Epiphone IGC Amethyst Sparkle: it had to happen…
Epiphone IGC Les Paul Custom Amethyst Sparkle
So far I've bought nothing but 4 Epiphone IGCs. Of those 4, I've already written reviews for 3: the IGC LP 1957, the IGC 1959 ES-355, and the IGC 1960 LP DC Special. There's a fourth I've been testing and I'll write about that one soon. But there was supposed to be a fifth one, and that's just not going to happen. Let me explain why…
Hey, I'm a guy, okay! I see something cute, and if I fancy it, I go after it, and only afterward do I get around to rationalizing the facts. In the moment I just get tunnel vision and go for the target. That's exactly how it happened: got an email, saw this beautiful colour, bought it. A week or so later the guitar arrived, and things got weird after that.
Epiphone IGC Les Paul Custom Amethyst Sparkle
Out of the box I noticed the high action, which is weird because these guitars usually come almost ready to play, not 100%, but close. Then I started checking it over and noticed finish flaws. Mind you, this is a B-Stock instrument, and honestly most of my gear is B-Stock. I couldn't care less about cosmetic perfection, I'm a function guy: if it works, it works, the rest is first-world problems to some extent. But I digress…
Epiphone IGC Les Paul Custom Amethyst Sparkle
Okay, the guitar has finish flaws, maybe more than the average acceptable amount, but anyway. I started playing it and it had really good resonance, this thing has vibration mojo, and it sounded great too, let me tell you. The 490R and 498T just sound good, again, one of those things the internet decided was bad, and then the gate opened for the brainless sheep to follow. But again... I digress!
The next day I took the guitar to the workshop for the inspection I do on every guitar before a review. Before I change strings I always do a rough setup, and it was during this process that I realised the guitar had issues. As I lowered the action to 2mm and 1.75mm, there was bad choking around the 14th fret. I tried adjusting the truss rod with no success. On closer inspection, some frets are higher around the 14th fret area, but the choking was too much even accounting for the high frets.
Now, this isn't a client's guitar, so I wasn't going to spend my time diagnosing the whole thing, but on a quick check I saw there's a bump on the fretboard around the heel area, and the truss rod felt funny too, like it works, but it just wasn't affecting the neck noticeably.
After all this, the guitar went back in the box and from there to UPS, never to be seen again, and hopefully no one will ever see it again. I contacted Thomann and told them this is "a lemon". Keeping a guitar like that around can get expensive if clients keep returning it over and over, so it should just be written off and destroyed. Not even a repair is worth it, to be honest.
Some of the Epiphone haters, or the anti-Made-in-China warriors, might be reading this thinking "see, I knew it, they're shit", like I wrote this review to validate their mommy issues. But that's not the case, sorry, because I still think the IGC series is good, and I'd recommend it regardless.
But there's a caveat: the Epiphone IGC Les Paul Custom might not be the best deal. At least here in the EU, using Thomann as a source, the Amethyst Sparkle or the Sedona Burst run 1325€ (1069€ for the black, or 1019€ for the white). The rest of the competition in the same series: IGC Adam Jones 1333€, IGC 1959 1333€, IGC 1957 1277€, IGC Greeny 1250€. My point is that for that price you could get Gibson Custombuckers in your guitar, which I'd prefer. But like I said, this guitar sounded good, so if you have to go for a Les Paul Custom model, go black or white, the premium for the new colours isn't worth it.
The IGC Adam Jones, on the other hand, has you paying for the percentage they owe Adam Jones. But the guitar looks good, even if you couldn't care less about TOOL. With a Seymour Duncan Distortion in there though, you might be on a tricky pony, maybe too hot? Dunno, guess it's a matter of taste. Finally, the IGC 59, that's the one priced according to '59 name mojo. Weirdly, the 2026 models are 1333€ but the older ones can be found for as low as 1199€. That's a head scratcher, I don't see the difference. Sweet guitar indeed, but veneers are like makeup on a woman you're going to see in the morning anyway. Yeah, why not just come as you are???
There you go, my two cents, again!... Oh, and by the way, I've changed the blog's name. Not because I hate Fender, but because I don't want them coming after me. Ah, let's be honest, no one reads this anyway :)
