Epiphone Les Paul Standard '60s Electric Guitar - Smokehouse Burst Sweetwater Exclusive Reviews

I'm a little late writing this review... been about 3 years since i bought my Smokehouse Burst and well.... It was my first LP and my first Epiphone. It was well worth it. After a string change and a quick setup, this thing plays like a dream and has for 3 years. Best bang for the buck as an entry level into a LP style guitar. Only thing i might end up changing are the pick ups, which don't get me wrong are great as is, but after picking up my Jerry Cantrell Wino, this could just use a little pick me up for my taste. But overall, this is an excellent guitar. If you're on the fence, take the plunge and go for it. Big shout out to Tad for helping me with this and my Wino!!!

Just received it and am setting it up as I like and I'm impressed. Have not noticed any issues at this time.
The Smokehouse finish is awesome.
Neck and frets feel good.
I like the pickups.

I think I will enjoy this guitar for a long time.

Amazing quality of the guitar was only surpassed by the service of Sweetwater and their staff. I will never purchase another guitar from any other place !!!!!

I recently purchased a Smokehouse Burst Epiphone Les Paul Standard and love the guitar. It's a no frills Les Paul that looks amazing and plays fast as you would expect. I wanted some weigh on this guitar and purchased the 9 lbs., 2 oz., model. Could not be happier with this guitar. This is my first Epiphone Les Paul: I have owned an Epiphone 335 which also played well. I have been a Les Paul guy for...my life. I am 59 years old and have owned 12 Gibson Les Paul's. Other than the head stock, the appearance is the same. great sound and fast frets. What else can you ask for. Time will tell on wear, but really, who cares. I work with Bart from Sweetwater who is professional, responsive and knowledgeable. I would recommend his services to anyone.

I needed a hard case for my Epiphone Les Paul Standard 60's Electric Guitar- Smokehouse Burst Sweetwater Exclusive. My Sales Engineer Sammi-Ross Lamotte recommended this guitar case for it. It fit the guitar like a glove. I read some of the reviews where some buyers thought that the hard case was of poor quality. I can assure you that this case is a high quality case. The inside is very plush and the outside looks very rugged and the hinges are well made. You will not find a higher quality case at this price point. You will not be disappointed stop looking and just buy it.

I had been researching entry level electric guitars for a while. I read all of the reviews and listened to all of them on social media. I finally settled on the Epiphone Les Paul 60's Smokehouse Burst Sweetwater Exclusive. When my guitar arrived it was it was packaged like Fort Knox. When I opened the package I could not believe how beautiful this guitar is. The photo's on the Sweetwater web site doesn't do it any justice. This guitar is just stunning and a pleasure to play. The slim profile neck is perfect for small hands. You just can't put this guitar down once you start playing it. My older brother has been playing lead guitar for over 50 years. He has been a Fender player all of his life. He could not get over the quality and the playability.It looks like this guitar should cost 2or 3 times the price. I needed a hard case for it. Sammi Ross- Lamotte my sales engineer recommended the Epiphone hard case. It fit the Les Paul like a glove. The quality of this case is outstanding especially for price. Last December I purchased a Martin GPC 16e electric acoustic guitar from Sweetwater. Sammi also helped me purchase that guitar with a Gator hard case. What I love about buying guitars from Sweetwater is the 55 point inspection on the guitar's before they leave the warehouse. The guitars are playable right out of the box every time. Because of the expertise of Sweetwater's Sales Engineers I will only buy from Sweetwater.

I've owned about 3 or 4 other Epiphone Les Pauls, but none as sweet looking or playing as this Smokehousre Burst Les Paul. It's been about 20 years or so since I last played in a classic rock and blues cover band. Nowadays, I play on the church worship team, which I love. Mostly played Strats and Teles and some bass. This guitar may be the one to steal my heart away from those others! Tone, touch, feel...WOW! After I watched the You Tube video factory tour of the Epiphone factory in China (which I watched while waiting for this beauty to arrive from Sweetwater), I was certain that this would be a very high quality product. I wasn't disappointed. Sweetwater does an outstanding job of inspecting and prepping each guitar to specs before shipping it out to customers. They are great to do business with. Definitely check out this model of Les Paul before they are gone! BTW, they are only available from Sweetwater.

Originally I was looking at a Silverburst that I had wanted for a long time, but when I saw this color I knew I had to have it. It showed up today and I was not disappointed, looks even better in person. The action was perfect and sill in tune, and I cannot see any flaws whatsoever. Plays great and exceeded my expectations.

Couldn't be happier! 1st - Huge THANK YOU to Joel and the team at Sweetwater. Once again y'all provided an over the top transaction. Joel picked out and reserved exactly what I had in mind for the look. Beautiful flame, beautiful finish..no defects whatsoever and a great weight. Absolutely stunning guitar. 2nd - the Set up Tech once again dialed in the action perfectly. Plays like a dream. 3rd- The Shipping Team had it dropped at my door in 2 days solidly packaged in the case and arrived as expected. Man o man. I couldn't be more satisfied. This rocker has sustain that lasts for weeks and cleans up with a beautiful high end ring that sent my Strat to the corner with a pout on it's face. It's the heaviest guitar I own but is balanced so well it's not awkward to handle.I've ran it through all 3 of my amps - Fender Twin, Fender Blues Jr and the Marshall Origin 50.. freaking awesome in all 3. Tossed in a Klon clone and wow..absolutely brilliant response at all levels in all 3 amps. The last one I purchased with Joel was the Epi '61 SG-same stellar service and in it's own right is an awesome choice as well..it requires more of a light finesse touch compared to this warhorse but both are equally built well. Also purchased 3 yrs ago an Epi TV Yellow Inspired by Gibson LP and my recently off the street buy of an impeccable 2022 Natural finish Casino...I am in heaven. And have no hesitation pulling these out next to the Gibson's that play in the band. Bravo Epiphone. Keep up the good work!

I've had this for a couple of weeks now and am very impressed with it. I had been looking for another LP and the smokehouse finish is what immediately attracted my attention. Being a Sweetwater exclusive - in a limited edition - I had to have it! I called Mark Magdich and he took care of everything. As always! Great guy with seemingly unlimited knowledge of guitars and a joy to talk with. Got me all set up with the guitar and all the accessories I needed. Right out of thee box the guitar plays effortlessly and sounds great. So far, I haven't found anything that needs re-adjusting or tweaking. Extremely happy with the overall quality in fit and finish. Epiphone has really stepped up their game from years ago. I would highly recommend them to anyone. (I have a few of them). Call Mark and he'll answer any questions you may have and get you set up with whatever you want. I know I will!!

Will shop here again! Before, and after, my standard.

From smokey blues to @#$& to the wall metal this guitar does it all

Oh my gosh, this guitar is so amazing in so many ways. I want to start off saying this is my first electric guitar over $200 and I had no idea what I was missing out on. I mean everything, not just looking so flipping gorgeous but the action and being easier to play. The way it hangs with a strap. It's like right there saying, play me! It really has made me sound and play better. Also have to add the customer service and the help from Evan was excellent!,Again so impressed, but that's not all. The guitar even had it own photo shoot, too cool!

As soon as I saw the color of this Les Paul, I knew I had to have it! It plays as good as it looks!

Having always been a Strat player, I decided a while back to try a Les Paul. Didn't want to spend the bucks for a Gibson and it turns out I didn't need to. Right out of the box this baby plays like a charm! The action is great and the tone is awesome. Love these pickups! And the smokehouse finish is beautiful. Sorry Strats but this is the prettiest guitar in my studio. Unbelievable quality for the price.

First, Thank you to Evan Neiman. Awesome help with all of my purchases. I have owned a couple Les Pauls but this one win's. Awesome guitar and a great price. Would easily recommend. Thank you Epiphone, great job. Also, Thanks again Evan We will chat again soon.

I couldn't find a flaw on mine. Plays easy and sounds great. Saved a lot of money over the Gibson and I can't imagine a Gibson playing any better. Waited about 6 months for it but it was worth it. Sweetwaters service was amazing as usual. Thanks for everything

I'm an acoustic player adding an electric to my collection. I love how warm this is and how many sounds you can get with the 3 pickups, which are all useful and distinct. Not to mention, the Sweetwater edition has its own unique look, which is classic and beautiful. Everything seems well put together. Holds tuning well with my percussive/fingerstyle playing. I've been holding out for a year on this, and it was worth the wait.

Wow, I am impressed. Overall I own 5 Epiphone Les Pauls, and this by far is The Best. It's the easiest way to play, and sounds like a Paul should. No coil splits os phase shifting, just basic down to earth music. And to top it all off is the fantastic finish. This one is the smokehouse burst and it is gorgeous, the flame really sets it off. I can't find a flaw in it.the level of customer service was also impeccable. I am sure I will be a repeat customer.

What can I say! Badass freakin guitar! I have owned a gibson les paul and I gotta say this epiphone is as good a player as the gibson. Absolutely beautiful as any guitar in my arsenal. And Ryan Murray my sales inginear and his team are hands down the best in the business!

I have had a Gibson Les Paul Standard for a number of years. The neck on the Gibson is a 50's neck and too chunky for my taste. Although I played it a lot and its a very nice guitar, I never liked the way it felt with the chunky neck. I bought the Epiphone 60's Les Paul after playing one that a friend bought last year. I was amazed at what they have done with this line of guitars. There are obviously some differences with the Gibson- the neck, the frets over the binding rather than under it, a thinner maple cap etc. None of those differences were important to me and after doing a complete setup on the guitar and adding treble bleed circuits, I actually like the playability and tone better than the Gibson (probably the neck is the big difference for me). With Grover tuners and less headstock angle than the Gibson, its going to be interesting to see if it holds tune better than the Gibson - haven't played it enough yet to know for certain but the shallower headstock angle can't hurt. Knowing what I know now about this guitar, I think the price is an absolute bargain and less than 25% of what a new Gibson 60's costs. Sweetwater gives me the confidence to buy online as you can see details of the guitar you are buying and they will allow you to return it if it isn't what you want (actually did that years ago with another Gibson so I know they will).

I was excited when I saw this Sweetwater limited edition Epiphone. When it showed up and I had it in my hands, it was perfect. Polished, string height was right, beautiful color. Great buying experience. This Texan is extremely satisfied. I will never hesitate buying online from Sweetwater again

Hands down the best finish of the new Kalamazoo headstock Epiphone Les Pauls and a Sweetwater exclusive. I prefer gloss tops over satin the flame pops out so much more on the 50s and 60s vs the 59s and Lazarus 59. Frets were level and not gritty as Ive heard others say and no sharp ends. Probucker 2 and 3 have enough drive to play metal and sing with overdrive but clean up nicely. Ill add a recessed Switchcraft as I do to all my import guitars but no other changes are required. The Grovers are smooth with no play in their action. After I set it up w 9-46 strings action is .75mm hiE 12th fret and 1mm low E at 12th no buzz and plays effortlessly. I will say the 60s slim taper neck is not so slim compared to my Ltd EC1000 and ec400 or the Schecter Solo II which I dont own but have played. The EC1000 are shred Pauls though and this Smokehouse 60s is the best looking most accurate Les Paul style guitar for the money in the sub $1000 market.

I own more than I should, but how can you not? The build quality of these Epiphones continues to blow me away! Pushing the limits, and to boot, on a model like this for 599! Superb, and Sweetwater continues to get the best looking tops available, always a hit. Some fantastic instruments, the Les Paul line is blazing!

This review is long overdue. A special thanks to Todd Kitchen for the level of after sale service I received. His followup and persistence made for a great experience with my purchases from Sweetwater! They've earned my repeat business.
The gear I bought is a Epiphone Les Paul Standard '60s Electric Guitar - Smokehouse Burst Sweetwater Exclusive and a Yamaha THR5 ver ll guitar amp Years back playing copy 70's rock, Stratocaster was my main guitar along with a Mesa Boogie combo amp and a few pedals. For original tunes and some jazz I dabbled with a pianist friend and a road worn used Trini Lopez and a Fender Deluxe tube amp . That pair just had great tone. Still have the Trini, but needs some work. The amp was sold a long time ago. So here I am stuck in COVID times and wfh , which is now mostly subsiding , still drawn to play. The old Trini needing work and it's very narrow neck by the nut somewhat limiting and no real amp , it was time to rekindle the joy of music and guitar playing .
Sweetwater became my go to. The little Yamaha and Epi Les Paul a final choice. Tone, playability, finish and overall workmanship on the guitar was a real surprise. The Yamaha amp is the perfect living room amp, beautiful clean tone and built in effects providing great flexibility . Add to this the Yamaha app for Windows or Mac ( installed on both!)which opens up a whole range of tones. And as a bonus the Yamaha amp came with a free Cubase DAW download. This stuff was just not available years back at this level of performance and costs. I play everyday now and am learning to use the Cubase software . Great stuff, great dealer and awesome help from Todd!

This guitar begs to be played. Everyone that has layed eyes on it in person has fallen in love with it on first sight. It plays as well as it looks. All of this AND the Sweetwater treatment and service make it a Win!

I bought this about a month ago. I love it. Sweetwater did a great setup on this. It was great out of the box. I own two Gibson Standards. They are very nice guitars but this color is hard to beat. And it plays as nice as the Gibsons. If you are looking, snatch this axe up ASAP.

I've had this guitar for a few months. I just wanted that perfect iconic classic 60s les paul sound. I was looking for good wood and then an entire overhaul. Get it to my taste. I do that often. But I always give it a few weeks to get a feel for the instrument before I mess with it. In this case it was perfectly fine as is. It nails that sound. Pro buster vs burst bucket similar but different. I think I liked the probucker better. But despite my satisfaction I went ahead and put in some lollar imperial tuned for that 60s sound. And some Emerson electronics. All I can say is it was unnecessary. A little better? Maybe. But not worth the extra money I put in. I'd recommend just leaving it be. Sounds great to me.

It's so hard to buy a guitar without playing it first. But this beauty spoke to me over WIFI... What an amazing instrument!! So proud and so in love!!

After a 20-year break from playing guitar I decided I wanted to seriously get back into it. Knowing that I wanted something that was a little more mature than the screamers I used to play in my late teens, and having a reasonable-but-modest budget, I spent the better part of a month agonizing over what to buy. I finally settled on this gem from Sweetwater, and I couldn't love it more. It is simply a gorgeous instrument that sounds great and is available at a fair price that anyone really serious about playing should be able to justify.

First, I was really happy with the service from Sweetwater. The fact that I got to see the exact guitar I was ordering was a huge bonus - especially when ordering figured wood. It arrived the next day, and the hardest part was waiting the recommended time to open the outer shipping carton. The packaging was fantastic, and everything was adjusted and inspected exactly as they said it would be. If you are hesitant to order a guitar online, don't be. I've bought some really expensive instruments from the big-box stores in the past, and every single one of them ended up getting worked on for some reason. I guess that's what happens when you let any fool off the street walk in and start ripping power chords on them. The guitar I got from Sweetwater was flawless, brand new, and exactly what I expected.

Now for the guitar itself... gorgeous. I do some pretty serious woodworking, and I am absolutely impressed with the fitment and quality of the finish on this guitar. The maple cap is heavily figured, and the sunburst blends nicely without visible gradients. It is glossy, ultra-smooth, and doesn't seem to collect as many fingerprints as I would expect. Any kind of glossy finish will show imperfections like crazy, and I think Epiphone did a great job.

Aside from looking pretty, playability is excellent. I'll be taking it in to a local luthier for a pro setup in the next few weeks, but even without that, I haven't felt like anything was amiss. Out of the box there is nothing wrong with it, but I prefer a lower action. I'm also not a huge fan of the strings that come on it (they seem to stretch for decades), so there would be my nits to pick. Anyone serious is going to be doing a setup and putting their preferred strings on it anyways, so none of this detracts from the quality of the instrument. It comes ready to enjoy if you want to spend some time playing before shipping it off to your technician.

The sound is just awesome. Everything from finger-picked cleans to rock to heavily-distorted chugging just sounds right. Everything is smooth and balanced without the harshness you get from single-coil setups. I know this is personal preference, but I love the humbuckers on this thing and have zero complaints. I seem to be able to get any tone I want with room to spare, and every setting on the toggle/dial is something that you could use. I just can't say enough about how nice of a sound you can produce regardless of what you are trying to play. It is an infinitely versatile instrument.

Overall I think this is a fantastic value for serious beginner through intermediate player looking for a guitar that will do whatever they ask without working against them. And did I mention that it is gorgeous? Nice.

Hands down the best playing les paul standard that dosen't say gibson on it. This guitar plays as good as some of the gibson les paul standards that I have owned. Sweetwater did an excellent job with the setup by the way.

I was thrilled when I saw this finish available on a 1960s Standard. It is gorgeous.

The guitar is fantastic, and doesn't have that plastic-feeling poly finish you would see on Epiphones just a few years ago. Tones are great and the fit and finish is really fantastic. I went over this guitar with a fine tooth comb looking for a problem.

I will say that the guitar came set up with a really steep break angle (couple strings were touching bridge) and the bridge pickup was thus adjusted to be really high. But with a proper set-up, this thing just sings. Love it.

Final picture shows a Gator case I also got here at SW. Really nice addition, better than the Gibson version!

Right out of the box this LP immediately grabbed my attention with the finish. The pictures on the website really don't do this guitar justice; the maple cap is beautiful, as is the cream binding and accents, and the back is a gorgeous natural finish. Everything from the action to the nut, bridge, pickup height, etc... was perfect from the get-go. It sounds warm and articulated on clean channels and muscular and aggressive with distortion- this axe sounds incredible. The 60s Standard is a massive step up in quality from the Epiphone's released just a few years ago and you'd be forgiven for thinking it was a Gibson if the headstock was hidden. Can't recommend enough, plays like a $1,000-2,000 dollar guitar and looks and feels like the quintessential Les Paul.

Like the fact that I was able to look at each guitar along with serial numbers and choose the one I wanted. Not only received that guitar but was fast shipping and was not damaged. This Les Paul is stunning to look at as well to play. It was completely set up ready to play, just had to set string height to my taste. I would recommend the Inspired by Gibson, Epiphone guitars and your purchase from Sweetwater will be sweet.

the level of quality in this versus the price you pay for it is headshakingly confounding. the sound, the paint and the build quality are astonishing. Bravo

I've had this guitar for about a year now, and it is hands down one of my best "go to" guitars. It seems to do everything well. It plays well, holds its tune nearly endlessly, and when it is paired up with my Fender Princeton Chorus it sounds fantastic. The other guys that I jam with have commented on the overall great tonal quality of this guitar. Don't be fooled, this guitar is heavy and that is the only thing I would list as a con, but that is true of any Les Paul that is worth its salt. I would never compare an Epiphone to a Gibson as that kind of comparison is just not fair, but when you can get a guitar this good at this price why bother with a more expensive name. I simply love this guitar.

Having ahold of this guitar now for a few months, the quality remains. Modded mine a little, very pleased with my guitar.

I am happy with this guitar. The finish is very nice, no blemishes, feels good.
My only issue, I should have got the set up. My next purchase will include this. I am pleased with Sweetwater's performance. I will continue to do business with them.

Let's do an honest review here. There are guitars which fits you and others which not. Saying this, I'm stating my rating based in the quality of the instrument rather than it's design. We all know Les Pauls have been around for several decades for a lot of reasons there so I don't want to criticize their design flaws.I love Les Paul sounds and shape (visually) and always wanted to have one. I bought this Epiphone with the idea of testing it for some months before going for the great deal (Gibson Les Paul Standard) and thank god I did it this way. Overall, this is a great guitar and instead of describing my cons as problems I will describe them as characteristics that didn't fit ME. Weight of the guitar: This guitars are heavy, after 2 hours of continuous playing/ practicing, my back is really tired and hurts a little bit. (not that much but it hurts at the end of the day). The weight of the guitar is well distributed so you don't have neck divings. Body shape: I'm used to play seated on a drum kit throne, and lay the guitar on my right thigh with my foot over a foot stand. Well, for my playing style, the shape of this guitar force me to play it on an uncomfortable position. Neck of the guitar: the neck is thick, and I have average hand size, I'm a 5'8 guy so my hands are not that big not that small. The neck feels very comfortable when soloing and rifting, but when I'm playing chords on the middle or the lower sections, my thumb hurts a little bit in the upper articulation. Curiously, I don't have this problem on the headstock section, and this may be related to the scale of the instrument. Now going to the pros: The sound is magnificent, all 3 positions sounds good, clean, dirty, with effects etc. I always plug it to my Mark 25 and I can do whatever I want, from jazzy mellow sounds to great distorted riffs. Tones are good everywhere on this guitar. The tuning stability is awesome, I have play it on hot and cool days and the weather does not affect it that much, it stays in tune no matter what. Epiphone hit a home run with the tuners selection. The string action is very comfortable not to high not to low, my fingers requires very low effort to press the strings and the strings does not fret buzz in any position. The fretting its well done, no sharp edges, and no fret buzz at any point. The 3 things for what I give 4 stars instead of 5 are these: The humbuckers mounting rings are bended and leave this visual gap with the pickup. I work in automotive industry, so I'm kind of traumatized with all this small defects and visual things so for me it's a big deal and you can notice that this bending is caused because the drilled holes are not proper done. I saw this problems on all the guitars that where available at that time. So why Epiphone just don't drill the holes properly to avoid this? Second thing is the finish. The grain of the wood its very beautiful, and the paint burst is very well done but for some reason, at least for me, the clear gloss coating feels very plasticized and cheap. Yeah I know this is not nitro, but I have 2 guitars in the same price range with better gloss finish. I don't know what is exactly the root cause of this effect but for me is not that good. You can see what I mean in the pictures of the other customers reviews.Third thing is: very cheap strings from factory, I know is not a big deal as they are cheap to replace which I did immediately. But that' the whole thing, why cannot come from factory with a good set of strings anyway? To conclude: This is a really great guitar, great sounding and stays in tune. It just didn't match with me. I don't want to exchange my comfort just to please my tantrum to own and play a Les Paul. So if you are looking for your first les Paul model, I would say try this one for some months to have a clear appreciation of it, and if you don't like it you wont loose too much money or time trying to sell your brand new or second hand Gibson Les Paul.I wanted to love this guitar because I really wanted to have a Gibson les Paul but what is not for you is just not for you so I will let this Les Paul dream buried.As always, sweetwater services were excellent and of course I will keep buying from them

I got mine yesterday with one day shipping FREE. I can't say enough about Sweetwater's service! Epiphone stepped up their game over the past 15 years since Gibson built it's own plant in China dedicated to Epiphone manufacturing overseen by Gibson shop management. Sweetwater did a great job at inspection as the frets feel good and the neck had just the right amount of relief. Mind you I didn't get the set up, there was a dead spot on the High E string 12th fret that I fixed by slightly raising the bridge on the trebble side. The guitar plays nicely and sounds great. Tone on par with any expensive guitar out there.