Neapolitan

Your "point of sale made in China" Les Paul looks like the Epiphone Les Paul Custom I gifted to my brother. (Actually my brother is a very talented drummer, but he also developed an interest in learning guitar too.) I told him if he ever wanted to go guitar shopping take me along. But does he? No. He ends up buying cheap stuff that is impossible to play. You know, your "point of sale" MIC stuff. So I gave him the Epi LP and told him the benefits of a shorter scale. He left the Epi in his basement and hardly bothered with it. So a while back we were talking, and he was complaining about his Strat style knock-off was hard to play. So I had to remind him of Epi Les Paul. Some time passes and he got back to me and said he found it so much easier to play. Now he says he leaves it out on a guitar stand and plays it every day.

The Epi Les Paul Custom was a unique find I came across in a used guitar store. I don't the country of origin. There's a possibility it was either made in Korea, MIJ, or MIC. There's no serial numbers on it to date it or find where it was made. It has a Kalamazoo headstock, this is years before I've seen them on their newer models. The guy who sold it to me thinks it could be MIJ cause of the headstock. It has a very thin neck profile, gold hardware, and four speed knobs! (Personally I like round baseball bat necks.) If I had a choice between a MIC Gibson knock-off or an Epiphone, I would definitely choose the latter.

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