There are many custom , but no custom shop.
Pictures. Pictures would be helpful.
We rarely see one with that winged pickguard, a first for me.
Just that cavity routing alone is gonna give me nightmares. I'm not saying that Epi's of that era are a masterclass in cavity routing, but at least they sharpen the spoon they use to gouge out the cavities.
I am trying to identify an Epiphone Les Paul I purchased 2nd hand about 12-13 years ago. It was an eBay purchase with collection only. It was a woman selling it on behalf of her teenage son who had given up playing. It needed some setting up and I wanted to verify its authenticity so I took it to a local luthier near Manchester where I was living at the time. He took the cavity covers off and said in his opinion it was fake.
I tried returning it but got nowhere and its been in a soft gig bag under a bed since then. Its moved house with us three times. It was originally supposed to be a present for my nephew who had just started playing. We ended up just buying a new one.
I needed a 1.5mm allen key earlier to adjust the bridge on my Patrick Eggle Berlin Pro and I knew it was in the Hiscox case under the bed. I got the allen key but re-discovered this Les Paul in the process. I have spent the last hour or so looking at it and I don't know if it is a fake or not.
The truss rod cover definitely looks fake, but the other stuff I am not sure about - the tailpiece bolt heads look correct, the Grover tuners look correct, the volume & tone controls look aligned, the serial number seems legitimate and says its a Chinese model produced in 2003 (EE03045898) , the cavity wiring is neat & clean.
Can anyone confirm this is a fake?
