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Epiphone Les Paul Standard Plus
Review of the Epiphone Les Paul Standard Plus by The Man in the Jar
Forget the name on the headstock, this little pretty girl weighs enough to be mistaken for the "real deal".
Features of the Epiphone Les Paul Standard Plus
Tuners - Sealed Grover tuners with chrome kidney knobs (not green plastic as in the illustration) work really well.
Headstock - Pinch-waisted and gable-topped, the Epiphone headstock is the only thing that gives the game away!
Nut - The white plastic nut abuts the fretboard and is cleanly cut.
Neck - You expect to find a bit of chunkiness in the neck when you pick up a Les Paul and certainly the expected width is there. But the Standard Plus has a refreshing slimness in its neck's depth. This leads to an easier than usual Les Paul playing experience and open the door for players with smaller hands. The tight mahogany grain looks lovely under the cherry lacquer.
Fretboard - Rosewood fretboard with a lovely smooth finish and tight grain. The fretmarkers are the classic Gibson "crowns" in white pearloid. The board is bound with antiqued white binding.
Frets - Fat, round profile, well polished frets offer an authentic Les Paul playing experience. Use the weight of the body to help you hit and vibrato massive string bends.
Action - Decent action from the box means you can pick up and play with no problems.
Body - There are three woods that make up this weighty body. The main material is mahogany, and on the example I was given, this looks like a single piece. But at this price range it is likely that some production models will be made from two or three pieces laminated together. The top is a rather spectacular flamed maple, but to reduce costs this is a thin maple veneer that is glued onto an alder top. Sonically the alder will affect the tone in much the same way as a solid maple top, so in my books this cost-cutting exercise makes perfect sense to deliver flamed-maple looks at less than flamed-maple prices. Antiqued binding on the front completes the classic look.
Bridge - Standard tune-o-matic and stoptail that is so very much a part of the Les Paul look. Each string has an individual saddle adjustable for intonation and the action of the guitar is adjusted using the two bridge-height screws, one at each end of the assembly. Beginners Beware! - The tune-o-matic is held in place by string tension only, so if you take off all the strings at once both the bridge and stoptail will fall off, potentially damaging the gorgeous top. Restring one at a time for the sake of safety.
Pickups - Two Epiphone stock alnico humbuckers wound with enamel wire sit under chrome covers in their antiqued white surrounds.
Controls - Standard Les Paul layout of dedicated Volume and Tone for each pickup with a three-way pickup selector on the upper bout.
Scratchplate - Classic floating teardrop in antiqued white plastic.
Strap-buttons - Two medium-sized strap-buttons live in the usual places. The button on the upper bout's edge sits at a wee bit of an angle to the strap when standing, which makes me a bit nervous that it will pop out and send your Epi nose-diving to the floor. Fit larger strap-buttons if you intend gigging or fit some sort of strap-lock for peace of mind.
Output Jack - On the lower edge in a square antiqued white plastic plate.
Finish - This is a Chinese-made instrument - another factor in the low cost. There was a small inconsistency in the finish on the back of the headstock but for the most part the finish is excellent.
Sound of the Epiphone Les Paul Standard Plus
Epiphone know the business of making Les Pauls extremely well and they've equipped this Les Paul with classic hard-rocking stock pickups that produce exactly what you were looking for when you decided a Les Paul is the guitar for you. I ran through all the classic, cheesey old riffs and songs that the Les Paul's reputation is built upon. In every case the Epiphone delivered the tone, dynamics and sustain I needed.
Overall Impressions of the Epiphone Les Paul Standard Plus
This is the best guitar I've yet seen to come out of China. Consequently, at around the £300 mark, it is probably the best value for money amongst the legion of Les Paul copies on the market. The looks of the thing are truly stunning. The playability is classic Les Paul except a wee bit easier on the left hand and the voice delivers the goods. But the hidden beauty is that the stock pickups can be switched out for more expensive upgrade humbuckers and the quality of the rest of the guitar would justify and reward the additional outlay.
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