Good les paul type guitars?

[James_B_K_P]

I've got serious GAS for a Les paul Custom (Black with white binding) but don't have anything like enough cash for a gibson. I've seen a lot of MIJ's but don't really have any experience with any like the Tokai's or Edwards. I'll probably stick a pair of aftermaths in it for playing Thrash.

[Telerocker]

Japan-made Tokai's are quite decent. From what I read the Edwards sound in general a bit brighter, but Philly might chime in to comment on that, cause he had a few from what I remember. Heritage is good too (made in the old factory in Kalamazoo), maybe you can lay your hand on a used one. And you have to dig the headstock... In the lowbudget-range Vintage offers decent copies, though the lower bout is a bit sharper cutted.

[TheyCallMeVolume]

If you want thrash on it I'd recommend an ESP/LTD. Alot of players in that genre use the Eclipse model.

[Dr.Pain]

Get an Epiphone Les Paul Tribute plus.  They are great and cheap.  They come with Gibson 57 pick ups but that may cause an issue as they are really good.  Also comes in a hard case.  I've had mine for over a month now and love it.  It's Chinese made but don't let that throw you as they are very well made.  It's a great guitar for money.

[dingleberry]

I'm a huge fan of white binding as well, not many epiphones coming with it, there is however the prophecy series.

Shown below with a holydiver bridge in black battleworn...  and beer

[Dr.Pain]

The tribute plus have white binding.  I got the midnight sapphire.

[ericsabbath]

greco, aria pro II, orville, burny, yamaha, hurricane, hs anderson

you just got to be careful with the series model number... they are usually numbered acording to the price range and materials quality, unlike epiphone, which are priced acording to the model and not series, you'll find cheap customs from lower quality series and very expensive standards, for example

[Nadz1lla]

A couple of my mates have the Agile Les Paul type guitars and say they are awesome for the money. But after my personal experience of Agile I don't think I'll buy another one. Depends if you want to take part in that lottery or not. 95% of what I hear about Agile is all positive, but I think I managed to stumble upon a duffer.

[itamar101]

Really depends on the budget...
Th Aria Pro II is great and the Carvin CS-6 only ever gets amazing reviews and you can customize the specs.

[Alex]

It depends a bit whether you are only after the look or whether you are after the feel and tone.

The latter is more complicated, because there isn't one archetypical LP custom sound to begin with.

The ESP Eclipse comes in two version, one with thinner body, that sounds "leaner" and more mid-focused. The other, Full thickness, is more like the Gibson (and the neck is slightly fatter too). The ESPs, despite being very good guitars and being rather popular, usually have a quite bad resale value, so you can sometimes get one really quite cheap on Ebay. I think it's mainly the EMGs that put people off, well and that it doesn't say Gibson on the headstock.

I don't know anything about the Edwards or even the LTD versions, sadly.

[James_B_K_P]

Cheers for all the replies! My budget is pretty much nothing at the moment! I'm going to be selling two or three guitars soon so I'll probably spend whatever bit of cash I get from those. I like the look of the Epiphone Prophecy and they seem to be really nice guitars, I just have bad experiences with badly set up Epiphones so I've never actually bought one.

[HTH AMPS]

The MIJ Epiphones with proper Gibson-shaped headstocks are great guitars.  If you can get one of those (or an Orville) off ebay, do it - they will kill anything else in the same price range.

[Philly Q]

greco, aria pro II, orville, burny, yamaha, hurricane, hs anderson

you just got to be careful with the series model number... they are usually numbered acording to the price range and materials quality, unlike epiphone, which are priced acording to the model and not series, you'll find cheap customs from lower quality series and very expensive standards, for example

All these brands make great Gibson-style guitars, as do Tokai and Edwards.  Including LP Custom copies.

The only thing I'd add - if you want an ebony fingerboard, like a "real" Les Paul Custom, then Edwards is pretty much the only way to go (unless you have £1,500 for a top-of-the-line Tokai).

Nearly all the other Japanese copies have rosewood boards (the '80s ones often had rosewood stained to look like ebony).

[ericsabbath]

greco, aria pro II, orville, burny, yamaha, hurricane, hs anderson

you just got to be careful with the series model number... they are usually numbered acording to the price range and materials quality, unlike epiphone, which are priced acording to the model and not series, you'll find cheap customs from lower quality series and very expensive standards, for example

All these brands make great Gibson-style guitars, as do Tokai and Edwards.  Including LP Custom copies.

The only thing I'd add - if you want an ebony fingerboard, like a "real" Les Paul Custom, then Edwards is pretty much the only way to go (unless you have £1,500 for a top-of-the-line Tokai).

Nearly all the other Japanese copies have rosewood boards (the '80s ones often had rosewood stained to look like ebony).

true
edwards are made in china, though (only final assembly is in japan)
some higher grade grecos had ebony and true mother of pearl, but they cost almost as much as a used gibson custom (US$1700-2000)
a navigator is even more expensive

you might find ebony on orvilles, but not real mother of pearl

there's a new series branded by fujigen gakki itself (the main factory in japan, that made most of the quality gibson copies for dozens of brands from early 70's on)
they aren't much more expensive than an edwards and they have true mop and ebony

http://www.fujigen.co.jp/exp/Scategory2.aspx?SH=fgn23006

[Mr. Air]

If you don't mind a double cut the new Reverend Sensei RA have a ebony board but a Korina body. It should be in the ballpark of a LP custom.