Updated by Danielle
Updated on July 4th, 2023
Added the price guide and double checked links for availability. The Epiphone Les Paul Custom shouldn't be going anywhere, but it never hurts to be sure. Enjoy the article!
What's the Best Gibson Les Paul Alternative?
Our pick: Epiphone Les Paul Custom
For those who don't know, Epiphone is actually owned by Gibson and reproduces many of the Gibson models, as Epiphone guitars, at a lower price. If you want a solid Gibson Les Paul alternative, we'd recommend the Les Paul Custom by Epiphone, or any of their other Les Paul copies.
If you're at all familiar with Epiphone Les Pauls, this decision should be pretty easy.
Because yes, there are a lot of Les Paul copies out there, from a lot of different brands, but I wouldn't necessarily consider the Epiphone Les Pauls simple "copies." Since Epiphone is owned by Gibson, Epiphone serves as a more economic alternative to most of the popular Gibson electrics.
Think of it this way: Epiphone is to Gibson what the PRS SE series is to the PRS Core models.
They make fantastic Gibson Les Paul alternatives.
So we'll give a little info on the Epiphone Les Paul Custom, but also share some other options in the comparison table below.
Read the full review: Epiphone Les Paul Custom
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Compare to Other Gibson Les Paul Alternatives
If you break ranks from Epiphone, we'd recommend targeting PRS, Schecter, and ESP LTD for more alternatives. This comparison table has the Epiphone LP Custom with three additional alternatives we'd recommend.
Guitar | Name | Rate | Buy |
|---|---|---|---|
 | PRS SE Custom 24 | 89.8 | |
 | Epiphone Les Paul Standard 60s | n/a | |
| Epiphone Les Paul Custom | 88.1 | |
 | Schecter Hellraiser C-1 | n/a |
COmpare More Electric Guitars
If you want to compare some other Les Paul alternatives, whether Epiphone or a different brand, you can search for more electric guitars in our database and add them to the comparison bar at the bottom of this page. We don't have everything, but we've got a lot.
All of the content on Guitar Chalk is written by me (Bobby) or one of the other musicians I work with. My wife helps me out a lot too. We've been doing this since 2012, and have loved every minute of it. Thanks everyone for trusting our content.
The Epiphone Les Paul Custom is our favorite Gibson Les Paul alternative, at a fraction of the cost.
Epiphone Les Paul Custom Pricing Table
This price guide gives you live pricing for the Epiphone Les Paul Custom. There's also a price alert notification option if you want to try and wait out a deal.
Amazon Pricing
Pricing from Multiple Vendors
Price Alert (lowest price among listed vendors)
Is the Epiphone LP Custom a beginner guitar?
The Epiphone Les Paul Custom is probably a little too nice and too expensive to be considered a beginner guitar. I'd say it's a solid intermediate electric guitar.
Beginner electrics should fall just a bit under the LP Custom's typical price point.
We actually have the Epiphone Les Paul Standard in our best beginner electric guitar list, which is cheaper than the Custom.
Take the Quiz: Which electric guitar is right for me?
Is it good for metal?
Epiphone electrics are pretty versatile guitars, but I definitely like them specifically for metal and hard rock. When you buy one, getting it more metal friendly will probably involve a heavier set of guitar strings.
I would go with something like a .056 gauge (on the low E), from Elixir.
From there, a heavier guitar pick and perhaps tuning to drop D (or lower) will have you in good shape for some percussive, heavier riffs.
What kind of pickups does the Les Paul Custom have?
The Epiphone ProBucker 2 and 3 are on the hot side and somewhat aggressive. Though how much intensity you get really just depends on what you put around them.
This is a good review of the Epiphone 2 and 3 ProBuckers if you want to do a deep dive.
Keep in mind, these are different than the Gibson ProBucker set.
Epiphone makes their own variation of Gibson branded pickups, but I'm not willing to equate the two in terms of quality. You've also got to keep an eye out for product specs, which will just list "ProBucker 2 and 3" for Epiphone guitars, and won't specify the brand, perhaps in the hopes you assume they're Gibson.
It's not a deal breaker, but Epiphone needs to cut costs somehow.
Conclusion
I think this is a pretty easy decision.
Gibson bought Epiphone specifically to be their economy and alternative brand. And while Epiphone copies are certainly not matching the same quality level you get from Gibson Les Pauls, they're still great guitars for what you pay.
If you want to move on to other brands, we recommend PRS, Schecter, and ESP LTD for other alternatives.
For questions or thoughts, feel free to hit the comments section below and we'll help out as much as possible.
We'll see you there.
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Written by Bobby Kittleberger on Electrics & Roundups
Written by Bobby Kittleberger on Electrics & Roundups
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