From Our Research Team:

Epi's Elitist Version of the Legendary '57 Gold Top Les Paul!

As with all Elitist Epiphones, the Elitist Les Paul '57 Goldtop is made with premium woods and excellent construction methods — the guitar feels absolutely seamless. The double-bound body is made from two pieces of book-matched mahogany, with a hard maple top. The vintage nickel hardware includes a Tune-O-Matic bridge, skirted strap buttons and large Grover tuners. Two vintage nickel-covered humbuckers made by Gibson especially for the Elitist Series generate the magnetic amplification for this exemplary Les Paul. Control comes via a standard three-way toggle and individual volume and tone pots. This Elitist version of Gibson's legendary '57 Les Paul Gold Top, a guitar of unprecendented sustain and tone, brings you the warm voice and rich harmonic content of this historic instrument at an affordable price.

The beefy 24.75-inch scale neck is made from a single piece of African mahogany and features a rosewood board with a 1.68-inch nut, a 12-inch radius, block inlays and full binding. This Elitist beauty may just knock your dream Les Paul into second place.

The Elitist Les Paul '57 Goldtop Wood
At the heart of every great instrument is the wood itself. That’s why every piece of wood used in the Elitist Les Paul '57 Goldtop line is hand-selected. It is then slowly and painstakingly dried to perfection in custom kilns until it is at the ideal moisture content. The Elitist Les Paul '57 Goldtop features book-matched African mahogany back and sides and a book-matched maple top.

The Elitist Les Paul '57 Goldtop Neck
All Elitist necks are cut at a 14o grain orientation from one piece of wood for optimum strength, stability and tonal response. As with all great instruments, the necks are then carefully and individually fitted to the body using a hand-glued, dovetail neck joint. The Elitist Les Paul '57 Goldtop has a 22 fret, 1-piece mahogany set neck with a rosewood fingerboard, which imparts a warmer midrange sound.

The Elitist Pickups
All Elitist instruments are equipped with custom-wound pickups “Made in the USA” exclusively for Epiphone by Gibson Musical Instruments and feature such uncompromising features as:

- High Quality Cover Materials – All pickup covers use quality German silver with vintage Nickel or real 24K Gold finish.

- Vintage Braided, Shielded Wire – For authentic vintage look and tone with no noise.

- Full Wax Potting – Every pickup is potted in a special wax bath to insure that microphonic feedback due to internal vibration is eliminated. All covered models receive a second wax bath to further protect the pickup.

- Specially Made Magnets – All magnets are magnetized by Gibson to ensure the total reliability of each magnet’s performance. Critical magnetic flux is maintained for the perfect combination of output without sacrificing tonal characteristics.

The Elitist Hardware
All Elitist instruments feature the finest hardware including precision Grover machine heads for precise tuning accuracy
and stability.

The Art is in the Elitist Details
The Epiphone Elitist Les Paul '57 Goldtop 's appointments are nothing but the finest including real abalone and pearl Inlays, bone nuts and saddles, hand-rubbed finishes, USA strings, and it goes through a meticulous adjustment and set-up.


Epiphone Elitist Les Paul '57 Goldtop Features:

• Color: Metallic Antique Gold
  
• Body Wood: Book-matched mahogany
  
• Top Wood: Hard maple
  
• Neck Wood: 1-piece mahogany
  
• Neck Profile: Joint set, 16th fret, 1-11/16" bone nut
  
• Fingerboard: Rosewood
  
• Scale length: 24 3/4"
  
• Number of Frets: 22
  
• Pickups: Rhythm PU: 50SR (USA Humbucker), Treble PU: 60ST (USA Humbucker)
  
• Controls: 2 volume, 2 tone
  
• Pickup Switching: 3-way selector
  
• Hardware: Vintage nickel
  
• Machine Heads: Grover
  
• Bridge/Tailpiece: Stopbar
  
• Case: Hardshell