2000s Epiphone Elite Plus Les Paul Electric Guitar
Epiphone Elite Les Pauls were made in Japan (rather than China or Korea) from 2002-2004 before the name changed to Elitist due to a trademark dispute. As you might expect, these are a pretty steep upgrade compared to standard Epi Les Pauls and they sound and feel very close to their US-made Gibson counterparts. In fact, they were so successful that the company stopped making them as they were competing with the actual Gibsons.
Even though this is marked as a factory second at the headstock (and bears a resller's serialization) due to some finish drips and ick in the same location, the guitar itself is quite clean and pretty aside from light nicks/dings on the back and a couple on the sides. It has an amber/orange-burst finish, two US-made pickups, and appears to be quite original, though the gold tailpiece, bridge, and tuners are in contrast to the chrome of the pickup covers. The pickguard is also a slightly-more-pink shade of cream than the pickup surrounds.
I'm not sure whether the owner upgraded the electronics all-around (it has full-sized Alpha pots in it right now), but he definitely upgraded the caps to vintage-style bumblebees.
It's playing spot-on with 1/16" overall action at the 12th fret after a fresh setup, the frets have only the tiniest wear to them, and it's ready to go. The truss-rod works as it should.
Specs are: 24 3/4" scale, 1 11/16" nut width, 1 7/16" string spacing at the nut, 2" spacing at the bridge, 13" lower bout, 9 1/4" upper bout, 2" side depth (+ extra when counting the arch to the top). The neck has a mild-to-medium, C-shaped profile with a ~12" radius to the rosewood fretboard.
Even though this is marked as a factory second at the headstock (and bears a resller's serialization) due to some finish drips and ick in the same location, the guitar itself is quite clean and pretty aside from light nicks/dings on the back and a couple on the sides. It has an amber/orange-burst finish, two US-made pickups, and appears to be quite original, though the gold tailpiece, bridge, and tuners are in contrast to the chrome of the pickup covers. The pickguard is also a slightly-more-pink shade of cream than the pickup surrounds.
I'm not sure whether the owner upgraded the electronics all-around (it has full-sized Alpha pots in it right now), but he definitely upgraded the caps to vintage-style bumblebees.
It's playing spot-on with 1/16" overall action at the 12th fret after a fresh setup, the frets have only the tiniest wear to them, and it's ready to go. The truss-rod works as it should.
Specs are: 24 3/4" scale, 1 11/16" nut width, 1 7/16" string spacing at the nut, 2" spacing at the bridge, 13" lower bout, 9 1/4" upper bout, 2" side depth (+ extra when counting the arch to the top). The neck has a mild-to-medium, C-shaped profile with a ~12" radius to the rosewood fretboard.
The top has bookmatched, flamed maple (veneer?) over a regular maple cap. I believe that makes this an "Elite Plus" compared to the more normal-looking grain. The back and sides are two-piece, nicely-grained mahogany with light figure in it throughout.
The frets are medium-big and feel great.
The pickups sound great -- they're fairly high-output but aren't dark and muddy at all -- they have a nice, crisp, full voice that I find very satisfying.
The guitar is so sweet that it attracted this wasp! Sorry, couldn't help that one....
You can see the finish drip coming from the top of the headstock and going towards the row of treble-side tuners. There's also the reseller serialization at the top covering a "Used xxxxxx 2nd" stamp.
It comes with a nicely-fitted, good-quality, Epiphone Elitist case that must've been acquired for it years after it was built.
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