Re: Who says Epiphones are junk?
I own an Epi Exployer and an Epi Les Paul...... I used to do minor help at a guitar repair shop for some extra cash over the Xmas season and thru my contacts there i got these 2 guitars after bad accidents..... After gluing the neck back together on the Exployer i was stumped at the elextronic problems it had..... those pots and switches suck! I ended up buying a real Gibson 500K pot to wire the bridge humbucker up and disconnected the rest. New switchcraft jack as well. This Exployer even with the broken neck is really nice to play now that most of the guitar is back in working order.
The Epi Les Paul i have also had a bad bad bad neck break but saddly someone at the store had started glueing the neck back together before i could get it.... There is hump in the fingerboard at the 3rd fret that tells me they didn't use enough clamps..... If i could of glued it up myself i'm sure all i would of had to do was a fret dress at the most. When i glued the neck back on the Exployer i didn't have to do anything, it played great! I'm still debating on how to repair this fingerboard. I think the easiest way is to pull the frets and sand it straight again, and a complete refret. I don't want to try and pop off the fingerboard again. for now i just did a major fret dress.... the 3rd fret is almost flat but at least it plays... I paid a few hundred Canadian bucks for the remains of this guitar and it is starting to turn into a waste of time and cash since i have a lot more work to do to it then i first thought. I learned a lot about what to look out for when trying to fix guitars with broken necks.
The whole reason i bought these broken Epi's was to learn more about repair work.... it's good practice. And now that they are working again i can pretty much use them anywhere and not worry if they get scratched, dinged, dented, or just plain ripped off... The perfect club guitars.
I don't think i'll ever buy a new Epi..... Unless i really look at them good. The electronic parts suck and can be expensive to replace.... I find the Humbuckers noisey. I have seen a few Epi les paul standards that had the fingerboards radiused too sharp! i think they should be a 12 radius and a few i have seen a few that looked like a 9....... The middle of the frets were sanded to correct it. Glue joints are not always done that great on Epi's... Epi's seem to be a fixer upper right out of the box. Here in Canada an Epi LP standard starts at about $550 and up to over $800 depending on the models..... If you add up what new Pots, a New Jack, and new Humbuckers, tech bills, and any other add ons that will run up costs on top of the guitar cost, why bother.... Just buy a better guitar.
For the same price as a Epi Les Paul Standard i'd perfer one of the many Godins in that price range...... The Godin Solidac, or the LG model are 1000 X's better then any Epiphone i have seen so far
WhoFan