Best Electric Rhythm Guitar (2024 Update)

I am both surprised and please with this guitar I purchased this guitar at GC Nashville after returning a Gibson Les Paul Classic that I bought online. (lesson learned, don't buy from GC online.) The staff there were great and had no issues with me returning a $2200 guitar that I bought online. Even more supportive in helping me pick out a much less expensive guitar. Great people. This Epiphone is awesome. The fit and finish are great. The action is low and no buzz. The tone is great and It is lighter and easier to handle than the Gibson . The best part is it cost a third of the one I returned. I really wanted a Gibson but I am so glad I picked up this Epiphone. A word of caution. I looked at and played several guitars at GC before choosing this one. I even played a couple of other Epiphone Les Paul Customs. No two were the same. One had razors for frets, one had an action you could drive a truck under and this one was just right. Go in an play them before buying.Mike

This is my second 6 string electric, and I couldn't be HAPPIER with it! My first guitar is an entry level Epiphone SG Special that was a couple hundred bucks back in the day. It got the job done…good frets, good tune, good everything. I recently decided to step it up and get a "mid-range" guitar but still not break the bank with an Epiphone. And I'm not calling Epiphone cheap…they are just more in my price range when compared to Gibsons. Stepping it up is the right description for this guitar!! It is AMAZING! The feel, the tone, the look! It sounds great and feels good in the hands too. I especially love the Silverburst color!! The main reason I wanted this specific guitar. It's Adam Jones from TooL color scheme finish but on an epiphone! They are coming out with his own model of epiphone, but I'm impatient lol. Looks are important to picking out a guitar as much as sound! The inlays on the fretboard look beautiful. The pick guard and finish are beautiful, the trim/binding around the guitar… this guitar has reignited my passion for playing! As of this writing, I have no complaints! Excellent guitar!Matt

I purchased this guitar because a Les Paul was missing from my gear arsenal and I didn't want to drop three grand on a Gibson. I played a wall model at a local GC store and decided to buy, but requested a factory new model sent to me, because the wall model I played had some nicks in the fretboard, a sketchy 3 way switch and had worn strings and the intonation was way off above the 14th fret. I paid for next day air shipping to expedite the process because I tend to want the things I pay for fairly quickly. The shipping tag originated from the same city I live in, meaning they had a factory new either in the warehouse or at the neighboring store about 20 miles away. So I essentially paid 42$ for expedited shipping and could had likely gotten it same day if I asked the right questions I suppose. Shame on me. The next business day my guitar is delivered to my residence, I open it and immediately inspected it for possible shipping damage or factory flaws. It arrives with a broken 3 way switch, all strings tuned nearly 2 steps flat and also needed to make a truss rod adjustment to straighten the neck. Completely unacceptable that these issues left both the factory and GC's "quality control" in the condition it did. Luckily I work at a local small box music store and worked with our own luthier after hours to set it up and correct the problems. All that said, this guitar is absolutely fantastic. It plays and sounds very good and even though the stock pickups aren't top tier, they are excellent performers at a very reasonable price point. Monster value in this guitar. If you can acquire one some where other than Guitar Center, do it. If you do purchase from guitar center, make absolutely certain to have it looked at by a professional before accepting it. 5 stars for the guitar and it's value. 1 star for guitar centers lack of QC shipping items.Dan

I purchased this guitar when it was $95 off full price. So that kind of makes it a worthwhile purchase. Definitely not worth full price in my opinion. Poorly packed with insufficient padding in the box allowed two of the strings to be bent during shipping. I assume this happened during shipping. They wouldnt send bent strings right? Thankfully they provided back up strings… The nut is very poorly crafted. You can visibly see burrs and imperfections in the nut that cause the strings to ring out of tune on certain parts of the fret board even after tuning. The pick-up selector nob fell right off first time I adjusted it. I will have to glue it myself. When the notes do play out true the triple pick ups sound better than the Peavy beginner guitar I used to have– Which only had two pickups and came in a similar starter package but was about half the price as this guitar. I think if I research how to fix some of the issues I can make it playable. But this guitar is far from playable out of the box. Fairly poor quality control.Cody

I was looking forward to ordering this as my first guitar after taking some classes a couple years back. The shipping was remarkably fast–however, when the product arrived the amp was completely broken. Upon plugging the guitar into the amp and strumming, it would make a horrendous scratching, broken sound. Plucking strings has the exact same effect, and occasionally the amp will cut off after a second of playing. I've tried adjusting the dials, turning overdrive on and off, I even bought a new cord thinking that was the issue to no avail. To make matters worse I have called the customer support number multiple times asking if I could recieve a partial refund, or ship back the amp for a functioning replacement–every time I'm left on hold before the call disconnects, if I can even get through to begin with. The only reason this isn't a one star review is that the guitar itself works fine and looks beautiful! I wouldn't reccomend buying the full set if they don't bother to make sure one of the most essential parts is functioning before shipping however.James B.

I worked outside for my father for a good many weeks while the guitar was on sale, and when I got it, I had mixed emotions. After a few days, the gig bag started to rip and now theres a big hole in it. Its still usable, but it isnt really well made. Also the bag isnt really protective. Its more decorative. The strings on it and the other ones were both junk, my local guitar shop guy told me that himself, but strings are moderately priced, and most of the time they last a while, so thats not much of a deal. The amp is lower end, and the cable that plugs into the amp and the guitar started to show copper wire around 2 weeks after purchase. It still works, but it should have lasted longer. And the stand on the amp didnt hold up at all, the plastic on it broke and now it wont angle so the sound comes at your face. But other than that its a good purchase, i would just suggest to just buy the guitar alone, and buy the amp separately, instead of the kit, but that may get expensive, so check out those options and compare them to this product and decide for yourself. My local guitar shop guy told me that the guitar itself is great quality though, but there are more expensive guitars out there, its a great guitar to start out with. Another side note, not relating to the quality of the guitar, but for beginners, how to learn how to play it fast. I suggest buying Rocksmith 2014 with this for PC, Xbox 360, PS3, PS4, Xbox One and other game consoles. Although it is expensive, the cable that comes with it counts as $20 dollars of it, and it actually surprisingly works! I started playing the game in late june or early july this year and I learned pretty quickly, to the point where I am now thinking about combining lessons and the game together to speed up the learning process even faster. Now it wont turn you into Guns N Roses overnight, but its pretty effective.TheVanillaMiner

Overall: I read some of these negative reviews and can't understand what they're talking about. This guitar is probably the best guitar for $200 I ever played , right out of the box it was setup perfectly. All I did was tune it , I've even got the same strings it came with. Which I normally change whenever I get a new guitar. The tuners are unbelievably tight , this guitar barely goes out of tune even if it has been sitting for weeks. Also I never attached the whammy bar , so I can't speak on that throwing it out of tune. Since I have over a dozen guitars I don't usually play it daily , but when I do it always makes me glad I purchased it. This is a very versatile guitar , I play mostly metal and this thing shreds. But I also play blues and it sounds just as good as my custom strat. I bought an Epiphone SG special in the same price range and let's just say the setup is night and day , the tuners absolutely sucked , "already replaced them" and the intonation was off. It was a mess , I've already put it on Craig's list and bought a G400 Pro instead , 10x better quality and setup , but I digress. I've got many high priced guitars but always go back to the GRX , the playability and neck feels so comfortable to play. The only thing I'm going to do eventually is throw in a Seymour Duncan humbucker and I'm definitely keeping this guitar. I don't know how Ibanez can sell this for $200 and keep the quality , but I'm certainly not going to complain. Whether you're a beginner or experienced this guitar delivers. Definitely will be purchasing another Ibanez down the road.Mike

Sound: Does not have the cleanest sound due to the picks. Putting the right pedals and effects in line and cranking up the distortion makes it an awesome beginner / intermediate metal guitar. Features: For the price the materials feel great. Ease of Use: It sounds great on my Fender Champion 20 or Positive Grid Spark amp. Not the cleanest tone but a great metal sound and extremely easy to play. Quality: It feels made well, especially in the $200 range. I feel like this is one I'll have for years and once I get better definitely see this is a good platform for future mods. Value: This guitar is excellent value and at this price an amazing guitar. Manufacturer Support: I have not dealt with Ibanez. The Wow Factor: I must admit the aesthetic. It's extremely hard to find good looking purple color-based guitars. If I could dream up what I want a guitar to look like this is it. It helps that its quality is awesome. Overall: I love this guitar. Purple is my favorite color and a hard one to find good guitars in. It looks great. It feels great and I have yet to find any significant issues with it. No problems with the frets or fret buzz. Action is easy and low. It sounds great with my Positive Grid Spark amp. The pickups sound great. The HSH setup is very versatile. Not the greatest with clean tones like my Stratocaster, but amazing with the right effects.Josh

The setup out of the box was actually pretty good,no sharp frets, action was pretty good, I changed out the strings and tuned it, and the string height was still perfect so that was awesome. I actually had really low expectations given the price point, and I had previously loved my old Ibanez so I figured this wouldn't compare, but it was close enough to the model that I had my eye on, that I would go for this one since it was available and the other one was back ordered. Honestly, I got lucky that I went for this one instead. I almost didn't. This guitar is so comfortable to play, it's LP style, but super light. I love the maple finish, and the satin finish on the neck makes it super comfortable moving around on the neck. The guitar sounds great, it requires tuning pretty often but thats great for learning, and someday I'll get locking tuners. I had low expectations but I couldn't be happier with this purchase.Shibbylbby

A while ago, I started coming across videos and posts about this guitar and the finish of the guitar really caught my eye. I have a couple of Les Paul guitars already, but none of them have a flat finish where you can see the wood grain like this. And for the price, I didn't think it sounded bad either. So I decided to get one and I am SO happy that I did! The only changes I've made are a change of strings (which I do on every guitar anyway) and tuners. The tuners it came with were fine, they didn't HAVE to be changed, it's just a personal preference thing. I have played guitar for nearly 25 years and have guitars much more expensive than this, but this really has become one of my favorites to play. There's just something about it that I love and, in most cases, is the one I pick up when I want to play. I've been very, very happy with it and I would highly recommend it to anyone. If you're a beginner, it's a great, lightweight, easy guitar to play. And if you're experienced, it's still fun to piddle around on. I don't know if they're all like this or I just got lucky, but I am very pleased and even considering buying a second one in another color. Five stars!Luke

First off I want to get the fact out of the way that AMS is the only place I buy musical instruments anymore. There are many reasons but best of all they are good people who put the customer at the front of what they do. So if I was asked I will tell you to buy from AMS. Now to the guitar. This Epiphone Les Paul I purchased for my 11 year old grandson and he loves it. He is a beginner just took his 4th lesson this week and he can already chord it to play a song he likes. It is built solid and the humbuckers are ceramic 8 magnets so they have that heavy feel for great chorus and can also put out the bite for clean leads. He told me the neck feels good and his small hands can manage the instrument pretty well. I took a good look at the guitar when he got it and the only thing I did was tune it for him and as I played it I felt comfortable with the feel and the sound and knew I made a good buy. The only thing I am going to do is put a set of nickel plated Super Slinkys on for him 9-42. I think it will even make the feel better for him as well. Overall I am happy with this purchase because this guitar will serve my grandson well over his guitar journey. Just as a caveat to this review. I am an Epiphone loyalist. I have been buying Epiphone products for over 50 years and nothing against other makers of who I have purchased a few, I keep going back to Epiphone for the quality and price you can't beat the deal. So when I found myself looking to buy a guitar for my grandson, the manufacturer choice was already made. I just had to find a model that would suit his purpose.Laurence W.

It came from the swamp! (Swamp Ash Body) This swamp creature is a tonal monster that screams like a Yeti and growls like a Lion. This Typhon is the father of all monster guitars. It came flawless and perfectly set up and intonated which is rare but it can and did happen to me. It outshines my Fender Strat and Fender Acoustasonic. As I struck a chord ON it, IT struck a chord IN me, and the bond was instantaneous. Guitar is about having fun and enjoying music not about snobbery. I'm preparing to entertain with my mastery of the musical arts and I'm going into battle fighting against fears, insecurities, and self-doubts but I can now face these foes fearlessly because I'm equipped with my new weapon of choice – this purebred sexy swamp beast axe. I was standing in a swamp, with my head hung low, not enough tickets, for my sold out show. Hear the roar of the crowd? Can you picture the scene? Put you ear to the swamp, hear my guitar scream. Can you hear it now? Are you blown away? You'll see stars for a couple of days! This S570 AH SWK is beautiful and thanks to MF my dream became my reality. MF jumped through hoops and went all out in helping me get this guitar. Call them up and they will assist you in overcoming any hurdles standing in your way of purchasing this guitar. They excel over Sweetwater IMHO. My EVERY experience with these MF'ers has been a 2 thumbs up, 10 star rating. What are you waiting for? Get your own S570 AH SWK Today! You'll be glad you did! As for me, I'm as happy as a slime covered swamp creature in a black lagoon playing guitar. The black on this thing is gorgeous and the silver waves ring out like silver bells at Christmas. When you hear it Roar, you'll be imprisoned in it's melodiosity (I coined that phrase) Metal, Alternative, Rock, Country, Blues, Pop, Reggae, Jazz it does it all. Just do it my friend! Pull the trigger and blow the brains out of your savings account and you too can start playing "FOR REAL" today. Costs less than a Prestige or a Joe Satriani Signature JS2GD-Gold Boy but I must dispel the MYTH… it's just as good and no one in your audience will be able to hear any difference.James

Sound: The guitar came with Quantum pickups. I have Quantum pickups on another guitar, and they sound alright on my Jem Jr. However, they sound spectacular on this guitar. This may have something to do with the ash body on this guitar, vs. the Mahogany body on the Jem Jr.It is amazing that Ibanez can offer ash on a guitar in this price range, when Fender has stopped using ash on more expensive guitars. Features: The most useful feature on this guitar is the Edge Zero trem. As a matter of course, as I’ve done with my other trem equipped Ibanez guitars, I replaced the springs. The springs that come on these guitars are awful and won’t let the trem return to pitch. I replaced them with Floyd Rose extra strength, silent springs. Now the trem returns to pitch as good as my Floyd’s and original Edge trems.There is no string retainer on this guitar. If you put a few extra winds of strings around the post, it will increase the break angle from the back of the nut, where the strings exit. If you get the break angle right, you can lock down the nut without having to retune. Ease of Use: The guitar is quite playable out of the box, with the exception of the trem springs. There were a couple of high frets, but they weren’t high enough to cause buzzing with a normal action. I always do a level and crown as part of the set up anyway. Quality: The fit and finish on this guitar is excellent. I love the grey and black top on this. Definitely a looker. Also, the description of the guitar on the website, when I ordered it, said that the fretboard was Jatoba. Well, as it turned out, my guitar came with a rosewood board, which according to Ibanez’s website is what the guitar comes with for 2021.Also, the jack placement on the top, is really nice. The end to the cord doesn’t stick out. Just be careful plugging in. Value: This guitar is worth every penny I paid. I am quite pleased that the guitar is less than 600 dollars. Great bang for the buck. And zZounds makes it a no brainer with their payment plans. Manufacturer Support: I haven’t had to call Ibanez personally, but I have gone through the dealer before, and they have got fast service from Ibanez for me. The Wow Factor: This guitar not only looks good, but plays great as well. If you aren’t able to do work on a guitar yourself, spend the money for a pro set up. It’s so worth it. Overall: Well, I wasn’t sure what to expect, as I took a chance and bought one that was listed as minor blemish on zZounds site.It took awhile to get to me, but that isn’t zZounds fault. The FedEx hub in my state doesn’t have enough truck drivers, and delays at the Troutdale hub are just a reality at this time.It arrived well packed and it turns out that the minor defect was just a small crack at the neck pocket. This would have probably happened anyway, and it is really small.I did have to call customer service, due to a saddle adjustment screw rounding out when I set the intonation. Sounds got me a new set of these screws through Ibanez, and it only took a few days. So good on zZounds and good on Ibanez.Scott

This guitar sounds very good with the dimebuckers, since they are pretty high output. The Floyd Rose Special is not bad, although I had to tighten the bar a lot for it to stop swinging around. I have played this guitar quite a bit and it still holds tune very well, even though I pretty regularly do squeals and dive bombs. The only problem that I have is just a visual problem, and it doesn't affect playability at all. I don't know if it had to do with all of the weather changes, since guitars don't have problems moving to harsh environments, but I notice that there were some visible cracks in the fretboard binding (not any problems with the fretboard itself). There was also a crack in the finish by the neck joint, but it is very small and hard to see. They seem to be just cracked inside the binding and not on the outside, since I can't feel the cracks. Other than those problems, I really don't have anything bad to say about the guitar other than it feels absolutely amazing if you are a dimebag Darrell fan or love Pantera. I really can't recommend this guitar enough for metal heads that need an upgrade.Joe, B

This is the first Acoustic/electric that I have owned that I actually love playing. The action is great even with the large gauge acoustic strings on it. Comes with a very nice gig-bag/case. I love the way the neck and back of the guitar looks. I also love the Strat 5-way switch that selects the degree and type of acoustic sound. The only downside with this guitar is the cover that serves as a cover for the electronics and pick guard. It looks cheap, more like a decal than a cover. I think Fender can do better on this detail for the price of the guitar. However, if you can get past that then it is a fine playing and sounding guitar. I have owned several Acoustic and Acoustic/Electric guitars. The action on even high-priced acoustics was so terrible I just ended up selling them. I also do not like the large back ends of most acoustic and acoustic electric guitars, but this guitar is small and easy to play. I would give it an A-.Bill

The research I did on trying to learn more about this instrument via general internet, YouTube, assorted standard Music Company's like Sam Ash; Sweetwater; Guitar Center; Alamo; and other assorted Music Guitar critics provided a good array of opinions and product test results that produced a positive majority with impressive perspectives for the instrument I purchased. The Fender American Acoustasonic Stratocaster Acoustic-Electric Guitar Cocobolo I purchased from Sam Ash was not a disappointment. Aside from the 10 different options of Guitar unique sounds it provides from Acoustic and Electric mixes. The one-of-a-kind Cocobolo wood identifies a further fingerprint in supporting its own private one-of-a-kind signature sound with relationship to the Cocobolo wood unique to it alone. That just blows me away with how special the sound of specialty signature sound it produces with the ten different built in technical sounds the Fender Guitar company developed with this special edition. I feel overwhelmed in learning to continue how to play this guitar. It allows me so many more possibilities with playing soft country to hard rock a really strong guitar enjoyment experience.Guitar Enthusiast

Overall, I am very happy with this guitar. It exudes classic Fender looks and tone. The quality and craftsmanship are decent for the price point. I have a US Tele and, after putting some TLC into this player strat, it feels and plays almost as good as the Tele. I would give it five stars if it were not for fretwork that was needed. Body – The finish and surf pearl color are gorgeous. The wood grain is barely visible (raised) so I would not say the finish is flawless, but the grain is very subtle and adds character in my opinion. The routed cavities for the electronics (top) and the tremolo springs (back) are precisely cut and clean. The electronics cavity was even finished with black paint. Neck – The finish and appearance are great. However, all 22 frets had sprouted; some as much as 1/32". I can't say this is a craftsmanship issue as the frets were probably fine when it was assembled. It must have been a very high humidity environment, though. Nevertheless, after painstakingly filing and redressing all 44 fret ends it feels good. The frets themselves were well seated and leveled. The 3rd and 11th frets were a few thousands of an inch high, but not enough to cause any buzzing issues. The frets were well rounded and polished. Hardware – The tuners are just okay. One of them feels a little rough turning, and they seem to have a low turning ratio making it very touchy to dial in perfect pitch. The 2-point fulcrum tremolo bridge seems like a better design than the traditional (six screw) bridges, but I did not test it. I prefer to block them for more stable tuning, which worked great with this bridge. I have upgraded electronics I had planned to install in this guitar, but the stock pickups aren't bad. They are very quiet and have good tone – there is no rush to replace them. Setup was a breeze. Truss rod adjustment was smooth, nut slots were to spec, and intonation was perfect. The action needed adjustment since I blocked the tremolo, but that was easy.Dave S.

VFM – 5/5. Beautiful player. We’ll set up. Flawless construction. Stunning new guitar shape and colour. Humbuckers are sweet and can be split. Highly recommended.Reviewed by Absolute Music custo

I have the Player Plus Nashville Tele and wanted another guitar in the series. I've been enamored with the Meteora since it first came out. This thing is amazing. It is the right mix between a Strat and a Jazzmaster. I love the fireball pickups and the S1 switch gives some awesome tonal options for single coil twang. Weight wise it feels like a strat or a jaguar. Rolled fretboard feels great, neck is a c shape similar in feel to a Les Paul but with a super nice satin finish. Overall this thing is an absolute beast!Dave

I have 5 other fender strat's all usa made and this mex made Meteora is my new "go to" Finish is flawless, neck feels awesome, fret work is better than my new $2,500 ultra strat. Super comfortable to play, The fireball pickups sound great. Way to go Fender Mexico !Don

This is a seriously awesome guitar! The neck feels great and guitar is well balanced. The pickups have that nice clear P90 attack and sustain for days. Mine arrived by courier from across the country and when I took it out of the case, it was in tune! Struck a chord and felt the resonance through my body. Then I did a few string bends and felt and heard the strings scratching on the frets! Absolutely dismally polished frets! Very disappointing to buy an expensive guitar and end up having to spend a few hours polishing the frets myself. The rest of the setup however, was impeccable. Intonation, action, string height, all really spot on. Overall, I’m really happy with this guitar. I’ll include a photo of the frets where you can see the polished frets next to the dull ones.Yamaha please include locking tuners on the next version! Absolutely love this guitar though!Peter R.

I purchased this Yamaha Professional with P90s and also A Reverend Gristle 90 to compare and the Ergonomics and the neck feel on the Yamaha was nicer and easier to navigate. More tone option for me on the Yamaha. The Jumbo Stainless Steel frets had a familiar and nice feel for me. The only drawback and the only reason I didn't give it 5 stars is the Yamaha did not have silent P90s whitch is not a game changer for sure, nothing a good noise gate wouldn't fix or switch out Pick Ups. Craftsmanship is stellar. Trying it out for the first time at a gig tonight. Chicago Music Exchange did what they promised and put new strings of my preference with a nice set up. Thanks David A.Jim O.

I've originally bought the ML3 in hot blue and it was cool looking guitar however there were some manufactured issues with the electronics and wires being damaged (melted to be precise) so i contacted the Andertons who reposed straight away and was happy to swap it for me straight away and i even choose a different colour (maybe blue was unlucky) so within few days i have received replacement and was very pleased that all electronics were in order and there was no damage to pots or wires. So all in all customer service is excellent as always and guitar is awesome. Yes the stock pots are not the best buy but hey those are cheap to replace with decent cts pots and worth considering changing the cap as well as re do all ground wires and you have one amazing instrument. Thanks Andertons.Reviewed by Andertons Music Co.

This guitar is amazing! The weight is perfect (7.37 lbs for mine). Fit and finish is great with no visible blemishes. The pickups sound great. The tuners are stable. Frets are finished perfectly, and the neck is very comfortable. It appears that Chapman has applied years of lessons learned to perfect instrument manufacturing at this price point. Well worth the wait!Reviewed by Andertons Music Co.

The quality of this guitar is above my skill level so I can't comment on the technical side of things. But I absolutely love the finish – it's darker than in the images on the Andertons site (which I prefer) and more closely matches the darkness of the fretboad. The roasted maple neck has some girth at the neck but is narrower than the standard series with a nice satin finish which is a pleasure to stroke and fondle! A detail I really like is that the colour of the neck closely matches the rim of the body which doesn't happen on the flamed maple necks of the standard line (I borrowed a friends before purchasing). The pickups sound great, but also it has quite a nice acoustic sound when not plugged into an amp – which is how I do a lot of my noodling.Reviewed by Andertons Music Co.

I love this Casino. I knew I wanted a P-90, and I really wanted a fully hollow body. I wanted to see if I could replicate a I've been agonizing over the purchase for months, looking for every possible solution, and was almost ready to pull the trigger on the Epi USA version, and after MUCH research, finally decided to go with the regular Epiphone. The construction, from everything I read, is excellent, and I knew that if necessary, I could always switch out the pups. Well, I can't say enough about how good this guitar is! I am extremely fussy on setups (I do setups on my own guitars and for other people) and this thing was ready to play right out of the box! I literally didn't touch a thing except to tune it up. I won't even have to dress the frets. I may touch them up just a bit (again, I'm really fussy) but they feel better than most guitars that cost three times as much. It is really beautiful. I love the vintage sunburst. The finish is flawless. Now for the important part – it plays like a dream. The neck profile is extremely comfortable. I can move up and down the neck as fluidly as on any guitar I own. And the sound! I was amazed at how present it is, even before plugging it in. I see this little sweetheart spending a lot of evenings on the couch with me. Soft enough not to overly bother my wife, but again – very present. Plugged in – well lets just say I won't be replacing these pups. It is exactly the sound I was hoping for. I'm no Grant Green, but I can certainly understand why he loved this guitar. Would I recommend it? Heck yeah! Country? Check. Classic rock? Check. Rockabilly, surf, blues and even jazz? Check, check, check, and check.Jess

Had the money to buy any guitar in the shop. Liked the looks of the SG, worn ebony with rosewood fingerboard and the Gibson speed knobs. Having only played guitars with 9.5 radius, I found the 14 radius was better for bar chords. The craftsmanship is excellent, can find no flaws the body or neck. The truss rod was out of adjustment, considerable back-bow. I fixed that, and set the action low. The intonation was spot on. Frets were polished with no sharp edges. I plan to upgrade the cheap electronics with new pots. As for the pickups, they sound ok. Since I use a modeling amp, not a big issue for me. The nut is a GraphTech synthetic bone. Nice touch for an inexpensive guitar, since i do not like changing them out…too much risk of damage. I have fender Strat and Tele, but have not put this down since purchasing it. Once I upgrade the electronics, this will be a very solid guitar.Jeff

Overall: I've been a guitarist since the late 80's, but I no longer play professionally, but I do play at home a lot. I've sold off most of my Gibsons (I held on to my '19 Les Paul Traditional) and I'm having a blast with these new Epi models. Everyone is raving about the Standard and the '59 models, and rightfully so. I own both, as well as a new Custom Silverburst and they're all great. This Classic is no exception. It actually arrived needing the least amount of setup work of all the others. The Alnico Classic Pros are brighter and a bit hotter than the Probuckers, but they're not at all harsh. The electronics work as expected, the neck pickup sounds sweet when split and the Phase feature sounds good with some moderate gain. The nut was cut extremely well and the frets don't need really much dressing. The neck is a little slimmer than what I'm used to, but it's easy adapting. The fretboard is a bit dry, but that's normal. Actually, these new Epiphone models all arrived in better condition than most of my Gibsons did in the past. The new Epiphone models are players guitars. Not wall art or collector's (cork sniffers) guitars, I wouldn't hesitate to take any of them to a gig and have fun with them. That's the whole point, right? I just wish they had made import guitars of this quality when I first started playing.Uriah

Out of the box and tuned, this guitar was completely unplayable with the neck so bent that pressing the strings at anywhere beyond the 8th fret fouled the frets higher up the neck, this also meant the action (measured at the 12th fret) was over 6mm. Fortunately I’ve a good understanding of how to set-up a guitar so adjusted the neck to have minimal relief with the truss rod – as a point of interest there was no truss rod allen key in the box, so just as well that I have my own tools. Once the action was set to my preferred settings (and by no means not as low as many like it) I had loads of fret buzz all over the place. So resetting the neck flat and using a ‘fret rocker’ I found 17 of the 22 frets (at various points across the neck) in need of remedial work to get them level. However as the guitar was new I decided initially to just add a bit more neck relief & set the action a shade higher, while I decided if I should just send it back or spending some hours sorting the frets in the near future? There are some positive points! I really liked the ‘worn’ (satin) finish although I feel there should have been a higher discount over the gloss finished versions as this must have saved loads of time during the finishing process. The Alnico Classic PRO pickups sound powerful with loads of variation between the neck and bridge and support coil-splitting. With the coils split option, with push/pull volume pots, there is (as expected) a significant drop in output but they do sound good, verging on P90 territory, rather than Strat/Tele sound ‘alikes’. One of the areas that lower cost guitars usually fail on is the quality of the tuners, here they have fitted Grover Rotomatics with an 18:1 ratio. They are smooth and easy to operate with the large kidney button heads, holding tune very well. The nut, a Graph Tech, was superbly cut, but unfortunately this was completely wasted with the poor quality of fret levelling from the factory as several of the strings would buzz when played open when set at a reasonably low action! The trapezoid neck inlays are very well fitted and although acrylic, do a very good impersonation of mother of pearl. Visually the guitar look stunning with its unusual colour and matt (worn) finish, but I do find the inclusion of gold knobs a bit of a clash with the all Nickel hardware and at the back cream control plate covers just don’t look right and should have been black. But both of these last two issues are a really cheap to resolve at about £12 for both black cover plates and 4 clear knobs. Overall both positives & negatives to consider and if I’d been unable to adjust the guitar myself, there would have been no option but to just send it back for a refund/replacement (hence 3 stars which I think is quite generous) as it is I’ll be keeping this. If I could have bought this locally it would have been great to try before I bought, but my local Epiphone dealer (90 mile round trip) didn’t have any in stock and was unlikely to get one, so I went the mail order route. The guitar is now playing well and will be even better when I get the time to sort out the frets and put a set of 9-42 gauge strings on.Paul

This guitar is absolutely stunning. At about $450 the Epiphone Les Paul Special certainly hits its price point without question. This is the 2nd time I bought this guitar, but I couldn't resist buying this again. I'll start with the cons first, that I noticed applied to both Special's I've owned.. The poly finish is thick. The combination of the "tv yellow" color and the thick polyurethane sort of gives a toy like feeling, or a bit of a cheapness to it.. Speaking of "tv yellow," it's really more of a Dijon mustard/ Carmel color. I don't think that's a bad thing or ugly by any means, but as other reviewers may have stated, the Epiphone isn't quite as accurate to its high end counterpart. The pickup routes and control cavity were also a little bit choppy, but that's just nit picking. If you buy this guitar, you will most likely need a setup. 2nd time around, I knew that going in but both guitars I bought needed set ups. That being said, this guitar is awesome. Surprisingly the laurel fingerboard was really smooth and moist. I do not sense bad or tall frets, but are scratchy at first. The P90 pros are so good. The CTS pots are so dynamic. The volume and tone sweeps combined with these P90 pros are so dynamic and touch sensitive, that they can hang with the best of em. The guitar resonates so well and plays both clean and crunchy top notch. Punchy and warm…Absolute quality electronics. I haven't found a bad tone in any position. If your used to playing your guitars with everything at 10, this guitar with inspire you to play around with all the tonal possibilities by simply rolling in & out your pots. The neck on this is fat, and so nice but not absurd. I highly recommend it. For the price, you can't go wrong and will love the tones, just plan on getting a setup and you will absolutely love this guitar.Zac F

. Now let me set the scene… I am a guitar lover (I can even play a little too) and a quality professional so My expectations are somewhat higher than most looking at this product. An absolutely beautiful instrument, this is my second SA360 and although they are no longer. Made in Japan, be assured they have not lost any of the build quality or attention to detail. The guitar was really well set up, is great to play, feels good in the hand and sounds the bee’s knee’s. If you are looking to start out in guitar playing get yourself an Ibanez Gio to start as a first upgrade from that, then the SA series is where you want to be at.Timbo

I bought this guitar to serve as a backup while my main guitar, an Ibanez Premium RG1070FM, is gone several weeks for warranty repair. I needed a practice guitar with the same scale length and double-locking tremolo, and after three days, it's doing great. It's my first guitar with a poplar body, and tonally it seems similar to basswood but slightly brigher; this combination of woods and pickups makes the guitar nice for mid-heavy soloing without sounding brittle. The neck and fretboard rivals guitars costing three times as much, like the Charvel Pro-Mod DK24 HH FR I had. The neck joint and heel is less clunky than the Charvel's when it comes to reaching frets 19-24; although playing the upper frets is better on the JS32DKA, I still prefer the All-Access Neck Joint on late model Ibanez RGs. I've been an Ibanez RG devotee for 23 years, but thanks to the JS32DKA, I'll give Jackson guitars serious consideration when I'm in the market for a gigging gutiar. I'm thinking Soloist SL2 or SL3. A few negative: 1. There was too much play in the tremolo arm, despite the inner hex screw and arm collar being fully tightened. Sadly, I've played enough entry-level guitars to know that this is a fact of life. I had spare parts, so I replaced the arm socket with and arm with Floyd Rose branded one I had lying around. The collar still needs to be tightened down after every song, but the socket itself no longer wobbles in the base plate when you pull or push the bar. 2. My bridge pickup squeals with moderate gain dialed in on my Blackstar HT Club 40 MKII amp. I have DiMarzio pickups on my Ibanez and Seymour Duncans in my Schecter, and I get no feedback with those guitars; this leads me to believe the stock pickups in the JS32 are not wax potted to prevent feedback.Indiana_Tim

I needed a comfortable guitar to record some song ideas, and this one seemed to fit the bill. The finish is really nice, although it's a lot darker in person than it is in the pictures. It's really comfortable sitting down. It seems to stay in tune, so I don't have to put locking tuners on it just yet. And now for the downsides… There's a few minor blemishes on the back of the neck, but they can probably be easily sanded out, or them might smoothen out after significant playing time. The fretboard is incredibly dry, so I recommend conditioning it with some mineral oil right away. The pickups are low quality. As in, they kinda hurt your ears when playing them. No big deal, I'm gonna switch them out for some EMG 81/60 I got lying around, so I didn't expect them to be good from the start. No big deal, really. What IS a big deal is the quality control on the frets. They are very rough, they make a scraping sound when you bend strings (which can be heard even through heavy distortion) and kills the notes real fast. I can't play it until I get them properly polished, so I get to dump some more money into it. Despite the low price, I expected more from Jackson, honestlyThijs

I love jackson guitars. I recently purchased the js32 and not being picky at all. First thing out of the box, impressed that it was really close to in tune yet immediately it had fret buzz, Could see runs in the paint as well. Ended up adjusting the truss rod, to help with fret buzz, adjusting the bridge to combat overly high action then adjusting springs in the back to compensate. By the time i had done that i also had to run the pick-ups way down due to strings touching. Literally nothing left un-adjusted in order to make it playable compared to their higher dollar guitars. 2 hours into it i could enjoy it. I think i blame fender takeover. Side note, bought a 700 dollar jackson and everything was horrible, turned out brand new, the strings were way too thick and had excessive pressure on the bridge, impossible to play.Randall Tadych

Overall: I've been a guitarist since the late 80's, but I no longer play professionally, but I do play at home a lot. I've sold off most of my Gibsons (I held on to my '19 Les Paul Traditional) and I'm having a blast with these new Epi models. Everyone is raving about the Standard and the '59 models, and rightfully so. I own both, as well as a new Custom Silverburst and they're all great. This Classic is no exception. It actually arrived needing the least amount of setup work of all the others. The Alnico Classic Pros are brighter and a bit hotter than the Probuckers, but they're not at all harsh. The electronics work as expected, the neck pickup sounds sweet when split and the Phase feature sounds good with some moderate gain. The nut was cut extremely well and the frets don't need really much dressing. The neck is a little slimmer than what I'm used to, but it's easy adapting. The fretboard is a bit dry, but that's normal. Actually, these new Epiphone models all arrived in better condition than most of my Gibsons did in the past. The new Epiphone models are players guitars. Not wall art or collector's (cork sniffers) guitars, I wouldn't hesitate to take any of them to a gig and have fun with them. That's the whole point, right? I just wish they had made import guitars of this quality when I first started playing.Uriah

Out of the box and tuned, this guitar was completely unplayable with the neck so bent that pressing the strings at anywhere beyond the 8th fret fouled the frets higher up the neck, this also meant the action (measured at the 12th fret) was over 6mm. Fortunately I’ve a good understanding of how to set-up a guitar so adjusted the neck to have minimal relief with the truss rod – as a point of interest there was no truss rod allen key in the box, so just as well that I have my own tools. Once the action was set to my preferred settings (and by no means not as low as many like it) I had loads of fret buzz all over the place. So resetting the neck flat and using a ‘fret rocker’ I found 17 of the 22 frets (at various points across the neck) in need of remedial work to get them level. However as the guitar was new I decided initially to just add a bit more neck relief & set the action a shade higher, while I decided if I should just send it back or spending some hours sorting the frets in the near future? There are some positive points! I really liked the ‘worn’ (satin) finish although I feel there should have been a higher discount over the gloss finished versions as this must have saved loads of time during the finishing process. The Alnico Classic PRO pickups sound powerful with loads of variation between the neck and bridge and support coil-splitting. With the coils split option, with push/pull volume pots, there is (as expected) a significant drop in output but they do sound good, verging on P90 territory, rather than Strat/Tele sound ‘alikes’. One of the areas that lower cost guitars usually fail on is the quality of the tuners, here they have fitted Grover Rotomatics with an 18:1 ratio. They are smooth and easy to operate with the large kidney button heads, holding tune very well. The nut, a Graph Tech, was superbly cut, but unfortunately this was completely wasted with the poor quality of fret levelling from the factory as several of the strings would buzz when played open when set at a reasonably low action! The trapezoid neck inlays are very well fitted and although acrylic, do a very good impersonation of mother of pearl. Visually the guitar look stunning with its unusual colour and matt (worn) finish, but I do find the inclusion of gold knobs a bit of a clash with the all Nickel hardware and at the back cream control plate covers just don’t look right and should have been black. But both of these last two issues are a really cheap to resolve at about £12 for both black cover plates and 4 clear knobs. Overall both positives & negatives to consider and if I’d been unable to adjust the guitar myself, there would have been no option but to just send it back for a refund/replacement (hence 3 stars which I think is quite generous) as it is I’ll be keeping this. If I could have bought this locally it would have been great to try before I bought, but my local Epiphone dealer (90 mile round trip) didn’t have any in stock and was unlikely to get one, so I went the mail order route. The guitar is now playing well and will be even better when I get the time to sort out the frets and put a set of 9-42 gauge strings on.Paul

This guitar is absolutely stunning. At about $450 the Epiphone Les Paul Special certainly hits its price point without question. This is the 2nd time I bought this guitar, but I couldn't resist buying this again. I'll start with the cons first, that I noticed applied to both Special's I've owned.. The poly finish is thick. The combination of the "tv yellow" color and the thick polyurethane sort of gives a toy like feeling, or a bit of a cheapness to it.. Speaking of "tv yellow," it's really more of a Dijon mustard/ Carmel color. I don't think that's a bad thing or ugly by any means, but as other reviewers may have stated, the Epiphone isn't quite as accurate to its high end counterpart. The pickup routes and control cavity were also a little bit choppy, but that's just nit picking. If you buy this guitar, you will most likely need a setup. 2nd time around, I knew that going in but both guitars I bought needed set ups. That being said, this guitar is awesome. Surprisingly the laurel fingerboard was really smooth and moist. I do not sense bad or tall frets, but are scratchy at first. The P90 pros are so good. The CTS pots are so dynamic. The volume and tone sweeps combined with these P90 pros are so dynamic and touch sensitive, that they can hang with the best of em. The guitar resonates so well and plays both clean and crunchy top notch. Punchy and warm…Absolute quality electronics. I haven't found a bad tone in any position. If your used to playing your guitars with everything at 10, this guitar with inspire you to play around with all the tonal possibilities by simply rolling in & out your pots. The neck on this is fat, and so nice but not absurd. I highly recommend it. For the price, you can't go wrong and will love the tones, just plan on getting a setup and you will absolutely love this guitar.Zac F

Overall: I purchased this guitar from zZounds about 2 years ago. Black and amazing: Before I made the move I played over 100 Gibson Les Paul and other brands, every time I came back to this exact model as the "Standard" to compare, after 6 months or so I pulled the trigger and received this Les Paul. The only thing I have a problem with is I wish I had all colors as this guitar will be a collector in time. The neck, profile, binging, hardware, pickups and electronics are perfect, not a single issue. The tone pull knows are extremely functional and the lower right tone when its "pulled up" is all on gain, treble tone and right into lead solo's without playing pickup selector and tones adjustment. Brilliant.This is players guitar, not a case queen. So glad Gibson came back from the dead.I've owned original 1969 Les Paul's and some 60 Stratocasters all of which have been narrowed down to 4 amazing Stratocasters, and a few other gems for live, scoring to film and all go to instruments.BUY THIS GUITAR and YOU WILL NOT BE DISSAPOINTED.I am not endorsed by any companies!!!!Michael S. SmithMichael

I've been playing guitar for almost 4o years and have always wanted a Gibson Les Paul because my favorite players use them. As a teenager, I couldn't afford one and saved up for a Washburn WP-80 (licensed les paul custom copy) and loved it. Ever since it has been my #1 and I've always regarded Gibson to be all about the name and not really worth the money. Well, I heard about the new Gibson line up a few years ago, decided to check them out, and discovered the Les Paul Classic model. It checked all of the boxes for my dream guitar. Plain top subtle burst, bound body and neck, coil splitting buckers, and weight relief. I saved up and ordered it through MF and it arrived 3 days later (on my birthday, no less!). Man, I don't know why I waited so long to own a Gibson. It is the sweetest playing/sounding/smelling guitar I have ever held. I was concerned about the wood grain when ordering sight unseen, but was relieved when I finally opened the case (see pics). Set up was good right out of the box. Pickups sound amazing, clear, open, and woody. The only disappointment was that the "9-hole" weight relief really isn't that noticeable. It's still a hefty Paul. Which is fine now, because I'm getting older and usually play sitting down. Also, there is a "freckle" on the fretboard. I know some would take issue with that, but to me tiny little imperfections like that just make the guitar special and unique, and It doesn't affect playing at all. Overall, I LOVE this guitar and am very satisfied!Ryan

Absolutely love the guitar. Color is a lot more subtle in person than in pictures online. Plays smooth right out the box, looks and feels amazing. Neck is quite similar to a strat but gets flatter near the neck. Only reason I didn't give a 5 star review is because when I unboxed it and inspected it there was a scuff on the headstock. It isn't noticeable from a distance but definitely something I'm not happy about. Other than that it plays great, looks great, feels great 🙂Julieanne

I've been dabbling with learning how to play the guitar for several years, I've even took a guitar class at the local community college but have gotten frustrated easily to where I quit. I'll say that I have had a "on again, off again" relationship with guitars for the last 15 years. I am not an expert in guitars and am steadily learning the process – how they are built, the electronic parts, etc. I decided to give it a go again with this inexpensive guitar that is a great little learning tool for the novice player like myself. One thing I did do when I got this is change the strings. I watched several review videos on this model and one the the first things people recommended was to change the strings. So I bought a box of Ernie Ball Regular Slinky's (10-46) and re-strung the guitar immediately after I got it out of the box. I am pleased with my progress so far. Could be the fact that I found a great website that gives excellent beginner lessons and helps me to understand the fundamentals of guitar playing. Things that the college instructor didn't teach very well. Of course, it helps that I can play the videos over and over! I'm upgrading to a Fender Mustang LT 25 amp, which will give me a huge range of different tones that I can get out of this guitar. As my skills develop and I get better (hopefully), I will look at upgrading to a higher price point guitar. I would love to get an SG! If you are looking to get started in the guitar community, I would recommend this model to get started. I've watched many videos of experienced guitar players jam some pretty cool riff's with this thing!Jason

This is an incredible guitar for the money. Only thing that needed serious help was the action at the nut. Using the stock nut and a set of nut files, I set it up to my preferred specs of 1/64th of an inch a two the first fret. This ensured comfortable playing as well as tuning stability. After cutting the nut slots to the right height, looks like the file made sure the strings wouldn't catch and now the guitar stays in tune much much better. I would replace the pickups with p90s if I could. Some modification to the pickguard might make this a possibility. Sometimes, I forget I'm playing an Epiphone. With the nut corrected it really is possible to get it feeling pretty good. Here are my personal specs: .005" neck relief measured at the 8th fret. 1/64ths action at the first fret across all strings. 1/16ths of an inch action at the 15th fret. It does not play as well as my Gibsons do: the explorer feels much lower and faster with the same specs and my les Paul traditional does reel in some "big time" tone. In spite of this, the Epiphone SL really does hit the mark. It's capable of all the same specs after adjusting the nut, making for a very playable guitar. I also don't believe the tuning issues are due to the economy tuners since after I adjusted the nut the guitar stays in tune much better. I bought a replacement black tusq nut but have not installed it. I wonder if there's even really a need to do so. This action at the nut is very low but the guitar pulls it off very well. I'm sure that with better pots (remember this is an economy guitar) andLeón

Beautiful guitar, but…the tremolo arm didn't fit. The hole in the bridge was too small. Contacted Monoprice, they offered a refund or an exchange. Decided to carefully ream out the hole with a small, fine circular file. Fret ends as usual were very sharp, easy fix with a foam sanding block. Other than those two bugs, I love the guitar. Wonderful neck, plays and sounds great. Fret work was excellent (except for the VERY sharp ends). Oh, and the bridge saddles are garbage. They are good copies of the original Fender saddles, but those were garbage too. $20 at Eyguitar for brass replacements.Daniel

My OS40 DLX did not arrive with a trem bar so I sourced one from Amazon—it's a standard 5mm with no threads. The bridge was extremely loose (which is normal for a Jazzmaster-type guitar), but the posts AND the sleeves were way too sloppy. Fixed that with some aluminum foil tape. The trem on this model is one way only (tunes downward) and cannot be made to float–like real Jazzmasters–due to the spring being too strong. I replaced the spring with a much weaker version and now it floats and actually stays in tune very well. Last, the bridge is the vintage version which looks like it was made from threaded rod, and the strings will easily shift position when strumming hard. The remedy is a steeper break angle which requires tilting the neck slightly with shims or (like I did) installing a Micro-Tilt device like on real Fenders. This increases the downward pressure on the saddles and along with 11-50 strings the whole thing works great. The body on mine is 2 piece solid wood–not a bunch of scraps like on many cheap guitars–and the fingerboard is exceptional. No shielding under the pickguard but it's an easy fix. Even with the extra work this guitar is a bargain.Matthew

Based on the guitar I received, this is a good starting point if you don't mind doing some work. On the plus side, the finish was very nice and the overall wood components, pickguard, and pickups are solid. On the minus side, there were some issues. The tone pot fell apart and had to be replaced, one of the pickguard screws fell out (stripped), the fretboard was very, very dry and the frets needed some minor work. Also of note, while the neck and body are very nice, the do not join smoothly. the veneer of the body extends beyond the side of the neck at the pocket and took about 2 seconds to crack. All of these items are repairable, but a bit excessive for most beginners.Cullen

Fantastic guitar with extreme clarity in it's tone. Gives me a lot of diverse options in my playing. For this money it is in my opinion better than similar priced instruments of some of the more well known brands.Reviewed by Andertons Music Co.

Reverend makes really nice guitars. I have Fenders and Gibsons (and others) and this guitar is equal in quality and sound to anything I own. It's lightweight, sounds good unplugged, sounds really nice plugged-in, clean or distorted. I've had other noiseless pickups and most sound weird – these sound good and have a clarity with distortion that is impressive. The contour knob is great and makes me wish I had it on all my guitars. Love the locking tuners.Plum Guy