Epiphone Les Paul Jr SL

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HNB
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Epiphone Les Paul Jr SL

Post by HNB » Sun Feb 24, 2019 7:31 pm

I saw this at Guitar Center and it looked like a fun guitar to mess around with. I thought that I would put in some SC size humbuckers into it and have it as a inexpensive player. The finish is pretty cool. It is the modern satin variety. The grain shows on the body and neck. From what I read, the body is poplar and the neck is mahogany. The pickups are ceramic. Pretty simple layout. I didn't even bother trying it in the store because I was going to mod it. I did check the neck, bridge and frets. The neck and bridge were good. The fret edges were on the sprouty side, but it would give me some file practice to smooth them out. It came with a bag, tuner, strap, and small amp. (The small amp is going to my dad's friend who is learning guitar. It actually sounds pretty nice for such a little thing.) It is a bold on, but sits in a channel in the body. The burst looks nicely done.

Impressions when I got home and tuned it and set it up. The action was too high, so I lowered it. Intonation isn't perfect, but not horrible and these kind of bridges are hard to nail 100%. The tuners kind of look bad (trapezoid ones) but they actually work pretty well. They don't have a lot of slop or play which was a nice surprise. The biggest surprise were the pickups. I really like them. Middle position is actually quieter than some of my humbucker guitars which totally surprised me. Volume and tone pots work nice. The toggle feels a little cheap but works fine. I like where it is positioned behind the bridge.

All in all it is a pretty good buy. I would recommend it. Here are pictures. (Plastic is still on the guard.)

Image20190224_171701 by Christopher Louck, on Flickr

Image20190224_171712 by Christopher Louck, on Flickr

Image20190224_171724 by Christopher Louck, on Flickr

Image20190224_171718 by Christopher Louck, on Flickr

Image20190224_171736 by Christopher Louck, on Flickr

Image20190224_171730 by Christopher Louck, on Flickr

Image20190224_171746 by Christopher Louck, on Flickr

Image20190224_171754 by Christopher Louck, on Flickr

Image20190224_171759 by Christopher Louck, on Flickr

Image20190224_171808 by Christopher Louck, on Flickr
Christopher
Lilith Guitars

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Larry Mal
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Re: Epiphone Les Paul Jr SL

Post by Larry Mal » Sun Feb 24, 2019 8:01 pm

Looks great, it looks like those Melody Makers that Gibson was putting out some years ago. Glad you like it!
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Re: Epiphone Les Paul Jr SL

Post by TeenageShutdown! » Mon Feb 25, 2019 5:12 am

The satin finish looks pretty decent. So are you keeping the pickups?

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Re: Epiphone Les Paul Jr SL

Post by Embenny » Mon Feb 25, 2019 5:21 am

Nice, I've been curious about these. They really seem to be in the same category as the Squier Bullet Mustang where they're so cheap with so many redeeming features that they make really worthwhile mod platforms.

I also really like the MM-style pickguards on them. I find most Les Pauls kind of plain, lacking the curves and interesting lines of Fender-style pickguards, but these are great.

The black-on-black of the pickups on the guard makes it look like they have big pickup surrounds. I like it.

Are those real alnico rod Fender-style pickups, or are they those cheap steel slugs with ceramic bar magnets?
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Re: Epiphone Les Paul Jr SL

Post by jesterpunk68 » Mon Feb 25, 2019 7:48 am

Premier guitar did a modding article with that guitar.

https://www.premierguitar.com/articles/ ... ods?page=6

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HNB
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Re: Epiphone Les Paul Jr SL

Post by HNB » Mon Feb 25, 2019 8:30 am

They are ceramic pickups, but they sound so nice I am going to keep them. I dont feel like I need to do anything other than Straplocks and maybe a nicer toggle.
Christopher
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Re: Epiphone Les Paul Jr SL

Post by leokula » Mon Feb 25, 2019 8:54 am

Ever since I saw these, I thought they looked great! My inner OCD has me thinking about that bolt on neck, that's what kept me from getting one, but boy they look awesome.
Jaguar > Jazzmaster :)

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Re: Epiphone Les Paul Jr SL

Post by Pacafeliz » Mon Feb 25, 2019 9:13 am

Nice.
I had pre ordered one of these at €99 when they first came out but cancelled as the date was pushed back more and more... and then they also raised the price.

The other day I tried one out at the MusicStore too, but I don't need another guitar and/or wasn't impressed enough to HAVE to have it. Oh well.
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Re: Epiphone Les Paul Jr SL

Post by valley_parade » Mon Feb 25, 2019 9:14 am

I always thought these were pretty cool mod platforms. And it's got that old school Melody Maker vibe to it.

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Re: Epiphone Les Paul Jr SL

Post by jvin248 » Mon Feb 25, 2019 10:53 am

.

I'm a fan of the Epi Specials, and these are in that same price area but I haven't found one on the used market yet, and already have enough Specials in the pile-o-guitars.

They are quiet because of using shielded cable to the output jack (at least the Specials use it) and all the pickups have shielded wiring.
Fender models from Squier to CS use separate black-white unshielded wires to the jack and I find that change is about half a guitar's idle noise floor.

The SLs appear to cover Tele sounds fairly well.

http://www.tdpri.com/threads/ngdx4-the- ... ts.797535/
http://www.tdpri.com/threads/epiphone-l ... st.760049/

.

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Re: Epiphone Les Paul Jr SL

Post by thenewromance » Mon Feb 25, 2019 10:59 am

Just ordered one in Sunset Yellow to try. I've been intrigued by those ever since they came out, but read mixed reviews. Anyway, I decided to have a little fun and just go for it :)

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Re: Epiphone Les Paul Jr SL

Post by HNB » Mon Feb 25, 2019 12:17 pm

Cool! Hope you are pleasantly surprised like I was.
Christopher
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Re: Epiphone Les Paul Jr SL

Post by thenewromance » Mon Feb 25, 2019 11:02 pm

HNB wrote:
Mon Feb 25, 2019 12:17 pm
Cool! Hope you are pleasantly surprised like I was.
Thank you! Fingers crossed :)

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Re: Epiphone Les Paul Jr SL

Post by HNB » Sat Mar 02, 2019 4:54 pm

Did some pimping today. I shielded the cavity with copper tape. I shielded the pickguard with thick aluminum foil. I swapped out the pickups because the stock ones didn't fit the cream covers, I changed out the pots for 250k and the toggle is a switchcraft one now. I think the new look is pretty classy looking now. Just need new strings to arrive for it and my strap locks.
Christopher
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Re: Epiphone Les Paul Jr SL

Post by HNB » Sat Mar 02, 2019 4:56 pm

Christopher
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