Epiphone 59 Les Paul Joe Bonamassa “Lazarus” NGD

Rockabilly_Nick · Nov 23, 2021

I just received delivery of my new Epiphone Les Paul guitar. It is a beautiful and very nicely put together instrument. Strums and plays nicely acoustically. I have yet to plug it in, I recently had hip surgery and my amps are all upstairs (poor planning I know). Anyways, I figured I’d share a few pics. Once I get an amp down here I’ll let you all know how it sounds, maybe I’ll even post a video. I have to say I love the “wide flame” although the satin or eggshell finish might rob some of the depth. The fretboard is Indian Laurel and people have posted reviews being worried about it being too light but as you can see in my pics I got a dark one. Anyways, here are some pics!

SFIV1967 · Nov 23, 2021

Very nice! Looks all high quality! CTS pots and so on. Any yes, nice fretboard! Congratulations.

Ralf

Rockabilly_Nick · Nov 23, 2021

And a few pics of the neck and headstock. It’s a two piece body with a one piece neck. No scarf joint. I don’t really care about the presence or lack of a scarf joint but people seem to think it’s a good quality to have in a guitar. I do like the new epiphone headstock. I was never a fan of the “clipped wings” on previous years epiphone models. I had to make some adjustments to the truss rod and bridge height to get it to my liking. Also the neck pickup was so low the screws that hold it to the pickup ring were barely holding it on. So, naturally there were a few things that needed to be hashed out as-shipped but they were easy fixes for my semi-mechanically inclined skill set. Still need to plug it in (which is driving me nuts) but overall I’d say it’s a winner.

GAD · Nov 23, 2021

Nice. That headstock looks way better on a Les Paul than the old Epiphone design.

GGJaguar · Nov 23, 2021

Congrats! They gave it a decently flamed top. Very cool!

Guildedagain · Dec 3, 2021

They're doing open book headstocks on all the Epiphones, or just the Elitists?

Cougar · Dec 3, 2021

Rockabilly_Nick said:
I just received delivery of my new Epiphone Les Paul guitar.

Nice! Bonamassa? Lazarus? How is it different from my Epiphone LP Standard (trans amber)?

SFIV1967 · Dec 3, 2021

Cougar said:
Bonamassa? Lazarus?

Lazarus, a 1959 Les Paul, is owned by Joe Bonamassa:

Epiphone 59 Les Paul thoughts?

Wondering if anyone has had the chance to play one of these Epiphone Les Paul models? They look pretty cool, come with nice pickups, good electronics, and a sweet looking HSC.

letstalkguild.com

Ralf

Rockabilly_Nick · Dec 6, 2021

Guildedagain, it looks like Epiphone as dropped the clipped wing headstocks from all of their les pauls, even the base models.

Cougar, It looks very similar to your beautiful guitar. I can list off a few of the differences that I'm aware of, without knowing the exact details of your guitar. I'll just list the specs on mine and I'll assume that they are not the same on your guitar.

matte finish (though I'd put it somewhere a bit more buffed out than matte)
wider flame on the veneer (and not quite as bookmatched as yours)
two piece body
one piece neck
gibson pickups
open book style (though not as wide and flared as a gibson) headstock
mallory capacitors
cts tone pots
shipped with hsc

Other than that they look like about the same guitar. Yours kinda makes me want to polish the top up a bit to bring out the flame a little better.

GAD · Dec 6, 2021

That looks like a lot of guitar for the money! I'll have to go play one and see how it stacks up against my cork-sniffer Historics. I love 'em to death but they're so expensive I feel like they should be in a lighted cabinet.

Any idea how much the Lazarus weighs?

Rockabilly_Nick · Dec 6, 2021

Yeah its nice to have a quality guitar that you don't mind leaning against the couch, or left out leaning against the amp, or hanging on the wall in the same room as the wood stove. I know that may seem harsh but in my collection, a guitar that's out gets played way more than a cased guitar. Anyways, I weighed it on my bathroom scale which only goes to one decimal place in lbs and it weighs 8.4 lbs.

Cougar · Dec 6, 2021

Rockabilly_Nick said:
gibson pickups
mallory capacitors
cts tone pots

Yeah, I'm sure those things make a big difference.

GAD · Dec 6, 2021

Cougar said:
Yeah, I'm sure those things make a big difference.

Not sure if you're being sarcastic, but the resistance values in the pots alone can drastically alter the tone of a guitar. That said, I don't think CTS is quite the gold standard they used to be.

The pickups in the Lazarus are Gibson Burstbuckers - the same pickups that until recently shipped in the $10,000 Custom Shop Historics (They now ship with CustomBuckers).

The caps I'm right there with you.

I'm a fan of boutique electronics in inexpensive guitars. It can make a huge difference in my experience.

Rockabilly_Nick · Dec 6, 2021

I’m terrible at detecting sarcasm in text. I dunno, I can only say those are the differences that I’m aware of. It is what it is, a cool epiphone with better specs than most epiphones have historically had. Does it make me a better guitar player? Only in the sense that it makes me want to play more and more play time increases my skills. Is it even remotely close to a 59 Les Paul? Nope. Does it make me happy? Most definitely! And that’s what it’s all about for me.

Cougar · Dec 7, 2021

GAD said:
Not sure if you're being sarcastic....

Darn! I added the thumbs up in an attempt to show I was NOT being sarcastic. I'm not really familiar with pots and capacitors, but I do understand that pickups can make a big difference.

Walter Broes · Dec 7, 2021

GAD said:
Not sure if you're being sarcastic, but the resistance values in the pots alone can drastically alter the tone of a guitar. That said, I don't think CTS is quite the gold standard they used to be.

The caps I'm right there with you.

I'm a fan of boutique electronics in inexpensive guitars. It can make a huge difference in my experience.

agreed on the quality of potentiometers, they're slowly going the way of tubes : they've become something for a small, specialized market, hardly any consumer goods have potentiometers in them anymore compared to before.

That said, totally worth upgrading cheaper guitars with decent parts. Just finished putting together this harness for that last NS X175 I got. (Used)
Not my favorite job, though still mild compared to putting it in the guitar.....

Rockabilly_Nick · Dec 7, 2021

Cougar: Ha, yeah I'm pretty sure the typed word and the inability for people to detect sarcasm (or the lack thereof) due to not having the associated vocal inflections are the reason for much of the miscommunication we see in forums.

Walter, that is a nice, clean looking harness! I need to upgrade the harness/pots in my 2014 Aristocrat. I took it to practice the other day and I could only use one pickup because one of the volume pots was either on 10 or off, eeesh. I'm guessing that will be a job for a professional because as you likely know its a hollowbody with no f-holes.

I had a similar problem with my 2000 Eddie Cochran Gretsch. I got a TV Jones wiring harness for the Gretsch and it was an improvement on the stock harness the guitar came with. No more scratchy fading in and out sounds as I adjusted volume.

My biggest thing is I don't want my guitar to be the limiting factor in my tone or sound, I'd rather have my playing ability be the limiting factor. Something I can control (to a point!).

GAD · Dec 7, 2021

Cougar said:
Darn! I added the thumbs up in an attempt to show I was NOT being sarcastic. I'm not really familiar with pots and capacitors, but I do understand that pickups can make a big difference.

It’s all good and thanks for clarifying!

I think (for me at least) I’ve become so jaded from decades of Internet (and BBSs before that) that It’s difficult not to assume sarcasm.

Rockabilly_Nick · Dec 7, 2021

I do appreciate how level headed this group is. I hung out on a different forum for a different rockabilly style electric guitar and people were very easily riled over there.

Midnight Toker · Dec 9, 2021

Beautiful guitar. Lovely top on that sucker! I like even more than the Gibson Custom Shop Lazarus, which had an over the top fretboard inlay of Joe Bonamassa's name. Too much IMO. Like one of my Gibson t-shirts says, "Les is more"

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