Epiphone Elitist Les Paul.....Really as good as a Gibson?

jimmyohio75

jimmyohio75

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5,536
I see lots of reviews on these guitars and most of them say things like "it's every bit as good as my Gibson Les Paul" or "don't spend double on a Gibson, this thing is nearly identical and the Japanese craftsmanship is second to none".

Can anyone confirm this? Are they really that good?

JW

 
jpage

jpage

Member
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9,226
Decent guitars, but if you are going to make a blanket statement--no, they are not as good as the real thing. But they are cheaper.

You could do a search and find about 1,000,000,000,000,000 other threads and posts that discuss this ad-nauseum. Most end in some sort of squabble.
 
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guitarman3001

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12,194
never played one but I have no interest in one. I got my gibson lp for under 700 bucks new. May not be as flashy as the elitist but it's a genuine gibson and that makes up for any bling it may be missing, imo. In some cases, mojo > bling.
 
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jzucker

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21,213
cmatthes said:
No.

Just a simple "NO".
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Not that simple. I've owned over a dozen Gibson les pauls and 4 Elitist Les Pauls. The best of the Elitist hung with the better of the Gibsons. The best gibson I had was a '72 LP Deluxe. The best elitist was great but not as good as that '72 but was better than most of the other gibsons. The worst of the elitists were in the bottom 2 or 3 gibsons I've owned.

A better comparison is the japanese Tokais. I've owned 2 of them and they are as good or better than any gibson i've played. They are equivalent to a gibson historic series guitar.

Around here, price is equated with quality so you will see folks looking down their nose at Epi Elitist, Edwards or Tokai but the truth is that a good japanese Les Paul is in the same league as a gibson.
 
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guitarman3001

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12,194
jzucker said:
Not that simple. I've owned over a dozen Gibson les pauls and 4 Elitist Les Pauls. The best of the Elitist hung with the better of the Gibsons. The best gibson I had was a '72 LP Deluxe. The best elitist was great but not as good as that '72 but was better than most of the other gibsons. The worst of the elitists were in the bottom 2 or 3 gibsons I've owned.

A better comparison is the japanese Tokais. I've owned 2 of them and they are as good or better than any gibson i've played. They are equivalent to a gibson historic series guitar.

Around here, price is equated with quality so you will see folks looking down their nose at Epi Elitist, Edwards or Tokai but the truth is that a good japanese Les Paul is in the same league as a gibson.
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not for me. I'd rather have my cheaper gibson lp than a more expensive epi elitist.
 
Dumo

Dumo

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I've played quite a few versions of Gibsons, Tokais, Edwards and Elites and I would say that I agree with Jack but all things being equal Gibson still has the name recognition and the almighty resale value.
 
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bdegrande

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1,034
I have owned one Epi Elitist and think it is as good or better than any of the 5 Gibsons I have owned. The Fugigen factory where this one was made has a long history of producing excellent guitars. Fender used them after the CBS sale when they had no US factory available.

I would love to know in what way the people who say no think that they are inferior.
 
musicofanatic5

musicofanatic5

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8,090
jimmyohio75 said:
I see lots of reviews on these guitars and most of them say things like "it's every bit as good as my Gibson Les Paul" or "don't spend double on a Gibson, this thing is nearly identical and the Japanese craftsmanship is second to none".

Can anyone confirm this? Are they really that good?

JW
Click to expand...


"They" say an Agile is "as good as a Gibson".

I thought you bought a Gibson?
 
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pitseleh

Member
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806
09STREETGLIDE said:
Gibson is a gibson / epiphone is a epiphone. /harley davidson . Honda. You get what you pay for.
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But not all Gibsons or Epiphones cost the same?? So what are you paying for and what do you get, specifically? The claim you make also assumes that things are always priced accordingly in relation to their quality. This is, of course, naive.

As for the actual topic, I don't have much experience with Elitists, but the one or two I've tried have been nice. I didn't A/B them with Gibsons and not all Gibsons are the same anyway so who knows which is better, but I would say yes, Elitists are worthwhile instruments and solid values. Whether they're better is preferential and, honestly, not that important.

Oh, and you're the guy who sold his VM Les Paul to fund a "real" Gibson Les Paul. Given your previously expressed sentiments, I'm not sure why you'd go for an Epiphone Elitist in this instance! Sell a USA-made Gibson to buy a real LP and end up with a Japanese Epiphone? Seems a little backwards, if you want the real deal.
 
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jaclo

Member
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303
Guitar Center San Diego recently had a used one, around 650.00 w/case. The guitar looked great. Very good craftsmanship. To me it just didn't feel like a LP. It had a thinner neck profile than I'm used to (I've only had 50's type necks). The LP studio faded they had, 700 or so new? had a beefier neck and just felt better to me. Quality wise the EPi was top notch, probably sounded great plugged in as well. If the neck profile was thicker I would own it.
 
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Amp360

Senior Member
Messages
4,547
The finish and neck profiles are different - among other things - so the two do not feel anything like each other.

I think the Gibson is a better guitar, but ifyou prefer thick poly to nitro or like a different neck profile you may like the Epi.
 
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