So glad to hear you make a comment about the string retainer bar that most new production guitars always seem to be missing. It seems insane to me how many techs/luthiers i've spoken to who don't realize the necessity of having the strings resting perfectly flush on the nut in order to properly keep the tuning in check while locking things down. I think some companies like Gotoh and Sperzel are starting to manufacture tuners that are either height adjustable or available with shorter posts, which in many cases can alleviate the problem of the scarf joint break angle being too shallow, not a perfect solution but it does help in finding ways to get our beloved locking trems to be as stable as possible. Always enjoy your videos. Keep it up.
I'm hearing a lot of concerns about the price. Personally, as much a I appreciate the value brands and their "bang for your buck," they just don't hold the value or even appreciate in value whatsoever.This axe is an investment that you can pass along to the next generation. Look at the 2021 models reselling for double what they sold at retail. Dang that is a beautiful guitar! Great demo and tones. Inspired me to order mine today!
FYI: Flipping phase only makes an audible difference when played together with something in opposite phase. That is why you only hear it in the middle position. And that is why they only gave you the option to switch phase on one of the pickups. It also doesn’t matter which pickup - the resulting ‘out of phase sound’ of them together would be identical if it was the bridge you could flip.
A pickup can't be out of phase with itself. That's why you need both pickups on to hear a difference when using the phase switch. So one can be out of phase with the other.
@@ChrisTompkins-Music-And-Gear It would also be that if you had out of phase on both the bridge pickup and neck pickup it would just result in them being back in phase, so no point in that switching being on the bridge also.
Pulling up on the neck tone knob flips the polarity of the neck pickup so that it's out of phase with the bridge. It can only work if both pickups are selected. That's why there's only one push pull for out of phase. It seems like a nice guitar. I have a guitar that doesn't feature the bar behind the nut. I tune it down half a step and locking it usually brings it right back up to pitch. I'm after a LP style guitar with a Floyd so I'd love to try one of these. The other one I'm considering is an ESP Alex Skolnick Eclipse.
Nice playing, you would have given Ed Van Halen a run for his money if you were around playing like that in '78😊😊. Your out of phase setup is similar to a Gibson three pickup wiring where the middle pickup is out of phase with the rhythm and treble pickup.
Totally agree with the Axcess feature. I feel it makes the neck chunkier higher on the neck. I haven't played a regular LP in a long while but I feel they might offer equal access. Can't beat my SG for upper fret access.
An SG is about the only guitar I've never owned I love the look and sound but I've always assumed they suffer from neck droop because the body is relatively thin ? Does yours sit OK without holding the neck? Cheers
@@gw2031 Don't assume and try one. I got the Inspired by Gibson Epiphone SG with large pick guard. It sounds a ton and takes (drives?) distortion real well. For the neck dropping, it might a little but the neck is so light it's not an issue. I use a 2 inch wide cotton strap and the friction is more than enough to hold it in place. I also put .009s on it.
Love the guitar and love the fact that you opened with Limelight, which is one of my favourite songs of all time. I'm glad that it exists. I would however go for the Harley Benton Les Paul. Seemingly less issues, and look forward to trying one someday and maybe consider buying one.?
I had the same experience on a Floyd equipt PRS CE Dustie Waring guitar not having the retainer bar behind the locking nut. It's weird, that's for sure, but it seems to be a trend lately. I've seen USA Jackson's and USA Schecter's with the same missing bar. I can definitely say that the strings still rest along the nut on my PRS CE DW (and they better, considering it's a $2500+ guitar), but after locking, it does still sharpen in pitch just slightly. It'd be solved with the retainer bar. The PRS Core CU24/FR's don't have it either, but the "SE" CU24/FR's do. I'd love to know the reason for that. Surely there has to be one. I've always saw the retainer bar as a vital part of a FR locking nut.
Thanks for pointing out how having a floyd is a pain in the ass! I had the same experience as you 😅 and currently that feature is whats preventing me from buying this guitar. I’ve had enough fighting to do with my ibanez rg, one floyd guitar is enough pain
Nice review Chris, thanks ! 👍Great playing... as usual, all over the Fretboard . 😊 First out of the Gate... on the Lifeson Epiphone Axcess . 😉 I liked your Push/Push Pots recommendation on the Control Knobs . 😉 What was the weight of the Guitar like ? 🤔 Les Pauls usually have some Girth . Cheers ✌️ 🤙 🇨🇦
Thanks!! I'm not sure of the actual weight... But it is a tad heavy. Likely between 8.5 to 9lbs. I expect weight with an LP so I guess that's why I didn't mention it.
Alot of cool features on this guitar. Im not not crazy about the neck pick up or the lock downs but the ebony fretboard is nice, gold pups and FR bridge with the reddish color look great together. I have to wonder how well it stays in tune. Guess I found out around the 23:00 mark
I actually got one today and am overly impressed. It stay tune better then any us strat i own, and has lots of guizmo.. This isnt a signature ibanez steeve vai if you use your fkoyd 2 hours a night it will detune but nothing unmanagable.
Very nice video! I work at GC and ordered one the day they came out, but showed up at the store with a broken neck… so I’m now waiting for a replacement lol I’m really excited about about this one because I’ve always wanted a Les Paul with Floyd rose, I tried a Gibson custom shop access, but I would never pay the asking price of $6500 for that guitar lol so having an option at a fraction of the price is a no brainer, even if later down the line I wanna upgrade the bridge to a German one and the pickups for a better sounding set, I would still be waaay below the price of the Gibson
Oh man... what a bummer! I hope you get your replacement quickly. These are great! I agree. An LP with a Floyd is usually crazy money. This is perfect IMO.
Honestly the FR 1000's are part for part the same exact trem as the OFR made by Schaller. They are just made by a Korean factory instead of a German factory. Recently regarding QC, I've been noticing more flaws and issues with Schaller made Floyd's that have come to me for work than the 1000 series, but it's a small sample, regardless. There would be no point in spending 300 dollars on a new German Floyd, because there is no material upgrade, you just get to pay for a stamp on the baseplate that says "made in Germany" and sometimes that is not even stamped centered or on axis. Lol. If you want an upgrade in a trem, I always always always recommend the GOTOH Ge1996t. It's sometimes cheaper than Floyd Rose specials, depending on the market, and is IMO the absolute best currently made locking tremolo. All hardened steel construction with an oversized brass block that dwarfs the FR OEM blocks. It is easier to tune regardless of your string change methods, it's more stable and imo has a much better flutter when set up right. I own 9 FR style guitars, one is an fr original, one is a fr 1000, one is an fr special, and six are GOTOH trems that are either guitars I've built or guitars I've tossed the original trems out of. 99% of the time I go for one with a GOTOH bridge.
@@FulcrumsEdge i have a German made Floyd and it’s worlds better than the 1000 series, the micro tuners are so much easier to use, and very precise, and the materials do feel like more quality, especially the little screws used to lock the strings, with the original one they don’t feel like I’m gonna break them
The first time you set up the Floyd it takes a while but once you get the springs balanced, you just need a 3/4" block to stick under the bridge. Takes me 30min to do full change and clean with floating bridges. I don't believe the lifeson models are floating though so it really shouldn't be much different from a strat.
Nice review Christopher. I tried the NYXL1046 strings once on an Aslinn Dane Tele I have and didn't like the sound or feel of the NYXL Strings. Seemed stiffer and not as bright as the regular XLs which like or Ernie Ball Slinky.
That first model from epiphone did have a piezo. I also remember a lot of people having issues with the guitar. A bunch had to go back and it sold out so quick but epiphone never made anymore.
Original. All the way. The materials and tolerances are vastly superior. You can hear it AND feel it. The difference is substantial. It's a worthy upgrade IMO.
Chris, Can we get you to review the new Godin Lexrst. With either FR and or Vega? Which one and why... Especially after you did the Epi Alex Lifeson. You are the most qualified to do that. Think they will add the springs since I am a 9's player? And OBTW----3999.99. Ahhhhhh.. Please help!!!!!!! Please please please!!!!
There's a lot to like about the new Godin. Especially the Vega-Trem. I love the switch position but am not a fan of the limited switching ability. If I were to get one of these, I'd have to mod it, to get the in between pickup selections. I also do not like the inverted output jack either. $4K for basically a strat that I will have to mod... Sorry but, it's a no for me. Take that 4K to Kiesel or Jackson custom shop. The guitar you could get... I love Alex but this is priced way too high imo.
geezus, didnt realize the floyd routing behind the base plate is so oversized. I dont get why companies make them so big sometimes. My PRS core custom 24 floyd rose is also like that.
Right? You'd think the manufacturer would know the dimensions of the tremolo they're using and make it just right. It just coordinates in a CNC program...
@@ChrisTompkins-Music-And-Gear exactly! I have the Gibson axcess with floyd and it's routed how it should be. I guess they don't give epiphone the same cnc file 😂
First thanx for the review i pickedbone today You dont seem to unerstand what out of phase means.... The out of phase only work with 2 pick up or mic activated. Meaning in the middle position.... the neck pick up reverse (polarity) phase vs the bridge pick up Cancelling phases. But not perfectly on a guitar , so it only scoop frequency, giving you a sort of stall wha wha sound, with a thinner tone. If they had give you a out of phase bridges and you activated the out of phase on both pickup...it would do NOTHING since they would both be IN PHASE but in reverse polarity, thats all Same in recording studio with the reverse phase on console... you use it let say on drum when there us phase cancellation on one mic.... you reverse this mic... and uts gone. You dont reverse both mic...wich would do nothing to the sound and get you back to your original .
I really must have hit a lottery or something because for years I've heard people meme that Gibson/Epiphone doesn't stay in tune, but the Gibson Les Paul I purchased all the way back from 2013 still doesn't go out of tune any more than normal from normal play than any of my Fenders, Ibanezs or anything else I have. Maybe I have a holy grail Les Paul in terms of quality control lol Also, fully agree on the floyd rose comment. I got my first floyd rose on an Ibanez after graduating high school, people warned me on tuning setup, and it only takes me like 10 minutes to set it up, so it wasn't as bad as people say, but it was annoying enough I never bought another floyd rose equipped guitar lol
Yeah, they exist. You must be one of the lucky ones. I've never had any luck with the one's I've owned. I had a 2019 standard LP and a 2015 Traditional LP. also a few different SG's as well and none of them liked to hold tuning for longer than a single song. I hated having to retune after every single song... Though the HP SG that I had, had those robot tuners on it and that was awesome! retuning was a breeze so it didn't really matter.
I bought mine for local churches and it goes like an hour and half before needing slight tuning adjustments like my fenders. So, yeah I won a lotto then lol
Sounds great at high gain!! Killer playing Chris…1300 is a bit steep for an Epi, but you get an awful lot of tones out of that…and of course they have to leave something off you need…im sure you’ll be putting a tension bar on..nice job.
My low e string will slide off the fretboard depending on how I attack the string only at the 3rd fret or so , it comes with a R4 nut for a 12" radius and I'm thinking it should have a R3 nut but you figure they know what there doing ..anyone have this issue and what gauge strings does it come with ??
This is nothing more than an Epiphone Les Paul Modern with gold hardware and a Floyd Rose. Original Alex Lifeson model has the Graphtec Piezo pickup on the Floyd Rose tremelo, and dual outputs. Same pickups and controls as the modern but twice the price.
As a long-time Lifeson fan I was going to buy this guitar, but it was already hard enough to justify the price. Now that I found out it's made in China, that's pretty much a dealbreaker unfortunately.
It is a great Guitar… I just can’t justify 1500$… for 750$ you can buy in some web pages an Epiphone Jerry Cantrell wino ( also includes a case, ebony freatboard, double body binding… sounds great ) an amazing guitar… would I pay twice as much just for that Floyd Rose??? DEFINITELY NO!!😅😅🤣🤣
I certainly wont argue that it's a lot of money for an Epiphone! However, It's not $1500 it's $1299. And as a Rush fan, I love that I own an Alex Lifeson signature guitar. In this case, the name is what is driving the cost, and I'm ok with it. I now have a killer Les Paul with a Floyd Rose, Ebony fretboard, killer tones with all the wiring options and a whole lot of Mojo in a guitar made for one of my hero's. Life is good! Thanks for checking it out!!
