Special kudos for the Epiphone IBG 1959 Les Paul Standard I picked up in February as well. I bought one of the Epiphone IBG Firebirds, great guitar. I have bought several of the "Inspired by Gibson" Epiphones of late and I am very pleased at the quality of these particular "IBG" models. gambling a bit this time and buying one I haven't sit down and played. Not big on the white tophat knobs, but those are easy to swap out for some black speed knobs. I also like the finish and a slight amount of flame (nothing too gawdy for me, I don't like big gawdy flames). ebony FB, Grover tuner (locking or not locking doesn't matter to me, but these are locking), lot's of push/pulls for stuff, CTS pots is nice, and my disabled body like the idea of a weight relieved body. Some of the top things I like so far are. fat under the bass strings, thinner under the higher strings, a really neck feel)
Asymmetrical modern neck profile (Ernie Ball guitars have this. Weight relieved body (so it'll be a bit lighter) CTS pots (I'm pretty sure all of the "Inspired by Gibson" Epiphones have CTS pots.) Treble bleed circuit (to keep your highs sparkling when turning your volume down) Push/pull out of phase on the neck tone In these photos it looks like a satin finish, but it is actually a gloss, I found another pic of the front on another web site that looks really sweet:Īs far as features, this model is "something different" than a regular Epi LP Standard or LP Custom.
I just got off the phone with Jason at NStuff Music, and they have already taken it off the "in stock" label and it is now labeled "Out of Stock" on their web page, but this is the exact guiatr I am getting: if it doesn't, it stays on the shelf at the store. plus, the general reason I don't buy guitars online is because I prefer to sit down, do an in-store test drive, and if it has a "soul" it comes home. OK, so I am stepping out of my norm of "I don't buy guitars online".