Thoughts on the Epiphone Vs. Gibson LP Tribute P90s

B

BrammyH

Grandpa Whine
I am looking at a couple of guitars. I'd be trading in a honey burst Epi LP, so the irony of one of them being a honey burst is not dead.

Anyway, the guitar center near me has these two below. What I am curious about is the difference between the P90s on the EPI and LP. I won't be playing them until Sunday, but my gut feeling is I may lean towards the Gibson one. I sold my Gibson LP a while back and have regretted it.

Also, a 3rd option is to just take my Epi Honey Burst and put Seymour P90s in it. It does have a Billy Gibbons pickup in the bridge tho. But both of my Epi Les Pauls have Gibbons anyway.


 
I don’t have any experience with the Epi.

I own a 2010 white 50’s Tribute LP with stock P-90’s. I bought it new for $799. I swapped out the Barbie colored plastic for black.

I like it a lot. It’s chambered inside, so the weight is only about 7.6 lbs. Some people swap the pups out, but I like the stock P-90’s. There’s some 60 cycle hum, but I’m used to that from Strats. From clean to crunch, it has great sounds.

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P.S. The plastic cracked at the jack of my 50’s TLP, so examine that close. I replaced the jack with chrome.

I added the String Butler to improve tuning stability. It helped a lot. I don’t think it’s a secret that the headstock angle tends to cause more binding at the nut which leads to an LP going out of tune faster than a Tele, for example. YMMV.
 
Thanks. This is very helpful.

Also, realizing how this sounds, how does the chambering affect the tone?
 
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BrammyH said:
Thanks. This is very helpful.

Also, realizing how this sounds, how does the chambering affect the tone?
Click to expand...

I don’t have a non chambered LP with P-90’s to compare. So, I can’t answer that question. All I know is that I love the sound and the weight. It’s a very resonant guitar even unplugged and I like that about it.

Years ago, I watched a YT video of a guy comparing a chambered LP to a solid LP. And they were nicer LP’s than what we’re talking about here.

I can’t recall what the specific differences were, but I could hear differences. The pickups were humbuckers. But, I’m not even certain the pickups were the same model in that comparison. What I do seem to recall was that both guitars sounded good to me.

I think Warmoth sells chambered and solid bodies (not necessarily LP’s). It might be worth checking their website to see if they describe how they sound different.
 
What I read is someone said the chambered LPs sound like Gretsch Duo Jets. Which I a sound I quite like so this could work very well.
 
I found these descriptions….

Chambered Body LP….

More acoustic resonance when played unplugged. Slightly more high-end sparkle and upper-mid presence. Bass can feel a little less tight and focused. Notes often have a more “3D” or airy quality.

VS

Solid Body LP….

Tighter, punchier low end. Stronger low-mid “thump.” Slightly more compressed response. Often perceived as having a thicker, denser tone.

My chambered LP seems to occupy a spot somewhere between a solid body guitar and a semi-hollow body guitar. It doesn’t feed back as quickly as a semi-hollow. It feeds back at a lower volume than my solid body guitars. Yet, each guitar has different pickups, with different levels of output. The pups must play a part in the feedback behavior. So, my comparisons are not apples to apples.
 
Thanks.

I am looking forward to playing them. I hadn't thought of the feedback issue. They also have a maple neck strat I want to check out.
 
I didn't end up testing them out. My voice of reason (aka the wife), mentioned even trading in stuff, did I REALLY need different guitar? Which is funny, because she plays the bass and was eyeing a third one while we there. So my plan was to trade in the bass I didn't want (nor did she) for a ToneX Pedal.

The EPI was high up on the hooks and I didn't want to have someone drag it down so I could check out the pickups. The Gibson was on the lower levels, but the top edge of the neck was in poor condition.

Since I kinda like the 2 LPs I have anyway, I may drop a set of Railhammer Nuevos into one of them.
 
I have a BJ Armstrong Epiphone Les Paul Junior. The stock pickup sounds good but it’s hotter than I prefer so I put a Duncan Antiquity P90 in it and it sounds great.

I also have a custom shop Gibson Les Paul Junior. The stock P90 in that guitar has the magical fairy dust. It barks and snarls like a stellar P90 should.
 
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