I thought this would be a no brainer upgrade but turns out i was wrong.

[Riff_King77]

I own a Epiphone LP China Model totally standard with the humbuckers and i fancied picking up a Gibson LP Studio,the guy in the shop said.....oh yeah this Studio LP will blow your Epiphone out the water so we tried them both out on the same amp and there was no difference in sound at all,if anything my Epiphone sounded more crunchy,am i missing something here ? the studios have the  490R and 498T pickups don't they ? or could that have been a knock off model maybe? i would like to think not with it being a reputable dealer selling it,i thought this would be a good upgrade but it left me feeling i'm glad i own this epiphone after that experience,needless to say it put me off the studio models.

[Philly Q]

Assuming it wasn't a knock off model, the Studio does indeed have the 498T/490R pickups.

It's interesting - and a good result for you - that you thought your Epi sounded as good as the Gibson, but pickups can always be changed for a better (or just different) sound. 

What about other factors like build quality and playability?  Did you notice much difference there?

[JimmyMoorby]

I own a Epiphone LP China Model totally standard with the humbuckers and i fancied picking up a Gibson LP Studio,the guy in the shop said.....oh yeah this Studio LP will blow your Epiphone out the water so we tried them both out on the same amp and there was no difference in sound at all,if anything my Epiphone sounded more crunchy,am i missing something here ? the studios have the  490R and 498T pickups don't they ? or could that have been a knock off model maybe? i would like to think not with it being a reputable dealer selling it,i thought this would be a good upgrade but it left me feeling i'm glad i own this epiphone after that experience,needless to say it put me off the studio models.

Dunno about Gibsons but this is very common with ESP's ltd range and their standards.  I'd take my m1000 over any standard or signature or any other super strat for that matter.  

Gibsons are incredible guitars and im probably going to get shot down here but theyre also stupidly overpriced and at times seem to rely on their name to stick huge price tags on things.  Of course all the brands to this to an extent but Gibson seem to do this as a matter of course with their entire range!  Ive never rated the studios.

[Kiichi]

What you describe can alway happen. People often underestimate cheaper guitars. You generally have a bigger chance to get a lemon when you go cheap, but you can also get very lucky.
In you case it might be a lucky grab with the woods, or you just like the cheaper PUs more. Heck, the best stock PUs I ever owned were in a 50 buck axe. cr@ppy guitar and the PUs were kinda fizzy, but they had crunch and were not muddy.
Also I own a Dean Vendetta which wood in playability whise shoots many guitars 3-4 times its price out of the water.

Therefore it is good you tried them out.

One thing thing though...did you try them acousticly side by side too? To me that reveals a lot more about the guitars. You can focus on the feel and the acoustic base tone. PUs can always be exchanged, but either a guitar plays right or not. And things like the natural sustain are important too.
When I try / buy electric guitars I rarely plug em in. If the stock PU turns out to be ok, great, otherwise I make the guitar perfect ;)

[Kiichi]

Gibsons are incredible guitars and im probably going to get shot down here but theyre also stupidly overpriced and at times seem to rely on their name to stick huge price tags on things.  Of course all the brands to this to an extent but Gibson seem to do this as a matter of course with their entire range!  Ive never rated the studios.

I am with you on that one. Their prices are insane.
I guess you really always saw that the counterfit lines were popular (Tokai, Edwards,...) giving you often equal or better qulity at a much lower price.

[Telerocker]

Some cheaper guitars are very good value. I do half my gigs with a used all mahogany Saint Blues, which I picked up for 375 euro and it was even loaded with Mules. The only thing I upgraded are the tuners. Tonepros klusons now. It sounds very good (partly due to the fantastic Mules), but the guitar has a great vibe by itself and the neck plays very smooth. Plus it doesn't weigh a ton. That's comfortable when you're playing 3-4 hours on a night.

[Riff_King77]

Yeah you are right and even the dealer was gob smacked haha,he said you have got yourself a gem of an epiphone there,i bought it back in 2004 and it is pretty weighty and come with Grover tuners as standard and i think it's a good wood,cost me about £300 brand new which i thought was a great deal at the time,sure i see them on ebay for like £150-175's these days but sure are worth the money,this Gibson Studio i was trying out was up for £789 which was crazy after i gave it a try out i was like no way,i never tried it out unplugged no just through the amp,playability and action was pretty much identicle to my Epi,i've been looking over those Gibson Tribute Guitars on eBay how come those are reasonably priced what lesser qualities do they have over standard Gibson Models ?

[TheyCallMeVolume]

One thing thing though...did you try them acousticly side by side too? To me that reveals a lot more about the guitars. You can focus on the feel and the acoustic base tone. PUs can always be exchanged, but either a guitar plays right or not. And things like the natural sustain are important too.
When I try / buy electric guitars I rarely plug em in. If the stock PU turns out to be ok, great, otherwise I make the guitar perfect ;)

+1!

I thought I was the only person who did this. Whenever guys at the shop ask me if I wanna plug in and I say no, they look at me like I'm crazy! IMO if it sounds good and plays good unplugged then there will 100% be a way to make it sound good plugged in. Unfortunately I have yet to find a cr@ppy sounding guitar unplugged that sounds great plugged in, so I keep up my routine!

[sgmypod]

I Go with tHe playing unplugged first, gibsons are weird I've played expensive ones that play like arse and cheaper end ones like the 60tribute that are fantastic. Seem a bit hit and miss, have now played 2 recent ish lp's that I thought were good and a studio

[Telerocker]

One thing thing though...did you try them acousticly side by side too? To me that reveals a lot more about the guitars. You can focus on the feel and the acoustic base tone. PUs can always be exchanged, but either a guitar plays right or not. And things like the natural sustain are important too.
When I try / buy electric guitars I rarely plug em in. If the stock PU turns out to be ok, great, otherwise I make the guitar perfect ;)

+1!

I thought I was the only person who did this. Whenever guys at the shop ask me if I wanna plug in and I say no, they look at me like I'm crazy! IMO if it sounds good and plays good unplugged then there will 100% be a way to make it sound good plugged in. Unfortunately I have yet to find a cr@ppy sounding guitar unplugged that sounds great plugged in, so I keep up my routine!

+1. Pull off some chords and notes, put your hand on the body and feel how long they vibrate in the wood. Also important, at least for me, is how the neck feels, plays, how the frets are dressed/polished and if I can find dead spots.

[Kiichi]

One thing thing though...did you try them acousticly side by side too? To me that reveals a lot more about the guitars. You can focus on the feel and the acoustic base tone. PUs can always be exchanged, but either a guitar plays right or not. And things like the natural sustain are important too.
When I try / buy electric guitars I rarely plug em in. If the stock PU turns out to be ok, great, otherwise I make the guitar perfect ;)

+1!

I thought I was the only person who did this. Whenever guys at the shop ask me if I wanna plug in and I say no, they look at me like I'm crazy! IMO if it sounds good and plays good unplugged then there will 100% be a way to make it sound good plugged in. Unfortunately I have yet to find a cr@ppy sounding guitar unplugged that sounds great plugged in, so I keep up my routine!

+1. Pull off some chords and notes, put your hand on the body and feel how long they vibrate in the wood. Also important, at least for me, is how the neck feels, plays, how the frets are dressed/polished and if I can find dead spots.

Exaxtly. And I always like to listen how the guitar sustains. I usually plug the low e and hold my ear directly to the guitar and listen. I count how long it sustains and in what way. How long does the base note stay? How does it fade out?
That is always a big teller for me personally. I can nearly do that alone to pick guitars that I tonally like....but I get looked at like I am even more crazy.

[dave_mc]

what amp was it?

[tekbow]

One thing thing though...did you try them acousticly side by side too? To me that reveals a lot more about the guitars. You can focus on the feel and the acoustic base tone. PUs can always be exchanged, but either a guitar plays right or not. And things like the natural sustain are important too.
When I try / buy electric guitars I rarely plug em in. If the stock PU turns out to be ok, great, otherwise I make the guitar perfect ;)

+1!

I thought I was the only person who did this. Whenever guys at the shop ask me if I wanna plug in and I say no, they look at me like I'm crazy! IMO if it sounds good and plays good unplugged then there will 100% be a way to make it sound good plugged in. Unfortunately I have yet to find a cr@ppy sounding guitar unplugged that sounds great plugged in, so I keep up my routine!

+1. Pull off some chords and notes, put your hand on the body and feel how long they vibrate in the wood. Also important, at least for me, is how the neck feels, plays, how the frets are dressed/polished and if I can find dead spots.

Exaxtly. And I always like to listen how the guitar sustains. I usually plug the low e and hold my ear directly to the guitar and listen. I count how long it sustains and in what way. How long does the base note stay? How does it fade out?
That is always a big teller for me personally. I can nearly do that alone to pick guitars that I tonally like....but I get looked at like I am even more crazy.

+2

Good hard strum with the guitar tight against the ribcage tells me most of what i need, if it doesn't sound good plugged in, then something else is up. Pickups and amps can be changed

[Riff_King77]

what amp was it?

Yeah some good points guy's,the amp was a  Kustom 30 DFX that i was plugged into,maybe not the best for knowing for definite eh,maybe if i'd been playing through a DSL or Blackstar might have seen the significant difference should there have been one,not sure though.

[richard]

I don't think that amp was the best thing to use for comparison purposes. Tesco sells them!. If your Epi sounds good that's all you need to think about. From what I've read Epis can vary a lot in quality but if you're lucky some of  them are really good.