What follows is a review of the Epiphone Les Paul Special II Electric Guitar.

It has the classic Les Paul looks, and is powered by two Alnico open coil humbuckers, an Epiphone 700T at the bridge and a 650R at the neck position. It has a master volume control and a master tone control with an all metal three way selector toggle.

In Les Paul tradition comes with the stop bar tailpiece and tuneomatic bridge. It has covered tuning machines for tuning stability and the all mahogany body and neck which delivers the classic Les Paul sound.

When you play it, you will notice it is a little bit heavier than, say, a Fender, but not that much to not be able to play a 2 hour set. There are a few people who say that the guitar does not hold a tune and that you will have to tune it every time you play it, but that should be normal procedure anyway. You can, if you want, put a piece of carbon at the nut, if your guitar is having difficulty staying in tune. This will help combat string slip and should allow it to stay in tune longer. This is useful for beginners who don't really want to be spending a lot of time tuning. A lot of people, however, do not have a problem with the tuning and are able to keep it in tune for up to a week. A lot of the problems may come because of the way the shop has stringed it so restringing the way you want it when you get it should solve the problem. As mentioned, you really want to be tuning up your guitar every time you pick it up anyway.

The tone you get from this guitar is really good but there is not really a lot of sustain on it. The action is pretty good making it easy to play if you are a beginner, and, you do not get a lot of fret buzz so holds all of the notes well even the F's. The fret board up to 14 is fine but, depending on your hand length and genes, the higher frets were a bit difficult to get to comfortably.

The pick ups are good for a guitar in this price range, offering a nice tone and, if you flick the toggle down to treble, you can get some really nice clean sounds from it with adding a little bit of gain. The rhythm setting provides a bit of bass and when the toggle is in middle position, where both humbuckers are in use, you get a nice bluesy feel with a little bit of top end.

The Epiphone Les Paul Special II Electric Guitar comes in a variety of colours, and is truly one of the best value guitars on the market today. At some stores, they are doing a combo beginner pack so you get a deal on the guitar and amplifier.