Review of: Epiphone Les Paul Special II Guitar

by Brian Lamacraft

30
%
Overall

• This is a simple guitar to play. It has a nice neck and all of the basic features you need to begin to play guitar right away.
• The neck on this guitar is smooth and easy on the fingers. If you are a beginner, you’re going to find that this is one of the best features.
• Solid rock sound with the two humbucker pickups so you can create many styles such as rock, blues, metal, and other similar music styles

• This is not a full Les Paul so what lacks many of the features of the Gibson Les Paul
• Missing one tone and volume control
• The neck is a bolt on and not a neck through the body like a traditional Les Paul
• The sound isn’t as robust as other full feature Les Paul style guitars

The Epiphone Les Paul II special should be considered an entry-level guitar. It’s a simple guitar based upon the iconic Les Paul by Gibson. It is an excellent guitar especially for a beginner and it does have a lot of great features that you will enjoy. I found that this guitar played quite well despite the fact that it is an entry-level guitar.

You don’t have to worry about your purchase with this guitar because it is covered with the Epiphone lifetime warranty. This means you can try the guitar out for yourself to see if it is one that you might like and you’re covered with this warranty. For beginners, this is an excellent guitar to get started with.

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Full Detailed Epiphone Les Paul Special II Review

Are you looking to purchase a Les Paul? This guitar is an iconic brand from Gibson. The main problem is that a full Les Paul is very expensive. Many people simply can’t afford a Les Paul at least when they first start playing guitar. Thankfully, Gibson has its lower-priced line called Epiphone. 

To make it easier for you to find a great Epiphone Les Paul, I have reviewed many of them for you. In this article, we will be doing an Epiphone Les Paul Special II review.

Epiphone Les Paul Special II Tones

The neck pickup is an Epiphone 650R humbucker and the bridge pickup is an Epiphone 700T humbucker. These pickups allow you to create all of the classic Gibson Les Paul style sounds. You can create many different tones with this guitar. It’s well-suited to rock, blues, and even heavy metal styles since humbucking pickups are used quite commonly in those types of music. The tones that this guitar produce is decent in this price range and well above the ones produced by similarly priced instruments.

Use the bridge position pickup for lead guitar tones and rhythm and for a more bassy sound, switch to the neck position pickup. You get more fullness in this position and it’s more suited for rhythm.

Epiphone Les Paul Special II Playability

This guitar by Epiphone is very playable and you won’t struggle to produce music with it. 

The neck is D-shaped and slim so it feels good while you play and you also get 21 frets.  The top register of the neck is easy to each thanks to the cutaway feature that all Les Paul style guitars have so you won’t struggle to play it. 

Beginners are going to have a lot of fun playing this guitar. It’s well-suited to playing both rhythm as well as lead guitar styles.

Epiphone Les Paul Special II Hardware

This guitar features one tone, one volume, toggle, and two humbucker pickups. It also comes with a hardtail bridge and regular tuning pegs. It also ships with a set of D’Addario strings already installed. 

It’s missing an extra tone and volume control so this is why it has a lower rating in terms of hardware when compared to other Les Paul style guitars.

Epiphone Les Paul Special II Value

The best part about this guitar is the fact that it offers the player a lot of value for their hard-earned dollars.

I was very impressed with this Epiphone Les Paul and it’s the perfect model for anyone that is first getting started with guitar or only has a little bit of experience. 

This guitar really doesn’t lack in any area when it comes to beginning instruments and the Epiphone a brand always offers great quality so you’ll be getting an exceptional beginner guitar for not a whole lot of money.

In this Epiphone Les Paul Special-II review I am giving high marks for value. The reason I give this guitar such high value is you get an exceptional product for very little money. 

This guitar looks and sounds like a Les Paul and for a beginner guitar player this is going to be something very exciting since they will be able to recreate the sounds of their favorite Les Paul players like Slash, Randy Rhoads, and many other famous guitar players. 

It comes with everything you need to get started playing guitar in one attractive package.

Who is the Epiphone Les Paul Special II Guitar Suited For?

If you are a beginner and just starting out with a guitar this Epiphone Les Paul Special II is a perfect choice. 

If you have just a little bit of experience or started out on acoustic guitar, this could be the perfect solution for you if you have been looking for an electric guitar. 

The quality and sound of this instrument are decent at this price range and you really can’t go wrong with this model.

Epiphone Les Paul Special II Review: Build and Finish

This Epiphone Guitar comes in several different finishes including sunburst, Ebony, and Heritage cherry sunburst so you have a few color options when you purchase. 

The build is a little different than a standard Les Paul since it features a bolt-on neck and not the standard neck through body design that a regular Les Paul features. This means that the neck can off and replaced with something else if you prefer. With a regular Les Paul, you cannot do this. 

Extras include a “special” logo on the headstock which is similar in letter style to the “Les Paul” logo on more traditional guitars. You also get two strap buttons for a guitar strap.

Epiphone Les Paul Special II: Feel and Action

I was impressed with the feel and the action of this guitar. It may require a little bit of setup when you first get it but it should be playable right out of the box. 

In general, the neck is quite smooth so your fingers should glide easily on the frets. The action on the guitar was at a decent level for most players but since we all like different string action, you may have to adjust it slightly when you receive your instrument. 

There is also an adjustable truss rod so you might want to adjust the neck slightly as this can improve the action on the instrument. 

You can set the individual strings height at the bridge by turning the screws. If you don’t know how to do this yourself, have a guitar technician that do it for you.

Epiphone Les Paul Special II: Overall Sound

You can expect this instrument to give you an overall decent sound considering it’s an entry-level instrument and not a full power Gibson Les Paul. Epiphone it makes excellent Les Paul style guitars which are suitable for beginners. 

To get the most out of this guitar, I would pair it with a decent amplifier this will help improve the sound of the instrument. 

You might also consider getting a couple of pedals because this will also help add to the overall sound of this instrument.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dE1-4rmzKVY


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Conclusion

So, this concludes our Epiphone Les Paul Special II review. All in all, this is an exceptional beginner instrument for anyone that wants to get into playing electric guitar and doesn’t know where to start. You will find this instrument to be enjoyable to play and it has some great features that make it a standout in the beginning guitar category. 

Epiphone produces some very nice guitars and this Les Paul is the perfect starting point for anyone that wants an electric guitar. You can expect to get some nice sounds out of this guitar and it comes with everything that you need to get started playing.

Image Credit:

Epiphone.com