PSA $399 Epi Trad Pro gold top

[Mincer]

While I own a Dean, I hate their headstocks, too.

[GuitarDoc]

With Epiphone, I'm more concerned about soft wood, stripped screw holes that let screws fall out,.

That's really no fault of the wood. It's the fault of the person who doesn't know when to stop torqueing the screw down.

All of the woods used in any of the Epis will hold screws for at least 3 lifetimes.

[GuitarDoc]

Well, I spent $1300 on a "nice" new Epiphone in 2022 and I had to fix that and some other glaring QC problems right out of the box, and after playing it a lot and really trying to get it dialed in, I realized it's just a mediocre instrument and it'll never be what I want. Always a fight to play, lots of little details that add up to a substandard instrument. It's a backup at best. So yeah, for me, it was a concern. I was hoping for more after playing a bunch of reasonably OK Epiphones in the past. I don't buy the improved QC. This thing was all specs and no juice.

Not my experience AT ALL! And I own a dozen Epis (some for 30 years).

[GuitarDoc]

Respectfully disagree.
I love the Dean Headstocks.

Well, if some people didn't love ugly things, they'd never sell. Heck, even the Fiat 500 and Pontiac Aztec sell!

But look at the angle of the strings at the back of the nut...worst ever!

And how do you know which way to hold it, the headstock is as big as the body.

[Seashore]

Not my experience AT ALL! And I own a dozen Epis (some for 30 years).

I have two right now. The other one is about 20 years old and it's fine. I've played a bunch of other Epiphones over the years and they were hit and miss, but mostly ok, which is why I felt confident ordering this newer one. My mistake I guess. I thought the features and the price tag and all the stuff I keep reading about how "their quality has improved recently" meant that I'd be getting a solid player... the old ones are ok and this one should be even better! Can't go wrong! Right? Womp womp. $400 for a decent LP is a good price, and maybe mine is just an unrepresentative lemon, but I can tell you I wouldn't feel good about buying a new Epiphone unless I got to play it for a while first.

[Aceman]

The Gold epi is a great deal - for those still buying guitars
Slap a couple of Double Cream Super D's in their and get your Scholz on!
I (usually) love the dean headstocks.

[Rex_Rocker]

You don't like this one?

I personally don't. Do you?

I've had the 1959 Epi LP and a Custom. The headtock looks cool on the Custom because the headstocks on Gibson Les Paul Customs are usually wider and bigger overall. The headstock on the Standard-style LP's looks really off. Like a boat paddle. IMO, it looks as bad if not worse as the previous headstock that everyone complained about.

That's JMO. I'm overall kinda predisposed against Epi. I really wanted to give them a chance. I bought two of the newer ones like two years ago, and they were both disappointing.

[Rex_Rocker]

Respectfully disagree.
I love the Dean Headstocks.

I like the Dean headstock as well visually. I don't know how functional they are, though, as I've never owned one.