get Epiphone guitars here 🛒 *Sweetwater* sweetwater.sjv.io/DKdgPy 🛒 *Amazon* geni.us/EpiphoneLPSL 🛒 *Reverb* tidd.ly/3TMMySz 🛒 *Zzounds* www.zzounds.com/a--3985807 🛒 *Guitar Center* guitar-center.pxf.io/JrxYKN 🛒 *Andertons* bit.ly/3XbZlwG 🛒 *Amazon* geni.us/EpiSpec 🛒 *Thomann* bit.ly/2HQzb1e 🛒 *Solo* Guitars bit.ly/3dpEzYH 🛒 *Ebay* ebay.us/F7bxvx

There are no entry level guitars, only entry level guitarists. Great video.

Dude, you have the BEST sense of humor and personality. Thank you.

Time travel this guitar back to the 60's, and many would drool over the playability. 😁🎸

I had a Epiphone Les Paul Special with 2 P90s for a few years. I paid something like $120 US for it and it punched over its class for sure. It wasn't an amazing instrument but it was far from a bad deal. It was good enough that a beginner could play for a while and not feel like they were fighting the guitar or playing a toy.

This was my first guitar! I actually bought it from the same Long & McQuade as you! Paid the same price as well. Still my favourite guitar in my collection.

Love these Epiphone videos you create. If you still have this guitar I would love to see you mod/upgrade it.

You should be able to get stuff cheaper in Canada. You’re closer to the North Pole, where Santa makes stuff.

Had a banana yellow one for 2 years. Used it a lot, alongside my Strat and Tele. Lot's of fun to play, get some great punky distortion when needed. It's also fine for soloing as my string height is not as high as this one for some reason? Really can't complain for £80 of guitar, as it was when I bought it. Great fun... and isn't that what it's all about!

I have the same one. Took it to a jam late 2022 and it sounded great. Haven't really had it out of the case since, but I really do like it. Bought it used for $99.

Long And Mcquade being called your local music shop is like calling your nearest Walmart your local grocer... True (non-franchise) local stores are being bought out by L&M to reduce competition. As someone who works at a small local shop that specializes in repairs, lessons, setups, etc, it sucks to see how the industry is consolidating to less and less options and big corporations. As for the guitar, the cheap stuff now is pretty solid and good upgrade/tweaking platforms for the most part. Pretty easy to bring prices down between paying next to nothing in labour and newer technologies (cnc machines, etc.)

!Excellento, Mucho Bueno. Demasiado Video. I learn too much with your reviews! Thank you! 🎖️🏆🎸🤝

SL stands for Slim Les Paul. The first run of them were a nightmare, a hopeless POS. See 60 Cycle Hum Ryan's videos on it. Always wanted one but no lefties, those bastards! They were $99.99 USD when they came out. Thanks Landon for the good content, like old times. Careful with Grandma's Maple Syrup, she spikes it 😂

Got an SL in the same finish a few years ago and I think it plays great. Think I got lucky because it really rings out and the sustain is great. I ended up swapping the pups for toaster looking mini hums and though I dig them, kind of wish I kept the SC pups in it.

Hi Landon. Your video is excellent. I learn so much with these reviews. Thank you so much. I have a Epiphone guitar Special II, Les Paul. Is good guitar! 😊

Good looking guitar Landon ! The price does NOT matter, what matters is how good it can play. Don´t forget that Eddie Van Halen made his "Frankenstrat" out of cheap unwanted guitar parts ! - You can always mod it with some other good stuff.

I got the "SL" version in Australia a few years ago. Swapped out the pickups for Frankentone "Li'l Chester" pickups and put in master volume on the lower horn, volume for each pickup and a master tone where the jack was. Moved the jack to the outside like a LesPaul. Like a Gretsch setup. The higher output pickups were a good improvement. Great guitar to "Make it your own" through mods. I love mine, very easy to play. Looks a treat too.

A month before Christmas. I was setting on looking at all my guitars. Thank you about how much time I taking them doalmond cleaning them. A controller spot was hanging them up and not wanting to play them. I became a good horror collector over the last few years. So I gave all of them away at Christmas time except too. The two I started with many years ago. And i'm starting to be a guitar player again. And i'm a lot more happy. And a bunch of people got some darn nice guitars for christmas.

The guitar is so punk rock. Would love to see you play some Ramones, Joan Jett, Sex Pistols on this type of guitar. If you go to Las Vegas, go to the Punk Rock Museum - would be a great episode for the channel. Tony Hawk is one of the investors.

Wish they made these left handed, I think they look great and would be a good modding platform. Shocked by how good this sounded to be honest.

"theres a ding on it... Its pretty reliced"

Isn't that the model that came in pastel colors when it first came out? As I recall people that tried them said they were very nice for the money (at the time they were $99 US new). Many said they were good modding platforms.

I have an Epiphone melody maker that i picked up for $30.00 in a second hand store. Ive done a couple of mods , locking tuners , new bridge , pickguard. It's a single humbucker that I want replace with a P90. It's a work in progress.

When you said one volume one tone is when the eddies kicked in

Bought a 1960 Melody Maker in Indianola, Iowa for $150 with a non-original hard case in 1994. Sold it in 2020 for $1,250. Bought a Telecaster.

Great guitars for the money and easily upgradeable

If I'm wrong I'm probably right. That cover pull was unusually painful. I play one of the real ones back in the early 70's at a gig, and it was like heaven.

My first electric guitar was a Les Paul Epiphone (basher series) made very well and set up here in the USA I got from guitar center when I was 19. It has a unique grain pattern in the neck and a rosewood fretboard. It was given away 20 years ago but came back as the owner never played it. I gave it a case and it sits at my dad's for the moment as I have too many here. I did one upgrade. Yellow 047 cap. It's just before the Jr came out in 2000 with the offset dovetail at the top. Just a unique concept for that model I never saw again and only made for 2 year's.

I think the cheapest guitar video is living those bonus years old men sometimes get, but youve also nearly run out of cheap guitars so this may just run its natural course. Maybe some acoustics, travel guitars, ukes, guitaleles in the future? Canada is rumored to make a guitar or two, ive heard, also. Melody Maker seemed like a fine guitar, btw, Lando. Surprisingly dapper looking, and looks are half of how a guitar plays and sounds.

My cousin kept trying to get the blue one off me or trade, because of the small frets I’d consider it for his acoustic but is my only one that got during a difficult warehouse job since sold my other 2 for rent etc. in college so it’s helping me through things and sounds amazing with a small Yamaha amp + iRig & tone Bridge

My nephew bought a inexpensive epi lespaul and its decent machine to play. Great review!

Hey Landon, I wish that companies would make more smaller, lighter & simpler guitars. Love that enormous swimming pool route for the knobs and switches. Great for weight relief and access for repairs etc. Might need a neck shim to reduce the action? -Regards Rod.

Love tobacco Gibson Epiphones. Love that Marshall Shredmaster. Maybe get some shielding paint in the cavity when the pickguard is off. Tippety top.

Those wraparound bridges are the best, because they are so easy to intonate the guitar.

Got one just like yours except they called it SL then. Gave it a bone nut and a slim shim, it plays great, love the Melody Maker look. Not sure what wood mine is made from but it is not as lightweight as many people reported theirs were. Also a lot of people said they were trash, I feel it's one of my favorites guitars along with my Casino.

I have an SL in Turquoise and I completely replaced all the pickups and electrics (CTS pots, JD Moon switch, GFS Brighton Rock pickups, Switchcraft jack, and a Orange Drop capacitor), replaced the bridge with a Wilkinson wrap around and had a new bone nut put on and set it up for Nashville High Tune strings. It plays well, the weak point of this guitar is the tuners. I haven't replaced them yet but I am pretty sure I will go with Wilkinson branded "Waverly style" tuners to avoid neck dive. I do want to get the exact same model you have and pretty much redo everything I did to mine to it but with my usual 11s on it. I have an older bolt on Les Paul Special guitar with P-90s and it does punch above its weight. That guitar is still pretty stock, I replaced the capacitor with a 47 Orange Drop. The post lean a bit too much so it will need to have the bridge holes filled and redrilled to correct that. These are fun guitars to play. Very light and easy to upgrade and make it yours. I am mainly a Tele player so this really scratches that "Tele meets a Les Paul" vibe. If you upgrade it, it does add a little bit of weight (imagine that, small pots and cheap pickups weigh less than what US guitars use, who would have guessed?!?!?) and it does pull it away from being a toy/beginner instrument and elevated it. That said these will never be the same as a vintage Melody Maker nor will it come close to being a real Les Paul. Still, loads of fun to play!😉👍✨

I bought a similar guitar last month an Epiphone Les Paul Special.I upgraded the tuners to Klusons and fitted a roller bridge but still could'nt bond with it and never got the action quite right so it sits in my wardeobe til I maybe give it another go sometime.

I have the same one and it's great. I love cheap guitars. I paid $90 used, but like new condition.

Inexpensive, light, sounds fine, neck feels good, looks ok, and the bolt-on neck makes the action something that can be fixed in under 10 minutes. I can hear pitches and tone, but not dollars. So, it seems like a winner to me, and you can count yourself lucky.

This guitar is great as it is I have an SL Sounds fantastic plays great looks cool no need to Modify imo. Only drawback was a couple frets were sharp on the ends and had to be dressed down. It is much like a Tele in terms of sound but while the bridge pickup gets that bright twang the neck pickup seems meatier and more Gibson like. I love mine and have been playing it quite a bit lately.

Kinda sounds like a strat/tele hybrid in a way. It’s got a strat-like neck and bridge position, with the tele in-between position. Not what one would expect from an Epiphone.

i think the wood changes with the badge hahah, i think they do poplar body and mahogany veneer, but i remember they said before they were made with mahogany

Sounds good Landon.

6:59 I changed the speaker out in my Fender Frontman 20G to a Jensen C8R and it completely changed the sound of my amp. The tone, shocking as it may seem, is in the speaker.

I honestly prefer the epiphone D shape necks for a lot of clean songs. Like it feels good for cowboy chords to have a bigger neck and wider nut.

I just bought one of those green squier sonic, Esquire Teles for 139. Amazing for the money the humhucker sounds fine course, then fret edges stick out, need to be filed down but for the money it's the best cheapest guitar I've ever bought and I'm over 70 now it was set up well got it right from Fender in Arizona I put eights on it though

Only 1 in stock on Sweetwater. I like the shape of that pickguard. White on black looks sweet. I wouldn't mind having one. Can always upgrade it with some tele pickups.

Great review! I'd say it's not quite like a Tele, though. The pickups aren't wound like a Tele, which has a little more of that "quack" that Tele players love.

I wound up with one of the SL's in a trade. I had $50 invested in it. Threw some Guitar Madness (Texas Heat in the bridge and Vintage 50's in the neck) pickups in it, set it up and BOOM! It's a killer little guitar. I gave it to a buddy for Christmas and now I miss it.

Every one can try to put tele neck on it, the screw on the bridge is just about long enough to intonate 25.5

7:38 ok can't stop!

My first Epiphone les Paul I bought in long & mcqueed in 2013 in Calgary for 269 CAD. Since then I don't buy neither Epiphones nor any les Paul's. I am superstrat guy.

Cool opening shot there eh . Looks like you were filming from that there dog sled eh .

I got it years ago, they charged $150 should’ve got a discount for floor model but it’s a great one, got me back into guitar and somehow the original strings haven’t broken after getting the “in bloom” solo perfect on Rocksmith and learning Hendrix etc, it also stays in tune well might’ve got a lucky build

This guitar cries out for the "half out of phase" (HOOP) mod that the late great pickup guru Bill Lawrence devised. Most folks will associate putting two pickups out of phase with a thin nasal tone and a noticeable volume drop. The degree of cancellation is a function of the "spectral overlap" between the two pickups; the more similar their frequency content *and* level, the more cancellation. Folks with a dual volume/tone control guitar will know that if they put neck and bridge out of phase, the volume drop can be resolved by simply turning down the volume of *either* of the pickups just a bit. Anyway, the HOOP mod was used to great effect on the old Fender Jerry Donahue Telecaster, where reviewer remarked that it was able to get a Strat-like neck+middle pickup "cluck" using only a 2-pickup Tele. I have implemented it on 3 of my guitars, and can confirm it can do just that. Although I don't get "cluck" on the old dual humbucker Vantage guitar I installed it on, I do get another very usable neck+bridge sound, with no volume drop. Doubtless, it would sound pretty decent on this dual single-coil Epiphone, which is why I'm recommending it. How does it work? Pretty simply, wire up the *neck* pickup for reversing its phase. This can be easily done using a DPDT push-pull Tone pot. Insert a medium-small-value capacitor in series with the hot lead that goes to the volume pot, when in phase=flipped mode. I like to use .01uf, but feel free to experiment. This provides a shallow bass rolloff of the neck pickup, that reduces the amount of cancellation when the two pickups are used in this mode. If one uses ONLY the neck pickup and engages the phase-flip-with-bass-rolloff, you'll hear a neck PU sound similar to having rolled off your amp's bass control from, say, 8 to 4. That's roughly how much bass is attenuated. The L&M outlet looks suspiciously like the one on Hunt Club Rd. in Ottawa. If that's true, I'd be happy to wire the mod up for you, since I'm in Ottawa. You're welcome to try out the guitars I have it installed on, first, to see if it's for you. But whether you do it, I do it, or anyone watching this does it, it's well worth doing and makes for a more tonally flexible guitar. It's a shame Epiphone didn't include it in the first place.

The biggest problem with these for beginning guitarists is the matter of the setup. You can't expect a novice to know anything about setup. But if you know someone who can set up a guitar properly, with few exceptions, any of the cheaper guitars will play well enough to be a fairly painless introduction to playing. I have several guitars in this range and they make great modding platforms and that's because the bones are actually quite good. In this era of CNC manufacturing, they will be consistently good. If one is good the rest almost certainly will be as well. I can't count the number of videos I've seen where actual professional musicians (unlike me) use all sorts of reasonably priced brands as main instruments (think Squier and Epiphone).

I don't know about all the Epi LP models but if I was a guitarist, ( I'm a bassist ) and [ wanted to add an LP with that nice full bodied sound of humbuckers I would seriously consider Epi's LP Standard. It's a great guitar and looks good too. (Very nice light burst). For all intents and purposes the only diffrence between the EPI and GIBSON GGIBGIGi

Nice. Very nice indeed!

That's too expensive for used. I got mine for $106 (6,000 php). Upgraded thr pickups, bridge, and black TusQ nut. The only issue is that the cavity is too narrow for a regular strat pickup when modding.

Those guitars are not as bad as people think. They are pretty good for the money

5:45 😬😬 thank you. Errrr.

I have an Epiphine LP Jr and its a very nice guitar. I doubt I will ever sell it unless I get the Gibson model. This is interesting, but I dont like the big plastic pickguard, nor the muddy pups, otherwise, nice guitar! Looking at the fretboard it looks like it's rosewood. Why play a cheap guitar with a cheap amp? Use a good amp to pull out the guitars full potential. Thanks for sharing!

I did that too, but it was a kramer baretta special, and it turns out it's now my best guitar ^^;; fun times

Those were $99 US a few years ago. The clean sound chords sound like “Cuts like a Knife” by Brian Adams. Second tune is “Rocking in the Free World” by Neil Young?

Do a blind test on plastic tear down :) A/B testing LP vs Jaguar?

I personally enjoy playing affordable basic Epi models. Phillip McKnight did a video titled "Why This $150 Epiphone is All You Need, Maybe We All Just Make Excuses?"

I had what I think k is the sg equivalent of this, also an open pore finish. Thing was crazy light and also was jarring for me. Tuners and the nut really were bad though

I saw that at my local pawn shop recently for $299 at its really light

Is it just me? Or this guy sounded like Mark Walberg when he speaks hahaha nice guitar sir! Cheap but still rocks!🤘🏻🤨

I did buy the Gibson reissue of this guitar when it first came out from Sweetwater. I was very disappointed and the fret board had some freaky white looking powder all it. I plugged it in, and it was the worst sounding guitar I ever heard. I sent it back, I was very disappointed because i had borrowed a real one back in 1970 at a gig.

Too funny! ASMR! When you said ceramic, you failed to mention ceramic is microwave safe. 😛

Dude.. is that the Ottawa L&M? Only asking as a Ottawa resident! ;)

I think the fifth wall is the ceiling

The pups sound anemic. Maybe some hot rails or P90's could make it sound better. Over all if you're on a budget, you can't beat it. Not bad for a cheap Les Tele.

His local music store number of guitars: 5 He bought the cheapest out of the 5 available and made a video about it, we all ought to know it matters and has a valuable meaning.

Great Shoegazer guitar.

that plastic wrap sound was totally f* eveil man .

Chuck a couple of P90's in there and you have an excellent basher.

I just got a firefly buckethead knockoff and the frets and set up was probably better or as good as any guitar i have ever bought. Stainless steel ball end frets, bone nut and it was two hundred bucks. If china is hammering out guitars like this than no other company has any excuse

Couldn't avoid jamming some of your fellow Canadian, Neil Young.

Its sold out everywhere god damn

They all must have a chip right there. I know mine does.

Sounds ok 👍

I had worse guitars when I was in bands back when I was a teenager. But I got the job done and made some money and whatnot.

I bought a older version of this, body claim to be mahogany, I swapped the neck with a maple board tele one make it 25.5 scale length, yes, it’s basically a tele

Great mod platform

Throw some tele pickups in it and see how it sounds!

Smooth plastic pull! I tried to get a job pulling plastic off of guitars. No one was hiring .😂

Nice sound for the price man

Maybe with some decent pickups and a setup it's a bargain.

Can Strat pickups replace these ceramic ones!?

what kind of chair is that and where can i buy one?

You must be from Ottawa ? That l&m looks very familiar

I have one in blue.

did you play the bends.. 😱😱

i cant see one of these and not see it being tossed out a window, or over the side of a bridge....

How's the intonation?

It sounds like it is time for you to buy a Fender MTX or Positive Grid cheaper amp to play with these cheaper guitars.

They don't survive getting launched off of bridges all that well.

Where are you from?