Used Guitars

r1p32 · #1 February 4th, 2007

Right now I'm looking for a second guitar.

The stuff I play is mostly Red hot chili peppers (funky;uses mostly cleans) and right now I'm experimenting a lot in blues (improv), and then classic rock. Althought i do like to play metal occasionally. So i thought that a Les Paul would handle of all this nicely. And i played a Gibson Les Paul Classic ($2,000) at a guitar center and i loved it. But thats a lot of money and I dont know if I'm willing to spend that much just yet (i might have that money, but i might need for it for other things).

But today i visited a shop around where i live and they had a used Epiphone Les paul (I dont know the model, but i will give them a call to see if they'll tell me) with a Seymour Duncan pickup in the bridge for $299. The guy told me that normally it would go for about $500. So the question is:

Should I get it??

- also: they had a lot of used acoustics there... i'd also like to know what are some things i should consider before I buy used guitars?

Thanks a Lot!!! any help would be MUCH appreciated!

737blues · #2 February 4th, 2007

If you do a search on the forum for Epiphones I think you will come up with a lot of information. Don't own a Les Paul of any description myself but I've 'borrowed' a few Epi's with a view to perhaps buying one myself some day and they all seem to be very nice guitars, on the whole well built. Hardware will not be as nice as the real thing but it's a big price difference. The one you mention sounds okay. There is a lot of good oil in the guitar tech stickies which, although primarily aimed at helping folks set up and maintain a guitar, gives you a pretty good idea what to look for when buying too. Check out the threads written by UGB particularly and the similar threads/forums listed below.

allthumbs · #3 February 4th, 2007

299 is in the right range for an epi LP. There are always a ton of them on Ebay.
http://search.ebay.com/Epiphone-Les-...dsreturnedZ300

PhilUSAFRet · #4 February 5th, 2007

A good guitar shop should have set it up properly or add new strings if needed. At least do all tech work free if you upgrade parts, buy the strings from them, etc.

fly135 · #5 February 5th, 2007

Model number is important as they start new from $100 for the Jr model and go up from there.

r1p32 · #6 February 5th, 2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by fly135

Model number is important as they start new from $100 for the Jr model and go up from there.

I haven't called yet,but after looking at the models on the Epiphone site, it's probably a Les Paul Standard. At musicians friend a new one of those (assuming its not the "b-stock" which is $299) goes for $499. So the guy might have been right. Plus it has the seymour duncan at the bridge. And the guy told me that we could discuss a price (including a gig-bag). I guess I can bring up the set-up. What does a set-up usually entail?