NUD : Epiphone Les Paul

Condor

Condor

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I received my Epiphone Les Paul in the mail today - Ebay auction, bought for £70, really new in original box etc along with the Epiphone sticker and poster, lead, gig bag and restrung with Aquila Nylgut instead of those awful black nylon strings.

What a pretty little thing it is - not a mark on it, beautiful finish in the cherry sunburst colour. Tuned up very easily and although not loud acoustically, still a nice, bright sound. Looking forward to trying it through my uke amp this weekend when I have a chance.

Looks just like a mini Gibson but I guess its meant to! I can understand why these little Les Pauls have a bit of a cult following, what's not to like about it? Ata saving of around £20 on the price new here in the Uke, plus the strings, I am delighted with it.
 
Sooner or later, I'm getting one. I know what you mean, not the best, but plenty OK, and just plain likable.
 
For the money they are nice little ukes.

I suggest you get a second button and install it at the base of the neck. In my opinion it should have come with one...
 
I really do like mine. I bought it more or less as a lark, it was inexpensive and looked cool, but it is really made rather well, appears to be very high quality construction with a gorgeous finish, and is fun to play.
 
Very cool ukes for the money. I still need to install some Aquila low g's on it, along with a bone nut and saddle on mine. I put it in a decent tolex hardshell case and it looks like a million. May install a nicer pick guard one day as well. Some folks don't like them and just remove it and leave it off. Matter of preference. Good luck. They sound decent plugged in too.
 
What case is a good fit for it? The little gig bag is nothing more than a dust cover really and I like my ukes to be in hard cases. Will take a look at strap button addition too. And experiment with a low G! The Aquilas that mine came with sound good on it. Maybe only a "cheap" uke, but really well made, the action on mine is pretty well spot on, and the finish is just lovely. It's a cute uke that didn't cost much and actually sounds good. A definite keeper for me!
 
Mine is currently on tour with me! I've got it in my 'Uke Crazy' pod case, and it fits just fine! It's kept all the sand and dust out, and with temps ranging from -2 to the current 31, both uke and case are holding up just fine!

I changed the nut and saddle to bone (had to buy blanks and then make them myself) and fitted Living Water Strings and the transformation was amazing.

The electrics are OK, but not as nice as the Fishman electrics in my Fender 52 Tele uke, but through the Vox modelling amp I have (at home) it sounds good enough to me!

What's not to love ...... it's a Les Paul! :D
 
I've been needing something with a pickup for when I accompany a local dulcimer group.... This might fit the bill. Concert size, nice but not a financial drain, and it is concert sized, right?
 
It is - I stood it up next to my Eddy Finn Concert and its the same length although of course quite slim and shaped like, well, a Les Paul guitar :) Build quality and finish is seriously good for a uke this price - its better than my Eddy Finn which was more than twice the price! What a cutie this is, and sounds nice too, even if its acoustically fairly quiet. Its a passive pickup so probably benefit from a preamp. Add a set of strings to your liking and its a really useful, good sounding little uke.
 
I'm interested in changing the nut and bridge but don't know where to get one for a good price other than china.

Also is there a particular size, or are all blanks pretty much the same thing? how hard is it to make one for the uke?

thanks in advance.

ChaosToo said:
I changed the nut and saddle to bone (had to buy blanks and then make them myself) and fitted Living Water Strings and the transformation was amazing.

What's not to love ...... it's a Les Paul! :D
Click to expand...
 
I installed one of these last week (bought off ebay for 9.95): http://www.graphtech.com/products/brands/tusq/product-detail/pq-9250-00-tusq-acoustic-ukulele-saddle It's very close to the right size, but a hair too long and too thick. A couple of minutes of careful sanding took care of that. Also, the bottom edge needed some cleaning up with sandpaper so that it sits flat on the pickup. Until I did that, some strings were louder than others through the pickup. Nice learning experience, but I don't think the mod changed things significantly.

I like my LP and like playing plugged in, but if I was doing it all over again and had a few more bucks, I would go for a Kala or similar with a pickup. It does look very cool though and is rugged and solidly built.
 
It's slightly snug, but fits well inside the same concert size hard case that nearly all concerts fit. Mine was a Musician's Gear black hardshell concert case from Musicians Friend on sale.
 
Ivan, check with Tony (Tudorp) here on UU - he set up my LP Uke with bone nut and saddle, changed the strings to Aquila Nylgut, and leveled all the frets.

Of course, that was before I got the second LP, which went to a Good Home. (And I'm glad you are enjoying it!). And I agree - a second strap button at the neck base is a Good Idea.

Olarte said:
I'm interested in changing the nut and bridge but don't know where to get one for a good price other than china.

Also is there a particular size, or are all blanks pretty much the same thing? how hard is it to make one for the uke?

thanks in advance.
Click to expand...



-Kurt​
 
Lots of tutorials on how to make a nut and saddle, but you may just want to get a TUSQ set. They are somewhat "standard"...note the quotes. Would require the least amount of "fitting" and are readily available for less than 10 bucks the set I think.
 
Congrats on the EPI LP!

I Love mine. I replaced the pickup with a Mi-Si, and made a custom saddle from a piece of ebony and I have a Fremont soloist squeakless polished low-g string, with the trebles from a set of Worth Browns mediums (BM-LG), and the sound is very sweet, with infinite sustain.

Because the wood of the top, back and sides are thicker than most ukes you'll want some higher tension strings which will in fact cause the top to resonate significantly more than Aquila Nylgut strings, otherwise both the acoustic volume and tone, as well as the sustain will not be at it's maximum potential.

Anyone else considering or wanting an EPI LP uke, see the thread I posted last night where Epiphone is GIVING AWAY one for free, each day in April.
 
Olarte ....... I bought blanks from Clifford Essex Music in the UK (same place I got my Aria concert from) as they have a big selection of blank bone pieces. I just measured the stock ones and ordered blanks of similar dimensions, although the saddle on the LP is narrow, so it took some sanding down.

As has been said, there's lots of help to be found using a Google search, but I used varying grades of sandpaper attached to a glass sheet to keep a nice flat face and took my time!

The nut blank was a lot closer in dimension, so just needed the curved headstock side edge sanding, and obviously the nut slots cutting. All I did for the slots was attach the blank and the new nut together, using the original to guide where the slots needed cutting on the new nut.

It really is pretty simple stuff ........ :D
 
Got to play one of these in a store today and really liked it. Really well built and I like how the finger board felt, and even with the rubbish stock strings I liked the sound.

One thing I am concerned about is the sound plugged in though. I'd be gigging quite a bit with it and the lack of controls concerns me. I have a piezo installed on my Dolphin and the built'in preamp lets me adjust bass and treble which gives me a decent range of sounds. Would this need a preamp or would running it clean through my distortion pedal help that?
 
There are others here far more knowledgeable than I am, but AFAIK passive pickups really need a preamp, in which case you will have all the controls you want or need . The "active" pickups generally, especially cheaper ones, seem to be viewed as probably not as good as a preamp with an amplifier as their built-in amps are not always good quality. The little Les Paul really lends itself to a bit of modification though, reading threads on here, and can be hugely improved upon sound wise. I find the setup on mine, from the box, pretty good and with Aquilas instead of the nylon junky strings, it sounds really nice but others have tried different strings which they are equally happy with.

Thing with this little uke is, most people seem really pleased with it, at a very modest cost - plus it is the real deal, a proper Epiphone Les Paul. Cute and cool and sounds good to me.
 
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