Is there still a reliable place to buy a Chinese Gibson Les Paul copy?  I discovered these too late after they cracked down on their import.

I bet these are being produced in the same plant as the Epiphone Les Pauls between runs for Gibson.  

Before the cork sniffers give me shit.  I can't afford a real LP right now and I hate the damn clipped ear headstock of the Epiphone's.

Check out this site. Their Agile line are quite decent.

http://www.rondomusic.com/electricguitar.html

This is what I'm talking about.

Glad I'm not the only one that hates Epi's headstock. I will probably never own an Epi just for that reason alone.

Our instruments have accurate tone, beautiful sound, smooth performance and graceful appearance. Our products and the company is good, the price is low, for your dedicated service!
..... Looking forward to our pleasant -operation. Thank you for your interested. We will try our best to satisfied our every customer.....Come with beautiful box, easy to carry and safety enough for guitar........We generally use EMS for shipments because of lower costs and better service.
It normally takes about 5-8 days for EMS to deliver the items. Then you can get the items after hearing knock on your door.

Funny Stuff

http://www.tradetang.com/wholesale-Guitar_c2205.html

Good Lord buy a used LPJ.  

Sam Ash has NOS 2014 LP Melody Makers for $500.

Don't waste your money on shitty foreign counterfeited junk.

http://www.aliexpress.com/wholesale?shipCountry=us&shipCompanies=&SearchText=les+paul&exception=&minPrice=&maxPrice=&minQuantity=&maxQuantity=&isFreeShip=n&isFavorite=n&isRtl=n&isOnSale=n&isAtmOnline=n&isBigSale=n&similar_style=n&similar_style_id=&CatId=0&g=y&needQuery=y&isUnitPrice=

Explore at your own risk...
I came across a lot of this China stuff when I was searching online for a lefty SG.

If you somehow come into possession of a "Chibson", be aware that you can't legally sell it - Gibson legal even contacts people on CL to tell them to de-list ones for sell, even when it is advertised as a "Chinese replica."

This is a good answer...
I've purchased 2 LPJ's in the last year or so... Both were less than 500 bucks.
I'd buy a MM, but it appears Gibson never got around to actually making any left-handed ones.

Go to Zzounds.com and buy a real Gibson Les Paul on their payment plan?

They called me after I made the last payment on the SG I bought, to  see if I wanted to buy anything else... Online guitar dealers are the enablers of my GAS.
Cool guys to deal with though - I've never had an issue with them, or Sweetwater.

If you're going the Chinese route I've seen where people got the headstock customized.  Get the Gibson head stock with your logo and inlay.

There's a thought - get one with "Chibson" in the same font - mind blown...

Just buy the real thing





















 

I just bought a Gibson LP studio body/neck on ebay. I was seeing used mid 1990's to mid 2000's LP studios going between 500 and 700 all day long.

LPJ's and Melody makers look like a 2yr old tried to make a LP.  I would buy and deal with the Ass ugly headstock of the Epiphone before I would buy one of those ugly Mother F---ers.

Seriously the Chinese copies vary in quality but the good ones are a good as an Epiphone.  Like I said I wouldn't be surprised if they aren't make in the same plant.  Seriously Gibson is a lot like Harley Davidson where you buy a logo for 3K and they give you a free guitar.

I am curious what your budget is?   There are definitely good Chinese copies, however, the trouble would be finding the right one.

I love the Gibson sound, but I can't bring myself to spend the money on them anymore.  I have owned 4 Gibsons I think.  They have by far given me the most trouble out of the box of any new guitar I have tried.  My super jumbo had two frets that were so far off that it looked like they used a different size fret wire.  My luthier said, "I can't believe this crap keeps coming out of the factory."  

Anyway,  depending on your budget I think you could get something custom, or semi-custom, that is exactly what you want for a lot less if you know a decent luthier.  I am currently having a custom made for me.  It is the fraction of the cost of most LP's.    The best part is that you usually just put a deposit down until it is finished which gives you time to save up the rest.  Or if you have the ability, you can put something together yourself.

If you find a copy I would definitely play it first.  There are good ones out there.   After all, Slash played a copy on Appetite.  It wasn't a Chinese copy, but it wasn't a Gibson either.  

Good luck.

The Derrig, and Slash still has it.


 

lol

you've never seen one up close.  they are garbage.  the hardware and electronics they use are garbage.  

I'll agree that the finishes on the MMs are not great, but use some Virtuoso Cleaner and Polish and they shine right up.  Plus, p90s are one thing that Gibson does right.  Their humbuckers?  Neh.  But their p90s are really really good.

I've been playing guitar for 20 years.  What do I know?.  Waste your money on junk when you can get a good playing and sounding guitar for the same price.  Guitars and guns are kinda similar.  Why spend $700 for a Beretta 92 when you can buy a Taurus for $400?  They look the same.

The Hamer LP copy is a nice guitar, I would own one if I wanted an LP-style guitar on a budget.

ETA: if I wanted a real Gibson I would look on eBay for one that has a broken-and-repaired headstock. Kills enough of the collector value to make it affordable and if the repair is done right the headstock will never break or cause problems again.

Posts like this make me wish ARFCOM had a like button feature.

FPNI. I've owned Agiles for 15 years and they are fantastic, Korean copies. They are better quality than epiphone with a cheaper price. I have a LP copy and a LPj copy. Customer service from Rondo is top notch, too.

Thanks I will check that out.  I thought it was a joke when it was first posted.  Seriously the guitars in the first page of that link were to say the least.

Seriously I understand you get what you pay for in life but sometimes you pay for a lot more than you get.  Gibson has this mythose surrounding it making them able to get a crazy premium for what it is.

If you're willing to try your hand at sanding and staining give this guy a email.  Been thinking about pulling the trigger on one of his kits.https://www.rmolsonguitars.com/lp_guitar_kit.html

Nice!  I may go that route.  Serious hot linking fail thought.  http://www.rmolsonguitars.com/lp_guitar_kit.html

I'd give consideration to other brands before I bought a knock-off.

ESP makes a fine LP style guitar.
Ibanez and Electra and several others made direct clones and imported them here into the 70's... some damn fine instruments and can still be found for pretty low dollars.  "lawsuit les paul" would be your search term.
Used market Gibson Studios can be a steal as well.

Also consider Jay Turser.  The 200 series is a Les Paul clone.  I had one for several years and honestly regret selling it a little bit.  It was a direct LP Standard clone (with different headstock logo) that played great.  I sold it off when I landed the first of three Gibsons in my collection.
I've been pondering getting another Jay Turser 200 series as I can find em new for right around 200$.  They aren't the best guitars ever built, but they are certainly at least on par with the Chibson knockoffs.

What few reviews I could find it seems he does a great job on the frets and fret board.  Think he'll even do the finish work for not much more.

I've owned a LOT of LPs, Epiphones, and LP clones. The LTDs and ESPs were by far the best that didn't have a [REAL] Gibson logo on the headstock. Of those, I had 2 ESP Eclipses, 2 Ltd EC1000s, 4 Ltd EC400s, and an EC600 Gus G. All were top notch instruments that were far better than the Epiphone LPs that I had. Having said that, the 2001 LP Standard and 1991 LP Studio that I currently have are just awesome and I wouldn't trade them for any clones.

As far as the Chinese knock-offs I've seen, I'm not too impressed thus far. Oh yeah... from a distance they look identical. But if you know what you're looking for, and know how things should sound and feel... then the ones I've seen don't cut it. There was a local pawn shop who supposedly got stuck with a purple Custom knock-off last summer, thinking it was real. As soon as I saw their CL ad, I ran down there thinking "it's a fake". Sure enough, the second the guy handed it to me I said "it's a fake". They were selling it as real (though at a very cheap price). After my heads-up, they lowered the price... but were still pretty proud of it ($600). I would laugh every time I went in there. Had I known that it was illegal for them to sell, I would have said something. It looked pretty good, until you looked at the edge of the fretboard and saw WHITE-OUT being used to paint the edge of the frets.


Btw... I picked-up both of my Studios in a local music shop over the summer. The black one is pretty beat-up (I call her "Black Betty"), but she's got mojo in spades. The red Studio (Lite) I paid $600 for. She was a great axe too, but I sold her a few weeks ago because I'm trying to just stay with two of everything (I call it my "Ark mode"). Point being, you can pick of REAL Gibson LPs for not a lot more than clones or Epiphones. There is a difference.



An American Dean Soltero that I owned last year (#44 of 100)...



My ESPs and LTDs...

I know there is a wide wide range in quality in these.  Anywhere form complete junk to Epiphone quality.  The problem is I guess everyone is trying to protect the good sellers by not giving details on who sells the good ones.

Thanks to whoever posted Zzounds.com  I ordered a 2015 LP Studio in Manhattan Midnight Blue on a 4 payment plan.

I would like to get my hands on a good quality Chipson LP Standard and drop some Gibson Pups in it.  Would be a fun project Guitar.

Love those satin Manhattan Midnight Studios! The contrast between that and the pickguard, pickup rings, etc just grabs my eye. Good thing I'm in "ark mode", or you'd have me off on another goose chase!

Funny you mention that, there's a pawn shop here in Albuquerque that has a counterfeit Gibson LP, a white one, for $600. One of the managers readily admits it's a fake yet one of the salesman will argue to the death that it's the real thing. Sucks to be the uninformed person that buys it and has no clue they are getting burned.

Yeah, I would think they'd be pretty liable for that deal. That's why I informed my local shop, because I was worried about some poor sap getting screwed. I actually drove to this place in a nearby town... knowing that it was going to be a fake. From what I recall, they had it listed for under $1200. There's NO way a good LP Custom ever gets listed that cheap from a pawn shop. I knew instantly that it had to be a fake. And ya know what? THEY obviously knew it as well (or they would have listed it at a much higher rate). Because most of the beat-up crap that I sift through at local pawn shops is listed higher than new. Always pisses me off. So when I called these yay-hoos on it, then they knew the jig was up and they'd better adjust their ad. They actually removed the CL ad right after that and adjusted the price in half.

As another posted suggested, look into the ESP/LTD line of LP style guitars. I've played a few LTD EC1000s and man, they are one sharp guitar ( not an intentional pun on their sharp lines ).

I've played a few 70's Hondo lawsuit guitars, they played alright.

Unrelated, but I've got a Chinese copy of an EVH Stealth guitar that someone upgraded a few components in. Holds its own against the real thing.

2 prong outlets? How old is your house!?

I have several amps that would work fine there.

I really need to open em up and upgrade.
Sick of shocking the shit out of myself randomly.

That's why I don't trust pawn shops in general. Any used instrument I buy gets thoroughly looked over for anything that looks wrong. I picked up a used Classic 50s Strat that had the wrong pickguard, 3-ply 11-hole instead of the correct 1-ply 8-hole, and thinking that the pickguard and electronics were swapped out for some chinese ceramic bar crap, I made the salesman take it apart so I could verify the electronics. Turns out everything was correct minus the pickguard, so I bought an $800 guitar for $300.

<<<<<Get one of these....LTD EC-256