Description
As Good As It Gets! Epiphone’s history and association with Les Paul dates way back to the days when Les, working at the Epiphone factory on 14th St. in New York, created the world’s first electric guitar. Over the years, Les continued to work closely with Epiphone by reviewing new product ideas and offering suggestions. The NEW Epiphone “Tribute” Les Paul Standards honor that relationship by combining “as good as it gets” performance and features with legendary Epiphone quality and value. At the heart of the “Tribute” Les Paul is construction. Tribute LP’s feature a solid Mahogany back with a solid, carved hard Maple cap to create the ultimate combination of warmth and bite. Everyone knows that set-neck guitars provide the best rock tone and sustain and the “Tributes” take that to the next level featuring the original “deep set” neck joint. The solid Mahogany neck with hand-fitted, glued-in joint extends well into the neck pickup cavity creating maximum neck-to-body contact and acting almost like one continuous piece of wood. Combined with the Mahogany/Maple body, the result is a tribute to Les’ timeless guitar design with the sound that you can only get from a Les Paul. Your choice of neck profiles. Depending upon your taste, you have the choice of either a traditional “1960’s” SlimTaper(tm) neck profile or an Asymmetrical neck profile. The “1960’s” SlimTaper is a comfortable “D” shaped neck that was used and made famous on many 1960’s era, Kalamazoo-made guitars from Gibson and Epiphone.
The newer Asymmetrical neck has multiple radii and combines a more rounded “D” shape on the bass side of the neck with a flatter “C” shape on the treble side. This leads to a very comfortable neck that more ergonomically contours to fit the hand of most players. Both profiles are available on the Tributes and the choice is yours! But quality construction, premium woods and choice are only part of the equation.
Capturing all the power and nuances of the “Tribute” is a pair of authentic Gibson USA ’57 Classic humbucking pickups. With its “Patent Applied For” decal on the base plate, the ’57 Classic and ’57 Classic Plus are faithful replicas of the famous Gibson humbuckers that helped define the music of the late 1950s. The ’57 Classic gives you a tone that is warm and subtle with full, even response that doesn’t hold back when you need that classic Gibson humbucker crunch! The ’57 Classic Plus is the perfect bridge pickup and mimics humbuckers of that era that received a few extra turns of wire. This treatment gives the pickup slighter higher output without sacrificing its rich, vintage tone. In combination, this pair of humbuckers overdrives tube preamps to a smooth level of saturation without becoming overpowering. Both ’57’s feature Gibson’s special Alnico II magnet, vintage enamel coated wire, nickel plated pole pieces, nickel slugs, maple spacers and vintage-style, braided wiring. But this guitar is not just about recreating the “old”, it’s also about looking ahead… just as Les himself continued to do throughout his lifetime. Using 4-conductor pickup wiring, Epiphone has added two push/pull tone pots to allow for series/parallel pickup switching. The result is a Les Paul with all the standard sounds plus a huge palette of tonal possibilities at your fingertips. Loaded with premium add-ons! Other upgrades include a U.S. Switchcraft(tm) 3-way toggle, Mallory-150 tone capacitors, Epiphone StrapLocks, 16:1 ratio premium Grover(tm) locking tuners and a premium hard case. Like every Epiphone, it features their Limited Lifetime warranty backed by world famous 24/7/365 day Gibson Customer Service. This guitar is not only a tribute to Les Paul, it’s a tribute to just how good a guitar can be…TODAY!
ABOUT EPIPHONE
Epiphone is one of American’s oldest and most revered instrument makers. Since 1873, Epiphone has made instruments for every style of popular music and celebrated its 140th anniversary in 2013. The story of Epiphone begins in the mountains of Greece and threads its way to Turkey, across the Atlantic to the immigrant gateway of Ellis Island, and into the nightclubs, recording studios, and coast-to-coast radio broadcasts of Manhattan in the 1920s and 30s. www.epiphone.com
