Vintage 2001 Epiphone Les Paul Custom - Cherry Sunburst - Flame Top - Made in Korea (MIK)
Weighs only 8.6 lbs

Free Pro Setup - $100 Value - See below for details.

Available Cases:

• Aftermarket gig bag, $39
• Epiphone gig bag, $59
• Aftermarket wood hard shell case, $119
• Aftermarket molded hard shell case, $129
• Gator TSA and ATA approved heavy duty molded Les Paul case (GTSA-GTRLPS), $149
• Epiphone period correct hard shell case - Made in Canada by TKL, $179
• SKB heavy duty molded TSA approved hard shell (1SKB-56), $219
• This guitar will ship without a case or bag, unless you add one to your order

Made in Korea (MIK):  Gibson made their Epiphone brand in Korea from the 1980's until around 2007. Then they moved production to save money. If you buy a new Epi Les Paul Custom, it will be made in China. We've compared the new Epiphones to the older MIK models and find the MIK Epi's are consistently better. They look, play and sound better. We like them so much, with few exceptions, we now deal exclusively in the MIK Epiphones, and we buy them whenever we can. We've found them to be consistently good, with excellent build quality, sound and playability. They look beautiful, sound wonderful and they just feel right. And many players and collectors also favor these older MIK Les Pauls. They are becoming harder to find in good original condition, and prices are going up. We always recommend buying the MIK Epi's.

Condition: This guitar is 25 years old, but is still in excellent condition. The only issue we can see is the truss rod cover is not original. See photos.

Light Weight: Most Les Paul Customs weigh in around 9.5 to 10.5 lbs. If you love Les Pauls, but prefer a lighter guitar, this is a good one. It weighs only 8.6 lbs.

Flame Top: The flame maple top on this guitar is absolutely beautiful. The photos don't do it justice. It looks even better in person.

Overall: A beautifully crafted guitar. Looks, plays and sounds wonderful. These MIK Gibson/Epiphones are getting harder to find. And this is a good one.

Luthier's Assessment and Measurements:

• Serial No. U01100649
• Weight: 8.6 lbs
• Nut width: 1.67"
• Neck width at 12th Fret: 2.03"
• Neck thickness at 1st fret: 0.84"
• Neck thickness at 12th fret: 0.92"
• Action (high e): 0.050"
• Action (low E): 0.060"
• Neck pickup DCR: 8.4k Ohms
• Bridge pickup DCR: 13.5k Ohms
• Truss rod: Excellent. Turns easily
• Fret condition: Excellent 9/10
• Cosmetic condition: Excellent
• Functional condition: Excellent
• Playability: Excellent. Easy to play.
• Electronics: Excellent
• Sound: Excellent
• Overall condition: Excellent

Specs:

• Body: Mahogany
• Top: Maple
• Neck: Mahogany
• Body binding: Five-ply w/b/w/b/w on top and back
• Neck binding: Antique white
• Headstock binding: Seven-ply w/b/w/b/w/b/w
• Fretboard: Rosewood
• Frets: Medium jumbo
• No. frets: 22
• Fretboard inlays: Acrylic blocks
• Headstock inlay: Abalone Gibson custom double diamond
• Scale: 24.75”
• Fretboard radius: 12”
• Neck pickup: Epiphone Alnico Humbucker
• Bridge pickup: Epiphone Alnico High Output Humbucker
• Controls: Two volume, two tone
• Switch: Three-way toggle
• Bridge: Tune-o-matic
• Tailpiece: Stop bar
• Tuners: Sealed
• Hardware: Gold

About Del Mar Lutherie:  We’re a small shop in San Diego County, California. We build custom electric guitars and vintage style hand-wired tube amps.  We also buy and sell vintage and used gear.  Our owner is a guitar enthusiast, wood worker and professional engineer by training.  We’re part of the local guitar community (Fender, Taylor, Carvin/Kiesel).

Why buy from us?  Our clients have peace of mind knowing they’re buying from a highly rated professional shop.  We've been doing this type of work since 1999 and have thousands of happy customers.  We pride ourselves in providing best-in-class personalized service for each client.  We are a Reverb Preferred Seller, and our approval rating is close to 100%.

Dr. T’s Professional Inspection and Setup: You may find a similar guitar at a lower price, but ours may still be the better value as we include our professional inspection and setup. With over 25 years in the industry, we’re convinced that a good setup is the single most important investment to improve the playability and sound of your guitar.  Here’s what in entails. We inspect the guitar and address issues. Next, we remove the strings and tighten and set the drag on the tuners. We inspect and polish the frets, clean and oil the fingerboard, restring, tune to pitch and set the relief, action and intonation. We then play each fret and check for fret buzz and fret-outs during bends, and we fine-tune as required. Next, we test the electronics, clean and tighten pots and jacks and balance the pickups.  Occasionally, we find a fault with the electronics, so we dig in and diagnose and repair that.  Once the electronics are tip top, we play the guitar to make sure everything is just right.  Finally, we clean and polish the guitar, then slacken the stings to get it ready for shipping.

String Gauges and Settings:  We do our setups using common string gauges and settings, which we've found work well for most players. For electrics, we use 9-42 gauge strings for Fender (25.5") scale guitars and 10-46 for Gibson (24.75") scale guitars.  We set action to 0.050 on the high e side and 0.060 on the low E side. This action is fairly low and allows for easy fretting without buzzing or sacrificing tone.  If you have special preferences, please let us know, and we will do our best to accommodate you.

Fine Tuning Adjustments:  Your guitar will be playing and sounding wonderful when we finish our setup. However, occasionally minor adjustments will be needed after shipping due to changes in temperature and/or humidity, rough handling or other unfavorable conditions.  Since we have no control over this, we cannot cover the cost of these adjustments.  However, if your guitar was mishandled during shipping, please let us know, so we can see if a shipping claim is in order.  Sometimes it’s possible to get you a partial refund to help cover issues if we can show that they were caused by shipping.

Condition Ratings: We do our best to be consistent with Reverb’s condition rating system.  Please keep in mind that Reverb’s descriptions are very general and can be open to interpretation. The guitar you get will be the one shown in the photos, and if it has any major flaws or defects, we will point them out in the listing.  Our guitars rated below “Mint” will have signs of use and cosmetic imperfections, including minor dings, dents and swirl marks, which might only be visible upon close inspection. If you are sensitive to minor cosmetic defects, please let us know, and we can provide you with close-up photos.  We do not accept returns nor give partial refunds if you receive your guitar and believe that it should have been rated lower.  We’ve sold thousands of guitars, and almost without exception, our clients have not had issues with our ratings.  This tells us that we are doing a great job with our condition ratings.  

Standard of Care: We strive to meet our clients’ expectations, and we want you to be happy with your purchase.  Guitars develop wear with use and it’s widely accepted that honest wear adds character and shows that the guitar has been played and loved. Our used and vintage guitars will have signs of use. Our Del Mar Lutherie brand guitars are hand-built and will have artifacts that some people might view as "imperfections".  If you want a guitar in “perfect” or “flawless” condition, we advise you to buy new from an authorized dealer or buy locally so you can inspect it in person. We do not guarantee that our guitars will be cosmetically flawless, and we don’t accept returns or give partial refunds due to cosmetic imperfections.

Specs: We list specs as a courtesy. Some specs are measured by our techs. Others are taken from the manufacturer's data. Manufacturers change specs all the time, and their listed specs may not be 100% accurate. Also, some used guitars have mods that may not be apparent upon visual inspection. The guitar you will get is the one shown in the photos. If there are any "deal breaker" specs that you must have, please let us know so we can double check for you before your purchase.

Videos: We often provide YouTube links to provide our clients with more information. These videos will be of a similar make and model which is representative of the guitar in our listing. 

Shipping: We ship guitars via UPS ground. The fee shown includes shipping within the contiguous USA with insurance. It also includes packaging materials and our time to pack up and drop off at UPS.  For guitars, shipping costs are controlled by box size and insurance is based on value. Your guitar will ship without a case, unless one is described as included in the listing or you add one to your order. If you decline to add a case, we will pack your guitar well with bubble wrap and other padding and ship it in a sturdy guitar box. However, if you want your guitar to have even better protection, we encourage you to add a hard case to your order. See below for details.

Cases: Some guitars we buy come with cases and some don't.  Some clients want cases, and some have so many they don't want more.  To offer flexibility, we make cases optional.  This allows us to pass on some savings to those who don't want cases and to offer several case types to our clients who do want them.  If you want a case, please let us know.  There are many benefits when you buy a case from us; we have good prices, we make sure your guitar fits, we offer free shipping on the case (when combined with a guitar) and we ship your guitar inside the case for better protection. Each year, we see a small number of guitars arrive with damage caused by mishandling during shipping. However, when shipped inside a hard case, the incidence of damage is almost zero. See the top of the listing or inquire for options.

Delivery Time: We do our best to get your guitar setup, boxed and shipped as soon as possible. However, sometimes this can take a few days depending on our workload and other factors. Once UPS receives your guitar, they will estimate a delivery date, which you can access via Reverb. UPS will typically deliver your guitar within 2 to 7 business days after they receive it, depending on your distance from Southern California. If you're in a hurry, please let us know and we’ll do our best to accommodate you, or at least we can advise you of the estimated wait, so you can decide if you need to make other arrangements.

Damage Claims: Although rare, guitars sometimes are damaged during shipping. If you receive a guitar that is damaged, please let us know immediately so we can open a claim.

Returns and Canceled Orders:  We are a small business and can’t afford to offer free returns like the big guys. There is a lot of time, effort and cost involved with processing your order, pulling your guitar from inventory, setting it up, packing and shipping it. Please make sure you want the guitar before you commit to buy. If we agree to a return or to cancel your order, you will be responsible for shipping costs (both ways) and a restocking fee to cover our time.

Trades:   We are a professional guitar business. Anything we take on trade, we resell. Due to shipping costs and transaction fees, we only do trades in person. To make sense for us, we can only offer wholesale value, which is typically 40% to 60% of what it would sell for on Reverb. This is usually as good or better than Guitar Center.  If you’re OK with this, please send current photos of the actual gear you have for trade. We need brand, model, year, and condition. Note any mods, repairs or other issues. If your guitar includes a hard case or gig bag, send photos of that as well.