Epiphone Les Paul Standard – Patron Saint of Beginner Guitar Players

Body And Neck:
Electronics:
Hardware:
Sound:
Value:

• Check Price on Amazon
• Check Price on Guitar Center
• Check Price on Musician's Friend

Those who can’t afford the original Gibson Les Paul have a great alternative. Epiphone Les Paul Standard brings a lot of that same performance and feeling at a much more reasonable price. Let’s see why this model is the gold standard among beginner guitars.

Body And Neck

There are two iconic guitar body shapes out there, and Les Paul is one of them. This Epiphone delivers the same aesthetic and much of the build quality of the guitar it was inspired by. The body itself is made of mahogany with a treated maple top.

It’s nothing fancy, but it’s simply in a class of its own. The neck is a standard maple design with a great quality rosewood fretboard on top. This guitar sports similar abalone inlays, as well as white binding on the neck. Overall, once you start playing it, you realize just how comfortable this guitar really is.

Electronics

One of the defining aspects of Les Paul guitars are their Alnico humbuckers. That’s what differentiated them from Fender back in the day. Interestingly enough, Epiphone Les Paul Standard comes with a set of Alnico pups of great quality. These two are controlled by the classic controls found on any worthy Les Paul.

You have two Tone and two Volume knobs to play with, along with a pickup selector switch. Everything feels and looks solid and the knobs are pretty accurate. We mention this because you can easily control volume with confidence in a situation where time is everything.

Hardware

If you are familiar with Gibson guitars, the hardware on Epiphone Les Paul Standard will come as no surprise. We got a very sturdy Tune-o-Matic bridge which sports six adjustable saddles on one end, and a great set of die-cast tuners on the other.

All hardware on this guitar comes in chrome, which is pretty accurate to what Gibson delivers on their Les Paul Standard. The type of performance you can expect from the hardware in this case is above average. The bridge is solid, and holds both the intonation and tuning rather well. Tuners, although pretty standard, are relatively sturdy.

Sound

What pushed the Epiphone Les Paul Standard into fame was its impressive sound. Sure, it’s not the same as the one you can get with an original Gibson model, but it halfway there at least. Seriously, this guitar simply dominates in its category, especially if you are after that vintage tone.

It handles distortion, overdrive and clean environments with a lot of confidence. You can play metal today, and then just tune up the guitar for a blues improv session. Epiphone definitely outperformed nailed it with this model, to our great fortune.

The Verdict

If your budget is flexible enough, going for an Epiphone Les Paul Standard is probably the best possible way you can start off your guitar learning experience. This ax is extremely well balanced in all aspects which matter, and it is a strong performer.

I see a lot of people online trying to compare this model to a Gibson but I would not as the value that this axe offers is one of a kind. The quality of a Gibson is great, but it comes at a very high price, unlike this one. The Les Paul Standard is a great solution for everyone who is not ready to throw a few grand on a Gibson.

For more info about the Epiphone LP Standard, click here.
For more beginner electric guitars, click here.