Epiphone Black Beauty Electric Guitar

First thing to say is that I absolutely adore this guitar. I've only been playing a few years but in that time I've had a lot of guitars in my hands and this is one of the few that I've been unable to let go of.

Unmistakably a Les Paul Custom in shape (and weight), this lies at the top end of the models that Epiphone can produce, both in looks and tone. I totally fell for this guitar, with it's beautiful deep black laquer, cream edging and three gold covered pickups before I'd even laid a finger on it.

Now for the specifications:

Mahogany/alder body and top
Fitted mahogany neck with a rosewood fingerboard
Block inlays
22 frets
2 volume and 2 tone controls
3 way pickup switch
3 Gibson designed humbuckers.
Gold hardware.
Triple cream binding,
Headstock diamond inlay

Like I said, I love everything about the guitar, even it's weight. It might be a bit of a backbreaker, but I play sat down most of the time anyway, and it all adds up to giving it great sustain. The neck is typical Les Paul too, nice and fat. I realise this might not be to everyones taste but it seems to suit me fine.

The pickups are good, particularly the neck (rhythm) which has a lovely, creamy mellow tone for those moments when I like to kid myself I can play like Slash. If I'm honest I rarely use the middle pickup setting (or the middle pickup) as it doesn't seem to add a great deal to the party, although it does make this guitar look so pretty.

You get a great range of tones from this guitar from Blues to AC/DC style rock to Guns n Roses right through to punk. Clean tones are also very good.

For the price you'd have to go a long way to try and beat this guitar for looks, sound or build quality. Ok, it's not a true Gibson, but it runs it a close second for less than half the price. I have a mate with a music shop who can't get hold of one of these from Epiphone so he's badgering me for mine. Needless to say, he's more chance of knitting fog than getting it.