Official Luthiers Forum!

Today in my shop seemed to be Les Paul day. I got in 2 90's standards a 2003 Classic and a headstock repair studio. After the 3 setups a customer of mine brought in his 2 Epiphone Les Paul Standards. I realized after all these that if the logos were exchanged, based on playability, fretwork and overall attention to detail I would assume the Epiphone was the more expensive instrument. Granted the hardware/pickups on the Gibson were better, but The Epis were just flat out better made.
I have worked on hundreds and hundreds of both Gibson and Epiphones and was just curious what other peoples opinions were.
        Then again it could just be the super glue fumes again

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http://www.NewYorkGuitarRepair.com

Gibson's built up a pretty shoddy reputation for detailing, finishing, fretwork, and general Quality Control. Those Korean/Taiwanese/Chinese factories, on the other hand, have gotten better and better (and better) while Gibson's production line work got worse.

I've yet to meet a current production Gibson electric that I find even mildly impressive, although admittedly I don't try that many out.

I've never been impressed with Gibson's craftmanship, even for the '60
guitars. I think the acoustics are the worse, even the newer Montana ones:
the few I've seen and repaired are built like tanks, heavy and in spite of the
thick plates and braces are not very stable. A few sounded decent, even
good, surprisingly so, but I'll take a single Martin factory guitar of any era
against a dozen Gibsons any day. I think the same applies to Fender: the
Japanese '50 and '60 reissues of the '80 and '90 are much better crafted
than the US ones -electronics need to be swapped though-, I heard the
newer Mexican reissues are pretty good too.

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Laurent Brondel
West Paris, Maine - USA
http://www.laurentbrondel.com/

I think Gibson's big issue is a direct affect from trying to produce too many product line variants. This requires any manufacture to make material and assembly assessments that may hinder the quality of some product lines in exchange for cost efficient use of materials and manufacturing practices. Gibson was at its best in the 40’s and 50’s when they had a more finite product line. This very issue end up hurting Guild as well in the 80’s

I believe the Epiphone electrics are being made by the Samick Corp. in Korea. They definitely have their quality control act together. The resale value isn't there but the price difference tends to offset that a little.

Kinda disappointing when a guitar icon's product is put to shame by its lower cost subsidiary. Evan that's an interesting observation as I haven't played any Gibson electrics of Gibson USA vintage (post 1986) when they bought out Norlin. I thought the quality was supposed to have improved with the new ownership?

Personally, I've never much cared for Gibson acoustics outside some vintage 50 and 60's I've played and even then they didn't compare to many hand made guitars or Martins I've played.

My nephew bought himself a Epiphone LP and I thought it was great for its price but liked many of the Gibson LP's I've played better. My experience has been that the wood used in Gibson's is nicer. If I were gigging I'd seriously consider getting an Epi.

If Samick is making Epiphone electrics I'll bet they are really good. I played a Samick 335 knock off that played as well and had a nicer finish than my Gibson 335.Anthony Z38700.8995601852