Best Les Paul Copies?

Re: Best Les Paul Copies?

Definately EDWARDS

I have owned HEAPS of guitars in my life (Ibanez RX, Ibanez RG, Epi Casino, Epi LP, Epi G-300, Fender Strat MIM 60th Anniversary Ed, Fender Tele MIM, SX Bass, Fender Acoustic, Canora MIJ strat, J&D Bass, Cimar/Ibanez MIJ Bass, and probably about 5 more that I just can't remember right now - probably because they weren't memorable).

Whilst some of them were great, none of them came PERFECT out of the box and all needed some sort of professional set up that I couldn't do at home (i.e. things OTHER than truss rod adjustment, intonation, action), such as new nuts, fret levels because some were too high or too low, etc. Others needed certain parts/hardware replaced to make them better. Seeing a luthier to have work done or replacing parts all costs money... I always wondered, "why can't I just buy a guitar that is ready to rock without having to spend another $100-300 getting it playable?"

And none of them were what I could call "flawless".

My Edwards is the ONLY exception to all of this. It came PERFECTLY set up, frets were leveled and crowned beautifully, bone nut was cut properly, neck is set perfectly, finish is flawless, zero fret buzz, etc. To this day I still haven't had the need to take my Edwards to a pro for ANYTHING... and I haven't felt the "need" to replace any hardware (it's all top-notch; gotoh and seymour duncan)... it's the only guitar i've ever owned that I can say that about... what more do you need to know!!!

GET AN EDWARDS!

274415774.jpg
 
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Re: Best Les Paul Copies?

Tell me about it. A guy has a Weddington special nearby if anyone here wants it. $550 Cherry finish. Great value for the money, but I don't dig the idea of P100 pickups.

I want one of those weddington's so bad!!!!
 
Re: Best Les Paul Copies?

That's a good deal! Someone should buy that and put in some different pickups.
 
Re: Best Les Paul Copies?

Routes are too small for anything other than minihums or P90's. The minihums will look weird because of the square route for the P100's leaving all that gap around the edges. The minihums would have to be 4 conductor to take advantage of the cool switching and those have to be special ordered plus I don't know how a minihum sounds split or in parallel. P90 pups would look ok, but it would make the killer 5 way switch a waste.
 
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Re: Best Les Paul Copies?

Gr8Scott said:
Routes are too small for anything other than minihums or P90's. The minihums will look weird because of the square route for the P100's leaving all that gap around the edges. The minihums would have to be 4 conductor to take advantage of the cool switching and those have to be special ordered plus I don't know how a minihum sounds split or in parallel. P90 pups would look ok, but it would make the killer 5 way switch a waste.
Click to expand...

I'd use P90s for sure! Maybe get a custom Zhangliqun set that are really hot and have them wired to be tap-able for vintage output as well.

Or, there are always those thick pickup rings that Gibson uses on the Les Pauls with mini-hums...
 
Re: Best Les Paul Copies?

cyberpunk409 said:
Definately EDWARDS

I have owned HEAPS of guitars in my life (Ibanez RX, Ibanez RG, Epi Casino, Epi LP, Epi G-300, Fender Strat MIM 60th Anniversary Ed, Fender Tele MIM, SX Bass, Fender Acoustic, Canora MIJ strat, J&D Bass, Cimar/Ibanez MIJ Bass, and probably about 5 more that I just can't remember right now - probably because they weren't memorable).
Click to expand...




No offense mate, but we are talking about the best LP copy, so those Ibanez RG's, Fenders etc are sort of neither here nor there.

Have you had a Tokai, Grecro, Orville, Burny, Gibson etc to really have a benchmark ?

Just seems rather hard to me to say "Definatly" when its the only option you've checked out.

Sure its nice it came setup well, but I can't really see how a setup alone makes it the best LP clone.


The best LP clone is one that can meet or often exceed the quality, feel, attention to detail and overall sound of a nice Gibson, all for less money.
 
Re: Best Les Paul Copies?

millsart said:
No offense mate, but we are talking about the best LP copy, so those Ibanez RG's, Fenders etc are sort of neither here nor there.

Have you had a Tokai, Grecro, Orville, Burny, Gibson etc to really have a benchmark ?

Just seems rather hard to me to say "Definatly" when its the only option you've checked out.

Sure its nice it came setup well, but I can't really see how a setup alone makes it the best LP clone.


The best LP clone is one that can meet or often exceed the quality, feel, attention to detail and overall sound of a nice Gibson, all for less money.
Click to expand...

FWIW The general consensus is that all the good Japanese copies (Greco, Burny, Orrville, Edwards, JP Tokai, etc.) are pretty much the same in terms of quality. They're all based on vintage Gibson specs and use basically the same materials, and it's rare you find any complaints related to quality about any of them.

I think whatever's "best" tends to be what's cheapest and most available to you at the time. Which (see below):

grumpy said:
Can you get Edwards in the states though?
Click to expand...


No and Yes.

Due to intellectual copyright law it is illegal for new Edwards' Gibson-copies to be sold retail in the United States.

However, it is quite legal to purchase them from an overseas retailer and have them shipped here, which is what most people do. Even given the higher price of shipping (around $125 via EMS when I bought mine) it's still an incredible bargain when compared to any similar domestic product. I think my Edwards LP Custom cost me, total with shipping, around $800.00.

I ordered mine from http://www.ishibashi.co.jp
 
Re: Best Les Paul Copies?

From what I've seen, Edwards takes the cake. They have some really cool signature LP copies too...
 
Re: Best Les Paul Copies?

sosomething said:
That's not fair. Those Weddingtons can be real hard to find.
Click to expand...

I found four in two weeks. The intarweb makes the world a smaller place.

Our australian brothers have a Weddington Classic in red just waiting to be picked up at "Muso's Stuff". http://www.musostuff.com/catalog/product/1338/Yamaha_Weddington+Classic+MIJ.php
image.php


There is a Weddington Custom in Poland I think being offered on the web, but I can't figure out how to look at the auction.
 
Re: Best Les Paul Copies?

The best LP copy I ever played was an old Burny. It's owned by the rhythm guitarist of a local AC/DC tribute band. He uses it mostly when teaching. I played it for a couple songs at our rehearsal last Friday night since we were practicing at the studio we recorded at.

It has such a huge sound. I've played plenty of Les Pauls in my playing life, but this Burny beats them all. Well, there was this one brand new Gibson LP Custom at a guitar show, but that's a Custom Shop job.

The color has aged from the white to that nice yellow. He's got it loaded with EMGs and it plays like butter. Even though I'm not a short scale player, I'd like to own that one. One problem, it weighs a TON! By far, it is the heaviest Les Paul I've ever picked up.
 
Re: Best Les Paul Copies?

Uk Ant said:
Well not Epiphone, that's for starters.
Made in Japan ones tend to be the best of the bunch. So Tokai, Greco, Burny, Orville etc.
Click to expand...
You're contradicting yourself there, squire. Since Epiphone Elitist series LPs are made in Japan I think they are definite contenders (but I do agree with you in regard to the Chinese/Korean models)...

eliteLP3.jpg

Epiphone Elitist LP Standard Plus with SD '59 and JB installed (stock pickups are OK, basically 490R/498T but heck the SD's were lying around...).
 
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Re: Best Les Paul Copies?

millsart said:
No offense mate, but we are talking about the best LP copy, so those Ibanez RG's, Fenders etc are sort of neither here nor there.

Have you had a Tokai, Grecro, Orville, Burny, Gibson etc to really have a benchmark ?

Just seems rather hard to me to say "Definatly" when its the only option you've checked out.

Sure its nice it came setup well, but I can't really see how a setup alone makes it the best LP clone.


The best LP clone is one that can meet or often exceed the quality, feel, attention to detail and overall sound of a nice Gibson, all for less money.
Click to expand...


I've played a Gibson and an Orville, the others are a little harder to grab hold of unless you intend to actually buy.

As far as specs go on an Edwards, well lets have a look...

The reason I mention the setup so much is because I thought it was obvious that the materials in most of the MIJ LP's we're comparing are pretty much identical to those of Gibson... but let's examine the Edwards in more detail:

- 1 piece african mahogany body
(as far as I know, NAVIGATOR are the only MIJ LP clone that use honduras mahogany (but they're more expensive than gibsons), so all other MIJ LP's are using african mahogany too, are all of them using 1 piece? No. so Edwards has a spec that can be matched but not beaten as far as body material and piecing goes)

- true 1 piece african mahogany neck
(i have seen ORVILLE BY GIBSONS, Yes ObG, that have a seperate neck heel attached to the neck!!! thus making it a "two" piece neck as far as i'm concerned. The Edwards LP's have a "true" one piece neck... the headstock, neck, and heel are all made from the same piece of wood (excluding of course the headstock wings which ALL, even Gibson, LP's have attached seperately). If you look carefully at other MIJ LP clones, you may find that the heel is attached seperately. So once again, the Edwards LP's have a neck that can be matched but not beaten in term of quality and wood use)

- 1.5cm thick maple cap
(ok, so the flame may be a veneer, but the cap is THICK! you will find that most MIJ LP clones use a veneer... i've seen veneers used on Orvilles, ObG, tokais, greco, burny, etc.)

- correct headstock angle
(i think all good MIJ LP copies will have the 17 degree headstock break-angle, just like the gibson, the Edwards included)

- gotoh hardware
(tuners, bridge, tailpiece are made by gotoh. In my opinion, Gotoh makes parts which are on par with US quality. I have often upgraded hardware on other guitars to gotoh, this one comes with it stock. Much better than some of the OEM hardware you get on other MIJ les pauls)

- Seymour Duncan pickups
(ok, some of the best recording artists which have had worldwide hits have used seymour duncan p'ups... how many of them though have used OEM pickups found in greco's, burny's, orville's, etc???)

- Long Neck Tenon
(the neck tenon on my Edwards extends about 2cm into the neck pickup cavity. not every MIJ LP that i have seen has a long neck tenon. You may find that some greco's have it, others not, some burny's have it, others not, etc. With edwards, you know you're buying a guitar that definately has long neck tenon. And i know long neck tenon by itself means nothing... so i'll add that the Edwards LP's have a neck tenon that is TIGHT for maximum wood coupling and energy transfer)

I think that should just about justify why i said "Definately Edwards..."
 
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Re: Best Les Paul Copies?

ErikH said:
The best LP copy I ever played was an old Burny. It's owned by the rhythm guitarist of a local AC/DC tribute band. He uses it mostly when teaching. I played it for a couple songs at our rehearsal last Friday night since we were practicing at the studio we recorded at.

It has such a huge sound. I've played plenty of Les Pauls in my playing life, but this Burny beats them all. Well, there was this one brand new Gibson LP Custom at a guitar show, but that's a Custom Shop job.

The color has aged from the white to that nice yellow. He's got it loaded with EMGs and it plays like butter. Even though I'm not a short scale player, I'd like to own that one. One problem, it weighs a TON! By far, it is the heaviest Les Paul I've ever picked up.
Click to expand...


Yep! My Burny weighs at least 11 lbs.
11lbs of sustaining bliss
 
Re: Best Les Paul Copies?

My Edwards weighs 8.5 lbs.

Not saying that as a "one-upmanship" kind of thing, just stating for the record...
 
Re: Best Les Paul Copies?

BloodRose said:
Yep! My Burny weighs at least 11 lbs.
11lbs of sustaining bliss
Click to expand...

I guesstimated at least 10. There's no way I'd play that for more than a set. My shoulder hurts just thinking about it...LOL.
 
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