headstock.....

[Paruwi]

Epiphone confirms that future "Custom Shop-level" guitars will use the 'open book' Gibson headstock

Gibson's Mat Koehler has confirmed that the Greeny Les Paul will not be the last Epiphone to sport a proper Gibson headstock.

guitar.com

Finally there will be no more 'but that ugly €pi headstock' reasons not to buy an €pi

I bet the next reason not to buy will be 'sadly it's not made in the US'

And if €pi will do a Les Paul made in the US for the same price like a Gibson (like they do it with the Casino)
what will the corkys argument be

 

[Darkness]

Finally there will be no more 'but that ugly €pi headstock' reasons not to buy an €pi

Before too long it will be....

 

[Charles Carter]

This is going to be life changing ... NOT!

 

[Raiyn]

I, for one, demand that they bring back the round "Epiphone Custom Shop" sticker. The same one from about 2007...

Soooooo......cooooool!

 

[AJ6stringsting]

I don't care how the headstock looks or says ..... it all about playability and satisfaction !!!!

Epiphone Guitars are ....

 

[AJ6stringsting]

 

[Telechamp]

I, for one, demand that they bring back the round "Epiphone Custom Shop" sticker. The same one from about 2007...

Soooooo......cooooool!

 

[Equalphone]

I like seeing people selling those Epi's with the text "It's from the Epiphone Custom Shop!". LOL.

--

If the headstock designs had been reversed company-wise, Gibson cork sniffers would be saying that they hate the Epiphone headstock design because the open book is too plain looking.

I own both. Neither headstock matters to me. Now, you start getting into Dean headstocks, Di Angelico... yeah, I have some issues with those. But only because they're so extreme. If the guitar was a strong player, I'd still own it. I don't need to sniff corks.

 

[Darkness]

I've always thought that the open book looked more like a fancy mustache.

 

[Equalphone]

FYI - All the Epi SG's and LP's are using a Gibson "style" headstock now. Even the Power-Player. No more cut corners. It's a little different at the lower ends and the Greeny is more accurate to the current Gibson shape. But Gibson has had a lot of variations of their own over the years. It's difficult to say that the current line-wide Epi shapes are incorrect.

 

[3bolt79]

They cut the Gibson Tributes to make a 1500 dollar Epi seem justifiable.

 

[Noodling Guitars]

And if €pi will do a Les Paul made in the US for the same price like a Gibson (like they do it with the Casino)
what will the corkys argument be

Lol. They really should do at least one model to troll people. You know what would really create a lot of controversy? An Epiphone LP Custom made in the USA for the same price as a Gibby Standard. Cause ever since they took the Custom into the CS line, to get a plain top, painted all black LP costs double the price (currently $5k) of a normal standard with a AA or better top. Yes, it's the custom shop etc etc.. but it didn't need to be. USA Customs were totally fine.

 

[BGood]

The Kalamazoo headstock is not a bad copy of the Gibson headstock. It's not a bad open book, it was originally described as a sloped dove wing headstock. That settles that.

What about the Maestro headstock, no controversy from the Gibson fanboys there ?

What about made in Japan Epiphones, that have used the Gibson open book design all along ?

 

[Raiyn]

They cut the Gibson Tributes to make a 1500 dollar Epi seem justifiable.

Which I'm still not convinced that it is.

I like seeing people selling those Epi's with the text "It's from the Epiphone Custom Shop!". LOL.

Well, if they start using it again we'll have a whole new round of people with $600 bolt-on 310's and stuff.

 

[Equalphone]

Lol. They really should do at least one model to troll people. You know what would really create a lot of controversy? An Epiphone LP Custom made in the USA for the same price as a Gibby Standard. Cause ever since they took the Custom into the CS line, to get a plain top, painted all black LP costs double the price (currently $5k) of a normal standard with a AA or better top. Yes, it's the custom shop etc etc.. but it didn't need to be. USA Customs were totally fine.

The Custom LP has always been popular for the extra bling... and they figured they could make more money by taking it away from the masses and making it more exclusive.

Fun fact: The only reason they started making black LP's was that some tops were not good enough for the "clear" finishes. So they started painting those black. Per Ted McCarty.

 

[Raiyn]

Fun fact: The only reason they started making black LP's was that some tops were not good enough for the "clear" finishes. So they started painting those black. Per Ted McCarty.

Call me crazy, but wasn't that attributed to the Gold Tops as well? It doesn't have to be a pretty top of it's painted.

 

[AJ6stringsting]

I recently sold off my 1974 Gibson LPC.
My 2007 Epiphone LPC, had far better tuning stability than the Gibson. I seriously believe, it was angle of headstock and with the older headstock placement of the tuning keys, the older Epiphone's had way better tuning stability .

To be honest, I am only going to buy Epiphone guitars with the older headstock design, for the sake of tuning stability .

 

[Equalphone]

Call me crazy, but wasn't that attributed to the Gold Tops as well? It doesn't have to be a pretty top of it's painted.

I chased down the interview with Ted:

"
Q. "How about the gold-finished top?"

A. "We did that because the gold finish covered the blemishes in the wood, the cosmetic appearance. Because guitar players are strange. Now [speaking in 1992] they’re making guitars with maple with... what do they call that? Quilted maple, yes. In the early ‘50s you couldn’t give one away. If it was maple it had to be fiddleback maple, had to be perfect, couldn’t have any blemishes, couldn’t have any mineral streaks in it.

But we used to cover it up with that paint. Then we made the Custom, painted it black. So as long as the wood was solid, any streaks or blemishes didn’t make any difference—it was all black."

Former Gibson Chief Ted McCarty on Tonewoods and the Problems of 'Top-Heavy' Management | Bacon's Archive

An interview with the president that launched the Les Paul, the SG, and brought Gibson into the modern guitar era.

reverb.com

 

[Noodling Guitars]

I chased down the interview with Ted:

"
Q. "How about the gold-finished top?"

A. "We did that because the gold finish covered the blemishes in the wood, the cosmetic appearance. Because guitar players are strange. Now [speaking in 1992] they’re making guitars with maple with... what do they call that? Quilted maple, yes. In the early ‘50s you couldn’t give one away. If it was maple it had to be fiddleback maple, had to be perfect, couldn’t have any blemishes, couldn’t have any mineral streaks in it.

But we used to cover it up with that paint. Then we made the Custom, painted it black. So as long as the wood was solid, any streaks or blemishes didn’t make any difference—it was all black."

Former Gibson Chief Ted McCarty on Tonewoods and the Problems of 'Top-Heavy' Management | Bacon's Archive

An interview with the president that launched the Les Paul, the SG, and brought Gibson into the modern guitar era.

reverb.com

Wow, really love this quote!!! Esp. the "guitar players are strange". So what Paul (RS) calls curly maple/ artist tops/ private stock, what Gibson calls 5A tops... that would've been 5x quicker to the (figuratively speaking) trash pile/ painted top section for Ted McCarty if he had a say in it.

 

[GenghisBomb]

Finally there will be no more 'but that ugly €pi headstock' reasons not to buy an €pi

This will only be on the Gibson-priced models. This is not about giving the Epiphone buyers what they have wanted, it's about moving the old entry level Gibson buyers over to Epiphone. You won't see the "open book" on anything under $1,200 USD.

FYI - All the Epi SG's and LP's are using a Gibson "style" headstock now. Even the Power-Player. No more cut corners. It's a little different at the lower ends and the Greeny is more accurate to the current Gibson shape. But Gibson has had a lot of variations of their own over the years. It's difficult to say that the current line-wide Epi shapes are incorrect.

View attachment 23420

Except they absolutely are "incorrect" in this sense. The current standard Epiphone headstock is the "Kalamazoo" headstock, which is an original Epiphone design, and one of their earliest.