Feteo

Hey guys. I just picked up a black Epiphone Les Paul Special II. I'm totally new to Les Paul's and wanted to know how to set it up for pop punk (volume, tone and pickup selector). thanks!

Mephaphil

You should have come to us before you got that guitar. Did you buy it from a store?

Anyway, bridge pickup, volume all the way up, distortion, and you're good to go.

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Robbgnarly

Take it back and get a used Epiphone LP studio or Standard. Epi specials are really bad guitars.

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Mephaphil

Yea. What Rob said. Ain't nothing special about that guitar.

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GaryBillington

What amp are you using? Most of the required settings will be there rather than your guitar.

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MrFlibble

Those two covered it, though to answer your question, most pop-punk is played with the bridge pickup (sometimes labelled 'treble' on certain guitars) and with the volume and tone controls maxed out. In fact it's very common to rip out the tone control and neck pickups completely and only use a bridge pickup and a single volume control.

But there is no right or wrong way to do anything. Use whatever sounds best to your ears.

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narinderkapur

What MrFlibble said, though you're going to get tired of your guitar pretty soon. It's only appealing for the first three months or so. My earnest suggestion is to start saving for a better one now.

J_W

LP Special's are fine for a first guitar. I had one for years and didn't have one problem with it. I would be willing to be most of the people saying they are junk never actually owned one. I'm not saying they are good, but they work just fine. I'm of the opinion that a cheap first guitar is always the way to go. People quit playing guitar all the time, there is no need to shell out a fortune for something you may not stick with. Not to mention they are so cheap you're not really losing much if you stop playing or want to upgrade to something better down the road.

Mephaphil

Yea, or you just didn't know any different, you had no experience or expertise on guitars when you bought it. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt that you do now. That's fine, but it's not a good first guitar, it's firewood.

I don't deal in pessimism. If someone says they wanna learn something I'll point them towards a good product that will inspire them, rather than pointing them towards a load of shit that they'll grow tired of because it sounds crap or keeps breaking while I tell them they'll probably quit in a month.

You can get a Classic Vibe used with a little more money, or an Epi LP Standard used if you're lucky. It will feel better, have better electronics, pickups, wood etc.

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SteveHOC

Yeah, the shop I worked at used to sell those and I would always steer people away from them. As I've said, guitars like that and starter packs are for parents who want a quick, cheap way to get their kid into something other than video games. Unfortunately, they tend to play and sound pretty rough and break pretty easily. It's fine to get one and upgrade down the road, it just adds an extra step and ends up being a waste of money when one could easily go for a better used guitar at the same price point.

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J_W

have you owned one? Specifically, what was bad about it.

Understand that in no way am I saying this is a great guitar, but I do think it has it's place as a starter guitar.

J_W

Also, the TS already has the guitar. I assume he didn't come on here for everyone to shit on his guitar. He's not asking for opinions on his guitar.

SteveHOC

There may be an assumption that his guitar has a return policy. If so, the suggestion seems to be to use it. You didn't ask me specifically, but since I had to demo one 3-4 days a week for customers (that or a Squier Strat), I can tell you that the selector switch went bad after a couple weeks out of the box, the tuners were junk, and it actually felt like plywood - no resonance whatsoever.

You asking for specifics is asking for people to shit on the guitar, so remember that.

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Liontable

I did actually own one, and I can say it was entirely not up to par. The tuners were very bad, to the extent I constantly had to tune my guitar while playing. I found the neck to be very sticky (best way to describe it), while a friend's Yamaha Pacifica felt really good. Aside from these things it simply felt really cheaply made in general. I simply went for a Pacifica afterwards, which would have been an option in the beginning anyway.

T00DEEPBLUE

It doesn't even have it's place there. It's just a straight up crap guitar.

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Mephaphil

Owned one? No. Played one? Sure. When I was looking at getting a LP shaped guitar a few years back I went to my local shop and played a Epi LP Standard, a Special, a Sheraton. I already had owned a number of Mexican Telecasters.

I can't remember exactly, but I remember that I didn't want it. I remember only being impressed with the Standard.

But, my friend was given one by his girlfriend a couple of years ago. Here's what I noticed about that one.

Muddy pickups.
The fret edges are sharp.
It crackles when you touch any controls.
Bending feels really rough, it needs a fret dress.
It doesn't hold its tuning well.

I don't think I need to have a massive experience with it, I have owned many guitars, upwards of 20, with various qualities. I have a Gibson LP, a MIA Tele and Strat. I have owned Rocksters, Encores, Squiers, Horners. I know quality and I know poor quality.

Unfortunately, a guitar made with plywood on a production line with very little quality control sold for £120 is going to be a bit crap. You don't need a lot of time with a product to know if its good or not.

Look, I'm not trying to offend but I'm giving my honest opinion on the guitar. You may have some emotional attachment to that instrument which is fine, but if you were to look at it objectively and compare that guitar to even a Custom Vibe, it would fall short. Compare it again to a MiM Tele or a Epi LP Standard and it looks and feels very inferior, and they're low to low mid guitars.

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paruwi

Comparing a $ 150 Epi Special II with other $ 400 and up guitars is just stupid....

they are what they are - good entry level guitars - no worse than other guitars in the same price range.

J_W

Exactly. Which was my only point all along. It's a 100 dollar guitar we're talking about here.

I'm not trying to start an argument about this guitar, it's a low end guitar we all know this. I still think it's a perfectly fine first guitar and there aren't really many guitars you can get for the same price new that are better.

SteveHOC

Yamaha Pacifica, better guitar.

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