Epiphone Les Paul Special-II E1 Electric Guitar, Heritage Cherry Sunburst

Super value for the money. If you’re on a budget, this is an outstanding choice…
The Epiphone LP Special II Les Paul Collection Electric Guitar is a GREAT GUITAR for $169.00 (The average selling price at the time of this review). The pickups, tune-o-matic bridge and stop piece are the same ones used in Epiphone’s more expensive guitars, and are similar to what’s used in much more expensive Gibsons. Although the tone adjustments have been simplified to a toggle between the three pickup combinations and an overall tone control for both pickups, this is not as big a deal as many might make of it. Given the vast array of other things that influence electric guitar sound — strings, amp choice and settings, effects pedals and so forth — the guitar sounds great as is.The finish and general fit and balance of the guitar are great. There was a time when budget guitars screamed cheap and were quite obviously low class in a lot of areas. Those days are past with the Epiphone LP Special II.All that said, there a few things to remember.* The guitar comes with very light bendy strings. This is probably due to market data that tells Epiphone that the bulk of buyers for this guitar are teen Guitar Heros who think that string bending every note is an essential aspect of shredding and wailing. If you plan to put heavier strings on the guitar (like 12-51s for example) for jazz or other styles of music then you will probably need a truss rod adjustment to compensate for the added tension. If you don’t know how to do this, ask someone who does. You can ruin a guitar, permanently, by being too aggressive with a truss rod adjustment.* The guitar has a mahogany neck, but a basswood body. Do not let anyone tell you this is a bad thing. Basswood is a completely acceptable wood for musical instruments. It is not worse or better than mahogany or maple. It is just different. Once again, the differences involved will probably be irrelevant when added into all the other things that players do with amps, strings and pedals to create tone and sound from an electric guitar.* Epiphone has more than one factory making these guitars. One is in China, the other in is Indonesia. The guitars made by each are very close in every detail, but not exactly, perfectly the same.* The Chinese examples of the sunburst model that I have seen have a slightly golden-orange tone to the sunburst pattern, more like the traditional sunburst color in American guitars. The Indonesian examples I have seen have a much more over all orange look. Basswood does not have a lot of visible grain. The example guitar shown in the official Epiphone product photos, the photos you see on most web sites like Amazon and Musician’s Friend and so forth, are probably a little optimistic when it comes to visible grain and the golden hued quality of the sunburst finish.* The Chinese examples I have seen tend to weigh more. One Indonesian model I saw weighed a full pound and half less than the Chinese model right next to it. There is not, unfortunately, any way to tell from the box or from the barcode or SKU number on the box what factory a given example inisde the box came from. The system will deal out whatever is in stock at the moment.The world is full of guys who will zero in on all the details they find inferior about this guitar by noting the rather obvious fact that this is not a Gibson Les Paul Standard costing $3,000.00. There are some people who will complain that this guitar has a bolt on neck. True, the set necks of the more expensive Epiphones and Gibsons are nicer. But, considering the fact that every Fender Stratocaster ever made had a bolt on neck, is this really a big deal? Would Jimi Hendrix have played “Purple Haze” better if his Strat had a set in neck? Probably not.The guitar this model is probably closest to, in spirit and purpose, is not the Gibson Les Pauls but, rather, to the old Gibson Melody Maker guitars from the 60s. That said, this is a hell of lot more guitar for the money than any Melody Maker ever was, and adjusted for inflation, relative to what a Melody Maker would have cost you in 1968, for example, it is almost like Epiphone paying you to play it.People listen to music, not guitars. Music is made by players, not by pickups and electronics. If you’re on a budget, this is an outstanding choice. If you’re not on a budget, it’s still a very good basic instrument. RECOMMENDED.

Llevo usándola ya más de 7 meses, y ha salido excelente. La he utilizado para practicar, aprender canciones, la he conectado a la computadora por medio de una interfaz, y en todos los sentidos funciona muy bien. Hasta me vino con un cable de cortesía.La relación calidad-precio es excelente.

Nice looking guitar, well made & very light. The guitar has a very nice, loud sound due to the humbucker pick ups. It is very good for rock music, but can also be used for clean tunes. The build quality & finishing is very good for the price, there are no rough or sharp edges on the neckboard, frets etc. and everything appears well put together. The guitar is easy to hold and the neck is reasonably narrow, making chords etc easy to play. The only slight problem I had was that the B string ( 2nd string ) could not be tuned, I solved this by unwinding the string & rewinding it onto the post again. After doing this the string could be tuned & stayed in tune. As with all new guitar strings, it needs to be played a few times & retuned a few times until the strings are bedded in and then it stays in tune. There are many posts on the internet about people buying this guitar & then upgrading pick ups, tuners etc, but, in my opinion, this is not necessary, the guitar plays & sounds good as it is. If you want to do that, it would be easier just buying a more expensive guitar in the first place. This is the second guitar I have bought from Amazon Warehouse, and both have been in excellent condition, with no visible damage & with all the manufacturers information, original box etc included. I would buy from there again, as I have two guitars in excellent condition for a bargain price.

La guitarra es de execelente calidad para principiantes y personas más avanzadas, también estéticamente es muy bonita. Gran calidad de Epiphone