Epiphone Les Paul Uke - What's the beef?

LittleAxes

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I have an Epiphone Les Paul uke that I bought used locally. I've had it for a while and presently just have Aquiila nylgut strings on it. There's a very prominent review by UU member bazmaz at another site and a second review with a link to the first review posted at this forum. The review and the comments completely trash this instrument by judging it as a traditional ukulele, which by design and in construction it most certainly not.

My question is, what is the point of trashing a thing for not being something it was never intended to be.

This little Les Paul is more or less of a novelty item which is constructed very much like a Les Paul guitar. The rather shallow body is routed out of a big hunk of mahogany. Would you expect that to sound like a traditional ukulele which is characterized by being very lightly built? Of course not. So, why castigate it for being what it was never intended to be?

Open your mind a bit. Develop a sense of humor. Enjoy it for what it is.

I smile every time I look at mine and actually enjoy playing it.

In spite of its low price, the Little Les should not be your first ukulele. It's something to buy for fun as part of your collection.
 
I don't think Barry would disagree with you; but he hears from a lot of people that think the Epiphone Les Paul is a high quality, super-sounding ukulele. He disagrees with that based upon the actual sound of the unit, plus he isn't a fan of ukuleles that look like guitars. He admits that bias.

So...as long as you don't want to say that it sounds great (even unplugged), I don't think you would get much of an argument from him.

Also...as you are an owner, make sure that your own opinion isn't biased by your ownership.

Incidentally, that ukulele is somewhere on my "want" list, just for its appearance.
 
Because he had an opinion and spoke his mind, just as you had an opinion and spoke yours. That's what forums are for, to share perspectives. Once we start castigating each other for having different opinions, there's little point to a forum.
 
I kind'a like the look of the Les Paul, but like my Zebrawood Ukes. But what ever floats your boat is good.
 
Seeing as I've been mentioned here, I figured I should comment.

Firstly - if you think my review is 'trashing' it for the sake of it, then you really don't know how I work. I review instruments the same way each time. As a core musical instrument to me it is not up to scratch. As an electric instrument, it's far from up to scratch. And that's it really. Is it the worst i have seen? No, far from it, but it's far from the best either. Actually you will find the score out of 10 I gave it is actually not all that bad. I didn't actually judge it as a traditional instrument, I judged it as an INSTRUMENT - which is what it is being sold as.

However... what then happened (as referred to above) is that people started commenting and emailing me claiming that the Les Paul was on a par with much higher end instruments, both electric AND acoustic. That's an absolute nonsense.

Just an opinion of course - but when I am being told that the LP sounds as good acoustically as instruments like Kalas and Ohanas that are three times the price - oh,... come on!

What I actually find with ANY instrument I give a less than glowing review to is that it will create comments (like this one) from owners who feel slighted that somebody else has a different view. That's undertandable - people don't like the choices they made being questioned. But to complain about it misses something important - it's just a persons opinion. If you like the Les Paul, that's all that matters.

As to 'what's the point of trashing it'. I often say to people who take issue with negative reviews - what would you rather I do? Write about every one of the (more than 100) ukuleles I have reviewed in detail and say they are all marvellous so as not to generate critisism? Surely that would make the reviews completely pointless?
 
ps - I could also link to many other ukuleles of all prices that are far from traditional in construction that actually made a good job of being, you know, a musical instrument! I have a solid body tenor electric ukulele that is made from a 'hunk of mahogany'. Guess what? It has more unplugged sound than the Les Paul!
 
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Neither of those are reviews - the first one is a product placement advert for a store that sells them. The second was a response video to people who said it sounded good acoustically

This was my actual review - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37qX0k9a4Gw
 
Baz gives honest reviews, he has tested/reviewed a lot of ukes, & has the respect of this community for his reviews.

There is sometimes an exceptional cheapie that punches above its price point, maybe you were lucky to get one.

No cheap instrument, uke or other, will come close to a top notch crafted instrument.

Personally, I settle for the low to mid end ukes that sound good for their price. :)
 
You know - this review has become like a heavy stone around my neck!
 
I have seen a few of your reviews. I think they're good informative reviews, and I think the Epiphone review is informative also. The difference in tone between it and the other Uke you play is fairly clear. Having heard one in the flesh as well is enough for me to know I wouldn't want one, but as you say personal choice. If I did happen to have one I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be that bothered by a negative review either. Keep up the good work Baz.
 
I read Baz's review not long after he posted it. Then a couple of weeks ago I picked one up at a big box store and noodled a bit. Yeah, I agree with Baz. But again, that was my opinion and experience. I'm sure I own ukes that I love that others would find uninspiring. YMMV.
 
I think it makes the impartial viewer rate your reviews even higher. You seem to give an honest opinion (just ones man's opinion as you say) but when you have genuine enthusiasm for a uke, it just seems to shine through. Hard to fake that and gives the review credibility in my book.
 
Writing the amount of reviews I do, i recognise that I have to take the rough with the smooth and that with some people won't agree. Not agreeing is fine - just this one... well.... I nearly took it down a few months after I did it.

Why?

Well because you kind of get tired of the endless anonymous messages to the blog using a choice of offensive words about me personally, and a raft of people saying that 'I am being paid by a rival brand to trash Epiphone'. I always find that one a bit odd, considering I own and love two VERY nice Epiphone guitars. It's also the case that Epiphone used to make a great quality Masterbilt ukulele (sadly no longer) that was excellent. I have no gripe with Epiphone - only with this 'instrument'.
 
Are you saying i'm imperfect? ;-) lol..
 
I also agree with Baz, I tried that Epiphone Les Paul at Sam Ash last year, but I found it lacking, especially for the price, then a couple of weeks later I joined a new uke meetup and the leader had one. When he started playing, I felt the same way, it was lacking.
 
I am happy to read reviews that are well thought out and have valid points to consider. I might agree or disagree, but it gives a buyer things to consider. Maybe there are issues that won't matter to me, but that is for me to figure out. Every instrument is different and it is important to be able to weigh out the options.

Keep up the great work.
 
Dear Barry,

I'm sorry I brought it up again. It did seem to me that you were comparing the Les Paul to conventional ukes. As I said above, it's really a novelty instrument, as far as I am concerned, but it is what it is. If you have had scads of people telling you it sounds as good as even an LU-21C, I can see where you'd get to where you'd need to vent. I just bought an LU-21GCC for $50 and that little sucker is surprisingly sweet. But the Les Paul is fun and plays easily despite its lack of volume (it's quiet enough that it is difficult to judge its acoustic tonal quality). And, lest we forget, it is a genuine Les Paul, not a copy, built by Epiphone under license from the parent company Gibson. No one else could put "Les Paul" on the head and get away with it. ;-)

Sorry if I added to your Les Paul aggravation.
 
@LittleAxes - no worries at all!
 
Bill1 wrote:

"The original review was posted in Aug 2015, more than a year ago. The time to be complaining about the review was in Sep 2015, not 18 months later. If you look at the date on the first link I posted before, the Les Paul model has been around at least since 2012, getting on to five years now. When the review was posted there was a response, how many times do you need to say you disagree? Looking at a lot of posts about the Les Paul, people do love it. They mess with and change strings and fix the pick-up, its like a cult uke. So someone posted a review that goes against the cult, I don't think there is a way to ever get rid of the review now, it will be saved somewhere no matter how hard you try to delete it. Appropriate the review into the cult and then maybe it is time to move on. If you do own Les Paul, lets see what you are doing with it. Have you updated the pickup, doctored the nut, found good strings? We do not have many reviewers like Baz, he is not perfect, but do we really want to lose the reviewing function he provides because he went against the Les Paul cult a few years ago? As I typed before, maybe it is time to move on and show the world what you can do with your Les Paul Ukulele instead of complaining about a very old review you don't agree with anyway. Say it with your music instead of the silly comments. Lets see some videos and some entries in the video sections of UU showcasing the Les Paul Ukulele."

Excuse me, Bill, but are you talking to me, the original poster? The review I cited is still out there, and I believe it is the FIRST thing that shows up in a Google search on the instrument. That makes it fresh as a daisy. I have never posted about the Les Paul before, and yet you say "how many times do you need to say you disagree?" I don't think you even read what I posted this time or you wouldn't be picking a fight with me now and challenging me to post a performance video. I can't believe there has been such an overly emotional and outraged response to the rather mild comments I made. As someone said, if someone makes a point and someone else posts a counterpoint, that what a healthy forum is about. I apparently haven't been around UU regularly to know that the Epiphone Les Paul is a taboo subject around here.

I don't think much of your moderating style, Bill. Maybe UU should appoint someone else with a lighter touch to police the forum.
 
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Years ago I used to watch Siskel & Ebert review the movies. I pretty quickly got to the place where, agree with them or not, I could tell by their reviews whether or not I was going to like the movie. So far this seems to be the case for me when it comes to movies, food critics, or ukulele reviews. It's about knowing who you are in relation to the crowd.
 
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