve heard about QC issues from any RUclips video and written reviews on seller sites for the Epiphone Modern since it’s release - and I’ve really done my homework and followed this model closely. I’ve never heard anyone say anything bad about it - all excited, raving reviews. I hope this video won’t scare people off from getting one. This guitar must have been a really rare occurrence, and I don’t think it’s as common as you’re saying judging by the general feedback and ratings/reviews out there. I would love you guys to link your first review of this model from a while back so people can see what you had to say the first time around. I also think this guitar deserves a redo video from Play & Trade - this way you can feel confident about recommending it. I mean, you did highly recommend it the first time around.
Epiphone is back to the times when they destroyed Gibson and the Gibson boys don't like that so they think by getting on here and bashing Epiphone because of one guitar out of thousands that was bad might change something no it changes nothing but how how ridiculous some of these replies are simply no truth ..unfortunately for the Gibson boys Epiphones will continue to rule them whether they like it or not..
If this exact guitar, which was setup perfectly out of the box with a great feel, had properly working electronics it would be no issue. Our general experience with Epiphone as evidenced by the many demos we've done is overwhelmingly positive you're right. The problem is, there have been several Epiphones that show up with bad three way switches in particular. This as I've said many times is the Achilles heel of an Epiphone -- poor quality 3 way switches and output jacks which lead to issues if not out of the box, within 6 months. So it's not really a bash on Epiphone or the Modern in particular, but I would like to see Epiphone use higher quality parts. It's silly that they market using CTS pots now, which is great, but put very very weak 3 way switch and output jack components into the guitars. The good news is it's such an easy fix for Epiphone - upgrade the components, and for a buyer who has a similar issue, simply send it back and get one without issues. Yes most of the time there is no issue, but it says something when an output jack cannot physically accept a quarter inch cable from the factory. That can only mean it wasn't checked in any way for playability from the factory, since a quarter inch cable was clearly never even plugged into it. Who knows how many they shipped with the same defective output jacks? I need to push for higher quality when I see something that out of the box isn't right. I could have just returned this guitar, gotten another one that was good, and told you how great it was. But I felt that I would be leaving something out of the real experience, and an experience I've encountered 3-4 times in the past several months with Epiphone specifically. Thanks so much for watching and for your comments, we strongly endorse the vast majority of guitars we see from Epiphone and need to call them on this particular issue otherwise I wouldn't be doing my job.
You can watch our many Epiphone demos, I'm not sure which channel you're describing but it's not ours. Should I have told you it was great even though I couldn't plug a quarter inch cable in? Thanks for watching
@@PlayandTradeGuitars please don’t get me wrong- I’m not disagreeing with you! You should never recommend something if you find problems. I’m simply reminding people that it’s just one of many guitars, just like you said at the end, and am sharing my personal experience and assessment. I hope you’re not thinking that I meant you should pretend you didn’t find problems. You did, and that’s no good. But I would hope you’d give the guitar another shot to see if there’s still issues or whether you’ll have a much better experience. Every guitar model, regardless or brand, deserves another shot - which is something you also said customers can do if they get one that’s got bad QC issues at the end of the video. So I’m basically just reiterating what you said at the end and sharing my own experience. I’m sorry if you misunderstood what I meant.😉😊 I’m going to see if I can find that video if I remember later. I’m pretty sure I remember Zack playing a Modern Flamed in Caribbean Blue in your old studio setup when the sound was bleeding and one of your daughters was trying to attend a class or do her homework during COVID, but maybe I’m confusing something. Maybe it was another model from around the same time or another channel. Anyway, it’s a very fair review. I think you were actually quite minds about it. Most people wouldn’t have been fixed the problems on camera and tried to continue with the demo.
@@MashaT22 Thanks so much, I definitely understand and really do appreciate your comments. The LAST thing I want to be on RUclips is negative -- I always try to find the positive, fix the problem etc. If someone is pumped to buy this guitar, they should know that in the situation I am describing, it's easily rectified by just sending it back and getting another. You are right on all fronts. My main message as of late is that Epiphone is on top of their game. Yes we did feature the Epiphone Les Paul Modern in 2020 early on in the channel, and that one was perfect. LOL my daughter could hear us demoing the Gibson Custom Adam Jones VOS, too funny
I was so excited to buy my first "inspired by Gibson" this year. I went through 3 335's. All 3 had either cracked necks or bad hardware. I ended up getting a real Gibson 50's Les Paul instead. Epiphone let me down.
Got my Epi Modern Figured Caribbean two weeks ago. you‘re right with the toggle switch, it‘s weak. The Vol and Tone knobs are also a joke..but the rest? I‘ve paid 599€, price for the Gibson Modern here is 3400€. For that difference I get a lot of toggle switches and a lot of extra knobs, too! Pure fun to play that lady!
Hey guys, new subscriber and I love your review/content. In 2017 I bought a Epi Les Paul Custom in Tobacco Burst. Gorgeous! When I got it I was in love.........until I picked it up and found that Sweetwater failed to do their 55 point inspection. The neck was broken at the nut! How could anybody not see that? Anyway, I called and they sent out another one that was perfect. But I ended up returning that one too cause I hated the neck. It didn't suit my hand I guess. So I ended up with a Wolf Les Paul. Great guitar in every way and really close to a 60's LP. You can get one under 500 bucks and have an awesome player. Keep on making these videos and I'll keep on watching!
Thanks for a spot on review John,.. In December 2022, I visited one of the nearby music stores and tried both original Gibson Les Pauls and the Epiphone "Inspired by Gibson" options... There's so much about the MODERN which should make it a no-brainer,... but when I trimmed my options down to the Epiphone Les Paul Standard 60's in Bourbon,... or the Epiphone Red Sparkle Modern, I went with the 60's,.. It really knocks the ball out the park. Astonishingly good to play, and the sound pallet goes all the way from wailing blues to biting anger,... NO REGRETS.
I have one. Needed fret edge rolling, set up, nut reset, Then it was great. Pickups and the wiring are cheap and nasty. Upgraded those as well. Lightweight rock machine now !!
I think its a great buy if you don't mind a few minor upgrades and adjustments. You can make it even better with a new neck and pickups and just upgrade over time. You can make these great! Great for someone who can't afford a big chunk of dough. Just slowly work on it over time. I personally would get rid of all that coil tapping stuff, put new pots and great pickups in it, and a high quality compound radius neck.
Hey John, just watched and have to agree with everything you point out. I have this exact same model in the sparkling burgandy bought from Musicians Friend several months ago and had same issue with 3 way switch cutting out. No problem with output jack, but also had several light scratches or scuffs in 6, SIX spots on the body and pick guard (UNDER the protective plastic), so obviously they were before plastic was applied. Being a tinkerer, rather than return it, which was an option, I decxided to see if I could correct the issues and was able to get the switch working, but will eventually replace with SwitchCraft, because it still wants to act up a little until I work it a bit, (porblem is in the spring steel contact arms) and took some automotive clearcoat polishing compound to the fine scratches and hazy looking "scuff" type marks, including on the black pickguard and they are no longer visible. Having said all that, I love this guitar for all the reasons you mentioned, and it is a beauty. I also changed the pickguard and pu trim to cream from black, added the selector washer in creme, even though I do like the stock black look as well. I will also mention my MF sales rep was great to work with, even telling me I could return it if I couldn't get the scratches out to my satisfaction. I sent him before and after images so he could let his Epiphone contact know of the issues, so I'm glad, sort of, that you brought up the QC issues. Not the sort of problems expected from Epiphone, for sure. I recently bought a beautiful Harley Benton semi hollow Tele style with P90s that was in better cosmetic condition, so . . . Anyway, thanks for your video. Well done. Great guitar, inspite of minor issues.
3:29 When I see a bridge post adjusted that high, and especially when the bass side is much higher than the treble, I put the guitar back. That guitar has fret and/or neck issues.
I am totally onboard with you Brother! EPIPHONE produces some killer guitars for the price point. Right there with the frustration of replacing the garbage three ways and out puts with quality switch craft components. For awhile it was the cheap plastic nuts too… I believe being such a large company, and if they were to buy genuine Switch Craft components in the insane bulk amounts they needed; it would be for pennies on the dollar. I would gladly pay a few bucks more for these components to be added to these “budget friendly” guitars. Epiphone would still make a considerable profit! Thank you for another great deep dive!⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I had the same problem with the switch and ended up replacing it. I've seen some people arguing that this takes 5 mins of work. That's true - if you have the switch at hand and the soldering iron ready and you know what you're doing. But the reality is that most people buying a guitar in this price range might not know what to buy or how to install it. Let alone having everything ready. And all of this could be avoided if they invested $2 more in a decent switch.
The very best Epi Les paul i ever seen was one where they guy striped a used 1959 standard to just the husk then bought Faber conversion parts, a 50's harness, boutique P.A.F clone pu's, real kluson tuners. This was a really nice Guitar when he was done. total cost for him was $1350 for the guitar and very high quality parts but was it still a Epiphone? There is a video here of this coversion. The guy that winds "Brandon wound" pickups did the conversion and posted a video.
I was going to buy 1 of these from a Big supplier but in the photos you could see the shotty fretwork under the 4th-5th and 6th string on frets 12 through 19. I contacted a sales person and all of the colors in their stock had this fret issue.
I bought one last month. Really happy with it. The only thing I can say against it was that the fret ends, although the correct length (in other words not fret sprout), were razor sharp. I bought the "magma/orange fade" and the finish and the maple flame top cap were outrageous for this price point, easily AAA. For this price, if you are a Les Paul guy, you can't do better than this.
Picked up an Epiphone LP last time I was guitar shopping and all the strings were naturally detuned by a quarter step. Passed on it and went with a Tele
I think the gripes here are overstated. Little things like this that you can quickly tweak with common household tools are not a problem for this price point. If you have a twisted neck or sloppy construction that affects playability that’s a real problem.
This is fantastic instrument for the money and probably they will not maintain this quality for too long. Way better then some Gibsons I had. I could care less about the switch or input jack. The pickups are phenomenal and the fret job is outstanding. It is also a very resonant guitar. I wouldn't pay attention to this review. Just go to the guitar shop, play it and you will be impressed.
Agreed. It sucks that the 3 way and output jack are wonky, but to discount the entire guitar because of that is a bit extreme. We're talking about 10 minutes of work to fix it and $25 bucks worth of parts. Honestly, I swap out 99% of the electronics on any new guitar I buy anyway (pickup preferences and wiring preferences). What matters most is the setup, fit & finish in the real construction (i.e. the stuff you can't swap out in 10 minutes with basic skills).
I own this guitar and what you are saying is just not true. Unfortunately I think you have a bias against epiphone but i also think you were just finding problems that really dont exist, Again, I own one and it is fantastic. I dont have a problem with the switch or the jack. This is honestly just hate on epiphone.
Nicely done vid-Kudos. I found your channel because i was looking for vids on the Adam Jones Signature Art Series Les Paul Custom Beserker (i managed to pick one up for retail out here in Europe) & came across your vid. Afterwards, whilst rummaging through your site-this vid caught my eye because i bought this exact LP a couple of yrs ago during the lockdown & i wanted to give my 2 c worth. I had no problems at all with the hardware like you did, BUT i had to take it to my luthier to have the frets leveled-so exactly the opposite of your problems, nevertheless, i agree 100% that Epis can sometimes have very poor QC. I like the sound, although the pups can be a bit muddy, but its too much hassle to swap them out (the are plug & go pups, so they will stay as they are.) All in all though, well worth the 600 Euro that i paid for it & it matches my CAR Fender strat, so there's that bit of trivia. This guitar 'bats' way above its grade, so I wouldn't hesitate to say : pick one up if you can, even better if you can get a used one in good condition. Keeps the vids coming...
Yeah mine needed fret levelling. Which is pathetic for a guitar of that cost. Luckily it was under warranty and I got the fret levelling for free. Plays like a dream now.
I have this and keeps up with any Paul as a huge collector and locking tuners always game changer ~ Paid $700.00 Sweetwater outstanding Sound Playing Guitar !
Without seeing it firsthand, I can’t really comment on the playability or sound quality, but I like the idea behind the asymmetric neck. I also like the flexibility provided by the various switches in the adjustment knobs. I love the look of the face of this guitar, but I’m not a fan of the “two-tone” effect of the body. It might look better in other color combinations, but the semi-natural back and candy-red front seem to clash a bit too much for my tastes. If it was solid red, I’m sure I’d love it.
I'd like to think one particular internet seller in Indiana would have caught and fixed the issues during their testing and setup before shipping as they advertise for any guitar starting at $499.
Sweetwater doesn't do much of anything and they definitely do not do set ups, it's misleading. Some of the worse guitars I've got have come from them. If you're thinking they do what you mentioned you'll be very disappointed.
Gibson seems to let Epiphone's quality slip, because everyone was saying the newer Epiphones were getting better, or comparable to Gibson... Stick to Epiphones that gibson doesn't make ( Sheratons, Kats, Coronets, etc.)...
Not surprised if Gibson did this again Norlin and Henry J deliberately destroyed Epiphones quality years ago my husband has three 2021 Epiphones Custom Koa Les Paul and two modern figured Sgs 2021 they are top professional quality guitars high end build and electronics Epiphone destroyed Gibson back in the day and did again guess Gibson can't deal with that so destroy the quality Again I know the 2021 Epiphone Custom Koa Les Paul is selling for up to $1,300 in some places already and the 2021 Epiphone modern figured Sgs up to and over $1,000 he told me just the other day he was happy to get his when he did because he felt Gibson would pull crap like destroy Epiphones quality again
@@CRich715 Heard That... I have 10 guitars currently, and 6 are Epiphone. The oldest being an 87' Epiphone S-800 Super Strat. The Koa Custom is definitely on my radar. I own a Gibson, two Fenders, and would still buy a well built Epiphone any day!!!! Les Paul didn't work for Gibson, he worked for Epiphone!!... Gibson bought Epi, so he brought his ideas, and prototype, to Gibson.
I’ve bought this as my first electric guitar and I really love it The color is so lovely and because I’m beginners with electric guitar, I don’t feel any problems with it for now (maybe in the future) Nice video but it was too tough for me to understand haha
it's a cool guitar, and has nice features. the part that would stop me, if i were considering one, is the gloss poly on the neck. the last epi i bought, the gloss poly on the neck was pretty soft. when your hand would warm the neck, the poly got sticky. scotchbrite worked for a while, but eventually your hand would polish it, and it would get sticky again. it was the only other les paul i ever saw with a gibson headstock on it. i bought it in the 90s, and it cost me more than what that red one goes for today
At least the woodwork is improved on the Inspired By series. My 2020 Casino Coupe not only had the pickup switch wired out of phase along with 3 defective tuners and a bad bridge- the tuner holes in the headstock and some of the internal woodwork looked they had been cut out with a butter knife. I kept and fixed it because I wanted the full-hollow body, P90’s neck profile and the compact form factor. However if there had been an alternative with the same feature set within $300 of the street price, I would have given it the bum’s rush.
I have one of these in Pelham Blue and loooooove it. It truly is a fantastic guitar. As far the quality control issues, even Gibson has those issues. I've gotten a few lemons from them, too, that had to be tweaked.
thanks for your review, always first class, in Canada this guitar lists for $939 + 12% taxes as of january 2023, i don't do my own work, so i expect a luthier's bill in the range of $150 + parts, it does not appear to come with a case so this chinese made guitar is going to cost well over $1200 once you factor in a hardshell case and the repairs, so i wonder about the value for those of us south of the border
I’ve owned 3 epi les pauls. The rout in the cavity is always really severe looking. My last one had some weird gummy putty under one pot to straighten it up as they had cut crookedly and too deep. It saved the guitar from the trash but I couldn’t believe they shipped it that. Their use of fairly short shaft pots makes them cut really close to the surface of the top. The proper fix is trade it in on a used Gibson. Lol
IME, this particular series is not Epiphones best effort in terms of QC. I bought and returned mine within the week. There were several high frets above the twelfth on the fretboard, resulting in choked notes and some minor buzzing (despite proper neck relief and string height adjustments). The output jack did not secure the cable well (opposite of the reviewers problem) and it would easily fall out after a few minutes of playing. I had to take it apart and bend the ground tang to make it tighter. The top binding had several minor finish flaws from poor tape off jobe before painting. (nit picking here, but my Epiphone LP Custom is absolutely flawless). The ebony fretboard, while smooth, is a bit streaky visually. The locking tuners are very smooth and work fabulously. The pickups sounded great. The frets are poorly finished, the edges are not finished at all. A bit disappointed in this one, and the second one I tried in the shop was about the same. I will pass. This seems to be a "budget" run or I'm just unlucky.
Personally for me, tell me that axe wouldn't look better with gold hardware and take the pick guard off lol. While I agree about what you said about the construction issues, for me Personally, I would gut the pots, copper shield all cavities on it. I would run traditional Gibson wiring in it and throw in a Gibson 3 way switch. I have a 2004 Zakk Wylde Epiphone that I bought new, and play the crap outa since new, absolutely solid performer. I copper shielded it, replaced the plastic nut with a composite one ( huge difference!) And dropped in an actual EMG Zakk Wylde pick up set wired for 18 volt, and a Gibson 3 way switch. I actually sold my Gibson Les Paul and kept my Epiphone, because it sounded better, played better and it doesn't show damage at all compared to a Gibson. Just my 2 cents. I don't worry about people complaining about the action one the guitars or anything like that, reason being is , let's be honest now! Your going to change the set up of any given guitar to suit your preferences anyway, ie. String Guage, action and even tuning. Again just my opinion. Love the reviews too though, Cheers!
Ive bought 2 Epiphones in the last year. One was a modern LP, it has fretting issues (even AFTER Sweetwater did a super tune on it), the locking Grovers are awesome. and the Lazerous LP hads an ABR issue, one of the knobs fell off, and the switch was cock eyed. The tuner machines feel like they are made of cardboard when you twist them to tune it (the Moderns Grover tuners are much MUCH better)...But at least the Lazerous Fretboard was perfect.
I know people who don’t even play most new guitars from Gibson (and others?) without first having someone do basic fretwork often needed. Some of these Gibsons cost too much to need fretwork out if the case. How hard is it to do by the factory before shipping out the guitar
I bought an Inspired by Gibson Epiphone Les Paul Custom in black when they first came out in 2020. It has been a fantastic guitar so far and have had no electronics related issues but, all budget brands will usually have some QC issues from time to time. For an input jack to be unusable like that though is inexcusable. There is no way that a worker did a final output check on that guitar. Sent out the door at the end of the shift, probably on a Friday evening lol.
I buy LTD. Have a Kramer that almost flawless in setup , it was blemish buy. All my guitars are Indonesian made. It took me days to setup my schecter but it’s playable and fav of mine now . LTD was superb out of the box
Thanks for he honest review. This guitar is nice. I have it. But it had issues like you said. Bad switch. A few uneven frets. Plug. Easy fixes for me though. Nut cut high like most guitars. After I worked it though I really like it. Asym neck feels great. Beautiful burgundy. Nice sound. Relatively light. Great feeling tuners. Still have to replace the switch though.
I have an Epiphone ES339. After a lot of work on my part, I did get a good sound from this guitar, and I like the neck. I have a 2010 Gibson Les Paul Studio that is my favorite ever guitar. When you compare construction, parts, and overall quality, I don't believe you can beat a Gibson, just my opinion, no offense please! I am a Gibson man, period!
Not surprised if Gibson has once again killed the quality of Epiphone Norlin and Henry J did this also it's jealousy because Epiphone always stomped Gibson in the good ol days I would have imagine Epiphone did it again when they were restored to top professional quality guitars in 2019..I'm just glad I bought mine in 2021 all 3 the 2021 Epiphone Custom Koa Les Paul and 2021 modern figured Sgs all the very best build quality and electronics the 2021 epiphone Custom Koa Les Paul in some places is selling up to $1,300 and the Epiphone 2021 modern figured Sgs up to and over $1,000 it would be a rotten shame if Gibson in 2023 are once again destroying the quality of Epiphone sometimes jealousy is a very bad thing..right Gibson
My bass player got a new EB3 bass and it didn't work right electronically. I popped it open and found that one wire was soldered to the wrong lug. Upon further examination I found that the wire was soldered to the right lug and broke loose for some reason at the factory. The factory repaired the broken wire resulting in the wiring being wrong. How did this pass quality control? Don't Gibson test these before they leave the factory? In this case I guess they didn't.
If i was in the market for another gat right now, I'd really bwant one of these. The jack and switch doesn't worry me as its an easy fix - except, as you said, if a cable can't be plugged in it means they didn't test it. I guess these days we have to act as our own QC in a music shop. The biggest deal breaker for me is always tuning stability. When it's out of tune, the tone just never sits right. But I might go and have a play of one of these just to slake my curiosity lol
2013: me trying to buy an Epi Nighthawk custom at a store. Tried it and it was perfect. I wanted to pay but they didn't accept anything BUT cash (weird). They told me to go to their other store 2 blocks away, where they could sell me AN Epi Nighthawk but not the one I had tried on the 1st store... Whatever, they sent the other Nighthawk days later and the selector didnt work, i told them i would take it if they fix it and they refused to do so. I had to exchange my $200 advance to a pair of (overpriced but useful) Sennheisser headphones. From time to time i do think about that Nighthawk that I really really really liked (played it for like an hour and to this day i can't understand why wouldn't they just sell me THAT one 😐)
I love the look. I'm good with the poly. With all the pedals/modelers in use today, that tiny difference between lacquer and poly is insignificant. I don't know about the neck shape, I would have to play it. I like the 12 inch radius. I think those who don't thumb over fit 12 inch better. Replacing easily available parts is no big deal. I would try replacing the knobs with chrome fender style.
It is easy to say that poly doesn't matter, but every single guitar that I have stripped and refinished in nitro, has turned into an instrument with its own voice. If I could get this guitar with no finish on it, or even a poorly done nitro coating, I would gladly buy three of them, and pay full price, just so I wouldn't have to do all of that filthy, labor intensive work.
I have a 2018 epiphone plustop pro, it is flawless.. the best guitar ive got right out of the box. I have an ltd ec1000, that guitar wasnt srt up so well as the epi was. Both are great tho
The input jack thing happened to my KOA Epiphone Les Paul. When I fixed it then there was a short in it, that thing went back to the dealer. I will never buy another Epiphone. For the same money I bought a PRS SE Standard which was perfect. Actually I think it was a little less then the Modern
A few bad components here and there don't bother me much in this price range as long as the build quality is good. Bad routing is pretty annoying. I do like it has an ebony fretboard. I actually prefer ebony to have some gold in it like desert ironwood. It's nice they aren't throwing it all away these days. I wish they would leave it instead of staining it dark. Nice review and demo, as always, guys.
Hey Adam I agree that for the price and high volume production, your best course of action is to just simply send it back and try for another. The setup on this one was perfect....all I'm really requesting from Epiphone since it's been an issue several times, is to upgrade their three way switches and output jacks with switchcraft. They're already marketing CTS pots, why not go all the way? There's plenty of great Epiphones out there as we all know. I always, always prefer to be positive but also have to share my experience. If you physically can't plug a guitar cable in, they should be called for shipping something from the factory that was clearly never tested. I agree about ebony, always feels great. The current supply is almost always lighter and streaked, this is the stuff that is just as good but used to get wasted because people wanted the jet black look which represented a small percentage of the tree or trees cut down. I guess i'm okay with the stain, as long as I know they aren't wasting the wood, but yea they could just leave it too. Always appreciate your comments and thanks for watching!
@@PlayandTradeGuitars I agree with you 100% btw. They should definitely stop using cheap parts and everything should work properly from the factory. People shouldn't have to worry about sending something back. I guess I am so used to old, used inexpensive stuff all I worry about anymore is a straight neck and fairly level frets. 😺 I really like the reviews and the format lately. You guys are kicking ass. Keep it up!
I got the Pelham blue one on sale then swapped the pickups for Seymour Duncan’s jb and jazz. Also changed the knobs and added a treble rhythm switch plate. It’s now a great guitar.
have the same and love it.... did change the pots, jack and switch.... nothing else to be done..... its as good as any gibson if not even better than some...
Nice-looking guitar. Too bad about the output jack (an easy fix) and the pickup selector. Also, to my ear the out-of-phase push-pull isn’t working-I didn’t hear any difference btween the in- and out-of-phase, and there should have been a big difference. That could also be related to the pickup selector, as both pickups need to be on before the out-of-phase snarl becomes apparent.
First timer. Good Stuff. Made in China. End of Story. Some like projects, not me. Doing my own maintenance is different. Upgrading or changing Pickups is different. Fixing other people's Chinese junk is another. Nice Playing. You have that old school touch.
Always interested in a guitar which has an out of phase option, but I have to say the sound difference on this Epi is minimal. The coils splits don't seem to make a lot of difference either. I think PRS does the best coil split sound(or is it coil tap---I never know the difference) Not for me.
sadly you are biased to favor gibson, fact is there are far more gibsons sold with issues than epiphones, my 2014 epi les paul standard plus top pro came with burstbuckers ( same ones gibson used), and had cts pots, and switchcraft jack and 3 way and for the record i bought my 14 lp plus top pro brand new NOT used, i was going to buy a "gibson" but the new gibsons all had fret problems and i cut my fingers on the frets on interestingly enough the most expensive ($5k) gibson they had in a locked case.
Last year I bought an Epiphone Les Paul studio, and found that it was the best guitar that I have ever owned. Why pay Gibson prices when you can own an affordable Epiphone? Gibsons are for collecting, Epiphones are for playing.
I've got an American made PRS whose switch does that same thing. Spraying it with contact cleaner will resolve the issue for awhile, but it always comes back. Can't win 'em all I guess :)
Like the sound of it, but the quality control of this one is just out of order! I bought one of these to have permanently to have at my country house so I don't need to bring my Gibson along all the time. It stands up to the Gibson really good and always know that you have a good guitar at the country house during the summer season. That is great just bring a small practise amp and you"re good! Anyway, I like it and I didn't have the issues you had with it...
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With the new PRS SE McCartys, Epiphone really needs to nail it with these. The cost savings won't amount to much if the quality is lacking.
Quality is lacking because you get what you pay for.
@Pandaman The question is whether people would pay $150 more for a better quality of EPI LP (Switchcraft switch, Pots and jack) vs the PRS. I think they would, but at that price, they can get the In the Image Of series.
PRS SE *slaughters* Epiphone.
@@pandaman1968 ...and come with a gig bag!
As long as they're made in China I'm not buying any of them and I'm not buying any of the chinese-made PRS SE's either.
It’s refreshing to see an actual honest review without being swayed by free guitars, sponsorships or the hope of these perks. Thank you
Seriously appreciate the honest review. I'm a 48 year old guitar noob and luckily I bought a decent budget guitar with no issues. If I had a ton of issues out of the box I probably would have just thrown my hands up And not continued. Cheers.
there are some brands I trust with value guitars and others that I don't, you kinda just learn as you go
You should start testing the fret work. A lot of these guitars come out of the factory with dodgy fret work and need a levelling. I want to see if they got it right on reviews like this. Kinda important.
Yep, I had the same issue. I didn’t notice it at first because I was too busy fixing other stuff. I should have sent it back right away, but I’ve been an electronics tech for years, how hard could it be to find a little intermittent hum? Not too bad if they’d put real wires in it instead of ones that break if you look at them wrong, and I’m not even going to talk about the horrible plugs that connect the pickups and everything together. Usually easy to unplug without breaking the wire so tiny I don’t know if it even rates a gauge. I’ve got all new switchcraft parts for it unless I just go trade it in and get the Gibson I wanted in the first place.
All that said, when the connections actually connect it doesn’t sound awful.
I wish more people would start doing this with the Epiphones. They consistently have some of the worst fretwork for guitars in their price range. I feel it's being overlooked to get to the pricepoint they're aiming for because they are giving you a lot of features for the price. The QC is almost non-existent on many that I've tried.
Mine needed work, but it was under warranty so the fret levelling was free. It’s great now, but for the cost, it’s pretty unacceptable.
Fret work on my Ibanez Asv93 (price of a new model 450€ in 2019) is perfect
I have one exactly like that. It is superb. I did just a little bit of fret work and it plays great !! IT IS SIMPLY SUPERB, even the pickups are great, I bought it from ZZ last year.
I just bought a Gibson-inspired Epiphone left-handed LP 50's edition in Cherry burst and I'm totally in love with it. The quality was amazing. I went over it with a fine tooth comb (said as an amateur luthier). Wiring was fantastic. Binding- perfect. Paint job/finish- perfect. Neck (including fret finishing)- perfect). The PAF-like humbuckers let you know it's a Paul from the first note. As far as I'm concerned, I would have paid twice the $649 price tag to own this guitar. To be fair, I did get the guitar through Sweetwater and may have had an advantage because of their 55-point check plus it went through their luthier shop to change out the nut in order to string it right-handed and then intonate and set the action. In any event, my Gibson 1977 LP Deluxe has a worthy mate.
My Caribbean Blue Fade Modern is really good. No issues. Feels great, neck and weight wise although I did swap out the pups to DiMarzio 36th Anniversary PAF's for now. If you find a good one you will love it.
There's absolutely no excuse for a guitar to leave the factory in that condition. There couldn't have been any quality control for that to happen. Great review. I will be subscribing to your channel.
The classic sounds better to me
The qc issues are why I usually buy through Sweetwater. They do a 55 point inspection for issues
OK, over a year and a half ago I bought a pelham blue Epiphone Modern. i had to take it back to have them bend the input jack so I could
plug the cord in. Didn't know it was a problem on a bunch of them. That said it was the only problem I've had. Love the guitar and it plays
like a dream. Love the guitar so much I also bought the SG Modern in fade to black. Both great guitars. No problems with the SG at all.
Finally, despite some small production issues, Epiphone is definably on the right track with their inspired by Gibson line and it's about time.
They are making some incredible guitars.
I have purchased two Epiphone Les Paul models in the past year. The first, a 1959 in the limited edition Lemon Burst available from select retailers, came with no output. I found that the solder tab for the tip contact was bent in such that when the jack plug was inserted, the tab was contacting the 'ring' of the plug and shorting the whole guitar out. It also has a couple of noticeable dings on the 17th fret, as well as the usual Epiphone slightly crappy fret finishing.
The second, a Slash signature model in Appetite Burst, came with a misaligned neck pickup ring (not catastrophically so, but visibly noticeable), and a very stiff bridge volume pot, also leading to no output from the bridge HB. I haven't had the cover off but I assume some debris has gotten into the pot, maybe even some solder, and has busted the insides. I very nearly sent that one back but I really liked the veneer on it, once of the nicest I've seen on an Appetite, so I will resolve the problems myself once I get through the 3-4 other guitars I already have lined up for setups.
And the thing is, these little problems were tolerable when Epi models were under $500 (or £ in my case), but much less so now they're heading for double that price. If I didn't have the knowledge and the tools to correct these problems I would have sent both back and bought an LTD EC1000 instead.
I love the changes companies like Epiphone and others like Fender are making but on all camps they aren’t following it up with decent quality control.
True my Charvel (Fender) mim great guitar but the bridge pkup mounted directly was set crooked and a bitch to move .... Plus no case no bag a cardboard box ....
Plus I thought since Mark agnesi took over at Gibson and he's doing RUclips vids playing epiphone's I thought they were A to Z back on track ... idk
Love honest reviews like this. Even though it is a case by case basis with the specific problems you mentioned it stands to reason that for your money you might want something that is a little more reliable and I would argue that even at that price you shouldn't tolerate mechanical issues in that way.
I was considering picking one of these up but I might wait now, scour for other options.
If you want a great deal with similar electronics, check out the Epiphone LP Classic:
www.zzounds.com/a--3979398/item--EPIEILO
Thanks for watching!
I had his almost same experience when I bought an Epiphone. My frets weren't leveled. I ended up learning a whole lot fast about guitar, but this is what I experienced.
I have one with no problem and love it, but glad to see you can raise out what you found honestly!❤ (bad luck for you…) by the way, my pick guard is not pre installed
I’ve had bad experiences with brand new Epiphones twice. The first was the worst: my mom wanted to get my dad a LP custom for Christmas one year, and the one she wanted to get from GC had sharp fret ends so bad that my fingers were scratched up just playing it in the store. And no, she didn’t go for my idea of going to my preferred local shop I knew had them in stock. GC said they wouldn’t do any work for it to make it not scratch the shit out of whoever plays it. I got to practice some fretwork for the first time, but didn’t do enough for fear of doing too much. Thankfully dad seemed happy with it and I’ve never heard him him complain. That guitar was just awful to play when it was purchased, and acceptable enough when he received it.
My second new epiphone experience was with my 2021 LP Prophecy. I bought it off Reverb from a seller. Overall it was okay, but had Fretbuzz all over, and one fret would choke out when you bend a note.
Those two experience made me never want to purchase a brand new epiphone online ever again. Used and already played in? Cool. Brand new in a shop where I can feel it and play it first? Great. Brand new from the factory online? No way Jose.
I bought an IYV LP copy, had it gone over and set up nicely and I love the thing. Stays in tune, action is low, sustains forever and plays like butter. And had $ left over.
Wow l, i just found you, I am so impressed and thankful.!!!
I am new to guitars, a 65 year old man battling a rare form of Parkinson’s disease but determined to try to learn how to play the guitar !!!
I’ll be subscribing and looking forward to watching your other videos, God bless you.
Thank you and God bless as well! I appreciate it
This is what I love about this channel, you tell it like it is and give it to the audience straight, No Bull Shit, Lies or fancy editing to make the product look better then it really is. Thank you Guys👍👍👍😎
Great review!
I picked up one of these with a faded flame top on sale. Loved the neck carve, locking tuners, weight relief, guitar balanced well and the ebony fret board felt really nice.
But...
Hated that the frets were so uneven the strings buzzed like mad. Asked the shop to resolve it. They raised the action, and then tried to give me a load of BS about string gauges and scale lengths. Makes you wonder why the action on some guitars in the shops are set so high. Ended up returning it. Checked out the other one they had on display and it was the same.
Lesson learned, check the fret job before you buy...
I have the graphite version and play it more than my Gibson. Great neck and weight. Pots need to be sprayed a lot with deoxit as they start scratching after a little bit of use. Mine arrived with crooked tuners, mile high action, unlevel frets, and a mis-installed pick guard. Got it cheap due to these issues. After realigning the tuners, a fret level, neck adjustment, nut filed, pot height adjusted, and intonation setp, it now rocks like a great guitar
I got one when they 1st came out. It was well built and shipped in good shape. I did have the frets checked before they shipped it to me though. It was a great guitar, I just didnt bond with it over my other LPs. For some reason, all the coil-splitting options bug me. I prefer LPs that dont have that option...for whatever reason.
I bought mine a month ago.absolutely no blemishes!
Yessir, I just purchased their Les Paul classic and got the same issue with the outputjack- ordered from GC so I took it back to them and let them deal with it. Great videos and information!!
That's what I did, research and reviews about this Epiphone Les Paul Modern exactly in the Vintage Burgundy Red, I tried it in the shop with another Guitarist having a Jam with me and even unplugged sounded great. The 3 way switch is not a great problem as one of my other guitars has a similar problem, just get a guitar Tech to fix it. Jack plug seems to work OK but hard to pull out so again get a guitar Tech to fix this. I have a couple of other Epiphones and no problems what so ever and now 8 years old. Thanks for the in depth test and demo..
I bought one of these guitars exactly the same as this, right down to the burgundy sparkle color. Mine is lovely and hasn’t had any QC issues at all. The setup only required very minor tweaks out of the box and plays great. So I would say buy one from a place with a good return policy in case you have an issue, because these really do play and sound great.
I had the same input jack problem with an Epiphone Les Paul Classic and sent it back. How could that guitar ever have been checked?
Got another that was 100% OK. Construction of both guitars was great.
I almost bought an Epi LP Modern (Caribbean blue) back in 2021 but I got turned off because of the bad fret job with lot's of glue marks on the board. I tried another one last 2022 and bought it because the craftmanship was clean on that. Hit or Miss. I just hope they would be more consistent with the QC. :)
When it's on, it's on! I think we might even give this guitar another chance in a new review haha, it's got great features. Thanks for watching
I’m surprised. You guys reviewed an Epiphone Modern a while back and you totally loved it. I played my friend’s LP Modern Figured in Caribbean Blue recently from Sweetwater, and it’s incredible. Not a single flaw on it. Immaculate. Plays like a dream. The neck is incredible - the thicker bass side gives my weak thumb/palm extra support while the thinner treble side makes reaching over to the bass notes super easy. Tons of tone possibilities with really amazing pickups. The components all feel solid and the workmanship under the hood is clean.
I actually think this is the first time that I’ve heard about QC issues from any RUclips video and written reviews on seller sites for the Epiphone Modern since it’s release - and I’ve really done my homework and followed this model closely. I’ve never heard anyone say anything bad about it - all excited, raving reviews. I hope this video won’t scare people off from getting one. This guitar must have been a really rare occurrence, and I don’t think it’s as common as you’re saying judging by the general feedback and ratings/reviews out there.
I would love you guys to link your first review of this model from a while back so people can see what you had to say the first time around. I also think this guitar deserves a redo video from Play & Trade - this way you can feel confident about recommending it. I mean, you did highly recommend it the first time around.
Epiphone is back to the times when they destroyed Gibson and the Gibson boys don't like that so they think by getting on here and bashing Epiphone because of one guitar out of thousands that was bad might change something no it changes nothing but how how ridiculous some of these replies are simply no truth ..unfortunately for the Gibson boys Epiphones will continue to rule them whether they like it or not..
If this exact guitar, which was setup perfectly out of the box with a great feel, had properly working electronics it would be no issue. Our general experience with Epiphone as evidenced by the many demos we've done is overwhelmingly positive you're right. The problem is, there have been several Epiphones that show up with bad three way switches in particular. This as I've said many times is the Achilles heel of an Epiphone -- poor quality 3 way switches and output jacks which lead to issues if not out of the box, within 6 months. So it's not really a bash on Epiphone or the Modern in particular, but I would like to see Epiphone use higher quality parts. It's silly that they market using CTS pots now, which is great, but put very very weak 3 way switch and output jack components into the guitars.
The good news is it's such an easy fix for Epiphone - upgrade the components, and for a buyer who has a similar issue, simply send it back and get one without issues. Yes most of the time there is no issue, but it says something when an output jack cannot physically accept a quarter inch cable from the factory. That can only mean it wasn't checked in any way for playability from the factory, since a quarter inch cable was clearly never even plugged into it. Who knows how many they shipped with the same defective output jacks?
I need to push for higher quality when I see something that out of the box isn't right. I could have just returned this guitar, gotten another one that was good, and told you how great it was. But I felt that I would be leaving something out of the real experience, and an experience I've encountered 3-4 times in the past several months with Epiphone specifically.
Thanks so much for watching and for your comments, we strongly endorse the vast majority of guitars we see from Epiphone and need to call them on this particular issue otherwise I wouldn't be doing my job.
You can watch our many Epiphone demos, I'm not sure which channel you're describing but it's not ours. Should I have told you it was great even though I couldn't plug a quarter inch cable in? Thanks for watching
@@PlayandTradeGuitars please don’t get me wrong- I’m not disagreeing with you! You should never recommend something if you find problems. I’m simply reminding people that it’s just one of many guitars, just like you said at the end, and am sharing my personal experience and assessment. I hope you’re not thinking that I meant you should pretend you didn’t find problems. You did, and that’s no good. But I would hope you’d give the guitar another shot to see if there’s still issues or whether you’ll have a much better experience. Every guitar model, regardless or brand, deserves another shot - which is something you also said customers can do if they get one that’s got bad QC issues at the end of the video. So I’m basically just reiterating what you said at the end and sharing my own experience. I’m sorry if you misunderstood what I meant.😉😊
I’m going to see if I can find that video if I remember later. I’m pretty sure I remember Zack playing a Modern Flamed in Caribbean Blue in your old studio setup when the sound was bleeding and one of your daughters was trying to attend a class or do her homework during COVID, but maybe I’m confusing something. Maybe it was another model from around the same time or another channel.
Anyway, it’s a very fair review. I think you were actually quite minds about it. Most people wouldn’t have been fixed the problems on camera and tried to continue with the demo.
@@MashaT22 Thanks so much, I definitely understand and really do appreciate your comments. The LAST thing I want to be on RUclips is negative -- I always try to find the positive, fix the problem etc. If someone is pumped to buy this guitar, they should know that in the situation I am describing, it's easily rectified by just sending it back and getting another. You are right on all fronts. My main message as of late is that Epiphone is on top of their game. Yes we did feature the Epiphone Les Paul Modern in 2020 early on in the channel, and that one was perfect. LOL my daughter could hear us demoing the Gibson Custom Adam Jones VOS, too funny
I was so excited to buy my first "inspired by Gibson" this year. I went through 3 335's. All 3 had either cracked necks or bad hardware. I ended up getting a real Gibson 50's Les Paul instead. Epiphone let me down.
Got my Epi Modern Figured Caribbean two weeks ago. you‘re right with the toggle switch, it‘s weak. The Vol and Tone knobs are also a joke..but the rest? I‘ve paid 599€, price for the Gibson Modern here is 3400€. For that difference I get a lot of toggle switches and a lot of extra knobs, too! Pure fun to play that lady!
Hey guys, new subscriber and I love your review/content. In 2017 I bought a Epi Les Paul Custom in Tobacco Burst. Gorgeous! When I got it I was in love.........until I picked it up and found that Sweetwater failed to do their 55 point inspection. The neck was broken at the nut! How could anybody not see that? Anyway, I called and they sent out another one that was perfect. But I ended up returning that one too cause I hated the neck. It didn't suit my hand I guess. So I ended up with a Wolf Les Paul. Great guitar in every way and really close to a 60's LP. You can get one under 500 bucks and have an awesome player. Keep on making these videos and I'll keep on watching!
Thanks for a spot on review John,.. In December 2022, I visited one of the nearby music stores and tried both original Gibson Les Pauls and the Epiphone "Inspired by Gibson" options... There's so much about the MODERN which should make it a no-brainer,... but when I trimmed my options down to the Epiphone Les Paul Standard 60's in Bourbon,... or the Epiphone Red Sparkle Modern, I went with the 60's,.. It really knocks the ball out the park. Astonishingly good to play, and the sound pallet goes all the way from wailing blues to biting anger,... NO REGRETS.
I have one. Needed fret edge rolling, set up, nut reset, Then it was great. Pickups and the wiring are cheap and nasty. Upgraded those as well.
Lightweight rock machine now !!
I think its a great buy if you don't mind a few minor upgrades and adjustments. You can make it even better with a new neck and pickups and just upgrade over time. You can make these great! Great for someone who can't afford a big chunk of dough. Just slowly work on it over time. I personally would get rid of all that coil tapping stuff, put new pots and great pickups in it, and a high quality compound radius neck.
Except its a set neck so scratch that lol, do some fret work and neck adjustments
Hey John, just watched and have to agree with everything you point out. I have this exact same model in the sparkling burgandy bought from Musicians Friend several months ago and had same issue with 3 way switch cutting out. No problem with output jack, but also had several light scratches or scuffs in 6, SIX spots on the body and pick guard (UNDER the protective plastic), so obviously they were before plastic was applied. Being a tinkerer, rather than return it, which was an option, I decxided to see if I could correct the issues and was able to get the switch working, but will eventually replace with SwitchCraft, because it still wants to act up a little until I work it a bit, (porblem is in the spring steel contact arms) and took some automotive clearcoat polishing compound to the fine scratches and hazy looking "scuff" type marks, including on the black pickguard and they are no longer visible. Having said all that, I love this guitar for all the reasons you mentioned, and it is a beauty. I also changed the pickguard and pu trim to cream from black, added the selector washer in creme, even though I do like the stock black look as well. I will also mention my MF sales rep was great to work with, even telling me I could return it if I couldn't get the scratches out to my satisfaction. I sent him before and after images so he could let his Epiphone contact know of the issues, so I'm glad, sort of, that you brought up the QC issues. Not the sort of problems expected from Epiphone, for sure. I recently bought a beautiful Harley Benton semi hollow Tele style with P90s that was in better cosmetic condition, so . . . Anyway, thanks for your video. Well done. Great guitar, inspite of minor issues.
The Epiphone Customs Modern figured are high end guitars..
Very high end. Very impressive guitars especially considering their counter parts are like 5 or 6 times the price. It’s fucking crazy.
High end? Lol
3:29 When I see a bridge post adjusted that high, and especially when the bass side is much higher than the treble, I put the guitar back.
That guitar has fret and/or neck issues.
I am totally onboard with you Brother! EPIPHONE produces some killer guitars for the price point. Right there with the frustration of replacing the garbage three ways and out puts with quality switch craft components. For awhile it was the cheap plastic nuts too…
I believe being such a large company, and if they were to buy genuine Switch Craft components in the insane bulk amounts they needed; it would be for pennies on the dollar. I would gladly pay a few bucks more for these components to be added to these “budget friendly” guitars. Epiphone would still make a considerable profit! Thank you for another great deep dive!⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I traded my Epiphone Les Paul for a Tele for the same problems. I ended up buying a PRS Les Paul style guitar.
Love it, play all the time.
I had the same problem with the switch and ended up replacing it. I've seen some people arguing that this takes 5 mins of work. That's true - if you have the switch at hand and the soldering iron ready and you know what you're doing. But the reality is that most people buying a guitar in this price range might not know what to buy or how to install it. Let alone having everything ready. And all of this could be avoided if they invested $2 more in a decent switch.
I have an ESP LTD EC-256FM that has a reversed 3-way switch. Easiest fix was to just turn it upside-down, lol. Great, honest review.
The very best Epi Les paul i ever seen was one where they guy striped a used 1959 standard to just the husk then bought Faber conversion parts, a 50's harness, boutique P.A.F clone pu's, real kluson tuners. This was a really nice Guitar when he was done.
total cost for him was $1350 for the guitar and very high quality parts but was it still a Epiphone? There is a video here of this coversion.
The guy that winds "Brandon wound" pickups did the conversion and posted a video.
I was going to buy 1 of these from a Big supplier but in the photos you could see the shotty fretwork under the 4th-5th and 6th string on frets 12 through 19. I contacted a sales person and all of the colors in their stock had this fret issue.
I’ve got a Epiphone les Paul standard 60 and I don’t have any problems looks amazing and play great !!! Is also inspired by Gibson line…
I bought one last month. Really happy with it. The only thing I can say against it was that the fret ends, although the correct length (in other words not fret sprout), were razor sharp. I bought the "magma/orange fade" and the finish and the maple flame top cap were outrageous for this price point, easily AAA. For this price, if you are a Les Paul guy, you can't do better than this.
Picked up an Epiphone LP last time I was guitar shopping and all the strings were naturally detuned by a quarter step. Passed on it and went with a Tele
You’re a great player, first time I really enjoyed a demo in quite a while!
✌️😎🎸🎶🎵🎶🎵🎶
I think the gripes here are overstated. Little things like this that you can quickly tweak with common household tools are not a problem for this price point. If you have a twisted neck or sloppy construction that affects playability that’s a real problem.
This is fantastic instrument for the money and probably they will not maintain this quality for too long. Way better then some Gibsons I had. I could care less about the switch or input jack. The pickups are phenomenal and the fret job is outstanding. It is also a very resonant guitar. I wouldn't pay attention to this review. Just go to the guitar shop, play it and you will be impressed.
Agreed. It sucks that the 3 way and output jack are wonky, but to discount the entire guitar because of that is a bit extreme. We're talking about 10 minutes of work to fix it and $25 bucks worth of parts. Honestly, I swap out 99% of the electronics on any new guitar I buy anyway (pickup preferences and wiring preferences). What matters most is the setup, fit & finish in the real construction (i.e. the stuff you can't swap out in 10 minutes with basic skills).
I own this guitar and what you are saying is just not true. Unfortunately I think you have a bias against epiphone but i also think you were just finding problems that really dont exist, Again, I own one and it is fantastic. I dont have a problem with the switch or the jack. This is honestly just hate on epiphone.
Nicely done vid-Kudos. I found your channel because i was looking for vids on the Adam Jones Signature Art Series Les Paul Custom Beserker
(i managed to pick one up for retail out here in Europe) & came across your vid.
Afterwards, whilst rummaging through your site-this vid caught my eye because i bought this exact LP a couple of yrs ago during the lockdown & i wanted to give my 2 c worth.
I had no problems at all with the hardware like you did, BUT i had to take it to my luthier to have the frets leveled-so exactly the opposite of your problems, nevertheless, i agree 100% that Epis can sometimes have very poor QC.
I like the sound, although the pups can be a bit muddy, but its too much hassle to swap them out (the are plug & go pups, so they will stay as they are.)
All in all though, well worth the 600 Euro that i paid for it & it matches my CAR Fender strat, so there's that bit of trivia.
This guitar 'bats' way above its grade, so I wouldn't hesitate to say : pick one up if you can, even better if you can get a used one in good condition.
Keeps the vids coming...
I recently got an Epiphone 60's smokehouse bratwurst color from Sweetwater. After watching your video, I'm glad they have the 55-point inspection.
Yeah mine needed fret levelling. Which is pathetic for a guitar of that cost. Luckily it was under warranty and I got the fret levelling for free. Plays like a dream now.
Bought the graphite black Nov 2023, Great guitar, no problems.
I have this and keeps up with any Paul as a huge collector and locking tuners always game changer ~ Paid $700.00 Sweetwater outstanding Sound Playing Guitar !
Without seeing it firsthand, I can’t really comment on the playability or sound quality, but I like the idea behind the asymmetric neck. I also like the flexibility provided by the various switches in the adjustment knobs.
I love the look of the face of this guitar, but I’m not a fan of the “two-tone” effect of the body. It might look better in other color combinations, but the semi-natural back and candy-red front seem to clash a bit too much for my tastes. If it was solid red, I’m sure I’d love it.
I got one and put high end CTS pots and a JB in the bridge. Love it
I'd like to think one particular internet seller in Indiana would have caught and fixed the issues during their testing and setup before shipping as they advertise for any guitar starting at $499.
Sweetwater doesn't do much of anything and they definitely do not do set ups, it's misleading. Some of the worse guitars I've got have come from them. If you're thinking they do what you mentioned you'll be very disappointed.
@@srh361 well, so much for that thought!
@@TJRatfink Phillip McKnight does a video on what they do and how it's misleading to the public.
@@srh361 I'll look for that.
I have one of these, same color and everything which needed some truss rod adjustments, after that it was fine, on par with my fender stratocaster
Gibson seems to let Epiphone's quality slip, because everyone was saying the newer Epiphones were getting better, or comparable to Gibson... Stick to Epiphones that gibson doesn't make ( Sheratons, Kats, Coronets, etc.)...
Not surprised if Gibson did this again Norlin and Henry J deliberately destroyed Epiphones quality years ago my husband has three 2021 Epiphones Custom Koa Les Paul and two modern figured Sgs 2021 they are top professional quality guitars high end build and electronics Epiphone destroyed Gibson back in the day and did again guess Gibson can't deal with that so destroy the quality Again I know the 2021 Epiphone Custom Koa Les Paul is selling for up to $1,300 in some places already and the 2021 Epiphone modern figured Sgs up to and over $1,000 he told me just the other day he was happy to get his when he did because he felt Gibson would pull crap like destroy Epiphones quality again
@@CRich715 Heard That... I have 10 guitars currently, and 6 are Epiphone. The oldest being an 87' Epiphone S-800 Super Strat. The Koa Custom is definitely on my radar. I own a Gibson, two Fenders, and would still buy a well built Epiphone any day!!!! Les Paul didn't work for Gibson, he worked for Epiphone!!... Gibson bought Epi, so he brought his ideas, and prototype, to Gibson.
I’ve bought this as my first electric guitar and I really love it
The color is so lovely and because I’m beginners with electric guitar, I don’t feel any problems with it for now (maybe in the future)
Nice video but it was too tough for me to understand haha
it's a cool guitar, and has nice features. the part that would stop me, if i were considering one, is the gloss poly on the neck. the last epi i bought, the gloss poly on the neck was pretty soft. when your hand would warm the neck, the poly got sticky. scotchbrite worked for a while, but eventually your hand would polish it, and it would get sticky again. it was the only other les paul i ever saw with a gibson headstock on it. i bought it in the 90s, and it cost me more than what that red one goes for today
At least the woodwork is improved on the Inspired By series. My 2020 Casino Coupe not only had the pickup switch wired out of phase along with 3 defective tuners and a bad bridge- the tuner holes in the headstock and some of the internal woodwork looked they had been cut out with a butter knife. I kept and fixed it because I wanted the full-hollow body, P90’s neck profile and the compact form factor. However if there had been an alternative with the same feature set within $300 of the street price, I would have given it the bum’s rush.
I have one of these in Pelham Blue and loooooove it. It truly is a fantastic guitar. As far the quality control issues, even Gibson has those issues. I've gotten a few lemons from them, too, that had to be tweaked.
thanks for your review, always first class, in Canada this guitar lists for $939 + 12% taxes as of january 2023, i don't do my own work, so i expect a luthier's bill in the range of $150 + parts, it does not appear to come with a case so this chinese made guitar is going to cost well over $1200 once you factor in a hardshell case and the repairs, so i wonder about the value for those of us south of the border
I really love your "Listen to your world" poster. Reminds me of John Lennon's Listen to this... Ads from the 70s
Yes! Thank you, that's actually an album dust sleeve but I don't remember to what
I bought a 2022 60s epi in tobacco burst for 150.00 with a broken neck. No other flaws. Fixed it and I love it. But would be hesitant to buy new.
I’ve owned 3 epi les pauls. The rout in the cavity is always really severe looking. My last one had some weird gummy putty under one pot to straighten it up as they had cut crookedly and too deep. It saved the guitar from the trash but I couldn’t believe they shipped it that. Their use of fairly short shaft pots makes them cut really close to the surface of the top. The proper fix is trade it in on a used Gibson. Lol
IME, this particular series is not Epiphones best effort in terms of QC. I bought and returned mine within the week. There were several high frets above the twelfth on the fretboard, resulting in choked notes and some minor buzzing (despite proper neck relief and string height adjustments). The output jack did not secure the cable well (opposite of the reviewers problem) and it would easily fall out after a few minutes of playing. I had to take it apart and bend the ground tang to make it tighter. The top binding had several minor finish flaws from poor tape off jobe before painting. (nit picking here, but my Epiphone LP Custom is absolutely flawless). The ebony fretboard, while smooth, is a bit streaky visually. The locking tuners are very smooth and work fabulously. The pickups sounded great. The frets are poorly finished, the edges are not finished at all. A bit disappointed in this one, and the second one I tried in the shop was about the same. I will pass. This seems to be a "budget" run or I'm just unlucky.
Personally for me, tell me that axe wouldn't look better with gold hardware and take the pick guard off lol. While I agree about what you said about the construction issues, for me Personally, I would gut the pots, copper shield all cavities on it. I would run traditional Gibson wiring in it and throw in a Gibson 3 way switch.
I have a 2004 Zakk Wylde Epiphone that I bought new, and play the crap outa since new, absolutely solid performer. I copper shielded it, replaced the plastic nut with a composite one ( huge difference!) And dropped in an actual EMG Zakk Wylde pick up set wired for 18 volt, and a Gibson 3 way switch. I actually sold my Gibson Les Paul and kept my Epiphone, because it sounded better, played better and it doesn't show damage at all compared to a Gibson. Just my 2 cents. I don't worry about people complaining about the action one the guitars or anything like that, reason being is , let's be honest now! Your going to change the set up of any given guitar to suit your preferences anyway, ie. String Guage, action and even tuning. Again just my opinion. Love the reviews too though, Cheers!
The new 2020s have cts pots and 50 or 60s wiring already. I just swapped my cap and grounded lug on the tone pots and made it 50s wiring
Ive bought 2 Epiphones in the last year. One was a modern LP, it has fretting issues (even AFTER Sweetwater did a super tune on it), the locking Grovers are awesome. and the Lazerous LP hads an ABR issue, one of the knobs fell off, and the switch was cock eyed. The tuner machines feel like they are made of cardboard when you twist them to tune it (the Moderns Grover tuners are much MUCH better)...But at least the Lazerous Fretboard was perfect.
I know people who don’t even play most new guitars from Gibson (and others?) without first having someone do basic fretwork often needed. Some of these Gibsons cost too much to need fretwork out if the case. How hard is it to do by the factory before shipping out the guitar
I bought an Inspired by Gibson Epiphone Les Paul Custom in black when they first came out in 2020. It has been a fantastic guitar so far and have had no electronics related issues but, all budget brands will usually have some QC issues from time to time. For an input jack to be unusable like that though is inexcusable. There is no way that a worker did a final output check on that guitar. Sent out the door at the end of the shift, probably on a Friday evening lol.
I buy LTD. Have a Kramer that almost flawless in setup , it was blemish buy. All my guitars are Indonesian made. It took me days to setup my schecter but it’s playable and fav of mine now . LTD was superb out of the box
Thanks for he honest review. This guitar is nice. I have it. But it had issues like you said. Bad switch. A few uneven frets. Plug. Easy fixes for me though. Nut cut high like most guitars. After I worked it though I really like it. Asym neck feels great. Beautiful burgundy. Nice sound. Relatively light. Great feeling tuners. Still have to replace the switch though.
I have an Epiphone ES339. After a lot of work on my part, I did get a good sound from this guitar, and I like the neck. I have a 2010 Gibson Les Paul Studio that is my favorite ever guitar. When you compare construction, parts, and overall quality, I don't believe you can beat a Gibson, just my opinion, no offense please! I am a Gibson man, period!
Not surprised if Gibson has once again killed the quality of Epiphone Norlin and Henry J did this also it's jealousy because Epiphone always stomped Gibson in the good ol days I would have imagine Epiphone did it again when they were restored to top professional quality guitars in 2019..I'm just glad I bought mine in 2021 all 3 the 2021 Epiphone Custom Koa Les Paul and 2021 modern figured Sgs all the very best build quality and electronics the 2021 epiphone Custom Koa Les Paul in some places is selling up to $1,300 and the Epiphone 2021 modern figured Sgs up to and over $1,000 it would be a rotten shame if Gibson in 2023 are once again destroying the quality of Epiphone sometimes jealousy is a very bad thing..right Gibson
My bass player got a new EB3 bass and it didn't work right electronically. I popped it open and found that one wire was soldered to the wrong lug. Upon further examination I found that the wire was soldered to the right lug and broke loose for some reason at the factory. The factory repaired the broken wire resulting in the wiring being wrong. How did this pass quality control? Don't Gibson test these before they leave the factory? In this case I guess they didn't.
If i was in the market for another gat right now, I'd really bwant one of these. The jack and switch doesn't worry me as its an easy fix - except, as you said, if a cable can't be plugged in it means they didn't test it. I guess these days we have to act as our own QC in a music shop. The biggest deal breaker for me is always tuning stability. When it's out of tune, the tone just never sits right. But I might go and have a play of one of these just to slake my curiosity lol
2013: me trying to buy an Epi Nighthawk custom at a store. Tried it and it was perfect. I wanted to pay but they didn't accept anything BUT cash (weird).
They told me to go to their other store 2 blocks away, where they could sell me AN Epi Nighthawk but not the one I had tried on the 1st store... Whatever, they sent the other Nighthawk days later and the selector didnt work, i told them i would take it if they fix it and they refused to do so. I had to exchange my $200 advance to a pair of (overpriced but useful) Sennheisser headphones.
From time to time i do think about that Nighthawk that I really really really liked (played it for like an hour and to this day i can't understand why wouldn't they just sell me THAT one 😐)
I love the look. I'm good with the poly. With all the pedals/modelers in use today, that tiny difference between lacquer and poly is insignificant. I don't know about the neck shape, I would have to play it. I like the 12 inch radius. I think those who don't thumb over fit 12 inch better. Replacing easily available parts is no big deal. I would try replacing the knobs with chrome fender style.
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I agree, Poly isn't any deal breaker for me. Shitty pickups, bad frets and lously electronics ARE.
It is easy to say that poly doesn't matter, but every single guitar that I have stripped and refinished in nitro, has turned into an instrument with its own voice.
If I could get this guitar with no finish on it, or even a poorly done nitro coating, I would gladly buy three of them, and pay full price, just so I wouldn't have to do all of that filthy, labor intensive work.
You are absolutely correct! Why cough up that amount of money for just a beautiful piece of wood? Thanks for the honest preview.
Appreciate the detail review. All the best
I have a 2018 epiphone plustop pro, it is flawless.. the best guitar ive got right out of the box. I have an ltd ec1000, that guitar wasnt srt up so well as the epi was. Both are great tho
Don't know who's putting the jammer together you know but there should be quality control. Nice color though
The input jack thing happened to my KOA Epiphone Les Paul. When I fixed it then there was a short in it, that thing went back to the dealer. I will never buy another Epiphone. For the same money I bought a PRS SE Standard which was perfect. Actually I think it was a little less then the Modern
A few bad components here and there don't bother me much in this price range as long as the build quality is good. Bad routing is pretty annoying.
I do like it has an ebony fretboard. I actually prefer ebony to have some gold in it like desert ironwood. It's nice they aren't throwing it all away these days. I wish they would leave it instead of staining it dark.
Nice review and demo, as always, guys.
Hey Adam I agree that for the price and high volume production, your best course of action is to just simply send it back and try for another. The setup on this one was perfect....all I'm really requesting from Epiphone since it's been an issue several times, is to upgrade their three way switches and output jacks with switchcraft. They're already marketing CTS pots, why not go all the way? There's plenty of great Epiphones out there as we all know. I always, always prefer to be positive but also have to share my experience. If you physically can't plug a guitar cable in, they should be called for shipping something from the factory that was clearly never tested. I agree about ebony, always feels great. The current supply is almost always lighter and streaked, this is the stuff that is just as good but used to get wasted because people wanted the jet black look which represented a small percentage of the tree or trees cut down. I guess i'm okay with the stain, as long as I know they aren't wasting the wood, but yea they could just leave it too. Always appreciate your comments and thanks for watching!
@@PlayandTradeGuitars I agree with you 100% btw. They should definitely stop using cheap parts and everything should work properly from the factory. People shouldn't have to worry about sending something back. I guess I am so used to old, used inexpensive stuff all I worry about anymore is a straight neck and fairly level frets. 😺
I really like the reviews and the format lately. You guys are kicking ass. Keep it up!
I dig that green Les Paul man.
Beautiful guitar. Just can’t get over the headstock
What's to get used to? If anything it has a better string pull angle than the Gibson headstock...?
Most of you destroy your own guitar and turn around and blame it on the guitar company and most of the damage to these guitars happen during shipping
and sometimes it’s bad QC from cheap manufacturers, what’s this comment even have to do with the video
Boomer
I got the Pelham blue one on sale then swapped the pickups for Seymour Duncan’s jb and jazz. Also changed the knobs and added a treble rhythm switch plate. It’s now a great guitar.
First thing I thought of when I saw this is I'd definitely add the treble rhythm switch plate, I hate how it looks without it
have the same and love it.... did change the pots, jack and switch.... nothing else to be done..... its as good as any gibson if not even better than some...
@@cwbdbo Let's not get carried away. Gibson's QC is garbage and they're expensive, but they are significantly superior to Epiphones, 95% of the time.
Nice-looking guitar. Too bad about the output jack (an easy fix) and the pickup selector. Also, to my ear the out-of-phase push-pull isn’t working-I didn’t hear any difference btween the in- and out-of-phase, and there should have been a big difference. That could also be related to the pickup selector, as both pickups need to be on before the out-of-phase snarl becomes apparent.
First timer. Good Stuff. Made in China. End of Story. Some like projects, not me. Doing my own maintenance is different. Upgrading or changing Pickups is different. Fixing other people's Chinese junk is another. Nice Playing. You have that old school touch.
honestly epiphone qulity is still far superior to teh "gibson" versions
I'm surprised that Gibson don't up the quality control on these.
I do love the red, the problems I can fix easily, but if I'm buying new I expect it to play well out of the box. Cool vid
Always interested in a guitar which has an out of phase option, but I have to say the sound difference on this Epi is minimal. The coils splits don't seem to make a lot of difference either. I think PRS does the best coil split sound(or is it coil tap---I never know the difference) Not for me.
sadly you are biased to favor gibson, fact is there are far more gibsons sold with issues than epiphones, my 2014 epi les paul standard plus top pro came with burstbuckers ( same ones gibson used), and had cts pots, and switchcraft jack and 3 way and for the record i bought my 14 lp plus top pro brand new NOT used, i was going to buy a "gibson" but the new gibsons all had fret problems and i cut my fingers on the frets on interestingly enough the most expensive ($5k) gibson they had in a locked case.
Last year I bought an Epiphone Les Paul studio, and found that it was the best guitar that I have ever owned. Why pay Gibson prices when you can own an affordable Epiphone? Gibsons are for collecting, Epiphones are for playing.
I've got an American made PRS whose switch does that same thing. Spraying it with contact cleaner will resolve the issue for awhile, but it always comes back. Can't win 'em all I guess :)
If I could buy the "unfinished" shell, without the electronics, I would take a dozen of these instruments today!
Like the sound of it, but the quality control of this one is just out of order!
I bought one of these to have permanently to have at my country house so I don't need to bring my Gibson along all the time. It stands up to the Gibson really good and always know that you have a good guitar at the country house during the summer season.
That is great just bring a small practise amp and you"re good!
Anyway, I like it and I didn't have the issues you had with it...