Single-ring tulip buttons are fitted to the Deluxe tuners and the colour looks very good.
“The SG Standard is an absolute blast to play and a wild and thrilling ride” The Special’s pearloid marker dots look somewhat nondescript, but here we have something more convincingly pearl-like for the trapezoid inlays and headstock crown. That said, guitars are quirky devices and results may vary.Īlpine White makes for the most visually striking SGs and the very slightly off-white hue here really helps this Epiphone look the part. The intonation needs fine adjustment and the treble side has to be jacked backwards using the integral grub screw – the outcome is pretty accurate, but gives a slightly odd look because the bridge ends up angled with the treble side slightly further away from the bridge pickup than the bass side. Consequently, unlike on vintage LP Specials, the bridge sits parallel to the pickup.
Here that error is rectified and the use of a compensated bridge has prompted this model’s designers to install the bushings equidistant from the bridge pickup. For some reason Gibson’s new wrapover featured intonation compensation for wound G strings, which was arguably worse than having no compensation at all – by that time most of the world had moved onto a plain G. Gibson actually introduced this style of bridge in the early 1960s, but with one schoolboy error. The Lightning Bar wrapover bridge may not be a 1950s feature but many will welcome it. As you might expect given the huge gulf in price, it lacks some of the subtlety and finesse of an authentic 1950s instrument, but it feels pretty great nonetheless. The Special has a non-weight relieved mahogany body and a mahogany neck, and the neck profile is fat. Where it really counts, the specs are spot on.
The knobs and P-90 Pro pickup covers are similarly vintage in style and although we’re less enamoured with the truss-rod cover and textured rear cover plates, these are very minor details. We have an original Gibson guard on hand to compare and Epiphone’s attention to detail is admirable. Vintage plastics obsessives will be pleased to note that the five-ply pickguard is equally impressive, with the upper layer of white thinner than the lower layer.
“There’s nothing more you could want from a TV Special” The colour looks wonderful and with its grain-obscuring opaqueness and hint of olive green, the vibe is very much mid- rather than late-50s. You might not expect a modern budget version of a 1950s student model to have much of a ‘wow’ factor, but this £349 guitar has it in spades. Time to take a deeper dive… Les Paul Special Other common features on our Original Collection review guitars include Graph Tech nuts, nickel-plated hardware, vintage-style Epiphone Deluxe tuners with an 18:1 ratio and Indian laurel fretboards with a 12-inch radius. Either way, most people – us included – seem to think it’s a massive improvement. So although the Kalamazoo headstock more closely resembles the classic Gibson outline, it’s actually a historic Epiphone design. That said, the switch for 2020 isn’t such a radical move Epiphones had open-book headstocks long before Gibson acquired the company and in recent years, they’ve continued to be a feature of original Epiphone designs such as the Wildkat. Such has been the demand, a whole subculture dedicated to Epiphone headstock conversions can be found online. The strategy is pretty clear Epiphone guitars in the Original Collection will be closer to their forebears than ever before, with vintage-style features and finishes, upgraded electronics with hand-wired CTS potentiometers and in addition, Les Pauls and SGs will benefit from a headstock design Gibson is calling the ‘Kalamazoo’.įor several decades, most Epiphone solidbodies have featured a headstock with the top corners of the ‘open-book’ outline missing, and many players have requested a design closer to the classic Gibson look.
Epiphone was next in line for a refresh and Winter NAMM 2020 saw the public debut of a range of new Inspired By Gibson models. Gibson’s new management demonstrated its willingness to listen and respond to customers last year when the core lineup was updated and split into Original and Modern collections.