Epiphone Les Paul Custom Electric Guitar - Alpine White Reviews
Since it's grand entrance in the early 1950s, the Les Paul Custom's iconic visual design and sonic versatility have touched the hearts of countless high-profile musicians. Broken down to it's finest components, the Epiphone Les Paul Custom's thoughtful mahogany body construction and maple top bear the sonic and visual resemblance of it's contemporaries, while favoring several period-correct appointments to match the standard of it's mid-century roots. A pair of Gibson's USA-series humbuckers positioned in the neck and bridge cater to several sonic possibilities, from clean rhythm keeping to devious hot-rodded squeals and everywhere in between. Topped off with it's proprietary Tune-o-matic bridge, stopbar tailpiece, and an assemblage of "Tuxedo" inspired upholstery, the Epiphone Les Paul Custom harbors the leverage of Gibson's most iconic 6-string design at an approachable value.
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Highest Rated Reviews
Don’t let the name on the headstock fool you!
Confession: I was a Gibson man for over four decades (I've been playing guitar since the mid-70s). I never thought much of Epiphone guitars. They were second-rate and not worthy of consideration.
That all changed in 2019 when the new management at Gibson took over. Part of the new team's strategy was to raise the quality of Epiphone instruments. And, boy, are they delivering. Holy cow! The "Inspired by Gibson" line of guitars shocked me when I first played them. The '59 Epiphone Les Paul I bought from Sweetwater was better than the 2013 Gibson LP Tribute - which cost nearly 4 times as much! - I also bought from Sweetwater.
The shock at the turnaround continued with several more acquisitions of Epiphone IBG guitars purchased from Sweetwater.
Having seen the new 2024 IBG lineup, I felt impelled to try one out. After doing some research, I decided to pull the trigger on a 2024 LP Custom in Alpine White. The cost was around twice what I paid for the '59 LP and I was curious if that differential was justified. After receiving the new LP Custom, I realized the additional cost was largely justified. The 2024 LP Custom feels, sounds and plays like a far-higher priced Gibson LP Custom. If anything, I believe the price of the '59 LP (that also came with a hard shell case) was a steal. I suspect Gibson/Epiphone initially underpriced the IBG line of guitars to get players attention. They sure got mine!
So, after being a Gibson man for over four decades, I am now an Epiphone man and loving it. I am delighted to add the 2024 LP Custom to the collection. I feel the guitar is a bargain, even at the $ list price. Sure, it would be nice to pay $-$ for this guitar but that would a genuine steal. I have no doubt I would fail a blindfold test between this Epiphone and a Gibson LP Custom.
Kudos to Gibson's management for raising the bar at Epiphone. And thanks to my longtime SE Mike Picotte for continuing to supply awesome customer support. I am very thankful!
A significant upgrade
Like many people, my first reaction to the new "Inspired by Gibson" guitars from Epiphone was mild shock, and skepticism that the price was justified. However, after doing more research my opinion changed. Not long ago I purchased an Epiphone Les Paul Modern and had the fine folks at Sweetwater replace the pickups and all the electronics because those are the Epiphone's weak points, in my opinion. With parts, labor, and hard shell case it came to a few hundred dollars more than these new Epiphones. So from that point of view, they've changed all the things I would have changed, and done it for less than I could have. And they thew in mother of pearl inlays as the icing on the cake.
The fretwork is very good, with no sharp ends and no grittiness when doing bends. The paint is beautiful, but the binding is gray compared to the bright white finish. From photos, the same is true of the Gibson version of this guitar. However, it was yellow on my older Epiphone Les Paul Custom, so I call this an improvement. There is a hairline gap in the binding visible at the edge between the fretboard and the body, but other than that this guitar looks fantastic.
The Gibson USA pickups sound great and are a big improvement over the previous model. My only wish is that they had used a different color for the lining of the new hard shell case. It looks like they were shooting for the gold/orange color of the Gibson Custom cases, but they missed. It's just an ugly yellow. Blue, red, or even the old gray would have been a marked improvement. But the gold clasps are a nice touch.
