Epiphone Les Paul - Review

There has been a ton of reviews of these over the years. I've only just got round to writing one.

I think it's terrible!
http://www.gotaukulele.com/2015/08/epiphone-les-paul-ukulele-review.html

I bought a tobacco burst model at a pre-Christmas sale for around $87 US, with a bag. I saw it as a "novelty must-have". I had intended to upgrade what I could just for the entertainment of doing it so that I would have a better sounding "novelty." Haven't gotten around to it yet, but will check the setup, replace the plastic saddle and perhaps the pickup. Hadn't thought about Kluson tuners, but I have a set from a previous uke. If course I'll install new strings...perhaps Fremont blackline low g.......all in the name of fun. It is what it is and I feel it's a decent value for a sub-$100 uke as long as you understand it's limitations. Baz has done a fair and accurate review (as always) so don't expect more from it that it can deliver.

I think for tinkering with it's fine and a lot of fun. My worry lies with how many beginners get these recommended to them by stores.... and how tempting they look as a glitzy thing.

Yeah, most retail music stores will recommend nearly anything they think they can sell. A nice, friendly salesman is not always an ethical one.

Would a relatively cheap (but good) artec pickup mostly fix the electric tone? I know it won't fix the sustain issue. I did look at one of these but passed it up at the time. Overbuilt but thin. Stock strings very poor.

I would agree that a solid body uke would be a better choice, even one with a piezo. I really like the body shape of a pineapple slab.

Like all my reviews - just an opinion!

The acoustic sound though (I won't use the word tone) is just so bad, I wouldn't miss the sound hole!

As for tweaking the sound - yes, it can be played with. I ran it through an LR Baggs Encore EQ into a Marshall AS 50 R acoustic stage. Still wasn't very impressed, but it was better. Thing is though, who is going to buy a £80 ukulele then a £300 EQ and £300 amp to play it through? The vast majority of buyers will have these running straight into cheap amps.

but for me, my biggest gripe is the lack of sustain and any projection. The amplified tone just seems to magnify that gripe for me.

but as I say - just an opinion!

(as for exposure to nicer instruments - yes, that is true - but the vast majority of instruments I have on test at any one time are at the cheaper end - so I am more exposed to those - coming soon - the Vox Ukuelectric )

mmmmmm free sausages!

I'd play damned near anything for free sausages.

I agree with Baz. The one I played was insulting. Seems like Epiphone had no intention of making a musical instrument, just a toy guitar.
I might play the sausages and eat the Epiphone.

It's really surprised me this one. What I said earlier has continued overnight elsewhere on social media. Quite a number of people coming forward and saying 'no, mind sounds superb' (or some such). It confuses me. Is this a case of people who have heard nothing else? First ukulele perhaps? Because out of the hundreds of ukuleles I have tested and even more I have played - the sound of this is HONESTLY not much better than the worst I have played. No sustain or tone character whatsoever.

People are suggesting that all it needs is a string change - I may do that - but really - a string change is not going to make that thick top any thinner and is not going to make that small sound chamber any bigger. I think that is where the issue lies. I kind of knew it before playing it - if I drum that top with my fingers there is just nothing - dead sound.

I have a solid body electro that was custom made for me - under the solid top is a chambered body with a honey comb of holes in it - that has no sound hole but has more resonance that this.

But I am mostly confused by how some people can be so polar opposite in their views. I'm actually gearing up today to do a video in which it is played acoustically against a range of other cheap instruments to show how lacking the sound is.

Facebook mainly. That's cool CeeJay - what I just don't understand is people telling me (for example) - 'This sounds as good as a Luna' or 'This sounds as good as a Kala Travel' - ACOUSTICALLY.

I fear I need to have my ears removed if that is the truth...

Had to do it..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMcsQnNh5kI&feature=youtu.be

i think its just that pickguard causing all your problems :drool:

stevepetergal said:

Seems like Epiphone had no intention of making a musical instrument, just a toy guitar.

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Yeah, there's a lot of that going around these days. Sad! On a brighter note, I just bought a Fender T-Bucket, a bit more money, but of the same genre. It, on the other hand, actually has decent musical qualities. I bought it for the novelty aspect, and wasn't expecting a great instrument. It has decent tone, good sustain, and good playability. It is on the quiet side, but not so much as to trouble me.

I put ukuleles in 3 categories. Some ukes are toys , some ukes are playable toys , and some ukes are musical instruments , ......... and they all sound like ukuleles .

CeeJay said:

Come on ,be fair ,how much tone has a semi acoustic guitar got unplugged...

:biglaugh:

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I like to think my reviews are always fair. I have some solid body instruments that have more natural tone than the Epiphone and have owned several semi acoustic guitars that sound great unplugged.

my semi-acoustic taylor guitar was a treasure. I really miss it even though I couldn't play anything on it but scales.

I see further down this forum is a review of a Tenor Risa Les Paul. The review doesn't say very much but I suspect it's everything the Epiphone is not.

It does have steel strings and twin humbuckers so in that sense a very different beast but I bet there is no comparison in terms of quality.

Of course you have to pay for it (Currently 530 Euros for the mahogany model but two new versions coming in November are priced at 600 Euros) but it'll be a case of getting what you pay for.

I have soprano and tenor Risa Uke'Ellies. They are solid body, nylon strung with under saddle pickups - the same electrics as on the Risa Stick but with a conventional neck. Quality is excellent, they are well balanced and play well.

Thanks for the review Baz.

I had bought one of these, and it was the second ever uke that I bought, so I had little experience with the sound possibilities of a uke at the time. Back then, I thought it was 'great' but I realize now that I was bedazzled by it's appearance since I'm a big fan of Les Paul shaped guitars.

On the EPI LP that I have, build quality and playability was spot on, but intonation was sharp all the way up the fretboard.

Over a year ago, I replaced the nut and saddle with ones that I hand-made myself from Micarta, not only to try and improve the sound, but also fix the intonation. Now the intonation is almost perfect (at least as good as my Fluke and Flea ukes), and the action is VERY low, thus it's super-easy to play. But since the sound is lacking, it sits in the case, as a hopeful future collector's item.

While I try not to fall prey to bling, my uneducated uke ears did not know any better at the time. Now 18 ukes (and 30 months) later, to MY ears, I found the sound shallow, hollow and lacking compared to every other uke that I own. So for me, the review tha Baz has done and his comparison video is spot-on with my own experience.

Now, I wont knock those who love the sound, if you do, then more power to you, but those folks should realize that a ukulele can easily do and sound 'more' resonant than this Epi LP.

bnolsen said:

Would a relatively cheap (but good) artec pickup mostly fix the electric tone? I know it won't fix the sustain issue. I did look at one of these but passed it up at the time. Overbuilt but thin. Stock strings very poor.

I would agree that a solid body uke would be a better choice, even one with a piezo. I really like the body shape of a pineapple slab.

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I have personally tried over a dozen strings on this instrument, and other than vary the tension, I actually found very little perceptible change to the sound, and if you've been following any of my posts on string discussions over the past year or so, you will know that I have tested lots of strings on lots of ukes, and my thinking is that this uke is better suited to be used as a percussion instrument with a tympani mallet (but I still love the way it looks!)

Also, at one point, after fitting the new nut and saddle, I replaced the pickup with a Mi-Si, which took all of 15 mins, and kept it in and made lots of recordings with it for about 3 weeks (even for a few Seasons entries), and while 'it works' I found little change to the sound with the Mi-Si vs. the stock pickup, so i removed the Mi-Si and put it into another uke, and put the stock pickup back in. With the other uke (Sojing solid-body 'silent' tenor [$155 on Amazon/eBay]), the Mi-Si performs much better than the stock cheapo LM386 op-amp based preamp/pickup system...

bazmaz said:

I like to think my reviews are always fair.

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I agree Baz. Fair and honest.

Also, I should mention that on guitarhuggers.com, which is a site that sells 'broken guitars' and parts for your own DIY repair projects, for quite some time betw Dec'14 and Mar'15 they had a flood (over 150 units over that 4 month period) of the EPI LP ukes, and most of them with the bridge torn completely off, so for those looking at installing heavier strings or tuning up to A-D-F#-B, I would advise AGAINST it unless you use super-light-gauge strings, which then will really not even vibrate the top of this instrument very much at all (yes I tried Worth CL and BL, which are some of the thinnest gauge and lower tension strings you can buy) otherwise you can expect a bridge repair to become a future project with this uke.

Just my $0.02...

CeeJay said:

Okay, I give up......Whatever.
...
Name calling and a slight bullying aspect seems to have entered.

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Oh CeeJay!

You did not quote me in your reply, but I cannot help to think that what I previously wrote has contributed to you feeling this way, for which I am truly sorry.

I have edited my previous post and wish that I had never put that text in this thread as it was unintentionally malicious, as felt by you per your comments above.

Please accept my most humble apology.

CeeJay, I still love you and will continue to watch your videos if you will let me still be your friend. Please don't hate me.