Epiphone Les Paul Modern Review

Epiphone Rocks!

I can't say enough good things about this guitar. It's visually stunningly beautiful. The fit and finish is excellent. The frets are smooth and polished with no grit. It has so many nice features for the price - locking (Grover) tuners, graph tech nut, ebony fingerboard, push/pull pots, and a metal jack plate. The set up out of the box was perfect. This is the third of the Epiphone… read more "inspired by Gibson" guitars I've gotten and they've all been of superb quality. I also have the Firebird and the single P90 LP jr. and the quality control on every one of them has been excellent. You can really tell that Epiphone is a company that cares about their quality, customers and brand reputation!

---

Cancel Comment

Epiphone Les Paul Modern Sparkling Burgundy

The photos don't do this guitar justice. It's absolutely gorgeous in my eyes. It plays as good as it looks as well. Take a look at the specs and you'll see Epiphone did it right. This is one of those guitars that is a one owner. Definitely a till death do us part model.

---

Cancel Comment

Sharpen This Axe!

This is a great guitar to make your own. I considered getting the Gibson version of this, but I really wanted a guitar that I didn't feel badly about modding. I wanted Seymour Duncan P-Rails so I could get both P-90 AND humbluckers sounds. I wanted a satin neck. I wanted a more uniform taper on the pots. I don't like treble bleeds. I wanted locking strap buttons. I've even… read more tried a piezo bridge on it and experimented with nylon strings. I currently have a Gotoh 510 bridge on it, but mounted on the original Epi bottomless inserts. This lets me drive the bridge's vertical locking bolt into the core wood for a "faux ABR" effect.This guitar had great "bones" to work with. The chambered body is very resonant. The guitar is exceptionally loud when unplugged. Love the locking tuners. Fit and finish were excellent. Fret levels were decent. Fret ends were finished well and the polish was good. I had to deepen the nut slots. They were right to spec, which, for me, is way too high. After that, with a straight neck, the frets were buzz-free for my preferred action - 1.5mm @ 12th fret using .011s. If you want super low shredder action you could consider getting Sweetwater to Plek it.So I've had the fun of modding, and gotten a guitar that's really my own. I've had it for several months now and the honeymoon is definitely not over.And speaking of Sweetwater, big shout out! The first one arrived with the slightest cracks (possibly just finish-deep) where the neck meets the headstock (common Gibson weak point). Sweetwater insisted on replacing it and delivered in 2 days. I would not hesitate to buy a guitar from Sweetwater again.

---

Cancel Comment

4 months in and loving it

Purchased one of these as I liked the idea of a lighter body LP with some of the more updated features and playability compared to traditional models.I couldn't afford the real deal, so this was the next best thing that ticked all the boxes.Build quality and finish.... Excellent. My example is on par, and in some aspects better than some of the genuines that I've handled (once the… read more frets are polished). Yes that is my only complaint as they aren't as smooth from the factory as I'd like. An hours work and they are mirror perfect.Tone.... Out of the box, very good, but after loading some Elixir 10-46's and carefully adjusting the action and intonation, it improved. Then after playing around with the pickup heights and individual pole piece screws, it is now absolutely brilliant. Yes these do need a little work to get the best out of them, but no different to any guitar, acoustic or electric.Playability.... Very comfortable neck and super easy to get to the highest frets.I've got this neck dead flat with a super low action and there's no buzzing anywhere.Stability.... Still shaking my head in disbelief. Once the new strings had a few hours of playing on them, this axe just doesn't go out of tune even after hours of playing. Come back to it the next day and maybe have to tweak one or two strings by 2 or 3 cents. Features.... I love these pickups and all the switching configurations and tones you can pull from them, the lighter weight, ebony fingerboard and the locking tuners were all deal sealers for me.Value.... Buy one of these for $x or the real deal for $xxxxx and get virtually the same (minus the prestige).Was a no brainer for me with zero regrets.

---

Cancel Comment

This guitar is awesome!!!

Guitar plays beautifully and looks stunning in person! Sweetwater did an awesome job getting my guitar waaaaay before the initially said I would, 2 weeks early to be exact! I just took ot out of the box and it just fits perfectly in my hands! I'm really excited to jam with this guitar!!

---

Cancel Comment

Thumbs up 2020 Epi...

Bought my 202 Epi LP Modern in PELHAM BLUE and is very satisfied with the guitar with a few minor cosmetics in neck joint areas where the body finish had some overspray to it but overall well made guitar. If there were to be changes to be made, they'd be having the pots with PUSH/PUSH pots instead of PUSH/PULL because you have sweaty fingers, the push/pull pots are not friendly… read more unlike the push/push. My made a few mods to my tastes as I would do with most of guitars. I replaced the pickup rings screw with black flat headed screws, added a poker chips for toggle switch, replaced the bridge stock bridge with FABER ABR-1 bridge(the guitar sings ever better), replaced stoptail with Gibson TP6, accented the knobs with black tubings and a few other areas. I already had my order in for 1959 Epiphone in Aged Dark Cherry.

---

Cancel Comment

Looks and Sounds Great

I typically go for the stained burst look on guitars, but this sparkling vintage burgundy was hard to pass up. While this is a "modern" style for Les Paul - mainly due to the neck contour, chambered body, and pickup/wiring combinations, on a standard humbucking mode you'd be hard-pressed to tell the difference between this fella and a standard. Funny thing with the asymmetric neck… read more is that you don't immediately notice it - until you switch to one of your other guitars that doesn't have it. It's subtle, but it's there. Play one for 20 minutes, then swap to a standard neck and you'll see what I mean.The ProBucker pickups are essentially Alnico II's - so you get the standard 'crunch' you'd expect with a little warmth/butter on the side. The output between H and Single coil is pretty even too (not nearly as drastic as you get on some models). Pros - Gorgeous - the pics don't do it justice. It actually sparkles - SO many pickup configurations - Weight relief body - the modern chambered body is about 8.5 lbs. Still not "lightweight" by any means, but every oz helps for longer sessions - The knobs have little rims around the tops to make it easier to pull-up for coil splitting, phasing options. - Grover locking tuners included Cons - Really just some minor QC issues on my particular guitar - stain overlap on the binding, very slight paint overlap on neck binding where it meets the body, and about 6 rough frets on the treble side of the neck. - Didn't come with a gig bag (one of those Epi-lights would have been awesome) - Plain head-stock / truss cover. I'd have preferred a matching head-stock paint or even a modern E on the truss cover. Minor wish list item, not really a con. Overall With the extra pickup configurations between normal humbucker, split single coil, and phased pickups I've counted over 20 configurations (not counting what you get with the tone knobs and your amp / pedal settings). This is truly a versatile guitar with lots to offer. The ProBucker Alnico II pickups sound great no matter what configuration you choose. For the money, this is one great guitar. P.S. A big shout out to Brian for helping me land one of these and suggesting a good-fitting case (went with the Gator). Sweetwater continues to raise the bar on customer service and response.

---

Cancel Comment

Sweet Epiphone Les Paul Modern!

I ordered my Epiphone Les Paul Modern as soon as it was announced at NAMM. Sweetwater didn't have any information on it initially. Had to wait 3+ months to receive it, but it was certainly worth the wait. I've been playing/practicing for a year. This LP is to replace my Squire Classic Vibe Stratocaster so my thoughts are relative to that guitar. My new LP is in the faded Pelham… read more blue color. It's very attractive and the on-line photos don't do it justice. The color shifts a bit in different lighting ranging from a metallic blue to almost a green color. I've crawled all over this guitar and cannot find a cosmetic flaw anywhere. Compared to my Squire Strat, the LP has a much richer tone. I suppose this is due to the humbucker pickups vs the P90's in the Squire and partially due to the slightly heavier strings. The LP's have 10's while the Strat has 9's. The Modern LP has an asymmetrical neck, putting a bit more "meat" on the bass side of things. I like it. The neck seems a bit stiffer than on the Strat – something that I like. The Modern version of this guitar includes push/pull knobs that change the pickups, phase, etc. I can't say that I have fully explored these options yet. Complaints? Only minor. First, the "Gibson" strings on the Epiphone started losing their plating (?) right away. After a month, the E-A-G strings started looking like they were copper plated. The plating even seems to have rubbed off where my right hand brushes against the bridge. See photo. I practice quite a bit every day, but I've never seen guitar strings do this. But that's easy enough to fix. Also the jack was a bit difficult to insert the cable into. This seems to be loosening up a bit after a couple of months. It's a beautiful guitar and sounds as good as it looks. I would highly recommend that you consider this guitar, Sweetwater of course, and my sales engineer Jake Hershaw.

---

Cancel Comment

Best epiphone les paul ever played

Bought this modern Les Paul, and in my opinion its the best Epiphone Les Paul I've ever played and I've played a lot of them over the years. Great carve on the neck, 12 inch radius, ebony fingerboard, weight relieved body. Two coil split, plus a phase switch, and the pots are all CTS and it makes a difference, bridge and tailpiece are real steel and not the old potted gunk from… read more the past, grover locking tuners, graphite nut, for the price there is no way you need to spend thousands on a Gibson . . . the pickups for me sound great and do not need replacing. the sum of its parts as put together by Gibson which oversees and has upgraded product across entire Epiphone range is a great move for guitarists! The guitar is really a Gibson with a Epiphone name on it. The blue, black, and red are great color tones too!

---

Cancel Comment

This is a gorgeous guitar

If you want a proper Les Paul, brilliantly priced, and that comes loaded with features that bring an absolute classic to the highest of today's expectations, you will hardly find a better choice. This guitar is impeccable, a gorgeous addition to any collection as well as a smart and dignifying point of entry to the Les Paul world. Needless to say the guy's first guitar was built… read more at an Epiphone factory, so this fortunate creation brings now full circle to a history of true love of music and rock n roll.

---

Cancel Comment