Epiphone Les Paul Standard Plus Top

The Epiphone Les Paul has a long history of great sound and playability.  The one being reviewed is the Plus Top model which means that it has a translucent paint job over a flame maple top.  It has white binding around the body and neck, and came with two humbucking pickups.  The standard pickups are relatively unimpressive, so I've replaced mine with the Zakk Wylde EMG pickups previously reviewed. The neck has mother of pearl trapezoid inlays, which I find make it a pretty sharp looking guitar.  When it was first purchased, it needed a little setting up (intonation, etc.) and is currently sporting a set of Ernie Ball 11 gauge strings.  I like the smooth "C" shaped neck, and the fit and finish is exceptional for a guitar in this price range.  It has great sustain with a set neck and a thick body.  I play it in several different tunings, from standard all the way down to C tuning.  This guitar sounds great and plays even better regardless of string tension or tuning.  I also like the convenience of having separate volume and tone controls for each pickup.  This allows me to have a slightly dirty tone on one pickup and switch to a heavily distorted tone with merely the flip of the pickup switch.  The pickups respond quite well to adjustments to the volume and tone controls, allowing everything from bright, sparkling tones to thicker, duller jazz type tones.  One more feature that I love about the combination of this guitar and the EMG pickups is that pinch and other artificial harmonics really scream.  Active pickups really make a difference.  This guitar is very versatile and can be used for pretty much any type of music.  Highly recommended for fans of Epiphone/Gibson, Les Pauls, and tonal versatility.