laporanHarian.Com
This is an Epiphone Les Paul Jr. 1957 Reissue. It was made in China in 2007 and checked by Epiphone USA technicians before being sold. The fretboard is made of Rosewood and has 22 frets. It's a little hard to get to the 18-22nd frets, but the rest of the fretboard is accessible. The body is a single cut of maple and looks absolutely amazing. I bought the TV Yellow color and I just love the look. Too many Les Pauls are black or some sort of sunburst, a TV Yellow really sticks out. The pickguard is black and matches great with the body. My only problem with the pickguard is the sticker they put on it. When I took it off it took some of the lamination off. Les Paul Jr's come with one pickup for a simple tone. The single P-100 sounds good, but I'd like to replace it with a livelier sounding P-90. If you're just messing around, the P-100 is fine but if you're recording or playing some shows go for a P-90. The tone on the P-100 is just a bit weak. I just wish the pickup was a little closer to the strings. You get one volume knob, one tone knob, and no switches. The guitar has a classic style Tune-O-Matic bridge. I've never used one before, but I really like it compared to non-locking bridge. The Grover tuners hold the tune very well. I only have to tune every three or four days and I play several hours a day. // 8
Sound: The sound fits my music style perfectly. I play in a punk rock band and with a lot of distortion and the tone up high it's great. Also, if you turn the distortion and the tone down low, around 2 or 3, you get a great blues tone. I play a bit of blues and I love this guitar for it. With a Les Paul Jr. you don't get much variety tone-wise though. You've only got one pup so don't expect much variety. // 7
Action, Fit & Finish: I've had this guitar for a month and haven't noticed any real problems with it. As I said before I wish the P-100 was a little closer to the strings, but other than that it was well set up. I replaced the stock strings with a set of Ernie Ball's Un-evens. I had heard that bigger strings made the guitar sound better, but I haven't noticed anything. I'm going to replace the strings with some .10's when I go back to the music store. // 8
Reliability & Durability: I play with this thing Live at church on Sundays and at the shows. It so far has served me well and I expect it will for quite a while. The P-100 seems sturdy, but I'm going to replace it soon either way. If anything on the guitar could use some work it's the tuners. They're a little cheap and I don't expect them to last more than three or four months. The buttons are metal and don't seem all that bad. I don't trust any strap buttons, though, so I use strap locks when I'm playing. The finish on the body is great and will last for years. I'm going to have to replace the pick guard because the little hole in the laminate really bothers me. // 9
Impression: Overall, I love this guitar. It was a steal for the cost ($250 with free shipping) and it fits my style perfectly. I've been playing for 11 months and I plan on using this guitar every time I play punk. It sounds really good with a Boss DS-1 or a Boss '59 Bassman emulation pedal. I've used it with my friend's Boss '65 Reverb emulation pedal before and it sounded even better with it. If this guitar was stolen I might not be able to buy another new. I think it just recently went off the shelves, it was only a limited edition. If I was able to find another one in good shape I would buy it, but I'd probably go for a Gibson Melody Maker or an Epiphone Les Paul Standard if this was gone. I love the simplicity of this guitar and how great it sounds when I'm playing punk and blues. I really dislike it's sound for metal and when I'm playing in the jazz band it could sound better. I compared it to the Gibson Melody Maker and the Epiphone Les Paul Standard before buying it. I decided to go with this one because it was a better value for the price and I love the simplicity. I just wish it had come with a classic P-90 instead of the P-100. Something really emulating the sound of the late '50s P-90. // 9
