It’s incredible how import guitars are starting to get to that $2k mark. All across the board, fender, Epiphone, schecter, Ltd. I wanna say like 4-5 years ago NO IMPORT GUITAR WAS OVER $1k. That’s incredible, most were like 600-800. So in 4 yrs prices basically DOUBLED. Incredible
FWIW, I bought a car for $4000 in 2019 (pre Covid) and that same car today in the condition I bought it in, would be almost $8000!! Everything is more expensive. You checked your grocery bill lately? :)
Yeah I just found this out. I never bought a Ltd deluxe when I was looking a long time ago and now they are more than double. I could get a Ltd ec1000t/ctm for 1000 dollars and now they are over 2000. It’s sucks.
I played a real Gibson Axess for a set of Rush at Neil Peart tribute show that his sisters have been arranging at different venues. Basically the Gibson version of this Epiphone. The guitar was absolutely great but the most fun was running everything in stereo and then adding the ghost bridge acoustic sound into the mix! With the acoustic coming out with a stereo chorus blended with a stereo electric out...OH WOW!!! Sure...you need 4 cabs but songs like closer to the heart or limelight...🤩 when you are immersed in the sound of this rig it is hard to go back. And that's the problem with this Epiphone...it's just not the same. It is HALF the guitar that they issued even a few short years ago...there's NO PIEZO SYSTEM IN THE BRIDGE! so...not sure if it is interesting enough to buy one...I absolutely LOVE the Gibson version but it's WAY too expensive...guess I'll have to build it myself.
I got one in lefty and I love mine! As a super fan I’m extremely happy with what I got, esp as my first guitar with a Floyd. I’m willing to bet these didn’t have the piezos because they came lefty. Graph tech doesn’t make their trems lefty (unfortunately for me, a lefty), so they put in a Floyd 1000. That’s what I’m betting
That's not a scarf joint on the heel end, it's just a simple lap joint. It's there so they can use thinner blanks for the neck. Makes for a lot less waste compared to a single piece neck, too.
@@cataclysmicconverteryeah I don’t know why he was pointing that out as a lower end feature. It’s just less wasteful, and it seems to actually help the headstock not snap
Ive seen that done on ali express guitars, so they cost argument is still valid I suppose. Probably cheaper than to use multiple pieces along the length of the neck. Hate that foward shifter headstock joint tho, they need not have to cheap out on that one as well.
Yep. My 1959 Les Paul Epiphone has a three-piece neck and I'm glad it does. It's already taken two dives off of a stand (kids!!) and nothing worse than a dent where a break would typically occur. Both times, only the G string was out but it's always out. lol
Glad you are saying that the grain of a veneer also moves in the light. I polished an Epiphone Lazarus and an Epiphone Les Paul '59 in cherry sunburst until they were quite glossy. The grain moves beautifully and they look a thousand times better now. Btw I used the Music Nomad Guitar Polish which smells like banana 😋.
I think so considering, hard case, ebony, killer top, and they have to pay the artist. I don't like the fact however I personally wouldn't pay 5 times more for a Gibson. I see the value in the EPI.
I don't get the hate for Epi's new price point. They're using the best materials they ever have, it's a Signature, a custom, and inflation is a thing. If you want a Gibson at that SAME price....fine...but your not going to get a one with the fancy stuff. Not fair to compare two different types models and then complain.
Knowing the previous model had a piezo bridge for acoustic tone variations, I'd just search out one of those instead. Especially since Gibson priced this the same as the previous one on the used market, its basically the same price for less tonal capability. So you still get more for your money buying the used previous iteration. Looks alone isn't enough to warrant a higher price.
yeah it is. lol. this takes more time and money to make. the ebony fretboard costs more, the block inlays cost more, the extra binding on the back costs more, the gold hardware costs more. and it takes longer to make a marbled red finish like the one in the video. no one thinks about how much Gibson and Epiphone actually put into making a guitar and just pout about having to pay a premium for a professional level instrument. All the sanding for the comfort carves and the extra back routes take time and money to do.
It's a chinese guitar - made for peanuts. Would it really be that much of a stretch to pay them an extra half a bowl of rice to make it nice without charging 1300 shekels for the 'privilege' ? 800 I might have paid - 1300 is an absolute joke. That's a 500 bucks 'stupid tax' right there. I paid the stupid tax for the fender rocky strat and although it was a good investment given how much they trade for now, the actual guitar was pants - the pickups from an 80's encore strat would be an upgrade and the thing plays like a 79 bucks catalog guitar - absolute garbage ! The thing is, if people pay it then they'll assume they have a mandate to do it again and again and again, and soon this will be the new normal.
@@strawsparky33 My Epi LP Custom has an ebony fretboard and gold hardware and cost $800. My Alex Lifeson LP Standard doesn't, but it has the same comfort carves and extra back routes, the same pickups and an equally (if not more) expensive FR as this model, and it only cost $900. Epiphone charging $1300 for this guitar has nothing to do with these features. $400 for a paper think veneer? I think not. $900 or maybe even $999 could be argued for the veneer and the 'artist sig' value, if you must. $1300 is simply upping the price of Epiphones unnecessarily, as Gibson like to do with their own brand.
Thanks for the detailed review. I got mine after missing out on the 1st version. I am a Fender player for decades and have played other LP's but never owned one. I do like mine, but the biggest thing that needed attention was the fretwork. The surfaces were not very smooth and most of the ends were not trimmed very well. After having my local go to repair guy take care of that concern, and stringing it with my choice of strings, a slight set up adjustment, and now I really do like it. For the price of the whole package i'm very glad I bought it. And the case is legit guality too.
Alex has played lots of different guitars over the decades. But whenever I think of him I see a Gibson ES-3x5 in his hands. Those instruments seem to elevate his playing into the stratosphere.
Epi. guitars definitely have come along way. hell twenty years ago a person would want to steer clear of Epi. guitars? they have definitely improved to where they in the realm of acceptable guitars. the specs. on this one are a little strange, because if it's supposed to be like a custom it should be double bound. but because of the carves in the body that would be impossible. they have changed the new Floyd Rose tremolos. to where a person doesn't have to cut the ball end of the strings off anymore. and they don't require the tiny blocks to clamp the strings in place. the long screws that are used to tighten the clamping blocks on the strings. are now hollow and a person runs the strings though them. and they come out right at the saddles. no more need for those little blocks that are easy to lose. and no need for any tools to change strings anymore, it's a genius idea. the tremolo on this guitar I'm guessing a licensed by Floyd Rose tremolo. and that's why it doesn't have that change on it.
I have one & it's great! Very nice fit & finish, plays & sounds great! One thing I didn't hear you mention is that this comes with a nice hard case and the earlier Standard had a soft case. That could be a part of the price difference as well. Great review! 😎👍
I love these demos, it's for sure a pretty Alex Lifeson Rush Les Paul Custom Axcess Ruby, sounds great too. But here we go again at a crazy $1850CAD! Kudos for the flush back plates!
just a heads up.. i got the slash epiphone because i loved the AAA flame top.. when it got to my house it was plain af, not even AA. In the end Epiphone wouldnt do anything because of a fine print in the service agreement saying they can substitute parts for cheaper parts at any time if they arent available. So for example my Slash model got pao ferro instead of rosewood fretboard and got a normal top instead of flamed top, simply because they ran out of parts but want to keep making money. so they sell them made with cheap replacement parts then pull the "read the contract" on you when you complain. If you buy yours at a store and it looks good and plays good, right on. But I wouldnt ever order an epiphone online agian.
The slash models have laurel fretboards. Epiphany doesn't use pau ferro. The only spec change I've seen is them using Wilkinson hardware instead of Grover.
exactly, the epi website says laurel. but mine came pao ferro and i was told its because they ran out of the laurel and they reserve the right to do so@@SionynJones
Meanwhile Alex auctioned off 63 of his guitars 100 percent for charity ...🤘🇨🇦🤘 P.s I bought an epi arctic white Les Paul custom for 600 bucks ten yrs ago ...It actually played better than my real Les Paul standard..... Hated the headstock .but now they want 1200 bucks same guitar but it feels like a toy....LoL best guitar channel ever. Thanks man cheers from Vancouver BC Canada 👍
Why WOULDN'T Epiphone put the Piezo in this? Thats a major feature of the Lerxst Axcess. Its a beauty of a guitar. Even though I own many high end Gibson's, Im impressed with Epiphone! I bet these will be 2K on the used market in 2-3 years
I’m willing to bet these didn’t have the piezos because they came lefty. Graph tech doesn’t make their trems lefty (unfortunately for me, a lefty), so they put in a Floyd 1000. That’s what I’m betting
@@AtomicMeatballGuitar it's good but for that money, you're guaranteed to find better quality in a number of other options . I think it'd only make sense for a huge Lifeson fan
@@papa_ptI ended up buying one of these and was surprised. It's actually a very, very good and versatile guitar. I do feel that for what it is, the price is acceptable. But someone could grab a Gibson LP Classic, sans Floyd Rose, for a few bucks more. This is def a higher end Epiphone, and the QC was better than most of my Gibson's. My only real complaint (and other people's) is that they spec'd the wrong nut for this model Floyd for some reason. It's an R4 nut, and a bit too wide, so the E strings end up very close to the edges of the fretboard. Im going to swap the nut out on mine for an R3 nut to bring them in a bit more, but other than that, it's a fun guitar
Got one for my 13 yo son. He weighs 100 lbs wet. This guitar showed up in tune and stayed in tune for two days. Is it expensive? Yep. Is it worth it? I highly recommend it.
@@BravoSeven it's his favorite guitar. He said yesterday if he could only bring one guitar to a gig, that would be it. The guitar is finished superbly, the split pickups are more versatile, the neck is fast, the tuning is much better than a standard LP because it locks down, great case. Highly recommend it.
I have the first axcess in viceroy brown that I picked up in 2013 used from GC. The pictures didn’t do it justice in person. I’m not sure if I got lucky because the pictures made it look plain. I was in the market for the Ebony one. I only paid $2800 for it. Now they are listing for almost $8000 without his signature. The two jacks took some getting used to. I wireless the piezo Jack and use a cord for the standard jack. I play the piezo through a Hughes & Kettner 35 watt combo amp and the pickup into a H&K 50 watt head into a 2x12 H&K cabinet. I’m not the greatest of players but I have fun trying new things. It’s crazy how much gear has gone up since 10 yeas ago since I made any big purchases. Great channel Trogly.
I have both. It took me 3 attempts to get a functional Standard, and even then, I had to file through the terribly finished bridge cavity for the Ghost bridge to return to zero. The Custom has much better quality control and worked perfectly right out of the box. Is it worth 400/500$ more? Considering the prices Epiphone and similar brands (LTD, etc.) are asking for lately, I guess it is. The AL Standard was clearly underpriced. Great videos, Mr. Trogly. Love your channel.
One big gripe I've always had with epiphone Lps is the awful looking wonky cutaway horns. They got it right on this one for once. Also the perimeter burst on the silverburst is fugly. Had they done a teardrop silverburst with a proper cutaway horn (2 very simple things for them to do) those would've sold like hot cakes, I know I would've bought one. Maybe theres a stipulation from Gibson that epi just can't make their guitars look too great in order to keep from dipping into Gibson sales even though Gibson owns it I'm sure they prefer to sell their more expensive gibs. I can't figure out why else they would make epis so fugly. They're already made much cheaper they could at least make them look good & then buyers can swap out cheaper components for upgrades. Seems like since this one is 1300 bucks they got the ok to actually make the body shape correct 🤔
You must be looking at old Epiphones. All the ones they've made since 2019 are exact Gibson spec in terms of cut and shape. The main difference is the binding on Standard versions. They round off the binding and less of it is visible than a Gibson, where they simply mask it off for painting and you see the whole thing. Visually that's the main gripe I have with Epiphones but even the dish carve is closer to vintage ones, than most Gibsons from the 70's through the 90's.
@@autodidacticprofessor869 you can clearly see how bad the body dimensions are on any epi, the elites get kinda close but they still suck & have a huge price tag
It's a beautiful guitar, even if I have never liked Floyd Rose systems, and I can live with the hidden roughness of the routs under the back covers. What I did find a let down was not finishing that lovely ebony neck (and come on - real mother of pearl wouldn't have killed your profit Gibson/Epiphone lol). So yeah I agree - just too expensive at $1300 even including the artist premium. Compared to the Sheraton at the same price - yeah I know totally different guitars - but that somehow justifies it's price so much more than this model. As Trogly says, the last release ended up on Reverb within hours at double the price so Gibson are just getting in on the act and cutting out the scalpers. Still think it's over priced though, as lovely as it is 😎
With certain companies, yes. It shouldn't be any surprise that Gibson and Epiphone are guilty of it. But it seems the quality of a lot of budget and mid-tier guitars has gone up. I know Epiphone is considered a budget brand, but they're a "budget" brand owned by Gibson. They're gonna act slimy from time to time. It's like they can't help themselves.
I think for the price point they're entering you shouldn't get 3 piece necks, 3 piece maple tops with a thin veneer, 3 piece bodies, plastic inlays. They should start making the guitars premium if they're going to ask premium prices for a guitar made in china. MOP inlays, a proper solid 2 piece maple cap, 2 piece bodies. It made sense when epi made these guitars for 7-800 bucks but they're double now, lets see some value for our money.
I ended up buying one of these new, and for the money, its a very, very good guitar. Ive owned and do own many high end Gibsons. Customs, CS, reissues, etc. The Lifeson signature Epi surpassed my expectations. Everything from QC to how versatile it is, with its push/pull pots and the Floyd, makes it worth the asking price. There are still Epi Les Pauls that cost a lot less and are still very good entry level guitars. Think of this one just as what it is: a Signature Custom Les Paul. Its on the higher end for Epiphone. The only big complaint I have is that the wrong locking nut was spec'd with this Floyd Rose model trem. The nut is an R4, which allows the E strings to be closer to the fretboard edges than they should be, so Im going to replace mine with an R3 nut to bring the strings in a bit from the edges.
excellent guitar , it holds tune well . looks great. weighs nice, pick ups do seem to have a lifeson type tone to them. glad i bought it! 😜 i hear hes got some new pedals coming soon to .........
The QC on that fretboard is questionable for that price.... overall pretty cool axe, but Id def swap out the pickups for either real gibson pickups, or seymour duncan active pickups. would be cool to have a LP with a floyd rose. Really wish epiphone would make the headstock shape more appealing too
Great trem work, Austin! I love Floyd Roses! Great demo! I'd definitely ROCK this!...Yes! Worth $1300...I noticed the upper fretboard is not quite level with the body as other Epi LPs & Gibsons. The neck angle is a little shallow, almost flat like the early SGs. Wonder if there's a different feel.
I think Epiphone should offer fret nibs on a guitar at some time in the future, and Squier should offer a guitar with a bolt on neck with three screws. They could call it a vintage squier series. PS. Is it a one piece neck or two-piece neck with a scarf joint. Just curious.
It takes a trained luthier to create fret nibs from raw binding. You'd be adding another $50 to the guitars just for a completely useless feature that doesn't actually serve a purpose other than to indicate whether a guitar has been refretted. IMO, "nibs" are one of the most overrated feature of bound guitars.
I bought my daughter a Squier Super-Sonic, which is actually sweet. It has a reverse-CBS style neck, a left-handed offset body but it's a right-handed guitar. At first when she and I were looking a guitar, I thought it was left-handed but after examining it, it was just made weird. It's awesome and it has a three-bolt neck.
Just ordered one of these and had to return it to Sweetwater. Great sound, nice playability, beautiful guitar. However, I couldn't get mine to stay in tune no matter what I did with the locking nut. Sweetwater offered to have a tech check it out on the tuning problems, but there was another dealbreaker for me, which is, the high e string, especially towards the bottom of the neck, is so close to the edge of the fretboard, when you try to do the pulloffs on "Spirit of the Radio", it's coming off the neck and sounds that way. Even higher on the neck, it's too close. This isn't something you might immediately notice in pictures, because the worst problem is near the bottom of the neck. The string spacing is HUGE at the nut, which is one problem. It changes quite a bit with the string to fretboard edge spacing from the high e 1st fret edge to further up the neck. But I found myself sliding off the neck too easily even further up the neck. Putting on a new, smaller spaced nut might help. The tuning was WHACK though, even after HOURS of pre-stretching the strings and checking the nut screw tightness. Maybe cheap trem springs. Sweetwater was willing to fix the tuning problem at no cost to me but, again, the high e edge problem was a dealbreaker for me, and I didn't want to spend time seeing if a new nut helped the problem. Cost me $182 to send back to Sweetwater because of this, since that issue is build specs rather than a defect. No more Epiphones for me. I will start buying guitars locally.
I don't know if you noticed... It's a 24.75 inch scale length. I don't know if there is another Floyd Rose guitar with that a short of a scale length out there. Easier to play for guys who aren't 6 feet tall.. Brian May's guitar is a 24 inch scale length! It's the only one I know of that has a trem (Wilkinson) that is that small a scale length. Sounds really good. Has a zero fret nut Makes the intonation far more accurate near the nut and first couple of frets. I might get this Alex Lifeson one as well.
1 time I was at guitar center in Kentucky & found an epiphone Les Paul with a nice top it looked a little like a golf ball & had some kind of yellow finish on it
Guys, the first run of the Standard with the Piezo was $899 and basically sold out word of mouth BEFORE they were available to the public really. I was fortunate enough to get in on that run. The second run/shipment was $1199. Also, there were a LOT of issues with the bridge routing, uneven frets and some issues with the piezo system. There are pros and cons for each, but beyond the piezo, they’re pretty much evenly matched. I have both and I like them equally for what each offers.
Hi, I'm glad you/someone mentioned the price increase on the 1st/previous Epiphone one and the QC issues. I tried to get one and was on a waiting list forever, but couldn't get a new one. After reading about the QC issues, I had thought that maybe it was a good thing I missed out on it. I jumped on this new ruby one several weeks ago and I love it. I haven't read too much about QC issues yet either. I have several Gibson LPs, which I love like my kids, but this F.Rose on a Lifeson model for a huge RUSH fan is soooo much fun! It's well worth the $1300 to me...
I bought this guitar a few months ago. Love it but the Floyd Rose Locking Nut (R3 size) is way too wide. Causing the low E string to slip off the neck occasionally. So I replaced it with a certified original Floyd Rose Locking Nut (R2 size) which has smaller string spacing. It worked out BEAUTIFULLY!!!!!!!
I bought one, and after three weeks of constantly tuning it, I’d had enough. I loved the tones, but I’d rather spend time playing and not constantly tuning, I sent it back.
It's got a locking FR trem system. You should not have any tuning issues unless the FR is not properly set up. One mistake newer players make with a locking trem is properly stretching new strings before locking the strings down. Mine has stayed perfectly tuned for weeks now. I made a few adjustments to the trem when I got it, but that was for personal reasons.
I once had a Floyd on a Casio Ibanez PG 780 and the only thing I didn't like was the Floyd. Later, was electrolytic capacitors. It was a MIDI guitar and it was fun.
Keep forgetting Alex had that tendency of putting a Floyd Rose bridge on so many of his guitars. That is a practice I more easily associate with Boston founder Tom Scholz.
Thanks for the review. It seems Epi/Gibson see's what sells well then jack up the price. Same with the Korina Explorer. It was $649. But they sold well. So they doubled the price. And try to justify it by it being an "inspired by Gibson" label and a few token hardware pieces.
Have you looked at your grocery bill lately? Your energy bills? The used car market? Everything is more expensive. Why should Gibson stay with pre-2019 prices when all of their materials and capital costs are higher? Material costs are higher in China too.
@@autodidacticprofessor869 In this case its marketing. Inflation isnt 100%. In one year the price doubles by putting a "collaboration with Gibson sticker" on it. The guitar market is getting very soft now. As well as cars.
i love mine other than it came damaged...i ordered it the week it was released and it came wit the pickup selector broken....unplayable had to go to the closest GC for repair which they said 2-3 weeks to get the parts. so i paid to have something put in so i can play it until the right switch came in. i think it needs a slight teak otherwise its great. ive only run it straight to my fender concert 60 watt. yes rivera era and a bugera 22 watt infinium. i just love the tube tones the amps make. great guitar for the price. the floyd was a plus since much of what i play uses one i give it a solid 8 out of 10
I like Alex and the guitar is really beautiful but I'm not a fan of Floyd Rose trems. I just wish they had this model with a tune o matic bridge instead.
Man the Lifeson Les Paul is awesome except for one thing: the veneer top. With Epihones prices they wouldn't loose to use real solid tops. Veneers have one tone--you either like it or not. The solid tops sound and sustain better and the tone sweetens over time .🎸👍 Great Video
Everything is going up! Plus the nicer top/ebony board & Floyd + they give Alex $ for everyone sold. Hardshell case, the 1st one got a softcase. That's about right.
I wanted a left handed Les Paul Axcess since 10 years or more, Gibsons costs too much, this cost too much too, but I coul afford it and bought it. So now the Gibson axcess desire is satisfied. (But sincerely I would have prefered something less expensive like the previous Lifeson signature, not available in left handed)
Hey, Trogly Little off topic… I have a mid oughts Les Paul Limited edition Swamp Ash Studio with some mods I had done (locking ‘vintage’ tuners, roller bridge, graphtech nut, non-pinned Bigsby, removed original pickup covers). I know price and model wise, it’s nothing special. I call it ugly pretty (as opposed to pretty ugly). It’s like being the most beautiful warthog at the warthog prom. Just curious to hear any thoughts, opinions, comments (good and bad) you might care to offer (on the as-is model I mean, not necessarily my modifications unless you care to); that is if I get lucky enough for you to read this. Love your channel.
Do you have an AJ sig.? No. But somehow I have a feeling you have a Cantrell Wino? They're nothing like each other. This Lifeson sig. is based off an existing model, so is the Cantrell Wino. AJ sig. is actually worth $1299 and is its own animal.
@andrewbecker3700 Actually, I own a Wino and an Adam Jones Custom (Veil of Bees) and you're right, they are two different animals, but they are both GREAT guitars.
I just bought the epiphone axcess. First thing I noticed was the fine tuners were not smooth adjusting. I put a drop of oil on each one and now they are smooth. However is anybody sure that it is a real floyd rose and real grover tuners? What keeps China from faking their own? I also lemon oiled the neck 3 times that ebony fret board was dry !!! The string that it came with it were crap and I had to change those immediately. I am with Trogly the width of the base of the neck takes away some of the axcess route. $1,299 and I could have got the Cantrell $899?? Is the floyd worth $400?
hey, i want to buy an epiphone les paul and cant really decide between the adam jones art collection, the 1979 adam jones and the alex lifeson axcess. which ones did you like the most or recommend the most?
Very comprehensive review. Got to give Epiphone credit for making a lefty in this model so while the discussion about value for money is very fair, for a southpaw this is just about Xanadu
Not really my cup of tea (don't dig trem systems) but at the end of the day, that's a guitar you could professionally gig with without any concerns so unless the name on the headstock matters so much you can't see past it, it's not really that bad a price for what you're getting (imho of course).
