If you want a guitar that has a good sound and won’t leave you begging on the street for spare change, the Epiphone Les Paul is a popular choice. But one of the ongoing questions is whether there’s difference between those Made In China and the guitars Made In Korea and which you should be looking at buying.
[If you already have an Epiphone Les Paul and want to figure out what LP you have, scroll down to the bottom of this page and we’ll help you figure it out]
When you’re first starting out as a guitarist, what kind of guitar you have isn’t particularly important. If you know exactly one chord and can only hit it half the time, a quality guitar isn’t going to make a damn bit of difference. You’re still going to sound like crap.
There will come a point, though, when you need a better guitar, because your sound will suffer. Plus, this is going to be the time when you want to get something that looks cool because, frankly, half the fun of playing is looking awesome when you do it.
Of course, if you’re like most guitarists, you don’t have a ton of money to spend on your guitar, either. You need that money for beer and women (or men). So what you’re looking for is something that sounds good, looks good, and won’t break the bank, which brings us to the Epiphone Les Paul.
If you think of an electric guitar, the picture you have in your head is probably a Gibson Les Paul. Guitar legend, Les Paul first designed the electric guitar that bears his name back in the fifties, and is still one of the most iconic guitar styles today.
They are also some of the most expensive guitars on the market. Gibson models can easily run into the thousands of dollars, putting them well outside the budget of a lot of people. Fortunately, they aren’t the only option in town.
Epiphone makes its own version of the classic Les Paul, but they cost a whole lot less (under $600 for a Classic or a Standard). This is largely because they are manufactured overseas — in China, Korea and Indonesia.
Epiphone Les Paul guitars are mostly indistinguishable from the Gibson version, from their look and feel to their sounds. Not everyone would be able to tell the difference at a glance–you’ll notice the difference from the headstock design. It’s tempting to label them a knock off, but the company is actually owned by Gibson.
Read: the differences between Gibson vs Epiphone Les Paul to learn more.
The main thing you’ll hear discussed in music circles is whether there is a difference between the Chinese and Korean made guitars, and if the difference is big enough to affect your buying decision.
This is one of those things where it’s hard to get a handle on the answer. Part of this, naturally, is because some of it can be subjective. You might try a Made In China (MIC) and a Made In Korea (MIK) and not be able to tell any difference, while another person might hear and feel significant differences between them.
— Personally I like Korean Made Les Paul better than Chinese.
But what that means is that you’re likely going to get a lot of different opinions on which is better. If you have the chance, your best option is to get a hold of each one and decide for yourself.
For Example, here is a post on MyLesPaul.com Forum:
During that time period Epiphones being made in Korea were still considered better than anything out of Qingdao until after 2006. In 2007 the Qingdao China Epiphone factory started implementing noticeable upgrades in building and materials to help make their Epiphone guitars some of the best ever made in the world.
But, in 2004 Korea still ruled.
I’ve seen many shoddy Qingdao pre-2006 Les Pauls and SG’s with messy binding and gobs of glue on the neckjoins
but somehow after that time they seemed to really pull it together to make a better instrument.
Pre 2006 Epiphones from Korea would be considered superior, but by 2007 there would be little difference.
Depending on who you believe, the sound difference is largely down to the wood. The two factories have different suppliers, and wood does make some difference in sound; unique wood is believed to be the reason Stradivarius violins sound so much better than Guarneri.
Generally speaking, for people who claim there is a difference between the two manufactures, the consensus is that the Made in Korea Epiphone guitars have a slightly deeper, richer sound. The difference is generally said to be fairly slight, and not as important as the differences between individual guitars.
The other issue is quality. There is some concern that the Chinese made guitars simply aren’t as well made as the Korean guitars. This is generally believed to be the result of the difference in working conditions in the two countries. Chinese made were known to be a bit more sloppy, but that could have changed since this article.
Without getting into a treatise on international labor relations, here’s what you need to consider. China has a much lower standard of living, and the workers in their factories are paid much less than you would get elsewhere, and are, allegedly, expected to work grinding hours. The general theory is the poor working conditions can lead to compromised guitars.
Korean guitars are manufactured in South Korea, which has one of the highest standards of living in Asia, and the factory workers that produce the Korean made Epis are well paid and well trained which, if you believe the rumors, means the Made In Korea Epiphone guitars are much better constructed.
There is also an Indonesian factory which opened more recently, but there doesn’t seem to be much being said about the quality and sound of those guitars. No doubt the serious gearheads will have an opinion soon enough.
So which is better; the Made in Korea Epiphone or the Made in China Epiphone? The unhelpful truth is that there isn’t a simple answer to that. If you are in the market for an LP, but can’t actually try either out before you buy it, I’d probably steer you towards the Korean made.
Your best option is always to try the guitar out yourself. Go to your local guitar store and play with a couple of different models. No one can say what guitar is going to look and feel best for you, so you need to be the one to make the decision. If you do that, you’ll get the right guitar no matter where it comes from.
What Epiphone Les Paul Do you have?
Serial numbers
You might find the serial numbers stamped on the back of your headstock. It can consist of a series of numbers or letter(s) and numbers.
Only numbers
For an eleven digit serial number, the encoding is as follows:
Example: 11051502060
The first two digits are the last 2 digits of the year. (11)
The next two digits represent the month. (05)
The 5th and 6th digit represent the factory code.. (15)
(See list numbered factory codes)
The last 5 digits form the series sequence number.
Serial number 11051502060 is the 2060th guitar built in May 2011 at the Qingdao factory in China.
(Since 2004 Epiphone guitars have been produced in China)
Five digit serial numbers
Five digits with a space after the first digit and custom shop on the back of the headstock, applied from 1990 to 1999.
The first digit is the last digit of the production year, the following four digits are the serial number.
Five digits no space after the first digit were used from 1951 to 1956 for both acoustic and electric models.
Six digit serial numbers
From 1961 to early 1970, Epiphone used 6-digit serial numbers in the Gibson serial number line. However, many serial numbers were duplicated during this period, making the exact production year difficult to trace. It is certain that the models with a 6 digit serial number starting with 0 were produced in 1967.
Seven digit serial numbers do not have a factory code, here is the first digit the last year of the decade. The 2nd and 3rd numbers represent the month.
These were manufactured in Korea by Samick between 1984 and 1995.
Eight and nine digit serial numbers without a factory code.
These were used respectively from 1990 and 1988 and also manufactured by Samick in Korea.
Letter(s) and numbers
One letter five digits
The letter indicates the factory code and the first digit is the last digit of the year (since 2002).
The factory code can be an F or a T here.
(See list Factory code letter below)
Example: Serial number T32222 is the 2222th guitar of 2003 built in the factory of Terada Gakki Seisakusyo, Japan.
One letter six digits
The letter indicates the factory code and the first and second digit are the last two digits of the year.
Example: Serial number Z051234 is the 1234th guitar built in 2005 at the Zaozhuang Saehan factory in China.
Two letters five digits
The letters indicate the factory code and the first digit is the last digit of the year.
Example: Serial number CI21234 is the 1234th guitar built in 2002 at the Cort, Indonesia factory.
One letter seven digits
The letter indicates the factory code and the first digit is the last digit of the year.
The 3rd and 4th digits represent the month.
The last 4 digits form the series sequence number.
Because the year is only represented by 1 digit, guitars with this coding from the 80s, 90s or a decade of 2000. (depending on the factory code)
Example: Serial number S6031234 is the 1234th guitar built in 1986, 1996 or 2006 at the Samick factory in Korea.
Two letters six digits
The letter indicates the factory code and the next two digits are the last two digits of the year.
The second letter (third character) stands for the month. (A = January, B = February, etc.)
The last 4 digits form the series sequence number.
Example: Serial number R04E0123 is the 123st guitar of May 2004, built in the Peerless factory, Korea.
One letter eight digits
The letter indicates the factory code, the next two digits are the last two digits of the year.
The 3rd and 4th digits represent the month.
The last 4 digits form the series sequence number.
Example: C99040233 is the 233rd guitar of April 1999, built in the Cort factory, Korea. (This coding method was used until 2010)
Two letters seven digits
The letter indicates the factory code, the next two digits are the last two digits of the year.
The second letter (third character) stands for the month. (A = January, B = February, etc.)
The last 5 digits form the series sequence number.
Example: S07C00122 is the 122th guitar of May 2004, built at the Samick factory in Korea. (This coding method was used until 2010)
Two letters eight digits
The 2 letters indicate the factory code, the next two digits are the last two digits of the year.
The 5th and 6th figures represent the month.
The last 4 digits form the series sequence number.
Example: SI02060234 is the 234th guitar of June 2002, built at the Samick factory in Cileungsi near Bogor, Indonesia.
Two letter nine digits
This coding is the same as the coding of Two letter eight digits with the difference that here is 5 digits for it sequence number are used
Source: https://www.guitarinsite.nl/serienummers-epiphone_eng.php
| NUMBER | FACTORY | COUNTRY |
| 10 | unknown | China |
| 12 | DeaWon or Unsung | China |
| 13 | unknown | China |
| 15 | Qingdao (electric) | China |
| 16 | Qingdao (acoustic) | China |
| 17 | unknown | China |
| 18 | unknown | China |
| 20 | DeaWon or Unsung | China |
| 21 | Unsung | Korea |
| 22 | unknown | Korea |
| 23 | Samick | Indonesia |
| LETTER | FACTORY | COUNTRY |
| B | Bohêmia Musico-Delicia | Czech Republic |
| BW | ?? | China |
| C | Cort | Korea |
| CI | Cort | Indonesia |
| DW | DaeWon | China |
| EA | QingDao (acoustic) | China |
| ED | Dongbei | China |
| EE | QingDao (electric) | China |
| F | Fuji-gen (Elite/Elitist models) | Japan |
| F | Fine Guitars | Korea |
| FC | Fuji-gen (’90) | Japan |
| GR | Farida, Guang Dong | China |
| I | Saein | Korea |
| IS | Samick, Bogor | Indonesia |
| J | Terada Gakki Seisakusyo | Japan |
| K | Korea Ins. | Korea |
| L | Leader Musical Instrument Co Ltd. | Korea |
| MC | Muse | China |
| MR | Mirr factory | China [Korea to 2004] |
| O | Choice | Korea |
| P | Peerless | Korea |
| R | Peerless | Korea |
| QG | Qingdao Gibson | China |
| S | Samick | Korea |
| SI | Samick, Bogor | Indonesia |
| SJ | SaeJun | China |
| SM | Samil | Korea |
| T | Terada Gakki Seisakusyo | Japan |
| U | Unsung | Korea |
| UC | Unsung China | China |
| Z | Zaozhuang Saehan | China |
| LETTER | FACTORY | NOTE |
| H | ?? | Probably Hunan, China |
| GG | ?? | Probably China or Korea |
| GP | ?? | Probably Korea |
| JK | ?? | Probably Korea or Indonesia |
| SK | ?? | — |
| SN | ?? | Probably Indonesia |
| WF | ?? | Probably China |
| X | ?? | Probably China |
so how do you tell which country its made in can’t seem to find it on my 2007 silverburst from MF,really, I don’t care it plays great anyway.
Hi, great post! Thanks..
Hi:I have 3 les Pauls 2 Explorers and 3 Flying V’s All Gibsons. I bought a Epi Les Paul Stsndard Pro The Other Day. Made in China. I’ve read positive and negative reviews. I’ve been playing for 37 years now and I just wanted to say this is a really nice guitar.Plays well and sounds really good. I play metal and this is a kick butt guitar.
Korea or China Epi does have quality control. If you want a gibson, Buy a Gibson Butt Epi is about as close as your going to get other wise.
Have a nice day
I can tell a world of difference between the Epi’s MIK and MIC. For me, the MIK models have a much better feel that offers far greater playability, a much tighter finish, and most importantly a superior tonality. I would put my MIK Sheraton II against any Gibson 335 model, yes the Gibsons do play and sound better, but the MIK Epi is a very close second for me, in fact I would go as far as to rate my MIK Epi above my Gibson LP Jr in all categories but hardware used; the MIC Sheraton II’s I have tried are not even in the same ball park. You can distinguish the factory where Epi’s are made if you know how to interpret their serial numbers (Google this and you can find a listing of the various serial number patterns used by each Epi factory.) I’m thinking of giving the MII models a go next. I actually go out of my way to avoid purchasing products made in China (as well as Hong Kong and Taiwan) not because of quality issues but rather because I choose not to support a military government; stand up for a free Tibet, Just Say No to Made in China.
The biggest difference between a guitar made in South Korea and one made in China is that one is made in a reasonably democratic country with a fair human rights record—and the other is made in a totalitarian hellhole that exploits its own people and still uses forms of slavery.
I been playing for years and have touched pretty much every guitar out there. The quality with every guitar is different regardless where it was made, but there is a baseline and it starts with the country that it was made at. USA guitars are the best, then Japan, then Germany, then Canada, then Korea, then Mexico. In my opinion Chinese and Indonesia guitars are very low quality because of craftsmanship and cheap quality parts and electronics. Not to say that there are lemons in every company regardless where it was made, but the majority these are the standards to start with. There are other companies with guitars made at in other countries in the world, but as far as the big major ones I’ve mentioned are the ones I know.
Korean instruments are typically of much better quality than Chinese, though I have seen a couple of Chinese instruments that weren’t bad. I’d never buy a Chinese-made instrument, however (slavery, unfair trading practice, civil rights abuses, etc., etc., Etc.).
I have a Chinese made LP…the finish is impeccable…the quality and playability are as good as any Gibson I have tried.Mine has the plus top with the old style tulip tuners and 57 pickups,Peopl always talk about tone…what about setup and playability
gibby and epi,,,,for me the guitars made in mich.usa,,,kalamazoo,,are far better 1981 or 1982 gibby les paul ,,great guitar,,,epi,s too I have a spirit from epi,,,great guitar,,,but gibson from nashville ,,,buzzin frets,,cheap hardware,,,rose wood fake,,,humbuckers,,,hum,,,, now I bought a epi flyin v and a explorer both korina,s flyin v great guitar both from korea,,,,,,,but the explorer,,,,neck bowed,,,,,couldn,t adjust,,,send it back to nashville for work,,,,,,they would not fix,,,,,,,,send something else,,,,,,,I HAVE GIBSON FROM THE 70,S AND 80,S,,,so I want those korina guitars,,,,,not something they want me to have,,,,,,,korean guitars are great,,,,,,,chinese no resale value,,,,,you have to give away a chinese pine wood ,,plywood,,,press board guitars,,,,cheap cheap made,,,,,unless you spend 10,000.00 for a fake 1958 gibby jimmy page eric clapto bbking fake guitar,,,,,,this isn,t 1958 public
i have owned a usa gibson les paul standard, at the same time also a indonesian samick greg bennett design avion 6, i have played them for more than a year…..i sold the gibson because the samick was far out the better guitar.
gibson brand is far overrated and much to expensive and low quality for the amount of money.
payed for the gibson about 2400 euro, payed for the samick 600 euro.
it doesn’t matter where the guitar is made, if you see a guitar you like, than play it
South Korea has been manufacturing guitars for quite a while. In fact, Korean plants have been making Gibson Guitars for a while. I own a four guitars made in Korea. An Epiphone Broadway, A Cort Les Paul ( from 1980 ) a Schechter (2000) and an Ibanez. All are very well crafted: attention to detail, excellent finishes, good craftsmanship. My guitars are over 20 years old ( except for the Epi. Broadway) and have no manufacturing problems. Now, I recently bought a Chinese made Les Paul Ultra, and had to return it immediately, because of poor craftsmanship and materials. The word that comes to mind is ‘flimsy’ and “veneer” and “choppy” and mostly ‘rough’. The guitar looked good from afar, but when I picked it up, it felt like made out of paper mache. Of course, that’s only one guitar, so I can’t really generalize and say all chinese made guitars are poorly manufactured.
Well… I guess everybody is entitled to an opinion… Truth is The Chinese made Epi’s are made in a plant that only produces Epiphones. This plant was established by Gibson, with veteran Gibson employees & many of the best Aria Korean luthiers. The work environment is meticulous. It did take a few years to iron out the snags, but it’s done now. I work on guitars for a living. Since 2012, I would rate the basic instrument quality from Qingdao China a better build quality then the Samick/Aria era from Korea. Components are not the same quality as the instruments.(tuners, bridges, ect) With the exception of the pickups. Instrument building isn’t a “hands on” process any more. A Campbell/Huges CnC machine will do the same job every-time no matter what country it resides in. If you take the time to listen closely, the quality of the wood used & pairing the two components (neck & body)has the greatest influence on the tone, play-ability, stability, & most import, the balance. If you have a 2lb neck glued into a 4.5lb LP body? That axe is going to be “neck heavy”, same neck paired with a 5.5lb LP body? Much better balance. The dear folks at Samick never seemed to quite get that. Say what you will, every instrument is different. As different as each snowflake. My favorite Les Paul is a ’69 9lb 14oz Sunburst. My favorite ES 330 is a MIC Deawon built Casino with Lollar p-ups & CTS pots. Fav ES335 is a stock ’92 Peerless built Dot. I own hundreds of instruments, made the world over. I’ve only ever kept the ones that felt great to me. Not everybody likes or expects the same as I. I’ve played plenty of “stinkers” that were made right here in the good ol’ US of A. Played plenty of sweeties made in India, Slovakia, China, Japan, Sweden, Italy, Spain, ect… Play what suits YOU! Don’t be a Brand Snob… MIC Epi’s are good enough for Zack! Saw him at an intimate venue & he played a Master Built Epi DR500MCE all night! So There ya go to the Nay Sayers…..
I have 2 epi Paul’s MIC, two different factories. One is a cheaper p100 the other a custom. I absolutely love the way they play, love the way they sound, and really are well constructed (Especially the custom). Both have great tone. There is a chance I got super lucky. Both are left handed maybe that has something to do with it
Having had several Epiphones and still have, Casinos, les Paul’s and Rivieras. I’ve found Koreans to be better overal, I can even narrow it down to three plants, Unsung, Samick and peerless. I’ve had some great early Samick les Paul’s which I’ve found to have hotter pups and a great feel. Peerless for me made great Casinos but the guitar that I always turn too is my Unsung Casino, now and then a guitar comes along that you ain’t got to touch, it’s set up just right the build and quality are top notch and it sounds superb. Ever since buying this guitar I look for Unsung Epis. Epiphone moved their production from here to China to cut costs just when Unsung had reached its pinical in quality control. In my opinion the current Chinese Epis look good but lack finish, I have a Chinese Casino and although it’s Identical to my Korean it feels like a different guitar…
Korean is the new Japanese 😉
An interesting point, right from the start.
Blind tests of violins repeatedly show listeners and performers prefer modern instruments on sound alone.
The fact that the article raises this as an example of superior wood potentially undermines any argument for significant differences by wood alone, and maybe suggests much of the perceived difference is that successful musicians spend more on their instruments, and sound better regardless of brand.
My left handed Epi LP PTP sounds great (providing its setup correctly), there is a few niggles with the nut, so I will take it in at some point to have it replaced, and have someone who knows what they are doing check over the frets, as I think one or two are slightly uneven.
If you go to far with neck relief adjustments and get it wrong it can turn it into a horrible sounding guitar though.
I’ve found the pickups a bit muddy in the low mids, I’ve adjusted them to reduce the bottom end for now. I do plan to replace the ProBuckers within the next 12 months. It sounds really nice powerful and bright and tele-ish in the high end, it’ll be interesting to see how close it can get to the gorgeous clean high-end of a Gibson with better pickups, as this is the main area where the difference is clear to my ears when listening to guitars – but then I don’t like lots of aggression in the bottom-end.
What 50+ years of playing, building, hot roding, & repairing instruments has taught me is… There are many factors that develop tone. If I were to list them in order… I would have to find every nuance angle by which to be subjective. Of the 8 or 10 directions I could start from, I’d say without a doubt the primary 2 tonal contributors are (1)The players touch, attack, trill, meter, palm mute, choice of approach location (near the neck, over the frets, over a pickup, just off the bridge, ect), choice of mode, choice of string for any given note… (2) the Quality of the woods used in construction. This has everything to do with tone. Woods that communicate their best qualities across the 40-8k Hz range. Wood that is over dried, dried too quickly, or kilned to soon after a green harvest will lack embracing qualities. Right now? 90-95% of ALL guitars made are built with “green” woods. The forest can’t grown quality tone woods fast enough.
Guitars that sound great acoustically, will sound great when amplified.
What voice any given player wants to give an instrument is certainly available. strings, nuts, bridges, frets, pickups, amps, pots, tubes, active circuitry, pedals, ect… Oh My the choices are endless. Remember, Jeff Beck & Chet Atkins didn’t grow up with all these options… And those are the players who will sound like themselves no matter what you give them to play…
Never rush your gear. When and if it’s meant to find you or you it? It will! There’s a bunch of “Cool for a Minute” S**T Fixers out there. Think any of those will make you a distinctive player? Take from an ol’ guy… They won’t. Get in touch, then share it with your instrument… Feel something & express it with your instrument… Find something worth saying, say it through your instrument…
hello guys and gals!, just my 2 cents. I have a 1996 epiphone Les Paul standard made in the unsung plant. i cant say for the years after 96, but this guitar is constructed better and more attention to detail than any other plant in Korea. There is also no veneer on the back of the guitar. ( later years EPI started routing and gluing veneer on the back of the guitars to make it look like one piece of wood). The one i have is not made that way. It is a 3 piece diagonal cut body that you can see when you look at the back. (lol obviously Gibson had a problem with that lol). i have 9 Les Pauls total, 8 EPI and 1 Gibson. Only 2 are from the china plant. (’56 les paul pro, ’60 tribute plus). Dont get me wrong, they look,play and sound amazing! I do fancy the 96 and under Unsung Pauls though.
how can i tell what model my guitar is ? U00122965 i know its Unsung korea year 2000 month december and 2965th made but what model is it ? it has three uneven lines for fret inlays on op of eachother one shorter then longer then longer yet > Cnat find any like it to identify the exact model and hopefully vakue ? any help would be appreciated Thanx
You might want to give Epiphone a call.
Yes I have a question. Can you tell me where my guitar was made Mo and year?
I got a samick epihone les paul 2001 and its awesoome, what are the unsung,Fuji-gen epiphone les paul’s like from the same era are they as good or better do you know
I am a guitar player with over 50 years experience. Like many of the seasoned players out there I’ve owned a ton of expensive American guitars. I am now retired and have reduced my inventory to just one electric. I choose to live a simple and unfettered lifestyle, which is why I play a MIC Epiphone Les Paul Custom. I am not going to bash other makers or countries of origin. I chose this guitar because of how it sounds, how it looks and how my arthritic hand responds to it. I have no shame or regrets owning this fine instrument.
I have a epiphone “Special Model”,which i bought for my son when he was quite young and wanted guitar lessons. He returned it to me and i am now trying to trace its origin. There are no numbers on the headstock,but there are numbers stamped on the neck cover plate which are 098120382. I’ve checked every site but have had no luck. I assume that its a mid-90s guitar,probably made in Korea. Can anyone help?
Hi, I am a 68 year old pensioner in good old UK. Always Japan or Korea for me. I have a nice TOKAI JAPAN STRAT early 80’S WHICH IS SUPERB. However I was a 335 style man for most of my years , Tokai, Burny, Epi Dot/Sheraton ( could never afford USA )
Due to changes in my health, I have found these bigger guitars a bit of a struggle against my body, hence sold two of them, both Korean and over twenty years old , well built and still in top condition. I decided to visit the smaller sized 339’s ,,,, Awful. Then it was suggested to try some Les Paul variants. The chinese EPI’s were dreadful,,, looked nice but felt like plastic on toyish , no girth to them. HOWEVER i came acroos a 2000 Korean Epiphone Les Paul , that had been in its case for twenty years, a stunning Honeyburst with vintage tulip tuners. I have never played a LP in allmy years,,,, What have I been missing ? this guitar looks the part , ridiculously
well made ,, yes! it’s on heavy side ( but i sit down to play ) sounds escellent with stock pu’s . Blows the current chinese models out of the ballpark. The only thing I HAVE changed are the tuners for Kluson Tulips , direct replacement fpe the Epi branded tulips but offer better stability. Anyway that’s my twopenece worth. It’s different for everyone. Just go out and try as many as you can.
I would like to make a correction here as to when Gibson stopped making guitars in Korea. Little known fact is in 2005 Gibson did make a limited number of guitars in Korea, on the serial number you will see an S meaning made in Korea and 5 meaning 2005. I have one and will say hands down best made Gibson eve. One of the reasons Gibson of the US is going out of business is because, though a différance in tone, the Asian made Gibson’s are just as good as the US made. To say because Employees in Asia are not over paid like in the US it equates to lower quality and craftsmanship is ridiculous, and to say because the wood harvested is better in the US than Asia is just plain stupid it only has different feel and carries sound different not better. As to pickups, hand wound being better than machine where the machine is perfect down to the micrometer Vs hand which can be sloppy and not always being wound the same amount of times, Machine wound = more accurate. Yes hand made does have some romantic appeal and may have some characteristics that machine made does not have, but to a professional musician like myself none of that matters as it all comes down to sound. I do have one US made Gibson as a back-up guitar and yes it does sound good, but any time I have had to use it I could not get the same sound that comes out of my Korean made Les Paul furthermore I would not have a US made if Gibson had not of given it to me, Why would I over pay for something does not sound the same as my Korean made Gibson?. In short, I would say the Korean and Indonesian made Gibson are just as good as the overpriced US made, but as to the Chinese made Gibson’s (not the copies but the real thing) They are well-made only reason the first year China ones were not as good is because like anything the workers and machines needed experience and fine tweaking to get it right, and access to better materials.It’s going to be at least another 10 years before the China made Epiphones are up to part, While the Indonesians will remain the better Gibson’s. Soon there will be no more Gibson’s made in The US as they are in the hands of their creditors and scheduled to be shut down.
a friend gave me his mostly unused 2004 MIC epi les paul standard…..played nice but the pickups were not my thing.
today i put a anniversary seymour duncan jb set in and…..WOW…..she came to life.
it sounds so good i had to test it next to my 2016 gibson r8 with montys boutique pafs.
holy the epi is good….really good.playability,sustain,harmonics…..very comparable to the r8.
differences in nuances,of course,but nothing missing or worse than the r8.
i am still searching for something that is not on par and will keep on doing that,but what the hell…the epi sounds damn great and is just as much fun to play and hear.
it must be said that i am a longtime gibson vintage collector for 60s to 80s les pauls and pickups.all of which get played,fixed and set up by myself.
damn it try a epi no matter which….it might be really good
Nice. You can set an Epiphone up to play like butter. Lots of effective upgrades available out there like Tusq nut, pickups, fret dressing and of course a professional setup. Just a little elbow grease can go a long way! Epis are well constructed, good tone wood, and affordable. They are great guitars!
HELP! Why does no where on Google have an answer to what model mine is? Serial number looks like SN K 006005. If anyone can help I’d really appreciate it.
Ok, so many great comments here. I will try to be to the point. I have a 91 epi black custom 7 digit serial. Very heavy , has a slim style neck typical of the era , very deep strong sustain. I later installed Gibson 57 classic neck and 57 plus in the bridge and got an even deeper tone quality. This guitar is great for singing with and nice leads on songs with hooks. My second epi is a 2012 costom pro shop dark red burgundy color, very well put together and needed no setting up . The weight is not as heavy and the sound is not either. I believe the pickup to be called pro bucker sounds like a burstbucker. This guitar does leads very well and the neck pick up is ok . I don’t like to sing with this guitar as much , it tends to feedback to the mic too much. I think both guitars weak points are factory electronics ie the pickup to start. Very well built and they surprisingly sound better than some USA Gibson’s I have played that were new. If you go the epi route spend the extra money for the custom guitar the finish ad fit is better and you can always change things to your taste. Set up . Set up Set up. Thanks for reading
Setting it up with the Gibson 57’s really brought it to life, I bet.
I can buy an Epiphone Les Paul Elite Honeyburst (F6070177) for 700,00 euro. Made in Korea, I think 1996. I know it’s a real one and plays very well. Is this the wright price for such a guitar ? Is there a big difference between the standard guitars and the elite series. Don’t find any similar info on the web about it.
“Made in Korea Epiphones have a slightly deeper, richer sound” ???I can’t stop laughing!!!
Finish the sentence. Don’t cherry pick, John. “difference is generally said to be fairly slight, and not as important as the differences between individual guitars.”
That is just the difference between my guitars. One Korean one Chinese about 25 years difference in age. Not trying to polarize here just making observations. I don’t think the Chinese Korea thing is that big of a deal. There are lots of things you can do to get the sound you prefer. Set up set up set up. I just stumbled into this thread because I like my guitars and how different they are from each other , thought I would share.