Epiphone Les Paul Standard '60s Electric Guitar - Iced Tea Reviews

Once again Sweetwater (and my awesome sales engineer, Erik) came through with an awesome product at an awesome price. The free (and quick) shipping is always much appreciated. From the point of sale, I received timely communication from Erik (including some hi res pics of the guitar that was on its way) and follow up once it was shipped. Will definitely be back the next time I need to purchase any gear!

I've been playing for over 30 years. I've had extremely expensive guitars and I've had cheap homemade guitars. These new epiphones are amazing! They have a carved Maple top, with a flamed veneer. They also have 500k CTS pots and a CTS selector. Epiphone probucker pickups sound like genuine Gibson pickups. I honestly would put my guitar up against any Gibson Les Paul. But the most important thing is that the headstock angle and the scarf joint make the neck considerably stronger than any Gibson Les Paul! This is simple physics. However, I do understand some people MUST pay $ more for a name on the headstock.. It's your choice. I realized long ago that the tool doesn't make the man, it's his skill with the tool that speaks truth.

This has been one of the best new guitar days I've had! Thanks so much Sweetwater and Nick for making this a great day. I love what Epiphone is doing these days. These guitars are a real serious value for the $. It looks really nice and plays very well. Couldn't ask for more!

This looks amazing. AA top on my product is close to AAA gibson LP top. Cons this one has a ton of sharp edges on frets. not intonated at all. A pro setup and fret polish made it as good as my Gibson.
Shout out to Mr Aaron Kenny who is a great sales rep.

I love this guitar. They look wonderful and mine sounds so good!

I let two of these slip through my fingers by not answering the back-in-stock email quick enough. This last time, I closed my eyes and said "Go" - and was not disappointed when I opened the box. The flame maple top is gorgeous. Here's the deal, this guitar has a price tag 1/4 of its "big brother" from Gibson, does that make it 1/4 the guitar? Absolutely not! I lucked into a Gibson Les Paul Custom 25 years ago, and this new Epiphone keeps up. It has that tone we all search for; and the sustain... just keeps going.

Beutiful burst!!!!! Best sounding!! Epiphone did it right looks exactly the same as a gibson at a fraction of the cost you wont regret it!!!!!!!

I kind of closed my eyes and hoped I made a decent choice. Sure enough, when this guitar arrived, it was everything I hoped. No gallery pictures to browse and pick the "perfect one", but rather got what I could, while I could. Normally I don't consider myself a lucky person, but I think I might have gotten lucky with this pick! The Iced Tea finish is just subtle and soft. Really brings out the flamed maple top. The neck is just fantastic. has a slim taper to it and comfortable in my hands. The sounds of those ProBuckers... I couldn't believe it. So much tonal bliss. The fit and finish are amazing, as well. I've always been a single coil fan, and just last year bought an American Strat from Sweetwater. I'm waiting for my Blues Jr amp to arrive so I have a reason to plug that guitar in again. This LP just begs to have all the attention! If you want a Les Paul but can't afford the Gibsons, do yourself a favor and pick up one of these Epiphones. They really got themselves a winner with this new series!

This is very nice guitar. Is it as good as a Gibson? I don't know, I can't afford a Gibson! After saying that I will tell you that I really like this guitar. My sales engineer, Mike Conyers offered it to me as a demo. He told me that it had some blemishes from the previous customer.

Yes, they are there, just minor little scuff marks from normal handling. I would not have found them if they hadn't been pointed out by the photos they sent. Very open and honest evaluation by the folks at Sweetwater.

This guitar sounds exactly the way I hoped it would, I won't spout a bunch of descriptive terms although it tempting!

The neck is just right, it's heavy, it's got great tone, when you pick the strings you get "THAT" tone.

I'm glad I bought it!

After the first day I can't really tell the difference between this Epiphone Les Paul Standard '60s and my 40 year old Gibson Les Paul Deluxe. Of course I can't really compare: 1) The tone, due to the Deluxe mini-hum-buckers, and 2) The frets, due to the flatter than flat frets of that era of Gibson Les Paul.
But, at a wonderful 10 pounds, it has the weight I love, it growls like crazy thru a Marshall, so far the strings aren't catching on the nut, and the finish and flame are beautiful. I haven't checked the intonation yet but it sounds close out of the box. I'm sure it's gonna sound even more wicked when I dial it into drop C. I'm probably going to sell 3 guitars because this now does their jobs. I thought I'd take a chance due to the headstock and inlay changes along with the pickups/ electronics upgrades. I'm totally sold! Also, it is definitely a cool Sweetwater feature to often be able to choose from multiple in-stock units ('cause I want the heaviest).
And Kevin Samuel as always was super helpful!

The Iced Tea is my 4th Epi LP, I previously bought to 50s standards, and a modern, could not be happier with all 4. I've put a set of Seymour Duncan Wholelotta Humbucker and a Gunstreet Wiring "Black Dog" (Jimmy Page) harness in one of the 50s and had a pro setup. Plays like butter and can't believe how incredible it sounds. Stock pups in the standard models are not bad, especially for the overall price. Iced Tea along with all my Epi LPs have flawless finishes, very beautiful. If you don't mind the Epi logo on the headstock, then you'll appreciate the $ you saved, and plenty of money to spend on upgrades, that will still have you nowhere the price of a Gibson. I only changed the harness out to get 4 push-pull pots installed, otherwise the Epi Standards come with CTS pots, and are more than up to snuff if you want traditional Les Paul/Humbucker tones. The 60s model has a noticeably slimmer neck (50s are chunkier, kind of like a Tele compared to a modern C Strat), and 60s models come with Grover Tuners, where as the 50s come with Epi deluxe vintage style tuners. Only other difference in the 60s model are the volume and tone knobs, if you don't like them you can replace them for cheap, and they're compatible with genuine Gibson. Cant go wrong with the Epi Standard 60s, one of the best values on the market. A little TLC and pickup upgrades and you wouldn't be able to hear the difference from a Gibson (and if you spring for some top end pups, I'd say it would sound better! Gibson pups can be shrill sounding). Epiphone has had a better fit and finish consistency over the past decade as compared to Gibson, and the last 3 years they have really been killing it! FYI all the electroninics are plug in, much like a lot of Gibson's so keep that in mind when swapping pups.

Giving it a 4 star because although it is a beautiful guitar and sounds great, I have had issues with the bridge. A bent screw on one of the saddles was making one string impossible to intonate. Sweetwater did a good job contacting Gibson to get a replacement bridge sent to me, however the replacement bridge that was sent was worse off than the original.

Have been eyeing this for a while. I didn't want to pay thousands for a guitar that will either be only played at home, or at gigs where I will worry about it being damaged or stolen. Always wanted a burst LP. This fit the bill. Very pretty guitar. Plays nicely. Neck is great for me. Holds tune pretty well. Pickups are ok, but they do get muddy with drive or distortion. No regrets on this purchase. I got what I paid for.

Great guitar, gets you 80% into Gibson land for a fraction of the price.

Good option if you like modding guitars for fun.

Guitar came well packed and, the only weak link is the pickups but they sound fine to my ears though my Vox AC30 but the rest of the electronics are top tier, wilkinson tuners work like tuners should and have a good range of motion and the nut was cut properly so no tuning issues either. The look is stunning as well, my top even has some movement despite being a veneer.

Great value proposition if you want to try out the body style but not get into the thousand dollar and up versions.

Beautiful flame top. Slim taper Neck is glossy smooth and easy to play. Nice resonant mahogany body. Heavy , coming to just over 9 lbs. The probucker pickups are solid enough though not as clear sounding as Gibson burst bucker. Also expect some sharp fret edges. Overall pretty pleased with this purchase. Sweetwater service was good.