Epiphone Inspired By Gibson Custom 1959 Les Paul Upgrade One Off

[@jamesmarcin4787]

Great job. Out of curiosity, you mention about selling them. I am assuming they will be listed as Epiphones with upgrades if the Gibson logo is added. Fantastic job.😁

[@Clayton-t5i]

of course, one is for sale, posted it like this.... "2024 Epiphone '59 Les Paul", then I put in the description exactly what it has and what I did

[@jamesmarcin4787]

@@Clayton-t5i , that's good.👍

[@kennyblackbird5674]

If Epiphone had done the extra work like this gentleman did on these models they would have charged the customers at least two grand !! The buffing compound the gentleman applied is pure genius to my eyes!!👍👍👍for the work that was done!! That Epiphone VOS is ugly as hell!

[@Beatles123ful]

God job looks and sounds awesome

[@Clayton-t5i]

thank you, by the way I like the "Beatles" in your thing there, The best band ever IMO. John was my favorite, because he had that raw vocal, and attitude and liked to be funny. I don't care about his controversial side, we all have it in some way

[@tonyb9864]

Great job! You shouldn’t have said that it was an Epiphone. You should have gotten another Epiphone and then compared it to the “Gibson”. Most people would have said how great the “Gibson” was and how bad the Epiphone sounded and looked. 😂😂😂.I LOVE my Epi 59!

[@Clayton-t5i]

lol.....good one.......yes, they're great, I have 2 and a Greeny , and will be grabbing another one next week

[@mcanderson3511]

When I got mine, it was the Kalamazoo headstock that clinched the deal, because it never even occurred to me that they would ever get a Gibson Headstock. As it urns out, had I waited one more year, I would have been that much happier!

[@Clayton-t5i]

I have one of those too, GC Lemon color

[@mcanderson3511]

@@Clayton-t5i Southern Burst here.

[@pauljohnson3686]

The epiphone bodies are slightly thinner than a genuine gibson les paul body.. You can tell just by looking if you are fimiliar with gibson.. I have an epiphone inspired by gibson custom shop and it's thinner than the real deal. I wish they had made them the same.

[@Clayton-t5i]

Yup, I've owned over 50 each of the Gibson USA's, and Custom Shop's, mostly '59's. I don't care about the thicker, what I do care about is Gibson USA's have waaay too much finish, don't like the neck feel, usually much heavier, and to me dead sounding compared to these. Plus I'm on a retired , not working budget. These are closer to a real custom shop LP (I've had about 50 of them since 1995, off and on), than the Gibson USA's. Just my opinion

[@mcanderson3511]

They're actually thicker than my Les Paul Studio.

[@pauljohnson3686]

That's true... The Studio was always a thinner body... I have a 2003 ebony one with gld hw....Never got used to the lack of binding though.

[@granth9352]

Nice one Clayton, There Both Beautiful Guitars, Ive got an American Fender strat which I love, and, a 2020 Honey burst Epiphone Les Paul, Inspired by Gibson, Its got El Nicko pick ups, they are black and white humbuckers, I think they call them Zebra p/ups, and it has the push/pull controls, it is an Awesome Guitar.

[@Clayton-t5i]

thank you sir, sounds like you have a couple nice axe's, keep on rockin'

[@steveindorset]

Hey Clinton. I’m looking forward to you doing a full on “Aged Greeny”?? Couple of questions: The Epiphones you buy do they come with the Gibson headstock and logo? Or do you reshape the headstock and re-logo? Also what chemicals do you use to age the machine heads?? Interesting stuff Blessings from England.

[@Clayton-t5i]

Hi there, my name is Clayton, these new Epiphone Greeny's and '59's come with the Gibson headstock, I do the Gibson logo, it's a lot of work, starting with cutting a piece of wood and gluing it into the slot where the truss rod is, it has to be a specific size so a Gibson truss rod cover can go on, it can only be a certain size so the truss rod tool will fit. The whole thing , un satinizing the finish, aging all the hardware, and doing the logo is a full 3 day projectis a 3 day project

[@adamwatson6916]

Custombuckers are far superior to Duncan 59s And they sound far closer to Jimmy Page than the 59s . You could have taken the cover off the bridge Custombucker to get the Jimmy Page look and the Jimmy Page sound . Custombuckers are based of an old PAF in Pages number 1 les Paul . The Custombuckers started out as ths Alnico 3 Jimmy Page custom Burstbucker. These were the same pickups they put in the Calpton inspired by Beano les Paul and they were renamed the Custombucker when they became the main Gibson customshop pickup . The Custombuckers are the biggest Selling point if these guitars . They are 500 a set . The Duncan 59s are a serious downgrade .

[@Clayton-t5i]

thanks for the advice, I sold the guitar. I play these guitars side by side, I've had about 10 guitars with custombuckers, including 3 of the 2019 actuall Custom Shop Les Pauls, they're not that far superior, yes they are nice. I've heard it all sir, thanks.

[@staticstrat]

Grest job but replace pick up rings now with imperial size, it still looks like an Epiphone

[@Clayton-t5i]

I'll look into those, they have to line up with the holes

[@Za7a7aZ]

I have been thinking for some time now to get this finish off my epi V and put some nitrocellulose on it...the satin finish is smothering the sound and resonance...and I do not like it

[@Clayton-t5i]

you could take the hardware off and sand a lot of it with400(be careful on the corners though,don't sand them , just buff them on the last procedure) then 600, then 1000, then 3000, then use a 3" dia. hand held car polisher that plugs into the wall , with multi speeds, and use Novus 2 to buff it out, it's a special craft to get down, I've done a dozen guitars that were satin, it helps make it more resonant, but I also do some special work to the nut also to help with resonance. AND , most importantly, I tighten the tailpiece tight to the body always. There's several different things to help with resonance, also I like the neck gun barrel straight, no "relief", or very, very little. all these things, if not done, make a guitar a dead dog IMO.

[@Pastor_Grant]

How do you put the Gibson logo on an Epiphone? Is that thing for sale right now?

[@Edward1312]

Why didn't you just buy a secondhand Gibson? The work you have done has degraded the value of this guitar not increased it especially putting a fake Gibson decal on it, the guitar is now effectively a fake! I just don't get your thought processes here if you think its the best sounding Epiphone on it why don't you just keep the Epiphone branding on it? Don't make it out to be something it isn't, its an Epiphone not a Gibson so why try and make it look like a Gibson? The guitar has a veneer top which is an instant give away that it isn't a Gibson. I just don't get why you are so down on the Epiphone branding, the company's history is on a par with Gibson's. I think some people will only be satisfied when Gibson starts including Gibson branding on import guitars and the Epiphone branding is done away with completely.

[@Clayton-t5i]

Sorry to see you get so worked up over somebody else's life and business. I hope you'll be O.K. I've owned about 50 Custom Shop Gibsons since 1995, I've owned over 50 Gibson USA's, and the past decade over 50 Epiphones, I'm 70 years old now, and for some reason I don't care what people think as much as I used to, but most importantly when I buy something I tend to do whatever I want with it. I like to share my craziness with you all. Being they come out with this guitar with these "spec's" inspired by Gibson Custom, especially the headstock cut, I see it as Gibson belongs on the one's I buy. Thanks for you rant. Have a nice day

[@Clayton-t5i]

Oh, I forgot to mention, I don't care for the Gibson USA's personally, waaay too much finish and weight aand compared to the resonance of these, no thanks. So my reasoning is, these Epiphones are more how I want a Gibson to feel and sound, and also the $$$ difference.

[@Edward1312]

@@Clayton-t5i I agree with you that Epiphone are making a lot of the right choices at the moment and producing excellent and good value guitars especially when you compared them with Gibson's. But where I disagree is that we need to acknowledge, recognise and celebrate this fact by keeping the Epiphone branding on the guitar.

[@Clayton-t5i]

@@Edward1312 I miss the Custom Shop LP's, so for me it's like having one again. On SS and barely getting by now. 30 years ago ,in my last marriage I had it all, working, self employed , making good $$. Health issues , several surgeries I had to stop working 5 years ago, no disabilty, no income, except SS. So for me, this is a little happiness in the few years I may have left, that's really what it's all about for me. I raised 6 kids, 2 marriages (3 in each), I'm tired, and have a fu** what anybody else's opinion is (but I do care and want peace if you know what I mean). I don't see the name or whatever the way you see it, all these things to me are just stuff, period. I love both Epi's and Gibby's.

[@zackamodeo-thomson8010]

There are his guitars!! I don't think he really cares about resale value.

[@CharlesBrinkhaus]

Why would you dishonor that nice guitar with a Gibson logo? If you like it so much, honor the brand. Name change is just fake b.s.

[@Clayton-t5i]

If you knew my story, you'd regret being this way. God Bless you anyway

[@ryanlocati5695]

Because the epiphone headstocks looks stupid fight me

[@ryanlocati5695]

Because everyone knows modern epiphone is what the ceos at gibson call “the brand for pussies”

[@adamwatson6916]

But you have no problem with Epiphone putting a Gibson Headstock on it? Also it's got Gibson pickups . Does that dishonor the guitar ? . Gibson owns Epiphone and these are an Epiphone les Paul is a clone of a Gibson so where is the Dishonor ?

[@mr3klax]

@@Clayton-t5iI am interested to know your story. Then, maybe I will understand.

[@AbstractZombie-ed8fj]

You just payed $1499.99 for a Chinese guitar 😂😂😂😂 You can buy American and Japanese guitars for the same amount.. That guitar is going to dip in value significantly like all Epiphone guitars do,you'll be able to get it for $600 and under within a year... Enjoy your import mystery wood guitar😂😂😂😂 I guess you missed that little disclaimer on the Epi website " Epiphone reserves the right to change specs without any notice" this is due to a lawsuit where Gibson/Epiphone was caught selling 1959 lp's made of olive wood and birch 😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@Clayton-t5i]

$1250, and I love every dollar of it, and love doing whatever I want to it, simple. I've had them all many times over, I enjoy doing this. The last 2 Gibson USA's I had (2019), sucked, nut slots weren't cut right, finish flaws , rediculous. I've had 50 Epi's since 2015. never a tuning issue, never a nut issue, never a fret issue, ever. So I don't care where stuff is made, I play them.

[@AbstractZombie-ed8fj]

@@Clayton-t5i You're literally bashing a company and turning around and handing them $1250.00... You're not a smart individual! Enjoy that resell value..

[@stevenespinoza7735]

what polish do you use to gloss up the satin finish?

[@Clayton-t5i]

I never use polish , ever, on any guitar. I use Novus 2 fine scratch remover and a lot of elbow grease, after I dismantle and remove everything on the guitar top, off goes the pickguard, bridge, tailpiece, poker chip, and I remove the 4 pickup screws so I can move them out of the way without disconnecting them. Then I use Novus sparingly and rub a small section at a time with my fingers, and then I use a clean cloth and start rubbing in circular motion and work that area I covered, then wipe that section with another dry clean cloth to see how it's looking., continue that oane section at a time. I divide the area into about 1/6 of the total top volume at a time

[@jtaylorstudios]

That looks fantastic. Thank you for the Novus 2 tip. I just restored a 50 year old Tele knockoff, a Cobra which I think was made by Hondo. It had no electrics, and the frets were shot. I had no prior experience building or modding guitars. Took a long time, especially the frets, but I’m really pleased with the result. I plan to gift it to my 3 yr old grandson if he decides to play.