Epiphone vs Gibson - The Les Paul Special

Hi folks. I recently got some great support from The Arts Music Store in Newmarket Ontario Canada, to help me answer a reader’s question. My thanks as always go to Carl and his excellent team

The question asked of me was I think simple, yet highly pertinent. Gibson owns Epiphone and directs the company to make copies of Gibson products. Whether they get stuck with the Inspired by Gibson mc marketing sticker or not, they are basically clones of the original. Although I think that the current Gibsons are mostly overpriced, low quality clones of their originals as well. You might enter into this sensing some disdain for Gibson. You are absolutely right and I admit it. But my lack of enthusiasm for these new companies copying their predecessors old guitars is not limited to Gibson.

The Question

My reader wanted to know why he would or should spend $2400 on a Gibson Les Paul Special instead of an Epiphone Les Paul Special selling for about $700. All prices in Canadian dollars because that’s where I live.

The short flippant answer is easy. Because one has a Gibson logo embedded in the headstock and is made in the United States and the other one says Epiphone and is made in China. And therefore must be severely lacking. It’s certainly the lame ass answer that you would generally get.

So with the support of The Arts Music Store, they gave me the time and space to compare the two guitars side by side. I always test out electric guitars without an amplifier, since an amp only makes louder what is there acoustically or more accurately what is not there.

My Findings

I’m going to put here three sets of comparison images for your reference. The Gibson images will be on the left and the Epiphone on the right.

Body, Construction and Paint

Neither body tap tested particularly well. The wood was, well pretty wooden. Neither had tremendous resonance. Body and necks are of mahogany on both instruments. Winner : No Winner

The paint finishes are both called TV Yellow. The Epiphone is an opaque yellow paint finished in a reasonable thickness gloss polyurethane. The Gibson finish is a more translucent paint where the grain of the underlying mahogany shows through subtly and is finished in gloss nitro cellulose lacquer. Winner : Gibson

Construction quality was really good on both, with no issues of ugly fret work on either, although both guitars were in desperate need of a good fret polishing and fretboard cleaning. This was the first Gibson that I picked up in the last year that didn’t have horrible fret sprout. I was quite surprised at the quality of the fretwork on the Gibson. Winner : No Winner

The Gibson weighed less than the Epiphone. A few ounces at most. This did not contribute to an appreciable difference in body weight either way. Once on a strap, you would not notice. However, as a generalization, I like a lighter overall weight. Winner : Gibson

Tuners

The tuners on both were Kluson clones, the Gibson’s were smoother but still not awesome, the Epiphone units were not up to my standards as they were stiff and grabby and neither set offered lubrication points. I think that they are built in the same factory with Gibson stamped into the white metal covers on the Gibson version. Definitely not real Klusons. In 2023, I do not see any point in copying what was a decent tuner back in 1955. Good tuners make a big difference and these are not good tuners. Winner : No Winner

Necks

Both necks were straight, with nominally better action on the Gibson, although the Epiphone could be made the same with less than a quarter turn of the truss rod. Both sets of frets are nickel. Again, it’s no longer 1955 and stainless steel would be better overall. Fretboard wood was decent in both cases. Indian Rosewood on the Gibson and Indian Laurel on the Epiphone. Both needed some finish sanding and a good coat of Monty’s Instrument Polish. Neither fretboard exhibited anything special in terms of figure. Both guitars are advertised as having a ‘50s profile which means nothing at all. I have Custom Shop Les Pauls for 54, 56, 57, 58, and 59 and they all have very different necks. I found the Epiphone neck to be a tiny bit chunkier than on the Gibson, more D than C. Neither was unpleasant and while I have short fingers (no Buddy Guy here) both necks were fine to play. Scale length is Gibson standard 24 ¾, each have 22 medium jumbo frets. Fretboards on both are a 12 inch radius, so still comfortable and there was never any concern with fretting out on bends. Both necks are finished on the back, so for my purposes, it would be 0000 steel wool time after I had played either in for a bit. A good wax job would help too because while neither was sticky, neither was particularly smooth and fast. Both instruments come with white plastic bound fingerboards. The nut on both instruments is Graph-Tech Tusq, a very nice surprise in both cases. Fretboard wood is a cosmetic thing and I cannot hear any difference or feel a difference between rosewood and laurel, although the laurel colouration is a bit lighter. Winner : No Winner

Pots, Hardware and Pickups

I found the Epiphone volume and tone pots much smoother than on the Gibson. Epiphone specifies that they use CTS pots, I suspect that the Gibson is using something cheaper. I found that both had tone pots that when rolled off really cut volume and cut treble like a chisel. Neither was great in my opinion, but I could wire a treble bleed in pretty quickly and ensure that both had ‘50s wiring in short order. The Gibson pickup switch felt like it would snap off and selections were not crisp. The Epiphone output jack was much tighter and held the cable more securely. The Gibson output jack felt like something really cheap. Winner : Epiphone

The hardware is pretty much identical although the Gibson has (big whoop) an amber switch cap while the Epiphone has a black one. Big deal, not. The real difference is that the Gibson uses the wraparound tailpiece as the bridge and the Epiphone does as well, except that the Epiphone tailpiece is compensated. Perhaps not “vintage” but better in every other way. Winner : Epiphone

The pickups are of the P90 type. Gibson materials refer to them as P90s. Epiphone materials call them P90 Pros. There’s no indication of what either really is. By that I mean that no data is provided as to their internal resistance, their impedance or the most important number, their output current. The Gibson pickups were slightly brighter and the Epiphone pickups were warmer and had a richer bass response. This was with all volume and tone pots at ten and the test amp (a Supro Delta King 10) at a clean setting that with a strong string attack would just start to break up. The Gibson pickups were a bit hotter based on how quickly they could push this simple Class A tube amp. Pickups are really subjective, I could live with either and would over time replace either set with hand wounds from Bare Knuckle. I know from past experience that this would be an improvement in both cases. Winner : Either, or no winner.

Both guitars came strung with .010 to .046 strings which could serve well as cattle fencing. As with most any new guitar plan on changing the strings as soon as possible, which will also afford the time to deal with the fretboard and polish the frets. Winner : Whatever Good Guitar Strings you use. What come on the instruments are to be kind, shit.

My Conclusions

If I was looking for a Les Paul Special (and I am, in a double cut, dual P90 configuration in proper TV yellow - but that only exists as an actual old guitar) I would buy the Epiphone without a second glance. It’s a better guitar. Period. That I would save fourteen hundred dollars and get a better guitar is another excellent reason. I was surprised at the quality of the Gibson product, it was much better than my recent Gibson experiences, but for all I know it could have been in stock for a while. Still not worth the premium in any way shape or form. I could build a Special from a kit and it would cost me less not including my time, but I think that the Epiphone makes the most sense. I would change the pickups and the tuners. The pickups are not awful and I could live with the tuners until I could get a set of Graph Tech Ratio Locking Tuners to replace them. I know that Tim Mills at Bare Knuckle could fit me up with better sounding and performing pickups. I would check with Tim for his recommendation. I always do and he has never steered me wrong.

Thank you as always for being a part of That Guitar Lover. As my friend Keith Williams says on his channel, you are That Guitar Lover, I just write the pieces and make the podcasts. Until next time, I’m Ross Chevalier and I bid you peace.