Epiphone Les Paul Custom Ebony Black (2001) Samick, Korea

The Les Paul is an iconic guitar used by countless guitar heroes over the years, and this Epiphone Les Paul Custom in Ebony Black is a true warrior. This one was built in July 2001 at the highly regarded Samick factory in Korea. Early 2000s Korean-made Epiphones are legendary among players. Guitars built during this period in Korea represent the “golden era” of Epiphone production and are widely respected for their skilled construction, quality wood selection, and excellent craftsmanship. Many players praise their consistent build quality, resonance, components, and feel, giving these guitars a fierce reputation as serious value giants. When properly set up, these Korean Epiphones are absolute slayers that can comfortably rival far more expensive modern Gibsons in both playability and tone. This 25-year-old instrument, if it could speak, I am sure has some serious stories to tell.

When this guitar arrived at the workshop, it looked like it had gone 12 rounds with both Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua. While it was still standing, I wasn’t entirely sure how much more it had left in its legs! However, after some serious bench time, I affectionately nicknamed this guitar the 'War Beast'. It’s a bit like Thor’s hammer Mjölnir, a trusty weapon that needed to be reforged after plenty of battles, but is now fully ready for another lifetime of heavy playing.

Under the hood, it is loaded with an Epiphone 57CH humbucker in the neck and a HOTCH humbucker in the bridge, delivering that thick, resonant tone these Korean Customs are famous for. To ensure it performs flawlessly, I replaced the neck pickup volume pot, which had gone scratchy, as well as the pickup selector switch that was working intermittently. A brand new scratch plate was also fitted.

Condition-wise, this guitar has been played, enjoyed, and looks exactly as such. While I’ve done a proper job at cleaning and fixing it up, it is far from a pristine "case queen" but it is still great for all its years. Some areas have been sympathetically filled and made smooth to the touch to avoid further chipping or paintwork loss, but there is still plenty of other natural wear, such as surface marks, scratches, general rubbing, dings, and authentic pitting on the pickups and tarnishing of the originally gold hardware that gives it that overall authentic mojo.

Neck Structural & Cosmetic Full Disclosure: Upon arriving at the Sosbro Guitar Co. workshop, the guitar showed fingerboard lifting / separation from the nut to the 1st and 2nd fret seam, and a small gap when pressure was applied, this of course was accompanied by two finish cracks on either side of the nut. The neck and fingerboard wood itself was entirely solid with no breaks. As part of its full bench setup and repairs, the underside of the fretboard seam was injected with high-grade wood glue, clamped, and fully stabilized before being cosmetically tidied and polished smooth. It is now rock-solid, smooth underhand, and ready for many more years of heavy playing. I am so confident of the repair and that this won’t be a problem in the future that whilst I do not normally offer guarantees, in this instance, should the guitar neck fail in this specific area only, I will accept a return and provide a full refund up to 6 months from the date of purchase. Please note: This is subject to the guitar being returned to me with no signs of misuse; it must be in the exact same condition as when it was purchased, other than the mentioned area failing, with no signs of further damage. Should you want I can provide you with pictures of the repair process i.e. the neck area affected before and after the repairs.

As with all instruments that pass through my hands at Sosbro Guitar Co., this guitar has just undergone a thorough professional refurbishment and setup to ensure it arrives stage ready and plays to its best ability. Full setups in most shops are expensive, and because of the high cost of paying a guitar tech, very few new guitars off the shelf or even second-hand guitars ever get a proper going over before being sold. I have personally already done the hard work for you. During its service, I removed the old strings, cleaned the fretwire, polished the frets, cleaned and tested all the volume/tone pots, and polished the entire guitar. Finally, it was restrung with a fresh set of D’Addario XL Nickel Wound strings (9-42 gauge), tuned, and dialed in with a comfortable medium/low action that makes it an absolute joy to play.

No gig bag or hard case is included in the price, but as a specialist reseller, I have various suitable options available separately. I stock a number of brand-new big brand name bags and cases, as well as a few quality second-hand options. Just ask for details, and I’ll be happy to offer a discount when a case is purchased together with the guitar.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask.

Condition: Used – Natural relic/road-worn condition