Further, the young student can express his individuality, learn to be self reliant, and learn the great lessons of relentless steady effort. The Les Paul Special VE delivers a fat and nasty tone, thanks to its two open-coil humbucker pickups. It’s not bad enough to be a real problem—I might have expected worse—but it does catch me up a little. These famous pickups provide a warm tone in the neck position, and a slightly hotter tone in the bridge/lead position.

Therefore, go with the Special of any kind, but maybe replace the tuners and test it out first for fretwork and other considerations. If you’ll allow me to go on one more personal tirade, I should say how eye opening, and strange this review has been for me. The Epiphone Les Paul Special VE is a new version of the popular Epiphone Les Paul Special II model.There aren't any 'rules' as to what country makes good or bad guitars, but rather which brands have tighter quality control. In all that time, almost every youngster or teenager puts stickers on his-her guitars, draws on them, tattoos them, refinishes or carves them!

Of course even though the finish is very nice, it just can't be compared withe an Epiphone Tuxedo or a Casino but hey! And the Epiphone Les Paul Special VE still features the legendary LP Mahogany neck and Rosewood fretboard that adds the rich harmonic content this model is known for.

As a side note, I also purchased the Fender Champion 20 amp with this guitar which makes for an excellent and very economical starter kit for a beginner or intermediate guitarist. My Squier Bullet Mustang had freakishly neat wiring internally and pickups that were a bit less hot and nicer sounding to my taste, while the Epiphone Les Paul Special VE has a switch that makes a little noise and pickups that I found a little too hot for me. Ebony: similar to maple in tone and sturdier than rosewood, ebony fretboards offer a darker-looking neck with a brighter tone. As well as having a vibrant impact, the simplicity of this guitar makes it perfect for all types of players.

Great sounding and easy to play the Les Paul Special VE provides great value for money with a guitar that will last a long time. Not that our starter guitars were any better, but we just had this stupid idea in that these were Gibson and Fender knock-offs. The finish is super well done, no stray marks or drips, and like the neck it has thin, satin finish that is to die for. Topped off with an eye-catching vintage-worn heritage cherry sunburst finish, the Epiphone Les Paul perfectly captures all the details that made this model so iconic.It has better hardware(tuners) and it’s more comfortable to play, but the Les Paul VE is more versatile overall.

Even from the Epiphone model to the Epiphone model, you’ll find different woods for every part, different pickups, different controls, etc. If you don’t mind tuning a lot (or if you’re down to get these tuning machines swapped out), this Epiphone is an excellent electric guitar for beginners. Check out o this Epiphone LP Special VE review to see if this affordable axe is a good choice for you.

I’m a big fan of the neck, it’s fast, plays really well, and has a really nice, light satin finish on it that I love.