This morning I was perusing the Big R as I sometimes do, and I saw the question that is so often asked by trolls or folks just trying to stir the pot. I think the one asking this morning was the usual person just trying to stir things up. The question? Is Gibson so much better than Epiphone that it justifies the extra cost?
Never has a more subjective, and even divisive, question been asked.
I started to reply to the thread, but then decided that it just wasn’t worth it. I figured I’d put my answer here instead.
The BLUF
“Better” is a pretty subjective word. What’s better to me isn’t always better to someone else, and what’s better to them I may not like as well. Look at all the updates that Microsoft is always making to Office, and that will tell you all you need to know about “better.” Sometimes better is an improvement, sometimes it should just be called “different,” and sometimes… Well, sometimes Microsoft is the only one that thinks the change is good.
Sometimes Gibson is better than Epiphone, and sometimes it’s the other way around. Here’s my totally anecdotal evidence to support that.
The Les Pauls
I own and have owned Gibsons and Epiphones. The first humbucker guitar I ever got was an Epiphone. It was a Les Paul. It was a dog. It had the infamous mudbuckers in it. The neck was a lot thinner than I was used to. The frets were scratchy. And I felt like I was always tuning it. I actually had it for probably 15 years, but I never bonded with it. I replaced the pickups with Burstbuckers, and that helped the sound of it, but it didn’t help the feel. I ended up trading it off.
I played Les Pauls occasionally when I’d be at the local Guitar Center, and they felt better than the one I had. But I was always afraid, since I hadn’t bonded with the one I had, that I would be wasting money if I got one.
I had always wanted a gold top. A gold top was one of the first guitars I remember seeing when I was a kid, so I had always been drawn to them. Weirdly, not a month after I got rid of that first one, I saw a gold top 50s Standard Epiphone being sold as a blem. I took a chance on it. Still have no idea what was “blem” about it. I’m guessing it was just a return. It is now the Les Paul by which I judge all others. It is that good.
Point Epiphone.
The ES-335s
Back in 2016 I bought a Gibson ES-335. I had always wanted one. Got a bunch of overtime at work, so guess where the extra cash went. I think I’ve talked about it before. It was definitely a Friday afternoon guitar. I liked it, but it was a frustrating guitar to play. It sounded like a 335 should, but I think the neck was a little wonky or something. I ended up trading it in the great gear purge of 2020.
A couple years later I bought one of the Epiphone Inspired by Gibson ES-335s. It was a great guitar. From a fit and finish and playability perspective, it was everything that Gibson should’ve been. I did think, in the quiet of my little music room, that it didn’t quite have the sound. After I had it a year or so, the input jack fell into the guitar. I had an extra 57 Classic/57 Classic Plus pickups in the closet. So, when I had the shop fix the jack, I had them just upgrade all the wiring and put those in it instead. In my mind, that made it everything that the Gibson should’ve been.
Then last year, I picked up one of those Epiphone Inspired by Gibson Custom ES-355s. All I’m saying is that this is really, really where the whole subjective thing comes into play. I know there are things about Gibson that make there guitars premium, but this ES-355 really proves that there is no sense in paying the Gibson tax. This guitar is everything that my original 335 wished it had been. The IBGC line, imho, takes Epiphone to the next level.
Point Epiphone.
The ES-339s
Since I’m throwing out anecdotal evidence, I think this is my strongest case for or against the argument. I have 2 ES-339s. The first is an Epiphone. I bought it as soon as Epiphone released them. Truth is, I had wanted one long enough that I pre-ordered mine as soon as they were taking orders, and I got mine in the second run. According to my sales rep at the time, I missed the initial late-2011 run by a few orders. I got mine when the next batch hit the first of 2012.
I loved it! The size was perfect, you could clean it up and get that semi-hollow airy sound, and it felt and sounded great. I gigged with it. I recorded with it. It was my go-to guitar for the next 10 years. And it was bone stock. It cost me $400 when I bought it.
I liked that guitar so much that I wondered what the Gibson version was like. So, starting about 2019 or 2020 I started looking for the perfect Gibson ES-339. Took me a couple of years, but I finally found the one I had been looking for. And I almost missed it.
Tangent: I bought it over the phone from a store I know on the other side of the Metroplex. I bought the guitar on a Tuesday afternoon, and I set everything up for them to hold it so that I could pick it up on Friday. According to the sales guy when I picked it up, he had been watching a guy sitting across the store demoing the guitar. He said the guy had been over there playing it for probably 20 minutes. He had just hung up with me and was about to head around the counter to tell the guy that the guitar had sold when he sees the guy get up and start walking up with the guitar. The customer got to the counter, and he told the sales guy he wanted to buy it. The sales guy said he had to tell him that had he been 60 seconds quicker the guitar would’ve been his, but he had just hung up the phone from selling it. Could just be a good sales story. Could be true. Either way, it’s the story the salesman told me when I picked it up.
Back to that Gibson ES-339. I knew from the moment that I picked it up that it was a much nicer guitar than the Epiphone. Granted, the guitar was used, but I could feel the difference in the fit and finish when I picked it up. Everything about it was, and is, just nicer. From the playability to the aestheic of it. The fret nibs to the finish. Everything about it is nicer.
I’ll be the first to admit that, if I was playing out somewhere the only person that could hear the difference in the two would be me, but, the 57 Classics in the Gibson sound better and a little clearer on the top end than the Alnico Classics (Epi’s version of the 57s) in the Epiphone.
Point Gibson.
Conclusion
That’s where the troll’s question comes in. The Gibson cost me nearly 5x what the Epiphone did. Is there enough of a difference in the two guitars to justify that price difference? Now that’s a subjective question if I’ve ever seen one. To me, the answer is a resounding “yes!” But I know plenty of people that would totally disagree with me.
In my mind, it’s kind of like the difference in a base Mustang and a GT500. The base Mustang will get you around town quickly, and it’ll make sure you have fun doing it. It’s 315 hp will get you about 25 mpg, and a new one will probably cost you somewhere between $30k and $35k. The GT500, however, is a whole different beast. It will also get you around town quickly and make sure you have fun doing it, but it does it with like 700 hp at 15 mpg. It’ll also start you off around $75k. One is a fun grocery getter. The other is a supercharged, street legal track car. Is there a $40k difference in the cars? To some the answer is yes. Others would beg to differ.