Epiphone is a guitar brand that is steeped in history and was a head to head rival to Gibson guitars until The Chicago Music Company (who already owned the Gibson brand) bought Epiphone over in 1957.   Nowadays Epiphone is positioned as a lower budget brand to the premium Gibson brand but that wasn't always the case.  They are both essentially part of the same group of companies.  Nowadays Gibsons are made in the USA whilst Epiphones are made (usually) in the Far East (eg Korea - a country which has built a great reputation for making guitars) However in recent years Gibson opened a factory in Qingdao, China which manufactures Epiphone guitars exclusively. With few exceptions, Epiphones are now built only in the Qingdao factory. Unfortunately this can make it even harder to distunguish genuine Epiphone and Gibson guitars from fake guitars which usually come from China too!  

Epiphone Les Pauls are really great guitars for the money if you don't want to stretch to the cost of a USA made Gibson.  Epiphones are  far cheaper due to much lower labour costs and components sourced in the Far East.  However Epiphones are really well built and usually sound terrific, play well and are extraordinarily close in style, design and specification to their Gibson cousins.  There are no "copy" or "infringement" issues either, because Epiphone is a sister company to Gibson.

So which Epiphone Les Paul should you buy?  The following are all Epiphone Les Paul models with a rough price guide: Les Paul Junior: Single pickup flat bodied Les Paul with either a P-90 or a single Humbucker, usually with ceramic magnets.  P90 pickups are Single Coil pickups with gritty tone somewhere between a Stratocaster single coil and a humbucker - Gibson's original pickup:  P90's sound awesome by the way! They are my favourite type of pickups. Ideal for rock and blues or even jazz. 

Les Paul Juniors are cool looking and are like the Gibson's used by Green Day, Keith Urban etc. Pay £95 - £120 for a junior

Les Paul Special: As above but with two pickups for tonal variety. a real no nonsense guitar. You should pay around £100 - £150. 

Les Paul Studio: As Les Paul Special with a carved top and 'open' uncovered humbuckers, usually Alnico magnets. Pay up to £150 to £200

Les Paul Standard: As Les Paul Studio but with binding around the body and neck - Looks cool and protects the guitar from chipping on the edges. Usually comes with Cream Pickguard and Humbucker Rings. Pay £200 to £300

Les Paul Custom: As the Les Paul Standard but with additional binding round the headstock and more 'bling' in the headstock- usually with black pickguard and pickup rings and gold hardware. Pay £275 to £375

Les Paul Gold Top '56: This is a gold top version of Gibson's 1956 classic. It has two P90's and is an awesome sounding guitar that looks so cool too. Pay around £300.  P90's got their name because originally they were "Part No:90" on the Gibson Stock list.  They sound like a "single coil on steroids" 

Les Paul Artist Series: Epiphone has a series of artist guitars such as Bob Marley, Ace Frehley (Kiss) Joe Perry (Aerosmith) ad Zakk Wyld (Ozzy Osbourne, Black Label Society) that are variation on the above.  The latest Slash verion is fantastic.  

Other Varieties: Other models will have variations such as flame tops and special limited editions that offer additional appeal. 

The Les Paul Black Beauty  for example, is a Custom and sometimes has three pickups and is black hence the name Black Beauty.  Les Paul himself said the the top of the range Les Paul Custom models should "only come in black" so in the early years ALL Les Paul Customs were black and were nicknamed Black Beauties. 

By the way - Epiphone Les Pauls have pickups designed by Gibson and the fit, finish and playability of these guitars is about as good as many USA made Gibsons.  They usually have a more modern varnish than Gibson's Nitro Cellulose that can last longer too.  My friends and I had a "blind" sound test - pitting several Gibson Les Pauls against several Epiphone Les Pauls.  We all agreed there is little difference in sound or playability however the Epiphone's generally sounded a bit 'brighter' overall. However there is a big difference in brand kudos and credibility we have found.  Or at least there has been historically but many top guitarists are playing Epiphones by choice - and some are very successful bands too (eg Paul Weller, Scissor Sisters etc). 

Also Epiphone has launched an 'Elite' range that fits between the standard Epiphone range and USA made Gibsons.  So some Epiphone 'Elites' are more expensive than some Gibsons (eg Gibson Les Paul Studio) Finally, did you know that Gibson couldn't use the Gibson name when they launched in Japan? It was blocked by another company that had already registered the name Gibson  in Japan. So Mr Gibson used his first name "Orville" on the headstock instead, for models made in Japan. So if you come across an "Orville", or an "Orville by Gibson", it is a REAL Gibson Les Paul, made in Japan, with all Gibson parts.  They are usually a relative bargain!    

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