I have an Epiphone Les Paul Custom Plus in very good condition (I’ve had it for 2 years, it was given to me as a gift.) It was my first electric guitar - I’d played only acoustic guitar and electric bass until then. I think it cost 500 at the guitar shop we got it from - I’m quite sure the list price is a good deal more.
However, I think it isn’t really the guitar for me. First of all, it’s too heavy for me to play comfortably. I am used to my heavy Fender bass but the long scale means the weight feels evenly distributed - on my LP it just feels like too much. Also, it doesn’t stay in tune all that well.
Today I played a cheap, obscure guitar at a shop called a Kingston - I think it was a 70’s era instrument, and it looked similar to the modern Ibanez Jet King - I don’t know that much about guitar history, but this is the only other guitar I’ve seen that looked like this. The Kingston was sort of in rough shape. It had weird pickups with these slits in them through which some kind of tan filter-like thing could be seen. The owner of the shop (also a close family friend and a very trusted individual) claimed that those type of pickups were very sought-after and that Ry Cooder used to use them.
I picked up the guitar (a perfectly comfortable weight) and plugged it in and all of a sudden I was really taken with it. I found the sound of the Kingston to be amazing and the feel to be very natural. I think it’s a perfect rhythm guitar (the kind of playing I mainly do.)
So…I’m considering trading in the Les Paul and getting that Kingston plus a little bit of much-needed cash. (If I can’t get a decent amount, forget it - but if I can, I think the Paul would be better off in stronger hands, and the Kingston better off in mine.)