I bought this guitar in Dec 2005 for Christmas. After a month of playing with this, and I found out a lot of information about comparing between Gibson Les Paul and Epiphone Les Paul. While looking for information, I found this website and saw my guitar here, so I had to post a review. First I have to say, what a buy, when I saw this with a perfect black finishing I was already sold, but as I tried it out in the back room and played it on a nice 30 Watt Spider II amp (same one I have at home), I was blown away, and the price was simply amazing. I've played for a month now and I maybe wrong, but from everything I've seen in the past month of playing with this guitar almost constantly, everyday, this guitar is sturdy, light weight (compared to other Les Pauls such as the Gibson), smooth look and feel(thinner neck, and lighter less dense wood), and sounds absolutely perfect, even for the stock pickups. I could complement this guitar all day, but I'll just cut to the con, the one and only problem I see with this guitar is a slight buzzing of the low E string on the first few frets, but this doesn't effect the sound from the amp, so it's fine, hardly noticeable when playing. Thats it, the only problem, if you wanna play folk, blues, hard rock, or metal, this guitar can do it all. Just to clear some of those wondering about the difference between Epiphone and Gibson Les Pauls, difference is manufacturing. They are very different, Gibsons a company in the US that is made for quality and not quantity, Epiphone is a company in Korea that made these in mass productions,for quantity, but this doesn't mean it's bad. Both are hand made by the way. For the much cheaper price, different wood, and different manufacturing, this guitar is worth the buy, I recommend it for anyone who wants the Gibson Les but cant afford it, 10 out of 10.

i got a les paul a while ago and find it brilliant. i too had the problem of the buzzing, alls it is is the neck is too straight and so the strings catch the neck at the top. Alls you have to do is adjust the trust rod.

I've had mine now for 4 yrs and not a single problem. This is a excellent guitar for those who are budget concious. What I love about this Epi les paul is it has thinner body (lighter than gib) and not overly ornate with bindings. It stays in tune for the most part and can be played continiuous for 2 hrs before you notice the tylenol neck. The 60's neck is not as thin as I would like, but you sort of get use to it. Stock pick up was muddy on high volumes so I put in burstbucker pros bridge/neck and what a difference. clarity and power at your finger tips. sound is very rich as the gibson LP.