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how much better is a Gibson Les Paul than an Epiphone?

rick c

Active member
Joined
May 28, 2016
Messages
282
First world answers to a first world problem. I recall watching a Richie Blackmore interview where he was recalling a story about being asked advice about buying guitars and amps for a friend's teenage son who wanted to learn to play guitar; Gibsons and Marshalls were part of the dad's talking points. Mr. Blackmore considered this absurd, recalling his youth with a cheap guitar and an old radio with a gramophone input for amplification. I didn't buy my first Gibson until I had my second real job; the first real job paid for motorcycles. Kids have way too much money.
 

Keefoman

Active member
Joined
Nov 4, 2009
Messages
576
First world answers to a first world problem. I recall watching a Richie Blackmore interview where he was recalling a story about being asked advice about buying guitars and amps for a friend's teenage son who wanted to learn to play guitar; Gibsons and Marshalls were part of the dad's talking points. Mr. Blackmore considered this absurd, recalling his youth with a cheap guitar and an old radio with a gramophone input for amplification. I didn't buy my first Gibson until I had my second real job; the first real job paid for motorcycles. Kids have way too much money.
I see your point. My first "amp" was my father's Radionette tape recorder (from the mid 60's), and my first guitar his '71 Ibanez LP Custom copy. I wanted to learn how to play and used what I had access to. This was in the mid 80's and I had many friends whose parents had a lot more money, so they had a lot more expensive gear from the start. Most of them didn't last long in the "guitar-world". The positive side of it was that I could by their expensive gear, relatively cheap, second hand, as they fell off the wagon, and I continued exploring and learning. :hank

Still, I can see the point of having a guitar that is a reasonable player to help keep the enthusiasm going. If my father's Ibanez had been a hassle to play, I might have lost the spark, though in hindsight, it wasn't a great guitar, but it was "good enough".
 

rick c

Active member
Joined
May 28, 2016
Messages
282
My first electric "guitar" was a Woolworths nylon string classical that I bought with my birthday and Christmas money (10 whole GB pounds in 1971) that about two or three years later, had the microphone from an old bone-style telephone taped to the body just behind the bridge. I guess about 15 years or more after Richie, I also plugged into an old, 1930-something radio that had a gramophone player input. Necessity is the mother of invention; my parents had no true "disposable" income. I fell asleep each night listening to pirate radio stations on that same radio. Good days.
 

marshall1987

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 30, 2005
Messages
3,278
A Nashville, TN...USA made Gibson Les Paul is vastly superior to a Chinese made Epiphone copy. :dang

Everything from factory tooling, CNC, materials, parts, workforce, environmental controls, etc. are much better at Gibson USA. For one thing, the Epiphones make generous use of laminated guitar construction including the maple tops, and other cosmetic touches intended to fool the buyer. And they construct guitars with multi-piece backs and perhaps necks too. I think Gibson USA limits Les Paul backs (bodies) to 2-piece mahogany.

Things apparently have turned a corner with the new CEO at Gibson, Inc.
 

Flogger

Active member
Joined
Sep 23, 2008
Messages
555
If you buy used, either Gibson or Epiphone, the value has taken the hit. You should be able to sell it for at least tge same money,mif you didn't overpay.
 

sunking101

Member
Joined
Jan 13, 2020
Messages
102
My first guitar was a Yamaha RGX110.
Loved it. Shredder neck, nice low action.
Then I traded it for a used Squier Strat.
Then a Les Paul copy.
Then a Mexican Fender Strat.
Then a proper Gibson Les Paul.

My journey was a long one!
 
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