Epiphone Jerry Cantrell "Wino" Les Paul Custom Electric Guitar - Wine Red Reviews

I bought this guitar to keep on hand for when my son is in on leave so that he can ply the guitar while I'll keep the beat with my drums. And I must say this is probably one of the best sounding and playing guitars I've have ever owned. The custom set up that sweet water put on it with the pleking the frets. I never imagined that a epiphones would sound and play as nice as it does. Thanks to my sales engineer Kyle baker at sweetwater has helped me get my orders and help me make the right decisions on what I am looking for this one was spot on. Definitely recommend and also try one that they plek the frets and you won't regret it. Best purchase I've made yet from sweetwater and I've made several. Just hope that after my son plays it he will let me keep this guitar.

For a beginner/intermediate player owning my first electric guitar I can't say enough good about it.
The action is set up perfectly for one who is still trying to strengthen fingers and develop fingertip callus.
This I know is pretty lame compared to the more experienced players with in depth reviews however there are a bunch of us newbies.

The Wine Red is gorgeous.

Sweetwater? Can't imagine ordering musical Instruments and accessories from anywhere else.

Customer for life!!

Steve

Buy this Guitar! This is my third Epiphone Les Paul and the best one by far. The pickups are excellent and the neck profile is the easiest to play. Being a wine drinker I love the wino color it's beautiful. I am for sure an AIC fan but this Guitar would be great for any style. This is the most affordable "real" Les Paul Custom created thus far. I owned a 70's Gibson Les Paul Custom and this is the closest to that I have played.

Great guitar. Plays just like a Gibson Studio Les Paul. The craftsmanship is meticulous and the hardware is top notch.

I'm not by any means a professional player, but having played many different guitars throughout my life, this is one of my favorites for sure. Love the feel, the sounds i get from it, the playability. This is the 2nd Epi LP I have. Being a big AIC fan, i just had to have this Jerry Cantrell Wino. After a string change and a quick set up... couldn't be more satisfied. Pictures do no justice. It is an absolute beauty. Been playing it more than my PRS CE

I found the all inspiring mojo in my wino les paul ask someone if you can read my first review for this beautiful guitar lol it would have made people laugh and laughter and music guitar music is the cure all for most everything so yes 20 out of 10 for my review

Sweetwater online services are great.
From the day I submitted for purchase
I Was kept informed of shipment info.
Guitar is beautiful. Quality shows.
Glad I went with an Epiphone.

I'm even a better guitarist than I thought! My expressions come out effortlessly through this beauty. Only a little set up after new strings and I'm in love. My favorite guitar and it's not even close. I have 6 guitars and would trade all 5 for this one (including a Martin acoustic, fender Lone Star Strat, Schecter and Washburn.

Initially, I was drawn in by this guitar's looks. A Les Paul Custom is the best looking guitar ever made, and this Wino just takes that up a notch.
For just a few bucks more than the regular Epiphone LP Custom you get a beautiful wine red finish, a custom neck profile that feels great, MUCH better pickups, especially the 98T Pro in the bridge. It sounds similar to the Gibson 498T, but a bit fuller, a
I notend a hard shell case.
Mine arrived in great condition, needing minimal adjustments, fretboard conditioning and some better strings.
Whether you're a J.C. fan or not, this is too good of a guitar to pass up. It's easily worth more than the asking price.
I now own the Adam Jones Les Paul Custom Silverburst and now this new JC Wino and I honestly believe that these are the two best Les Pauls that Epiphone has ever made.

It had everything I was looking for ! The color is spectacular , plays and feels great ! Been playing Bass professionally for years and decided to take up guitar late in the game . I know what a good instrument is as I have high end custom made basses . This guitar for the money and even with a case is a great deal . Glad I got it !

Right out of the box I was blown away. This is a gorgeous guitar. I plugged in and it was everything that I had hoped it would be. The playability, the tone, and visual esthetic are all top notch. This guitar lives up to the hype! The craftsmanship certainly rivals that of big brother Gibson, and for a fraction of the cost. Unbelievable! I highly recommend seizing the opportunity to own this bad boy.

Bought this just to do some recording and i was pleasantly suprised. I have had a Gibson LP Standard and this guitar plays much better, it sounds great and is simply gorgeous. Cant beat it for the money. If there is one knock against it i would say it is the lack of the ability to split the coil.

Sorry for the REO reference for a grunge era signature guitar. While I think Jerry Cantrell is the goods and like Alice in Chains, that is not the reason I bought the guitar. I have an arsenal of Gibsons and admit I am a total Gibson Fanboy. The Wino Epi kept catching my attention over the past year and a half and when I was ready to try one locally or buy one - sold out. I finally got one a few weeks ago and I can't put it down.

The feel is fantastic and the finish is amazing. Fretboard was a little scratchy out of the case, but once I lem oiled and restrung, the play was fantastic. The pickups really compliment each other and also sound great on their own. Do not think this guitar is limited to being a grunge axe, it covers blues, jazz and straight up rock JUST FINE. Very versatile.

I have gotten such a buzz off this guitar, I bought two more Epiphones - Gold Glory and Lucille. I am truly impressed by this instrument and what you get for your money. You really get MORE than you pay for! I highly recommend this guitar. There is a reason the Wino is hard to come by. I have gained a huge new respect for Epiphone products.

In the pics it looks dark red. Mine is so dark it looks black but if the light hits it right you see hints of red. Love the color. When I opened it and strummed it. It was in tune. Love the neck on it. Honestly feels very close to a 60s slim taper. This guitar convinced me to buy from sweetwater from now on. I can't put it down and I've never had one play this good out of the box. I know some of that is luck of the draw but I'm pretty sure whoever set this up and did the checklist on it did a phenomenal job. Thank you

I attended high school during the 90s grunge era. Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam, Nirvana, and Smashing Pumpkins (my personal favorite at the time, although not necessarily grunge) were prolific. Those bands, among several others, helped shaped the 90s and the youth at the time. And finally, Jerry Cantrell gets some of the recognition he deserves for his contributions to the guitar playing world. But, this review is about the guitar itself. Being a Jerry Cantrell fan is only an added bonus.

I say "love at second sight" because the initial guitar I received had a defective bridge pickup volume pot. For the sake of improving quality control standards, I returned & exchanged the guitar. I'm glad I did because its replacement is magic. Once I put my hands on the guitar, gave it a good once-over and tuned it up, an hour had passed. That was me just noodling around unplugged. Then I hooked it up to an Orange practice amp. Being a Telecaster guy at heart, this Jerry Cantrell Les Paul blew me away. Not only does it sound amazing (yes, through an Orange Crush 20LDX), it has sustain for days. Even when bending the snot out of a string, the note continues to ring. That's an attribute of a Les Paul, and this particular guitar maintains that legacy. The neck profile is something unique, but feels familiar. It feels so good that it never entered my mind as something to consider or critique. As far as pickups go, this isn't some "metal" specific setup. There seems to be plenty of wiggle room to make it nasty & dark or clean & warm, depending on your periphery gear settings. All in all, it's a very versatile guitar that can cover most bases, while retaining everything that a Les Paul is known for.

I'm not a professional musician, nor an expert guitar player. I'm just a dude who picked up a guitar at age 15. Now I'm 42. Over the years, I've acquired and parted with several guitars. When you have a keeper, you simply know it. This guitar is a keeper.

I put in an order for this guitar back in June 2022 and just got it last week. It is absolutely amazing. I had mine Pleked with the full setup as well and the overall value to performance is unbeatable. You would have had to pay thousands for this type of quality not long ago. Epiphone is hitting it out of the park.

Was waiting for the release of these when the Gibson versions were announced and as soon as they went live I preordered one. What an amazing guitar for the money. Sweetwater had it set up perfectly for when it arrived and it is one of my go-tos when I'm jamming. Even of you aren't a fan of Jerry Cantrell it's still an amazing guitar at an incredible value. I highly recommend checking one out if you can

WOW! Absolutely blown away with this. Well worth the wait and the price. Nut was cut a little high but outside of that, it's flawless! Huge shout out to my Sales Engineer, Joel, for the support and setting me up with the exact model I was looking for!

This is the best guitar I have ever owned. I put my name on the waiting list July 2022 and finally got it Feb 2023. I can't tell you how happy I am to finally receive it. This is also my first Les Paul style guitar and I am blown away! Practicing for hours has become fun again and its freaking GORGEOUS!

What an absolute beauty! However, that's just the lipstick. Right out of the box it plays so nicely with perfect action, the best action I've ever received OOB. Not bragging, because this is crazy, but I purchased four guitars in the same week the Wino finally shipped. One of those being the Adam Jones Berserker. There were some QC issues with the AJB (not from Sweetwater), and when comparing that experience with the Wino, wow. I cannot find a flaw on this guitar. It looks great, it feels great, plays great, and I submit that this is the BEST instrument by Epiphone that you can get. Highly recommended!

I only own ES guitars and always wanted a winr red LP, so I had to get this the moment they had announced it. The frets are a bit rough, but I've smoothed them and I honestly have no complaints. Looks amazing and plays amazing!

8-10 years ago, When I bought guitars they were $2500-to $4000 bucks on a regular basis (to get the quality I thought I needed )now I buy Epiphones because they are absolutely magnificent, and the quality of this guitar is a $4000 guitar; take this guitar back 8 to 10 years ago it's better than the guitars that I bought from major big name manufacturers. So congratulations to Epiphone and thank you —too your great inspiration company and Sweetwater for keeping these guitars in stock and quickly arriving in near perfect playing order-! So thanks to Geoff my super salesman and the team that set guitars up -almost perfect.

Since a Gibson simply was not in the cards for me and I never pulled the trigger on the Sweetwater exclusive wine red Les Paul Custom Epiphone used to offer because I couldn't get by the headstock I had to have this guitar. After the inspired by Gibson headstock change I was dismayed that the LP Customs were only offered in black, white and natural wood tone. Why not a wine red version again? When I saw that Epiphone was going to offer the Wino I was ecstatic and coincidently Colton from Sweetwater called me that day to see if he could help me with anything and I said put me on the list for that WINO I am 100% in on that. He did and I already have it in possession and WOW! This thing is beautiful and plays wonderfully, action nice and low right out of the case and I could not be happier with my purchase. Thank you Colton for making this an easy process looking forward to years of happiness playing my new guitar

I have to say I'm really blown away at what Epiphone is doing with their "high end" Les Paul's lately. Having demo'd a Epiphone Standard 60's recently, I had high hopes for the Wino and so far, I am not disappointed. The build quality is amazing for a guitar at this price point. Throw in the case and it just sweetens the deal as cases or gig bags aren't typically available for this level of Epiphone. The only negative I can say are the file marks from the fret dressing at the factory between each fret along the binding. It's not the end of the world, but if you're going to nitpick that's all I can complain about.
It sounds amazing through both a VOX and a Fender amp and reacts to pedals like a champ.
Normally, I would not even take a second look at an Epiphone but the two I have played so far I think they give the more expensive Gibsons a run for their money.

Man for the price what can I say, hard shell case, grover tuners good pots. It's really amazing for the price. Me being in my 40s this is so awesome. The guitar is beautiful. It does have some sharp frets that cut on the treble side but that can be easily fixed easily. I can play would, it ain't like that and what the he'll have i since I was a teenager so this is a treat.Thanks to Ken naces team for taking care of me.This guitar is a dream come true to me. I hope epiphone puts out more great guitars like this!

I got mine about 3 weeks ago and I've had enough time to get to know this beauty and man it is good, the paint and finish is just immaculate , and the sound has a lot of character, I am used to my EC1000T with Fishman open core in so I can tell that the pickups do lack a little clarity, but really, I don't think that is a bad thing at all, it adds to the growly badass tone of the guitar, I might swap the pickups for the Gibson equivalents eventually but really not a necessity as of now, the nut has an issue were the hi E string is
A little too low but other than that is great.

Good fit and finish. Good weight. Great range of tones.
Does it instantly sound like Jerry? On the neck pickup I say yes. On the bridge pickup, it absolutely does not sound like a JB. It's a bit brighter and jangly compared to a JB. Is that a bad thing? Not to me. It absolutely does offer a lot of great tones and is quite playable for a lot of different types of music.
The neck is … comfortable. It's chunky compared to a lot of my guitars, but not too much so. It just sets in the hand differently. If you're a thumb on the back of the neck type, you might not like it. However, if you just let your thumb hook over the top, everything falls into place.
Would I recommend this guitar? Yep. If you want a for sure Jerry tone, though, just get Sweetwater to put a JB in the bridge position. I would also consider a pot and cap upgrade at some point too. At the price point, it's a very reasonable upgrade for the results.

I would say this is the best Les Paul you can get on a budget. The 98T Pro bridge pup is very hot. This is no vintage sounding LP. Hard rock and metal tones can be easily gotten from this one. Anyone considering a Gibson LP Studio should check this one out. The neck profile is considered a "Cantrell Custom taper". I would say it is identical to a Gibson Studio or Classic both of which I have owned in the past. This is very nice. I deducted a half a star because it could use a little more time on the fret polishing. It's not bad but you can feel a little scratchiness here and there. Other than that, I can't find a flaw on it. Nice job on this one Epiphone! They should really consider adding this neck profile and pickups to the standard LP Custom model.

When I first saw this I tried to resist temptation; I already have three Epiphone Les Pauls, including the black custom with gold hardware and it's white twin, so I really didn't need this guitar. But I wanted it. On receiving it I have no regrets; this red is amazing. The color changes dramatically depending on the light, but always looks great, and the gold hardware makes a wonderful accent. Quality is very good for this price; there are no flaws in the elaborate binding or the finish. The frets are smooth and playable, although a couple have slightly sharp ends on the bottom. The hotter bridge pickup is a godsend for me since I'm not a fan of the "vintage" pickups on most Epiphones. This sounds the best of all my Les Pauls, including a 30-year-old Korean model. The hardshell case is a nice touch, since I had to buy that separately on the others. You really can't go wrong with this guitar. Get one while they last.

Fit and finish on mine was really good, looks amazing...what was really surprising to me were the pickups, I fully expected to have to replace the pickups with real Gibson pickups right away which I will ultimately end up doing at some point but there really pretty good at least the bridge, neck pickup was ok nothing special but it will work, the key to these pickups is to find the sweet spot for pickup height. Ok now standard equipment that I immediate replace on all Epiphone guitars, bridge first and foremost, lets face it these are just bad ABR1 style bridges, new this before hand, put a tone pros aluminum bridge with brass saddles (Metric) and tone pros aluminum tail stop (metric) and bone nut, if you want your epi to sing, these parts are key. Tuners on mine are ok I have seen a lot of Epiphones lately that the tuners were not centered or square leaving the tuners looking crooked or off center on close inspection this is hit and miss, Hats off to Sweetwater for taking pics of the actual guitars. Of course being a epi I had to do a complete setup and set the intonation on the factory stock guitar as it came and action etc. This is normal to have to do on most guitars I rarely find all this on point even on high-end guitars, point is don't expect to be spot on from the factory, I had to also adjust the tailstop height as the strings were touching the back of bridge frame this is a big no no. I can confirm actual CTS pots, wiring was ok everything functioned as it should, does not have a switch craft switch, but the oem on it seems good for now. Now some of the QC issue that I ran into on mine and this is also common on epi guitars, not all the screws are drilled and seated flush I had a few on mine that I had to correct, fret dress was good, a few high frets on the neck not so much that you cant get the action correct though, I set mine at 3/64 on the high E and 4/64 on the low E at the 12th with no buzz even on bends and I did have to do some minor tweaks to the trust rod as well I'm talking a 1/4 turn at best no biggie. The modern neck profile I found to be really comfortable and smooth its really good. To some up this is a really good guitar, it's not a 5 star guitar but you can get it there it has the foundation to be a five star in its class, also take this guitar for what it is and don't compare it to an actual Les Paul custom there is no comparison, but that being said if your a Jerry Cantrell fan which I am this is an awesome guitar that actual players can obtain, Unlike the the actual one and if we could we would store it in a vault next to all our gold bricks we have...lol

If you're reading this, you're probably interested in it, and all I can say is, buy it right now! I expected this to be nice, and my expectations were exceeded. It was nearly gig ready out of the box, and after a few little tweaks (action, intonation), it's darn close to perfect. I'm usually an aftermarket pickup user, but I'm in no hurry to replace the stock pups. They sound great. This guitar could easily command $300-$400 more than it's selling for, it's that good. So get it before Epiphone comes to their senses.

I am enjoying this guitar. You get so much for the price including a nice HS case. The finish is nice no quality issues with mine. Now it is an Epiphone, so I had to do some setup work. The nut was cut so my high E-string would easily slip off the fretboard. I replaced the nut. The saddle was really high. Had to adjust the neck for that. The frets needed polishing really bad. Intonation was close from the factory. I repair guitars so no big deal for me. When I finished my set up the guitar played flawlessly. Not every example will be like mine. You should not hesitate to purchase this guitar. Just pay a little extra for a professional set up. This is normal for most guitars. The sound is really good from the stock pups.