Description
Review of the Epiphone Les Paul-100 Electric Guitar in Heritage Cherryburst
The Epiphone Les Paul-100 is a single cutaway solid body electric guitar with a mahogany body and a maple top, a rosewood fretboard, humbucking pickups and a 24.75 inch scale, finished in Heritage Cherryburst. It is the long standing entry point into the Les Paul shape, aimed at a beginner or an improving player who wants the traditional recipe rather than a lightened version of it.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Mahogany body with a maple top. This is the traditional Les Paul construction rather than a substitute. Mahogany is dense and warm, maple is bright and hard, and the combination is what produces the thick sound with a defined attack that the shape is known for.
- 24.75 inch scale length. Shorter than the 25.5 inches used on most other electric designs, which lowers string tension slightly at pitch and makes bending easier. It also brings the frets marginally closer together, which suits smaller hands.
- Humbucking pickups. Two coils wired so their hum cancels while their signal adds, giving a quieter, thicker and higher output sound than single coils. This is the layout the Les Paul shape was built around.
- Rosewood fretboard. Open pored and slightly oily, so the hand moves along it easily rather than dragging as it can on a sealed maple board.
- Single cutaway body, which gives upper fret access while keeping the outline the design is known for.
Cons
- The specification table for this listing is empty. No weight, dimensions, fret count, neck profile, bridge type or country of origin is published, so a great deal of what a buyer would compare is simply absent.
- The page bullets name 700T and 650R humbuckers while the manufacturer text supplied with the listing lists only the 700T. The 650R is normally the neck pickup in this pairing, so the neck pickup model is worth confirming.
- The bullets describe a mahogany neck, which the manufacturer text does not mention at all. It is the expected material for this design but the listing does not confirm it.
- A mahogany bodied Les Paul is heavy. It is one of the more tiring shapes to stand and play with for an hour, and no weight figure is published here to judge by.
- Nothing is included. No amplifier, cable, bag, strap or tuner is listed.
Detailed Product Description
The body is mahogany with a maple top. This pairing is the defining specification of the design and it is worth understanding why it exists. Mahogany is relatively dense and produces a warm, thick sound with long sustain but a soft attack. Maple is harder and brighter, and a maple cap over a mahogany body adds definition and bite to the front of each note without removing the warmth underneath. The result is a guitar that sounds full but does not turn muddy under distortion, which is why the combination has survived unchanged for decades. How the Epiphone range relates to its more expensive counterpart is set out in the guide to Epiphone versus Gibson explained.
The scale length is 24.75 inches. Scale length is the vibrating length of the string between nut and bridge saddle, and this is the shorter of the two standards used on electric guitars. Lower tension at the same pitch means strings bend more readily and feel slightly slinkier under the fingers, and the frets sit marginally closer together. Players moving from a longer scale instrument usually notice it within minutes.
The fretboard is rosewood, which is open pored and slightly oily and does not drag on dry fingertips the way a sealed maple board can. The pickups are humbuckers, with a 700T at the bridge according to both sources and a 650R at the neck according to the page bullets alone. The 700T is a high output ceramic design intended for a hard, driven sound, which is why it sits at the bridge.
The finish is Heritage Cherryburst, the traditional colour for the shape, in which the sunburst edges darken to red around a lighter centre that shows the maple grain.
What Comes with the Product
- The Les Paul-100 electric guitar in Heritage Cherryburst
Nothing else is listed. No amplifier, cable, gig bag, strap, tuner, picks or spare strings is included, so an amplifier and a cable will both be needed before the guitar makes any usable sound. What is worth buying alongside is set out in the guide to guitar accessories beginners need.
Who It Suits
This suits a beginner or improving player who wants the traditional Les Paul construction and already has, or intends to choose, an amplifier separately. It suits rock and blues players particularly well, since the mahogany and maple pairing with humbuckers is precisely the recipe those styles were built on.
It suits less well a player who wants a light guitar, since a mahogany body is heavy and this listing publishes no weight, and it suits less well someone who wants glassy clean single coil sounds, which humbuckers are not designed to produce. Worth comparing are the Les Paul-100 in ebony, the Epiphone Les Paul Special-II and the lighter Epiphone Les Paul Melody Maker E1. The wider selection sits in the electric guitars section, and body shapes generally are covered in the guide to guitar body shapes.
How to Maintain
Wipe the strings after every session. Skin oils dull a set faster than playing does, and a cloth kept with the guitar costs nothing.
A rosewood fretboard is open pored and dries out over years in heated rooms. A light application of fretboard oil once or twice a year at a string change is enough, and applying more than that does harm.
Store the guitar on a stand or in a case rather than leaning it against a wall. The angled headstock on this design concentrates stress at the point where the neck meets the head, and that is where guitars of this shape break when they fall.
Tips and Recommendations
Use a strap wide enough to spread the weight. A mahogany Les Paul is heavy across the shoulder, and a narrow strap turns a comfortable hour into an uncomfortable one.
Learn the neck pickup rather than living on the bridge. The 700T at the bridge is high output and immediately satisfying, but the warm neck voice is where most of the guitar’s character sits and it is the position that separates this design from a brighter instrument.
Take advantage of the shorter scale when choosing strings. A 24.75 inch scale runs at slightly lower tension, so a gauge that felt stiff on a longer scale guitar may feel comfortable here. The trade offs are covered in the guide to guitar string gauge.
Product FAQ
What is the scale length?
24.75 inches, which is the shorter of the two standard electric guitar scales.
What is the body made of?
Mahogany with a maple top, which is the traditional construction for this shape.
Which pickups are fitted?
The manufacturer text lists 700T humbuckers, while the page bullets name a 700T and a 650R pairing. The neck pickup model is worth confirming.
Is an amplifier included?
No. Only the guitar is listed, so an amplifier and a cable will be needed.
