New Epiphone black/gold LP Custom

[Duffy]

Got a new Epiphone LP Custom in black yesterday at a local store by me. Great guitar in all of the usual parameters. Tone and playability is great. Neck is substantial and tuners work great. The stock pickups will be staying in there for quite a while I would think. This baby has heart and soul played thru my HRDX, straight up. A littleBoss OD3 and some RV-7 reverb and it sounds mesmerizing. Very toneful guitar for those that like LP type guitars.

Very similar to my Agile AL-3100 bound, fully bound LP copy. I will have to do a sound comparison. The Custom came with a nice Epi hard shell LP case.

I have played it singularly for quite a few hours and fell asleep with it last night a few times, jammin along to some great tunes and woke up once with some Jackson Browne, "Everyman" playing - I had to dig right in from a deep sleep. This guitar chimes and roars. It sits right here next to the bed with my Fender FMT HH black cherry mahogany body with set nick telecaster, also an awesome guitar. I like my Special Edition FMT HH tele better than the blacktop HH telecaster or I probably would have gotten one. The Epiphone LP Custom is really and awesome guitar. With all the Squier Classic Vibes came out and were received with outstanding acclaim, I think the Epiphones fell out of the spotlight, costing twice as much in many cases as the Squiers.

I have been wanting a black LP type guitar and am glad I went for the Epiphone LP Custom with its classical appointments.

I got a new 35mm fast lens for my Nikon digital SLR that takes great and colorful pictures. I also got a SB-600 flash unit for it. I have been taking quite a few pictures and will take some guitar pictures tomorrow. I'm sure I will get some great ones of the LP Custom as well as my black Fender Black Top strat with maple fretboard. I'll post them shortly.

I like the way this LP sounds from the treble right up to the bass, well intonated and full of great tone and sustain. Truly a pleasure to play this guitar.

I will provide more feedback along with the pictures.

Don't know what factory it was made in because Epiphone changed their numbering scheme to more of a Gibson type one. No more letter prefixes denoting the factories.

Just thought I'd get this out there and fill in some of the details later.

[Tig***]

Sounds nice, but...
pictures or it didn't happen!

[Jimi75]

Worthless without pics!

Is it the 3 pickup model? I always wondered if the middle hb is getting in the way when you are picking.

I love black LPs. Congratz my friend, enjoy your Epi, it's a wonderful guitar.

[Brian Krashpad]

Tig & Jimi said it!

Congrats on your imaginary guitar.

I kid because I love.

[Duffy]

Jimi, It's the twin HB model not the black beauty with three pups.

They have a black beauty at the same place and I like the Custom better. I can see where the middle pickup would get hit by the pick a lot, expecially by players that dig down deep and I have heard this complaint before. I really like the SG Custom though, with the three pickups.

Even though it is cloudy I will take some pictures today of the black custom and post them here. Maybe I'll be able to clean up the black Blacktop strat and post some pictures of it too.

[NWBasser]

That's really cool Duffy!

Congratulations!

Now that I've dialed in my Black Epi Standard to my liking, it's a very nice playing and sounding guitar. With the stock alnico V pickups it sounds thick and heavy like a Les Paul should.

I'm guessing that the woods and building process are somewhat more involved in producing a Les Paul than a Squier strat which leads to the higher prices.

[Duffy]

This afternoon I played the Black LP Custom exclusively thru the voices on my Super Champ XD at very high volume with reverb and delay on the amp set thick with a quick slap back type delay. The combination sounded super great with no lack of bass and I have a Ragin' Cajun in my SCXD, very loud.

I played all of the lower numbered models starting at 1 and the overdrive and sound turned up real loud was outstanding all the way thru the 6 or 7 on the voice dial. Then I skipped across the higher voices and settled into 14 for some super overdriven sounds. Again, turned up super loud with reverb and delay at voice 14 the SCXD sounded super great, with lots of natural sounding overdrive.

It is getting late now so I won't have it screaming loud. There are some neighbors, but not close, that might be disturbed by really loud guitar playing after dark. Very old fashioned, conservative, type neighborhood.

There is no sound equivalent to cranking a good amp and a great guitar to give you that powerfully free feeling.

I took a bunch of pictures to post as well.

Black Epiphone LP Custom:

[Katastrophe]

Cool! Did the dog come as an accessory to the guitar?

Nice, Duffy, I'll bet it plays great. Congrats!

[Kazz]

While I am not very high on black guitars because I would spend all my time cleaning off finger prints (OCD) Something you said struck a note with me.....

There is no sound equivalent to cranking a good amp and a great guitar to give you that powerfully free feeling.

Even for those of us who cannot play very well at all....this holds true. All you have to do is hit one power chord that sounds great and it will bring you back time and time again.

[Tig***]

I believe your dog is saying,
"If you're going to make me pose with this thing, you better get me a matching gold collar and leash, dude!"

[duhvoodooman***]

Sweet lookin' axe, Duff!!

[ZMAN]

Yea Duff she really does look good. If you have the first letter of the serial, and the year you can probably find out where it was made, and when.
Was it a new guitar, or a very slightly used one, by the look of it.
The gold is still real clean and bright. As I mentioned I love my Elitist Custom, and I owned a Korean Custom Plus. That one is the only guitar I traded that I would kill to have back. I am currently looking for one and have a wanted add out for one. I had 3 replies and none were Customs. I wish people would read and comprehend. One reply was for a Special with a bolt on neck.
Oh well I am jealous, congrats for sure.

[Brian Krashpad]

Looks great Duffy! Thanks for the pics.

I see you got a guard dog for her as well.

Good thinking!

[MAXIFUNK]

Nice axe Duffy SO NOW WHERE ARE THE PICS OF THE BLACKTOP STRAT????

BTW, you've been on a buying spree for sure as of late good for you!!!
Enjoy.

[marnold***]

Hard to argue with a black beauty LP. I love the way they look, but like Kazz I fear that I'd just go crazy with fingerprint removal. It probably would end up an unfinished LP in short order

[ZMAN]

I have several Black or dark colored guitars and what I found is that if I wash my hands before I play, it saves a lot of fingerprints and crud on the neck as well. The strings will last longer. It is amazing how much stuff collects on the hands.
I usually have one of those micro fibre cloths handy and wipe it down after use.
Every so often a shot of Gibson guitar polish and everything is pristine again.

[Tone2TheBone]

Looks great Duffy! Thanks for the pics.

I see you got a guard dog for her as well.

Good thinking!

Ha good one Brian. That's a great looking Les Paul I've always loved black ones especially customs with gold hardware. Congrats!

[Monkus]

really nice axe ... congrats!

[Duffy]

Thanks. I thought the my glossy black dog Nigella would artistically compliment the glossy black guitar, bringing some life into the otherwise lifeless picture. I also like the way the new fast lens let me take that picture in low light without a flash, taking advantage of the softness of the ambient light.

The guitar is fun to play and sounds very good. Don't know if they are the regular Epi pickups, but this baby sounds real good. All the factors combined to make this guitar sound great.

I should camcord myself with my digital camcorder and learn how to post the videoclip to the fret. This would be the easiest way to get the audio onto the fret I would think, and my camcorder is a sony with stereo audio. It might work decently.

I will start another thread asking about that.