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Epiphone Launches Slash Les Paul Goldtop

Epiphone has announced the introduction of its second Slash signature Les Paul, the Slash Les Paul Gold Top. Like the Slash Les Paul Standard Plus Top, the Goldtop was designed and built in collaboration with the Guns n Roses and Velvet Revolver guitarist and is limited to only 2, 000 units worldwide.

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• Whatever your view of the man or his music, there's no escaping that Slash is an icon. One of the most recognisable guitar players on the planet, both physically and in his playing, Slash has built an army of fans and would be imitators over the last 20 or so years. His influence is so great, he's the cover star for one of the biggest video games of the decade, Guitar Hero III, and has had a Slash signature model guitar made in his honour by both Gibson and Epiphone — and very fine guitars they are too. Whether it's the angst-driven riff in the intro to Guns N' Roses' Sweet Child o' Mine, the metal power chords of Paradise City, or the crunching rhythm playing in Velvet Revolver's Slither, Slash has a sound all of his own. It's a sound that only a Les Paul could produce and in the video below, the guys from The Next Level Guitars show you how to replicate it. It's a bit long and rambling, but well worth watching if you've always wanted to play like the curly-haired one. #
• Danny has just posted a great piece on The Guitars of Jimi Hendrix, in which he describes how Hendrix played an Epiphone Wilshire . The Wilshire was a Strat-style guitar made between 1959 and 1970 and which originally featured two P-90 pick-ups and a Tune-o-matic bridge and stop tailpiece. In mid-1962 the P-90s were replaced with mini-humbuckers. #
• Danny has a great story on Guitar Players Center about the guitar that Jimi Hendrix infamously set on fire at the London Astoria in March 1967 being up for auction. The 1965 Strat will feature on the front cover of the August issue of Guitar and Bass magazine and is expected to raise £250k. #
• Clash Music mag is giving away an Epiphone SG signed by The Subways in an online competition. All you have to do is enter your name and email address and agree to receive an email newsletter from The Subways. You can, of course, unsubscribe from the newsletter at any time. There's no word on terms and conditions, so I don't know whether or not it's restricted to UK residents. And no word on a closing date either, so get in quick. Click here to win an Epiphone SG #
• Scott is concerned that guitar manufacturers are becoming conglomerates and that this is harming the guitars they make. I don't think it matters one jot. The guitars made by a company, any company, should be judged on their own merit, not on which factory they were built in and where that factory is located. Besides, Gibson has owned Epiphone for 50 years, and as far as I can see only good has come of it. Not only does Epiphone continue to make some of the finest original guitars, banjos, and mandolins around, it makes the best Gibson copies in the business. #