Epiphone Junior Model Electric Guitar For Sale (2024 Update)

The guitar came in really good packaging and not a single thing was wrong with it. The guitar sounds fine and surprisingly good quality for something this cheap. Great starter guitar for anyone looking to start practicingEddie

Purchased this guitar pack as a gift for my younger sister who is interested in having a guitar just to cool around on. The guitar itself is pretty nice, but the included amp doesn’t work and it doesn’t have an obvious way to turn on. No on/off switch and the volume knobs don’t click it on either.Clayton

I bought one of these several months ago. Ok I'm not good guitarist so take that into into consideration but I have player series strat and have always played strat style guitars and I'm not saying i love this guitar more than the Fender I love them both but as far as the guitar is concerned she got so much potential tonally. I have no complaints about the ascetic she beautiful sexy gorgeous took a little getting used to the weight and contours compared to the strat there is adjustment period but she just rocks. I never played a Gibson but if this guitar had Gibson I guess it be a little better but also 2grand more. If I have any complaint is she is finger print magnet always wiping down get some dunlop 65 and microfiber cloth. The Glossy neck won't appeal to all but I can deal with it. Fret work perfect. I'm not a gigging musician but i have no doubt she gig worthy. Oh also, get the pro coverage cause I found out ALL Les Paul are extremely fragile at the neck,It has to do with the angle of the neck, Google it, do your research on owning a led Paul little different than strat anyway the guitar is 600-GREAT VALUE then with 2 years pro coverage plus tax it was under 900 or somewhere around there. And if you get a bad quality then ask for another cause it is coming from Asia so there is variability in workmanship but mine is PERFECT. If I ever get rich maybe ill buy a Gibson but for now this satisfy my Les Paul needs. I wanted an alternative to my strat to emulate Slash sound lol I need to work on my technique but this definitely rocks a Les Paul sound. I did see a review or 2 that liked the sound of the 1950 better but I played them both and liked the 60s better but check them both out the inspired by Gibson line is definitely worth the money if you want a Les Paul without breaking the bank. Just take your time do your homework if you can go to a GC and play it then do that In rarely write reviews especially this long but I love this guitarMichael L

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

Got this for Christmas 2012 as I wanted something to tune open for slide. Got the sunburst finish which,when you see it, is unbelievable.Plays really well and didn't have to do much setup other than change strings. The stock ones were horrible. Thought what the heck and took it to the first gig this year.Tonight will be the fifth straight gig with it.Growls beautifully but turn back the volume a smidge and it cleans right up.Turn back the tone knob and it mellows it right out.Never did get to tune it open and play slide but I will. I have always been a Gibson player and just loved having Gibson on the headstock. Two years ago I bought the epiphone 58 flying V and thought I'm spending a lot less money and getting a really good guitar but was a little leary of the Juinor. I mean c'mon I paid about the same for my starter guitar way back in 64 and It was'nt this nice. I don't know what pickup they put in this thing but It just screams. I have been playing classic rock before it was classic. about 45 years and have had all kinds of Gibsons,Fenders,and Rickenbackers and still do and will always love my Les Paul,but this little baby is a real standup guitar and a whole lot easier on my aged back.Will change out the tuners as they don't quite hold tune like Grovers or Klusons but I have a spare set. Will change out the nut for sure as it is plastic and will not last. Other than that I can't find anything wrong with this guitar. Would like to put on a P-90 pickup, but I like this one. Guess I'll just have to buy another one and put a P-90 in that one. I love this guitar alot!Lennonlover

I wanted an inexpensive guitar to slap some 12s on, raise the action and open tune for slide, so when I saw this guitar on MF at a two-digit price, I bought it. No regrets at all. In fact, I can't believe you can get this kind of quality for this cheap! I've had this one for 2 weeks now and put the heavy guage strings on it and raised the action, and this thing is still fun to play, both regular and slide. The fit and finish is surprisingly well done;; I have no complaints there. I expected to have to do a fret level and file down sharp edges, but no. That was fine. The pickup may be the best stock Epi pup I've heard yet….very surprised there. (I have 6 other Epiphones, all modded) The tuners may be the weak link here because they just feel cheap, but hold tune reasonably well. I'll swap those out eventually. The neck is a pretty sweet soft C profile and plays really well. Despite the light weight, the guitar is well balanced and not neck-heavy at all. All in all, for this amount of money you should have one of these too! Great addition to my stable.RonMart

I bought the ebony model a few weeks back when they were on sale. Being experienced with Epiphone guitars I was expecting a decent guitar but one that I would use as a platform for modding since this is their entry level guitar. Nope, this thing isn't getting messed with anytime soon. It really is a great player right out of the box. When I can put it down long enough I'll do a fret level and dress to smooth out the frets, but even that's not an emergency. The tuners are basic, but are rock solid. Once the strings were broken in, I can play and bend all I want and when I check my tuning, I may have one string off by a half cent or so. I still have the original strings on it, very good after you play the resin off of them that they ship with. I hate the feeling of it but once it's gone, the strings are fine. I see no need to swap them out to my preferred brand until it's necessary The electronics function as designed and the pots are full size Alpha pots. The pickup is a little hotter than I prefer but the volume/tone knobs smooth it out nicely. The jack is just fine, no issues. And that's it for electronics. The wraparound bridge limits intonation adjustments to 2 set screws and they do a good enough job for my ears. Fit and finish is good. No cosmetic issues that I could find. And FUN to play! I've got 6 electrics and since this came 2 weeks ago, it gets 90% of my attention. There's just something about coming at music with one pickup, a volume and tone control, and making it happen. Tweak the tone from your fingers, the knobs, and the amp and you really get to know your guitar/amp setup. I've played in working bands in the past and wouldn't have any issue taking this on stage. It's got everything I need to coax out the tone I want. Easily gets 5 stars from me as a best in class.KevinV

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

Overall I do think that this guitar is well worth the little cost, I think credit has to be given to Gibson and epiphone for overseeing the quality of overseas company that makes this guitar. I also want to say that I bought the epiphone Les Paul hardshell case after I received and played the guitar and knew I was going to keep it, the case is also of good quality. I have played professionally for many years and also for fun Jamming with friends and other musicians, and exclusively played my 70s fender strat, and will continue to play the strat as the action is better and a little easier to play and I like the fender sound, I play the strat with the original fender Tube Concert Amp and I play the Les Paul with the concert amp and it sounds good also.I also play both with the Line 6 Jam amp and they also sound very good on the line 6 jam amp. I intend to play the Les Paul as often as I can and I do enjoy playing it. I received this guitar on June 5 and I was very happy to see it was well packed for shipping and was in very good condition when I received it. The action is very easy to set up I changed the strings as it comes with .10 and I like a lighter string. The guitar sounds and players very well the humbuckers sound good the 2 volume and tone work fine and the neck and treble switch works well at this time. It seems the Les Paul 100 is a well built and quality guitar at this time and only time will tell how it will hold up. I think if care is taken it should last a long time. I have owned a lot of guitars in my time and in my time all guitars were made in USA. I did not really like the Gibson the necks are big and bulky but I did like some of the deeper sounds. The guitar I played the most is my70s Fender Strat and I think I will play this Les Paul 100 more also. The guitar seems of good Quality, right now I think if there is a flaw it would be in the tuning knobs, right now I have a little problem with one tuning knob the 3rd string [G] goes out of tune during playing a short time I will try to tighten tuning knob to see if this will help. But over all the quality is good I think that the epiphone les paul 100 is a great value for the price, it sounds good and plays well for a non USA guitar I dont think you will find better, I hate to say this because I am a real fender fan and I have played some of the fender non USA guitars and they were terrible.joesplaceny

I bought this guitar for a couple reasons. My first reason was because i wanted a guitar that was my own, and not acoustic, ive used my brothers acoustic guitar fr my learning thus far, but ive grown apart from it, ive started wanting to learn skills used on electric. Another reason was, i can play well, and im in a band, but our guitarist isnt good at all and insists on playing guitar, so ive decided if i can play in his place, i can at least teach him. Finally, i am a huge fan of the anime "K-ON!" and the main character, Yui, plays a Gibson Les Paul in the same color as this, so that had a bug impact on what guitar i chose in the end. I absolutely love how it looks! It's simply awesome to have it in my room, and i constantly get told at school that i have a "sexy guitar" or i get asked "how much did it cost" and its awesome to know that it didnt cost me more than a PS3! And i love the features the guitar has [the 2 different pickup sounds are very useful]. And there is in NO way there is a $2000 dollar difference in sound quality, it still sound amazing, especially with some distortion or overdrive added to it! I'm yet to change the string on it, so obviously it still lacks in my own touch to it, but i will eventually get to that. and very VERY tiny scratches to the pick guard and writing on the switch labels were spotted upon its arrival, but these cannot be seen unless close.jayzap96

Overall: This is my umpteenth Epiphone custom sg guitar ive bought since the last guitar i had which was the more lower end 61 standard i bought here used last year. The caps pots and Gibson USA burstbuckers are definitely a step up in the right direction and are true to the original reissue Sg standards back in the beginning of the Gibson sg. It sounds like a 2000 dollar Gibson reissue sg but at Epiphone import prices. I intend on keeping this guitar for a lifetime and is a good backup guitar to my similarly pricef esp ltd viper 1000 deluxe i bought a year ago from a competitor in the now disconnected tiger eye finish from zZounds. Lastly i also intend on getting a real Gibson sg custom 63 version used for a discounted price. One more thing i might buy a backup les Paul sg standard by Epiphone just in case this one gets stolen or lost. Thank you Epiphone custom for stepping up your game and making better sg custom shop guitars than in the past. The black Epiphone sg custom with gold hardware is no joke either and i might another one when i get done paying for this Les Paul sg standard first fron here.Isaac

I got this guitar in sparkling burgundy and the finish is beautiful. The workmanship on this guitar is great; it feels very high quality. The fretwork is also really good, with no fret ends sticking out to cut my hands. That being said, the pickups are not very good. I initially debated purchasing the guitar since it sounded very ice-picky and thin when I played it in the store. But I decided to take a chance, knowing the return policy that GC has. I brought it home and the first thing I did was go over it completely. The fretboard was very dry. Even my wife, who doesn't play guitar, looked at it and commented on that. So removed the strings and polished the frets and cleaned/conditioned the fretboard. Then I swapped out the Alnico Classic Pro pickups, which are rather bad, and put in a set of Probucker 2/3 pickups that I had sitting around. Better strings, polished frets, and some nicer alnico 2 pickups made a huge difference. It sounds full and thick and warm, and it plays like an angel. I highly recommend it, as long as you can swap out the pickups.Robert

I am basically play for my own entertainment, and this LP Modern is rapidly becoming my favorite, even though I also really like my G&L Tele and Strat models. The shorter scale makes a difference and I find the neck fits my hand really nicely. The sound is great, as is the finish. Having said that, I would have given it 5 stars, but my guitar came with 5 areas of light scratches and scuffs, including under the protective plastic on the pick guard, but I was able to polish all of them out to where all but one area is completely gone. The worst spot was by the toggle switch, which is all but disappeared and probably with a little more polishing, would go away completely. I didn't want to take the chance of going thru the clear, but am happy with the results. Someone else who is uncomfortable with that process may find it unacceptable, but I doubt those issues are common on Epiphones and MF's return/exchange policy would certainly cover that as I was assured if I wished to do so. The Sparkling Burgandy finish is a real eye catcher and now it makes me want to pick up the guitar and play it, which is the whole point. The added weight relief makes it enjoyable hanging on your shoulder. This is a very nice guitar for the price and then some. And Devan Miller has been great during the whole process and follow up. Very knowledgeable, patient, and extremely helpful in answering all my questions. Highly recommend him as a rep.Steve R

Overall: The Epiphone Les Paul Modern sounds great and looks amazing. The new/old Kalamazoo headstock is a game changer for the overall look of the instrument. With push/pull coil split and phase switching there are a wide variety of useful sounds over and above the traditional Les Paul. Any differences between Epiphone and Les Paul pickups can be compensated for with EQ, especially while using overdrive. There is a bit of noise similar to single coils when using the coil split function.The guitar came with a great setup from the factory. Action and intonation are about the best I have seen of any of the dozen or so guitars I have owned. Tuning stability is exceptional. This is noteworthy for an Epiphone as there are often issues with tuning stability on Gibson LP's due to the angle of the headstock being greater than the Epiphones. The locking tuners are an excellent upgrade, and should be standard on most guitars these days. Regarding quality control, I identified three high frets that are causing some minor fret buzz, but not enough to send it back. Some minor fret work will resolve this, but you should take this into consideration if you are not inclined to spend extra money on a brand new guitar for fret leveling. I have read that this is a common issue with 2020-2021 Epiphones. Fret ends have some sharpness to them. The black pickguard has a gap around the neck pickup. Not very noticeable unless you are looking for it, but I am not sure why this is an issue. I have seen it on other guitars of this model. Though it is an Epiphone, this seems to be one area that would not be difficult to fix in design. Finally, there are minor quality control issues on the finish mostly around the binding with paint bleed or similar. Overall, at this price point, the guitar is a great purchase for the hobbyist, considering the Gibson version will cost about $3,000. However, with so many quality guitar choices in the $1,000 price range, I am not sure I would pay much more for an Epiphone, and am glad they kept the price point in this range.Shanon

This Epi is the best out of my 4 Epiphones and right next to my Gibson Les Paul. I weighed this at about 7.8lbs. I had to leave the pickguard off. Fret ends are smooth and the neck is between a slim-tapered and chunky. I love the Probucker pups, which, to me, are similar to the Gibson 490R and 498T pups that I have on my SG. This axe presents a lot of 'firsts' for me-my first modern relief axe, my first access Les Paul so it's nice to have the extra room at the higher frets, my first set of locking tuners which makes changing strings so much easier and these Grovers hold well. The pot tapering is superb and the out-of-phase switch has a nice sound, too…Overall, this is the perfect axe for beginners and the perfect axe for professionals. You deserve to play one for yourself. Play it plugged AND unplugged…Feel the resonance.John564

I brought the Caribbean Fade, and it's amazing looking. Great sound, really has that Gibson sound. Finish is really really nice, very well put together, perfect weight, great guitar all around for the money. I am a huge fan of both Gibson's, and Fender's, I may lean alittle more towards the Fender side though. I will say for the money I bought after playing them both back to back that the new Fender Player series Mexican Stratocasters sound almost as good as the Fender American's nowadays, and for the money if you are split between a Epiphone (trying to get the Gibson sound on a budget), and the Fender Player Mexican (looking for the Fender American sound) these guitars are both about the same price, I would get the Fender, maybe not as pretty as the Gibson, but the Fender is the most versatile guitar there has ever been and the Player series is alot of guitar for only $700+ dollars, and is very close sounding to the American. But if you want a Gibson and can't afford their outrageous and I know they are amazing, but I just don't see or hear $2,800 worth of guitar there. But I do hear an amazing Epiphone Les Paul for under $800, I guess my point is, you could buy an Epiphone Les Paul Modern, and a Fender Player Mexican Stratocaster, and still have a $1,000 to spend on an Amp for the price of the Gibson alone, and I feel the same way about the Fender American model, although I think the Fender American at only $1,700 is a superior guitar to the $2,800 Gibson, you just get alot more guitar for $1,100 less then the Gibson. Save your money, this Epiphone Modern is a great guitar that sounds amazing and looks amazing. One thing I didn't realize, and this is another reason to go with the Fender Player series, is your going to have to pay a professional to put your pick guard on your Epiphone, as it does not come attached. I'm sure that will be another $100, as I'm not scewing anything into my guitar without the insurance a store would have to replace it if something went wrong haha. Personally I don't beat on my guitars enough, and with how pretty the Caribbean Fade looks, and with the Epiphone having more clearance from strings to tje body, then the Fender, I'm leaving it off. Hope this helps, if you are dead set on wanting the Gibson sound at a budget the Epiphone Les Paul Modern is a great guitar. One other thing you will most likely also have to buy a specific case as it doesn't fit in the basic hardcase I bought when I bought my Fender. Gibsons body Shape is more unique then alot of guitars, and I wouldn't risk using anything other then specifically designed Gibson/Epiphone cases, wear as a PRS, Ibanez, and a great majority of guitars fit in the standard hard case. I spent the extra $130 for a Epiphone case. As it was resting on the tip of the guitar in my standard hard case and that's a big no no. Enjoy!!!J

Sound: Pickups sound great with several different voicing available with the coil taps and phase switch. Features: Just feels like a top shelf instrument. Ease of Use: Playability was great out of the box , it is outstanding with a truss rod and bridge tweak. Quality: Fells extremely well made. Value: I think it is comparable to other guitars in this price range Manufacturer Support: No The Wow Factor: It is absolutely beautiful – the prettiest guitar I’ve owned and I’ve owned over 70 guitars! Overall: First of all, I have extremely high expectations when an import guitar cost $700, so this review is written from a critical viewpoint. I ordered Thursday night and it was in my hands Saturday morning at 11! Great job. Epiphone box packaged inside of a bigger box albeit with no packing material between the two. Guitar arrived unscathed. Epiphone decals and warranty info but no truss rod tool. I was so happy that the pickguard wasn’t installed nor are there holes drilled in this beautiful finish, but it was included in the box. The fret ends are as smooth as silk! I was worried about this as my 2020 Epiphone Explorer felt like a cheese grater. Action was a little high with zero neck relief from the factory. Frets are actually pretty level. I gave it the slightest amount of relief and dropped it to 2/64 on both the low E and high Es. Predictably, it had some buzz up past the 12th fret. I raised it to my standard 4/64 and 3 /64 and there is zero fret buzz. Way to go a Epiphone factory! The Grover locking tuners are great but whoever put the strings on at then factory doesn’t know how to use them properly as they still wrapped them around the post. The electronics all function as they should and have a quality feel to them. They have a full range of motion and not just on/off like some cheaper guitars tend to have. The fit and finish is near perfect. I found just a very slight over spray on the binding on the treble side and a finish imperfect on the side of the nut. Other then those two things, nothing- it’s perfect! The Caribbean Fade is the prettiest did sg I’ve ever seen in person – the wow factor is huge on this guitar.Arnie

I've wanted a semi-hollow for some time and I took the plunge to get this one. It's a very nice guitar that looks good and plays well. I was initially suspicious because of the price, as other guitars in the range did not play so well to me. Anyway, I had the store do a setup to ensure everything was fine and had the strings on I like to use. I change my own strings, of course, but I don't have tools for doing a proper setup. Good thing I did. Their Technician/Luthier CONNER, was very, very conscientious about his work, even fixing a slightly raised 14th fret. He was very meticulous in his inspection and work. If you don't have a semi-hollow body ax, this would be a good choice for the money. I have not had it long enough to say much about the two split-coil switches for the humbuckers. Maybe they'll turn out to add some good sounds as I play more. My only significant gripe is that the back of the neck has a standard gloss finish. If you play guitar, you probably hate that, as well. But some light sanding and oil should improve the playability.George

The guitar is almost perfect. There is a noticeable finishing blemish where the nut meets the neck on the bass side and another blem in the finish on the back of the neck. Other than that the guitar is great. Plays well, fretwork is good, and the pickups sound great. I bought this one over the other 335 models because of the flamed Raspberry burst and block inlays. It is easily the best looking one in person IMO. This is my 7th newer Epiphone (2020+) and they ALL have come with dirty fretboards, scratchy frets, and cheap factory strings. After 5 minutes of playing your fingers will be black like you handled coal. Just expect this. Change the strings, clean/oil the fretboard, and give the frets a quick polish. That done they're all 8/10 or better guitars and are fantastic values. Can't say enough about how much I love these new Epiphones!Mark

This was for my son, a late beginner, to add to his Ibanez s521. This was ordered online, not bought off the wall. It comes very well packaged for shipment and arrived with zero scratches or damage. The strings that it has are actually OK and I may keep them for a bit. I am not a huge fan of the gold metallic but it is the kid's preference, and the finish seems nice. I did not see much of the paint covering part of the binding in places as some have remarked, and the binding seems to be pretty decently done. The only really startling indicator of low build quality on ours is the very rough finish on the insides of the f holes. There are places that the paint has small runs in it and you can tell there was cost savings. There are guitars in the price category that are much better finished in there and I would have gladly paid a couple of extra bucks for this. At least they could have painted it black on the sides of the holes, like they did on some of the other colors, to hide it somewhat. On the gold, it is just jarring. I may do just that, after it is out of warranty of course. It is sad because there aren't any other significant issues on mine. The fret ends seem pretty nice and there really isn't any lifting, sprout, or sharpness on any of them. I am intermediate, so I can't really say authoritatively how the tone compares to others objectively, but to my ears it sounds pretty good especially compared to some others in the price range, like the stock Ibanez pickups. Seem to have clarity and not muddy. Like the neck profile. Neck required a slight loosening of the truss rod to straighten and the action was easily lowered to 1.5mm at the 12th fret low e without significant buzzing. The treble bleed does its job and single coil option is nice too. It won't sound like my strat but it does give some versatility. The guitar is very fun to play with its neck profile and radius once I did my mild setup on it, and hard to explain, but I don't want to put it down once I start using it. Despite the one flaw, I still think it is a good buy and recommended.JM

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

Value: This guitar and others in the Epiphone line at this price point to $100 more are excellent value for money. If you need a set up and want to replace something, you still come out well under the price of the Gibson equivalent. The Wow Factor: It's different. It has character. It's sexy in It's own way. Just like me, haha 😉 Overall: It's been long years since I had an Explorer, mostly playing acoustics and Teles for a long time. I wanted humbuckers and a flatter fretboard than what Fender typically supplies, so I tried just about every Gibson and Epiphone model I could get my hands on. There were some contenders: LPs, 335s/Sheratons, even SGs which I never really cared for but was pleasantly surprised. None really felt comfortable to hold or play, all other factors being equal. Nostalgia called me back to the Explorer. It's big, drips with character and attitude, and is so easy to play sitting down or standing. If Gibson had a korina-bodied reissue model, I would have gone with that. The Olive Drab Green stood out to me, not positively at first, but I kept coming back to it. At this price, I could afford to upgrade everything from pickups to tuners for less than the price of a Gibson model. So, I pulled the trigger with zZounds because of their payment plan and great customer service.That being said, I had a few QC issues with the first one zZounds sent. It was shipped only in the box Epiphone packages them in, which got squished and shorted out the selector switch, and the neck was VERY bendy, like rubber spaghetti. zZounds was very cool about everything and I got a replacement in short order. It came with a box around the Epiphonr box, everything worked, and the neck was much more stable. It had some minor fret sprout in the upper frets, but that was the only issue.The guitar itself plays great, and the ProBucker pickups really push my amps. The bridge pickup is especially nice, but I plan on replacing them down the line with something with more clarity and definition like I've grown accustomed to from playing twangy Telecasters for so long. The ProBuckers are NOT muddy, dull cheap pickups like you would expect from an affordable sister company. The neck is probably the least articulate, even for a neck pickup, but it can still put out some great tones when pedals and amps are dialed in. Suitable for rhythm parts. Middle position is probably my go to, with the neck rolled back to 6-7, the bridge at 8-9, and tone at full tilt. The bridge pickup is excellent at driving leads and solos with the tone at 7-8 or at maximum. My first non-maple or ebony fretboard, I was well pleased with the Indian laurel. A bit of lemon oil conditioning was needed to bring it from Sahara dry to non-gritty playability. A couple of frets need some polishing to bring back in line, but nothing makes it unplayable. Just a little TLC and refinement, like any new guitar, and you're ready to rock and roll. So to speak. About versatility, the Explorer is a dark horse. Decades of hard rock and metal guitarists using them gives them a stigma, but they can play anything from blues and jazz to rock to metal if you fiddle with the knobs and get your pedals and amps dialed in correctly. My tastes are eclectic, and I wouldn't have bought or kept this guitar if I couldn't get the sounds I wanted out of it. Things I would like to see: push-pull coil splitting, a quieter selector switch, regular pickup soldering instead of quick connects, and a better-cared-for/out-of-the-box fretboard. Honestly, it was dry enough to be used for kindling.What I really liked: playability, fit of parts, very decent ProBucker pickups, Tusq nut, and the color. The Olive Drab Green gives a military/Cold War vibe that I love, and the poly finish is going to be able to handle years of my clumsiness and abuse and still look good. Say what you will about poly finishes, but they will survive the nuclear apocalypse.Jefferson

I bought this guitar 8 months ago and now have run it thru it’s paces. What a great instrument this is. I compared my Epiphone to my Gibson Explorer and honestly the sound on the Epi is right there. My Gibson is mahogany as opposed to the Limba on the Epi but the Epi still holds its own. The Epiphone is lighter and has a sweet, solid attack with a rich mid range that sings. The neck is super straight, the fit and finish is beautiful and hardware is great. The pickups are very sweet however I replaced mine with Pro Buckers to darken the sound slightly. The original pickups are great but with my rig I like the darker Alnico 2 sound. In my opinion the difference between the Pro Bucker and Classic pickups are the magnets. Not a lot of difference in output. Other changes I made were a white pick guard, CTS pots and bumblebee capacitors but upgrading these guitars is the best part. Stock it’s fantastic and adding a few new parts is just a joy ride. I consider this guitar completely ready for professional performances all the way.Roger

Overall: Gone are the days of buying an Epiphone for the bones and upgrading everything.Out of the box, the bass side action was pretty high. 3 turns of a screw driver and a retune and it's perfection.Sweet, sustaining tones. The neck pickup is thick and rich, the bridge pickup bites with nice midrange.I have the Iced Tea finish and it is flawless.It's pretty loud, acoustically as well.The fingerboard is a nice, even, dark chocolatey color. There are no sharp frets, and the frets themselves are smooth and there's no grittiness when you bend a string.The tuners feel like quality.the right amount of resistance when you turn the key,.very smooth tuning.This guitar holds tune amazingly well. The nut is cut very, very well. I just spent an hour bending the hell out of notes and it's still perfectly in tune.Even the strings that come with It are decent.If this was my only guitar (it's not, I own over 20 lol), I would be happy.If you've got less than $600 to spend and you want a high quality guitar, this is the one.Now, can it be made better with some upgrades?Maybe. We shall see. It's very easy to swap out the tailpiece for a lightweight aluminum one, the studs for locking steel studs, and the inserts for steel inserts. You can even find brass saddles that fit this bridge perfectly if you know where to look, as well as steel thumbwheel posts. Throw on some locking tuners while you've got it apart, and Bob's yer auntie.This one is a keeper. And with a 12 month payment plan? I'd only have to sell plasma twice a month to pay for it!Cody

Epiphone did a good job of recreating the classic semi-hollow body, but it isn't perfect. To start, it's very heavy. The neck and giant head (while very cool) causes significant "nose dive". I find myself pulling it up way more often then I would like. My second con is the pickups. They are good but break up a little too early for me. But, other than those two things it's an awesome guitar. The features like the binding on the neck, a burst finish, and inlays all over make it beautiful to look at and feel on the hands. You would pay big money for a Gibson with the same level of features. Build quality on mine is fine, binding edges are crisp, frets are level, wiring seems to be assembled well. I'm putting a better set of strings on mine (no idea what comes on it but I hate it) and smile every time I pick it up.James

My first electric. Got it in a combo kit with amp and bag. Hook it into my computer now and rarely use the amp for anything. That being said, as many people have mentioned the bridge. If this isn't your first guitar, or you are looking for a second guitar – don't get this one. I learned about intonation and action and all that while having this guitar. You can only set the intonation on the outside E's and everything else is just what you get. My the height of my bridge for medium action on the low E is maybe a 1/16 from bottoming out, any lower it will buzz more. To get the same range of action on my high E my bridge is almost a 1/4" in the air. I do not know enough to get into shimming the neck to get it leveled out more, I just know enough to assume a 1/4" rise over 3" space probably isn't a good thing. However! I've learned plenty on it over these last 6 months. I bought this guitar because I did not want to invest a lot of money into it if I wasn't going to stick with it. I bought this in February of 22. The first 5 months I probably played on it maybe 50-60 hours. These last 4 months I've probably played on it 1-3 hours a day. I started using apps to learn and being able to plug it directly into my computer has been amazing. It's served it's purpose, I'm now getting to the level of playing where I'd like a better quality instrument and am looking in the $400-$500 range. For a first guitar, and you're not sure if you're going to stay with it, this was great for me and I will pass it on to someone else to get started with. Other than the bridge intonation and probably not flat fret board, I have had 0 mechanical issues with it.Jay

I was quite lucky to get the last Worn Yellow in stock online (for now). It arrived the next day. After some easy setting and adjusting it started to play very nicely. The sounding is quite pleasant and the playability is great. I'm an acoustic player who is very picky on the sounding of a guitar, now owning an all-solid Yamaha which sounds great. And I'm happy to have this Epiphone to try some new types of sounding. Overall, a great buy at this price! Highly recommended!David

Went in-store and purchased this blue beauty, got it home tuned her up plugged her in and on my VOX VT20X this Les Paul sounds amazing!! I also own a D'Angelico SS and a Squire fat Strat and obviously none of them will sound exactly the same however the LP for the price sounds far better than I expected. This is my practice guitar and who knows maybe even a couple of upgrades and it will be my travelling guitar. Well balanced lightweight even the factory strings worth keeping for a while. Definitely a good buy.jason

What a brilliant guitar and superb value package! I have owned ‘real’ Gibsons over the years and bought this outfit as a birthday gift for my granddaughter who is learning to play. She has had a fender acoustic for a couple of years and now wants her own electric guitar. I chose this outfit as having previously owned one in the past I like Epiphone guitars. Before giving it to her I thought it best to check it over and set it up but there was nothing to do really, after tuning this guitar was perfectly playable right out the box! The feel, balance and weight is very like my Gibson and the sound is superb. The amp is excellent and packs enough punch to put a smile on your face too. She’s delighted with the built in tuner as well as the other essentials included in the outfit. What’s not to like? I can’t find a better value package!W O.

My original review still stands, but I made cosmetic-only upgrades for less than an average couple's meal at a casual restaurant that makes this look much, much more expensive. No tuner, pickup or pot swaps. Replaced black plastic parts with cream, added cream pickguard, replaced chrome tuner knobs with Klausen-style ivory-look knobs. Installed chrome pickup covers. Replaced speed knobs with gold top-hats.Easily done to make this look like a proper Les Paul. I'm happy with the looks for the little extra money spent.Steve

As the song says: "I'm a Sucker for a Cheap Guitar". I own over 30 – some cheap, some not so cheap. This one arrived perfectly set up: low action, no buzzing, no sharp fret edges, easy to play – amazing for a guitar in this price range. Although not great, the pickups even sounded acceptable. It's heavy, which to me means good, though not as heavy as my Gibson. It's OK-looking, but needed something to enhance it – a pickguard. I added one and it looks much better – more expensive. Instead of cutting off part of the guard to accommodate the knob as I've seen some others do, I drilled a hole big enough for the nut on the body underneath the knob to fit through the guard (see photos). Since the guard isn't much thicker than the nut, it allowed the guard to fit flush with the body and the knob to turn without any restriction of motion, and the pickguard is not butchered. It's a very clean look – like it came that way – not modified. So, I am pleased with this instrument, and would recommend it to anyone for any purpose: especially beginners to play or someone like me who just collects cheap guitars to hang on the wall of their studiio.Steve

The guitar came in really good packaging and not a single thing was wrong with it. The guitar sounds fine and surprisingly good quality for something this cheap. Great starter guitar for anyone looking to start practicingEddie

Purchased this guitar pack as a gift for my younger sister who is interested in having a guitar just to cool around on. The guitar itself is pretty nice, but the included amp doesn’t work and it doesn’t have an obvious way to turn on. No on/off switch and the volume knobs don’t click it on either.Clayton

This is a fantastic and very versatile guitar for the money. It looks like a tart's boudoir – almost over the top with all that gold and red, but that's somehow 'right' even for me who usually likes things understated. Great sustain, sweet cleans and a surprisingly aggressive 70s sounding bark with a bit of gain. its Mini Probuckers are the business! It's a fraction bigger than a Les Paul, and surprisingly light. The finish is better than most guitars in a similar price range – frets are good, finish almost faultless bar one or two very minor binding imperfections on the f holes and the masking of the side of the neck where it joins the body, but seriously, these are micro issues. Setup out of the box was close to perfect but action a tad too high – lowered it to my taste and it is now perfect.Reviewed by Andertons Music Co.

Really amazing for the money – I've owned many US-made guitars from top-notch manufacturers and the quality of construction and finish on this one is immaculate. Not only that but it's a very well-designed instrument too, stylish and decently ergonomic for a semi. Perfect for providing a bit of jazz mojo. On the basis of my experience with this one, if I was in the market for a Les Paul I'd be looking for an Epi, not a Gibson. I've owned two Gibson Les Pauls and a Gibson SG and none of them was as well-made as this. One thing I don't like about this guitar – playing it for a while tends to make your fingertips go black. I suspect the ebony fingerboard has been stained. But it's mirror smooth (and the inlays are the nicest I've seen on a budget guitar) so I'm inclined to forgive that one foible. Good stuff.Reviewed by Andertons Music Co.

Superb tone Appearance of course stunning Faultlessly made of high quality material Firebird pickups A2 dual mags Grover’s 18:1 fine accurate tuning Full neck a bit 1958 335 It’ll sing when fully setup Wish I’d known it was on its way! No one told me .. 🧐Mike S.

I've played for years and have been in several bands, would not hesitate to take this little fella up for a full set any day! I added a little mini Lea Paul pickguard I made and some chrome epiphone pickup covers for a vintage custom mini lp. Currently my favorite guitar, easy to just grab and jam on for a few minutes or a good enough quality instument to record with. I inspected it closely out of the box, No blemishes on the beautiful warm tobacco burst finish, no buzzing or noise, just a clean clean little les Paul that shouts Gibson quality, I'm actually amazed at the lp tone this thing has at its size. Fun all the way.Jetsetretrodesign.com

As stock it was pretty good out of the box. I wanted a short scale LP that I could mod to get a Billy Gibbons sound and vintage look. No problem with tuning but see below.
I put in BYO 59 vintage (SD pearly gates clone) nickle cover pups, cream pup rings and switch, amber vintage top hat knobs and vintage Grover deluxe tuners.
Had some minor fret work and put on some Gibbons. 07 strings.
Total upgrade parts $180. Guitar $130. and installation and setup by master luthier, Hugo Mermet at $70.
So for $380. I have a great looking vintage LP "Junior dual pu guitar that plays like a dream and sounds like early Gibbons/ZZ Top.
Only thing minor neg. is only one knob ea. for tone and volume. No big deal.
Plays better than stock Gibson at 1/3 the price!
My beard grows 2" every time I play it!
(At this time using a BLACKSTAR DEBUT 15e amp (clean channel) with Danolectro Billionaire Texas Pride pedal.japonaliya

I bought this for my son. I was immediately jealous as I have always wanted a Les Paul and this smaller scale Les Paul sounds bigger than it is! It's a great guitar for smaller hands or as a travel guitar. I would expect any guitar near this price point to need some adjustments. I had to remove the spring in one of the saddles to allow enough room to get the intonation right, but it worked and it's a fully functioning and playable guitar. If you want something properly set up straight out of the box, you'll need to pay a lot more and cross your fingers. This guitar is everything it's supposed to be and then some. I own two other Epiphones (SG and bass) and am very pleased with them.MATTR35S

The les paul gt is a solid player, it sounds good for the price. Also the acoustic sound it produces is quite good, however, my frets are kind of worn out now, so it doesn't sound too good anymore. (I am not going to talk about the pros anymore, because there are plenty of reviews that focus on those). Now for the bad. The body of the guitar is incredibly flat and blocky. There is no tapering, or smoothing around the edges of the guitar. Because of this, when you are playing, the edge of the guitar is constantly jabbing your rib with its sharp edge. It also shows how poor the craftsmanship is on the guitar. I'd say that 99% of the guitar was made and assembled by robots. the guitar is also quite heavy adding to the discomfort. If your going to buy this guitar just be aware that the body is completely 2 dimensional with no concave or anything, also know that the guitar is rather heavy.nickname

As a hobby guitar player for 30+ years I was looking for an inexpensive LP style guitar with a tremolo. Something I could have fun with, not a wall hanger. Epiphone had the answer with this well built guitar. It's got the LP look with a set of pretty hot pickups which provide lots of snarl on command. The kill switch built into the tone control is a great idea and can be useful and fun to play with. The tremolo is pretty good and generally stays in tune well. Historically guitars in this price range have a reputation as being unfinished with poor fret work, poor nut work, etc. overall these days that's not true anymore and this guitar is a pretty good example of that…BobS67

Nice guitar. Same size as a les Paul. Not too much sustain which I'm sure is due to its light weight body construction. The cut off knob is a nice feature when using heavy distortion. It'll eliminate the need to switch off your pedal when there are pauses to avoid annoying feedback. Nice looking guitar but the flat black matte finish would really pop with a few coats of lacquer but I guess that's one of the steps, or lack of, that keep the cost sooo low. I'm pretty sure a few pounds of lacquer would help with the sustain. Maybe if I get bored I'll give it a try and post a new review.Ronald