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View Full Version : NGD - Epiphone LEs Paul Traditional Pro



tjcurtin1
July 28th, 2012, 09:43 PM
OK - after getting the set-up kinks out of this guitar, I am very much enjoying it. With the coil taps, it produces a wide variety of sounds from warm humbuckers to bright single coils.

http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm144/tjcurtin1/IMG_3307.jpg

The neck seemed stockier than an Epi LP Standard I played recently, I was a little taken aback and I didn't think that I was going to like it, but it actually feels quite good and comfortable. It is easy to play - the easiest playing of all my electrics I think - maybe I like fat necks and never knew it!

http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm144/tjcurtin1/IMG_3308.jpg

The finish is - OK. The front is beautiful actually. I love all the white on black and the zebra open pups - looks very classy in a traditional kind of way IMHO. The back is 'satin', but it actually looks like flat black body paint. As you will see, it looks nice at a distance, and I do like the feel of it on the neck - no stickiness.

http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm144/tjcurtin1/IMG_3310.jpg

But up close, it seems they could have done a nicer job - if you are going to paint over any wood, you might as well fill the pores with something first -

http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm144/tjcurtin1/IMG_3313.jpg

http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm144/tjcurtin1/IMG_3314.jpg

This little patch of open grain on the headstock is the worst of it -

http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm144/tjcurtin1/IMG_3315.jpg

I'm not about the cosmetics, generally, but as a woodworker, my sensibilities are a bit offended :french. On the other hand, I think that we obsess about this stuff a bit much, expecting everything to be perfect and blemish free (if I want to be that particular, I could buy the Gibson version!) The bottom line is, it sounds great and plays well. Again, here is a good player taking the Gibson version through its paces:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmArAp62ur8&feature=g-hist

tjcurtin1
August 1st, 2012, 08:38 PM
I am really enjoying this guitar - along with the familiar LP sounds, it has some great single coil and single/humbucker combination sounds that I just love. Overall the guitar has a great feel - I am enjoying playing a different neck than usual. Someone at another site mentioned that it is also a 14" radius neck, so flatter than I am used to as well. The Grover tuners feel really solid, and I've even come to appreciate the look of the back :rolleyes: I've never had an LP style guitar, and actually, I had never really felt interested - once the thought hit me I just got carried away (of course running into the one I wanted at a deep sale price helped me over the edge), but I am very happy to have followed the impulse.

One temporary disaster - the knobs got mashed onto the pots in shipping and were scraping the body, so I had to take them off to adjust them - they were stuck on good but all went well until the last of the coil tap pots, when I yanked the shaft right out of the pot! Gnashing of teeth and tearing of hair... When I looked inside, I was dismayed at the thought of trying to redo that intricate soldering work if I replaced the pot, so I attempted to take the switch apart and see if I could fix it. Took a lot of head-scratching and muttering under my breath, but I was able to get it back together - thank goodness!

Funny delivery story - my wife works long days all summer and is NEVER at home during the day. The day of scheduled delivery, I was dismayed to find her puttering around the house. "Gee, don't you have to go to work?" No, she was going to catch up with a few things at home that morning. I retreated to the shop, determined to catch the UPS man coming in, and hoping that she would leave soon, but I soon heard, "There's a big box for you on the porch!" called out from the house. When I come in, "Is that the new beekeeping equipment?" And then reading my face and lack of immediate response I get 'the eye':: "Is it a GUITAR!?" Sheepish hemming and hawing on my part. Actually, she doesn't care but likes to give me humorous grief about it. "Hmmm", she says; "My guitar sensing antennae were tingling today, so I stayed home..."

Spudman
August 1st, 2012, 08:51 PM
Cool story. Bee keeping equipment, ya right.

I've always thought that coil tap is the one thing missing from my Les Pauls. I didn't even know Epi was doing that in this model. Shows how behind I am. I'm glad to hear that you are digging the guitar. I probably would have freaked out over the porous finish thing though.

tjcurtin1
August 2nd, 2012, 10:30 AM
Of course, for JUST a moment, I considered going with the beekeeping equipment answer, but... the box was really too big and...

The other notable difference in this guitar is the amazing sustain - another touted feature of the Les Paul, I know, but my first experience of it - very cool!