They are nice guitars.. I like the custom with the open book headstock and the ebony fretboard.. And the 490R/498T pickups got extra output...just like the custom shop gibson build.
Have a sub dude , only thing I’d personally change is the pickup rings , as they are not Gibson sized…first thing that gives it away as not a real Gibson in my eyes. But they do sound good man and if you are happy then so should we all be too.
thanks man, some haters comment, and at least you keep it positive, I'm 70 yrs old and have health issues, so I may come across as a miserable old fart. I don't mean to.
@@Clayton-t5i nah i didnt take you that way , and sorry to hear about the health issues, i totally get how life can be so cruel man. I look after my wife who has MS and 3 boys, one that i home school as he is autistic ect. my only escape is in the evenings i can go into my man cave and play guitar and make music and youtube vids ect. currently saving up for my first ever real Gibson les paul, after 30 years of playing i owe it to myself to get a lp standard in ice tea burst in my collection :)
@@AtlanteanReacts awesome on going after that LP, before I got old (70......lol), back in 1993 I started playing in a Praise and Worship band, and I got big into Gibsons ,back then I was making good $$ cutting timber. I've owned about 50 Gibson USA's and about 50 Custom Shop Gibsons, and in 2008 got divorced (2nd time in my life), got out of the business, ended up going part time up until 5 years ago, health issues , now SS (less than 1000), so these Epiphones are my fave for my budget.
@@Clayton-t5i great guitars i have a few epis over the years, harley bentons...at the moment i have a modded tokai les paul....but there has always been that thing in the back of my mind....i picked up a guitar back in 94 on my 14th birthday, jimmy page is my reason for playing guitar...so i must get that real deal someday..its only right. im sorry you had to shed a load of yours after messy divorces mate...but i digress, these days we can get awesome guitars from all sorts of brands ect....fair play on your epi les pauls i say...and to be fair...epi were the original les paul.
Nice , and very interesting . Not sure if anyone would approve but hey I respect the research and work you did for all this exploration and experiment mods, Cheers 🍻
awesome, keep up the good work, I still have one of those, I put Dimarzio 36th anniv. in it, it's a Guitar Center Lemon color, I have it for sale on craigslist, brand new condition with a way more killer top than these I have now
It's a 3 day project and the logo is kind of both , obviously a true holly veneer and the gibson logo, if it were fully as the custom shop ones, would be a lot of $$, on top of the $1300 this guitar cost, It's a thick recreation of a custom shop's Headstock, that requires taking everything off the headstock, including banging out the bushings, which is a carefully done thing. Then a prepping of the surface, for a Gibson truss rod cover, a handcut piece of wood that I glue in with tightbond wood glue, It has to be the right size and thickness so the truss rod tool will work, and the tool will have to be longer than the ones that are normally used Then the next morning when the glue is dry, I sand that area and put black wood putty over the 3 truss rod holes and the wood piece I put in the night before. That sits until the late afternoon, then I sand that whole headstock surface and coat it with a couple coats of urethane. The next morning I sand that surface again (600 grit on all these procedures). Now ,I apply the veneer/sticker which is one piece of the whole face of the headstock.Then a couple coats of shellac to seal that. Then I cover the words with handcut pieces . Spray a coat of flat black, after that dries I take the covers off the words. Sand again with 600 (very carefully). Then a couple coats of urethane. Let it set overnight again. Next morning I sand that carefully, and do a couple more coats. The next day I sand with 600-800-12 or 1500, and then hand rub Novus 2 in a swirling motion (a lot of elbow grease), until it looks like a custom shop VOS. Then I install the bushings(the most stressful part of the whole process) Bang those in with a rubber mallet. Then I install the tuners and assemble and string it. Intonate it Done.
Man, that's a beautiful guitar ! Speaking of pickups, have you ever used the old tar back Gibson ' Super Humbuckers" from the 1970's, designed by Bill Lawrence when he still worked for Gibson, and then put in the Gibson L6-S 's as stock pickups ? Those pickups are hard to find now / super expensive, so I checked with Seymour Duncan a few years ago and they said they've never made anything like those.......so I'm just curious what else might be out there that might be close.
Amazing, I have no clue, I'm not familiar with stuff from that era, I wasn't into that stuff back then. I just started really digging in in 2011. I noodled back then here and there, never played in a band. All I know is I like these new '59's, I have one killer one from 2023, it's a GC Lemon 'burst that I put Dimarzio 36th anniv. in. I never got involved in true vintage stuff or anything that cost too much........lol.
@@Clayton-t5i the Norlin era Les Pauls were cheap due to their inferior construction but there’s been ten years worth of “pump and dump” from collectors so there’s few deals left on those. The way to go vintage is Tokai “Les Paul reborn” . The higher models (lp-80 and above) are the modern benchmark for quality and the prices are still competitive compared to IBG epiphone. The IBG are a step down, btw, from the previous Made in Japan Epiphone elitist models
Yeah I wouldn’t put a Gibson badge on it it’s kind of dishonest. If it makes him happy he can do whatever he wants if he’s not going around selling them
It's impossible to be dishonest when you make it clear that it's an Epiphone, and tell the buyer exactly what you did, the ser# and double diamond logo is untouched, I tell the buyer exactly every detail on each specific guitar, to the last detail, My title on the ad is "2024 Epiphone '59 Les Paul- Modified.
I don't get it....Why would you buy an Epi 59' and then put a Gibson badge on the headstock and relic the guitar? You're only fooling yourself. Add up the cost of three of these guitars and then bill your time at $85/hour and lo and behold, you could have a real Les Paul.
I've had about 50 Custom Shop Les Pauls since 1995, and over 50 Gibson USA's, and the past 12 years , over 50 Epi's. Ihad major surgeries , one on cervical spine in 2012, and one major stomach surgery in 2023, I have not been able to work for over 5 years, living on a small SS income, this is my little world of happiness. It's interesting to see people's opinions when they have no clue. God Bless, I hope you live out all your dreams sir, rock on.
It's a bit of work, I cut a small piece of wood (1/4' thick) and hand trim it to fit exactly in the open space, about 5/16 "long form the nut towards the headstock, glue it in with tightbond glue, let it set overnight, next day, sand it carefully, very light just to scratch the surface, and I sand the whole area ,including the whole headstock surface, with 600 paper, then I put black wood putty over the area I put the wood in , and I fill the 3 holes with it also, let that sit for about 6-8 hours, then sand the entire surface again, then I urethane the entire surface, let it dry, sand it again, shellac the whole surface, when it's nice and smooth I let it dry until the next day, then I create the Gibson Les Paul Model surface, then a couple coats of shellac, there's a couple other procedures, black paint while covering the name, then shellac again, next day several coats of urethane, sanding after each coat, it's a 3 day project
@@Clayton-t5iThanks for the info! You have made it look much more authentic. The time and effort is considerable but the Epi truss rod cover just doesn’t look right on the Gibson-style open book headstock, imho.
@@derekclacton same with the name Epiphone, don't get me wrong, I've been playing Epi's the last 12 years, and I still have a 2023 model '59, but the headstock now says "Gibson" to me, and then it has to have the correct trussrod cover also
any pickups are O.K. depending on what you're looking for, the amp you use, etc. I played paying gigs for 5 years, just me and mp3 backing tracks , no cover stuff, all instrumental, with the basic Epiphone Les Paul STD's, stock.
