Developed in partnership with Gibson Custom, the Inspired by Gibson Custom Collection expands with these recreations of legendary instruments for every stage.
“While you can still get all the same beloved Epiphone instruments at the same affordable price points, the new Epiphone Inspired by Gibson Custom line appeals to those who want the historic and premium specs that our Custom Shop fans love. I am proud to say that this new line of instruments represents a true collaboration of our USA teams and our overseas teams in every sense. Collectively, we made sure every possible upgrade was included so that these would become the new crown jewels of our Epiphone range.”
--Mat Koehler, Vice President of Product at Gibson
1959 Les Paul Standard
Made in collaboration with Gibson Custom, the Epiphone 1959 Les Paul Standard is Epiphone’s incredible recreation of the rare vintage classic, updated to be more authentic and truer to the originals than ever. It features a mahogany body with a maple top with a AAA flame maple veneer, a one-piece mahogany Gibson Custom LP Custom Profile neck with a comfortable ’59 rounded, medium C profile, long neck tenon, and Gibson-style “open book” R9 headstock shape, VOS (Vintage Original Sheen) finish, USA Gibson Custombucker humbucking pickups, Switchcraft pickup selector switch and 1/4” output jack, CTS pots, 50s era wiring, Mallory™ capacitors, non-beveled pickguard, Epiphone Deluxe vintage tuners with Keystone buttons, and a vintage-style brown and pink hardshell case. The Epiphone 1959Les Paul™ Standard is available in a Factory Burst, Tobacco Burst, and Iced Tea Burst finishes. Play one today and prepare to be amazed!
1942 Banner J-45
Epiphone, in partnership with Gibson acoustic in Bozeman, Montana, is proud to introduce the Epiphone 1942 Banner J-45™, an incredible recreation of the legendary original “Workhorse” model from 1942. This exceptional acoustic guitar has a thermally aged, solid red spruce top, solid mahogany back and sides, and a one-piece mahogany neck with a laurel fretboard, a V-shaped profile, and mother-of-pearl dot inlays. The headstock features the world-famous Gibson “open book” profile, the Inspired by Gibson Custom double diamond logo etched on the back, and an“ Epiphone Inspired by Gibson” banner on the front. It is stage and studio-ready with the built-in L.R.Baggs™ VTC preamp and under-saddle piezo pickup system and a hardshell case with the Inspired by Gibson Custom logo is also included. The Epiphone 1942 Banner J-45 is available worldwide in Antique Natural and Vintage Sunburst.
Les Paul Custom
As part of the ongoing collaboration with Gibson Custom, Epiphone is proud to introduce the flagship Les Paul Custom to the Inspired by Gibson Custom lineup. Replete with all of the classy “tuxedo” appointments that the model is known for, this beautiful guitar has a one-piece mahogany Custom Shop LP Custom Profile neck with a 50s Rounded C profile, an ebony fretboard, and mother-of-pearl block fretboard inlays. There are also mother-of-pearl split diamond and Epiphone logo headstock inlays on the Gibson-style “open book” headstock. Gold hardware, including Grover® Rotomatic® 18:1 gear ratio tuners, gives it even more visual appeal. The solid mahogany body has a maple cap for a touch of added sonic bite, while the Gibson USA 490R and 498T pickups provide tonal sophistication and plenty of muscle to back up all the beauty. They’re hand-wired to CTS® potentiometers, a Switchcraft output jack and pickup selector switch, and Mallory™ capacitors. The Epiphone Les Paul Custom is available worldwide in Ebony and Alpine White finishes. An Inspired by Gibson Custom double diamond logo is on the back of the headstock, and a black hardshell case with the Inspired by GibsonCustom logo and a goldenrod interior is also included.
1959 ES-335
In partnership with Gibson Custom, Epiphone is proud to release the 1959 ES-355, a stunning recreation of the preeminent ES model from the legendary class of 1959. It’s the top-of-the-line ES model in all its glory, from the dimensions to the contours to the precise inlay patterns and sonic experience. The 1959 ES-355 features a 5-ply layered maple/poplar body with a solid maple centerblock for sustain and feedback resistance, a one-piece mahogany neck with a 50s RoundedMedium C profile, and an ebony fretboard that is adorned with block mother of pearl inlays. The Gibson-style “open book” headstock features the Split Diamond and Epiphone logo inlays in mother of pearl, along with gold Grover Rotomatic tuners and the Inspired by Gibson double diamond logo etched on the back. The 1959 ES-355 is powered by a pair of USA GibsonCustombuckers that are hand-wired to CTS potentiometers, Mallory capacitors, and a Switchcraft pickup selector switch and output jack. The Epiphone 1959 ES-355 is available worldwide in Cherry Red and Classic White, and an exclusive Ebony finish is available on www.epiphone.com. A brown and pink hardshell case with the Inspired by Gibson Custom logo is also included.
J-180 LS
The Gibson J-180 has been the choice of rock, country, and pop royalty, including legendary artists like the Everly Brothers, Cat Stevens, Dwight Yoakam, and Billie Joe Armstrong, up to some of today’s most famous artists. In partnership with Gibson Acoustic in Bozeman, Montana, Epiphone is proud to release a new version of this player-favorite guitar. The Epiphone J-180LS is packed with premium features, including a thermally aged solid spruce top with scalloped X bracing, solid mahogany back and sides, a one-piece mahogany neck with a 25.5” scale length, C-profile, laurel fretboard, and the iconic “star” mother of pearl inlays that the model is so well known for. The compensated saddle, bridge pins, and nut are bone, and the headstock features the world-famous Gibson-style “open book” headstock shape, with the Epiphone logo and headstock star proudly displayed in mother of pearl. An Inspired by Gibson CustomDouble Diamond emblem is etched on the rear of the headstock. Available in a variety of eye-catching colors and equipped with an L.R. Baggs™ VTC under-saddle pickup and preamp system, this exceptional guitar is stage and studio-ready from the moment you take it out of the included hardshell case. The Epiphone J-180 LS is available worldwide in Ebony, Pink, and Frost Blue. Exclusive colors, available only on www.epiphone.com, include Kerry Green and Lavender.
1957 SJ-200
The world-famous SJ-200 is known as the “King of the Flat-Tops,” and it’s been the choice of countless legends, from singing cowboys to country, folk, and rock icons, right up to some of today’s most popular artists. Now Epiphone, in partnership with Gibson Acoustic in Bozeman, Montana, is proud to release the 1957 SJ-200. This impressive guitar features a thermally aged solid Sitka spruce top supported by scalloped X-bracing, solid figured maple back and sides, and a flame maple neck with a C-profile, laurel fretboard, and graduated crown mother of pearl inlays. The headstock has the Gibson “open book” shape, along with a mother-of-pearl crown and Epiphone logo inlays, and the Inspired by Gibson Custom double diamond logo etched into the back. The iconic J-200 open moustache bridge and engraved pickguard are also present, along with a compensated bone saddle, bone nut, and bone bridge pins. It even comes equipped with an L.R. Baggs VTC preamp and under saddle pickup, so it’s ready to rock onstage or in the studio as soon as you take it out of the included Inspired by Gibson Custom hardshell case. The Epiphone 1957 SJ-200 is available worldwide in Antique Natural and Vintage Sunburst.
1963 Les Paul SG Custom With Maestro Vibrola
Made in collaboration with Gibson Custom, the Epiphone 1963 Les Paul SG With MaestroVibrola is a stunning recreation of the classic vintage model. 1963 was the last year that the “LesPaul” moniker was used on the SG Custom and the first year for the Maestro™ Vibrola™. The premium appointments the model is known and loved for are all present here, including a one-piece mahogany Gibson Custom LP Custom Profile neck with a long neck tenon, a SlimTaperprofile, and a bound ebony fretboard. It also features mother-of-pearl block fretboard inlays and a Custom split diamond headstock inlay on the bound Gibson-style “open book” headstock. The electronics are equally impressive, with three USA Gibson Custombucker humbucking pickups hand-wired to CTS potentiometers, Mallory capacitors, and a Switchcraft pickup selector toggle switch and output jack. The VOS (Vintage Original Sheen) Classic White finish is nicely complimented by the gold hardware, including 18:1 ratio Grover Rotomatic tuners. A black hardshell case with Inspired by Gibson Custom graphics and a goldenrod interior is also included.
1963 Firebird I
Epiphone and Gibson Custom have teamed up again to create the Inspired by Gibson Custom1963 Firebird I – an authentic replica of the guitar designed by legendary automotive designer RayDietrich. When it was launched in 1963, the Firebird was Gibson’s first neck-through-body model, and it went on to be used by players in a wide range of genres, including blues legendJohnny Winter, Keith Richards and Brian Jones of The Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton, and PhilManzanera of Roxy Music, to name a few.
The Epiphone Inspired by Gibson Custom 1963 Firebird I delivers vintage Firebirdspecifications at an accessible price, including a 9-ply neck-through-body made of mahogany and walnut with mahogany body wings to either side. Kluson® planetary geared “banjo” tuners anchor the strings at the headstock, while a Wraparound Lightning Bar bridge holds things down at the other end and ensures exceptional sustain. While in keeping with the vintage 1963 Firebird I’s stripped-down specifications, the electronics are also premium and include a Gibson USA Firebird mini humbucker™ pickup with Alnico 5 magnets, CTS potentiometers, a Mallory capacitor, and a Switchcraft 1/4” output jack, giving this remarkable recreation not only the look but the sound of a classic Firebird I. The Epiphone Firebird I is available worldwide in Silver Mist, Heather Poly, and Inverness Green, and on epiphone.com in exclusive Vintage Sunburst and Cherry finishes. An Epiphone Inspired by Gibson Custom hardshell case is also included.
1963 Firebird V
Epiphone and Gibson Custom have teamed up again to create the Inspired by Gibson Custom 1963 Firebird V – an authentic replica of the guitar designed by legendary automotive designer Ray Dietrich. When it was launched in 1963, the Firebird was Gibson’s first neck-through-body model, and it went on to be used by players in a wide range of genres, including blues legendJohnny Winter, Keith Richards and Brian Jones of The Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton, and PhilManzanera of Roxy Music, to name a few.
The Epiphone Inspired by Gibson Custom 1963 Firebird V delivers vintage Firebirdspecifications at an accessible price, including a 9-ply neck-through-body made of mahogany and walnut with mahogany body wings to either side. Kluson planetary geared “banjo” tuners anchor the strings at the headstock, while an Epiphone ABR-1 bridge and newly redesigned Maestro Vibrolawith an engraved Epiphone logo hold things down at the other end. The electronics are also premium and include Gibson USA Firebird mini-humbucker pickups with Alnico 5 magnets, CTS potentiometers, Mallory capacitors, and a Switchcraft 3-way pickup selector toggle switch and1/4” output jack, giving this remarkable recreation not only the look but also the sound of a classic Firebird V. The Epiphone 1963 Firebird V is available worldwide in Frost Blue and EmberRed, and on www.epiphone.com in exclusive Vintage Sunburst and Cherry finishes. An Epiphone Inspired by Gibson Custom hardshell case is also included.
For more information, please visit epiphone.com.
When Brandon Hagen broke his arm a few years ago, his life changed in an instant. He’d been fronting Boston indie rock outfit Vundabar since 2013, and suddenly, he was unable to do the things he’d built his life around. Recovery came, in part, in the form of a custom guitar prototype built by Mike Baranik of Baranik Guitars. Hagen deconstructed and rehabilitated his relationship to the 6-string on that instrument, an experience that led to Vundabar’s sixth LP, Surgery and Pleasure, released on March 7.
On tour supporting the record, the band appeared at Grimey’s in Nashville for a performance on March 11, and PG’s Chris Kies caught up with Hagen to hear about his journey and learn what tools the guitarist has brought on the road. As Hagen tells it, his setup is less about expertise and received wisdom, and more about “intuitive baby mode”—going with what feels and sounds good in the moment.
Brought to you by D’Addario.
An A1 B4
Hagen’s No. 1 is this Baranik B4, a custom job that he received two days before leaving for tour. Hagen’s arm was broken when Vundabar was playing a festival in California a couple years ago, and Baranik, a fan of the band, stopped in to see them. He offered to send a custom prototype to Hagen—who was new to the field of boutique guitars—and the B4 was born, borrowing from the Baranik B3 design used for Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s Ruban Nielson and the Hofner 176 played by Jamie Hince of the Kills. The guitar helped Hagen fall back in love with guitar as his arm healed.
Hagen was searching for Strat-style clarity and jangle but with a hotter sound, so Baranik put in Lindy Fralin P-90s in the neck and bridge positions, plus a sliding, unpotted gold-foil pickup in the middle, wound by Baranik himself. A wheel control on the lower bout beside the traditional pickup selector switch lets Hagen blend the pickup signals without outright switching them on or off. Along with traditional master volume and tone controls, the red button beside the bridge activates a Klon clone pedal built into the back of the guitar. Hagen used a Klon on every track on the new Vundabar record, so it made sense to have one at his fingertips, letting him step away from the pedalboard and still create dramatic dynamic differences.
Hagen uses Ernie Ball Slinky strings (.011s), a step up from the .10s he used to use; he was chasing some more low end and low mids in his sound. His guitars stay in standard tuning.
Jazz From Japan
Hagen also loves this 2009 Japan-made Fender Jazzmaster ’62 Reissue JM66, which splits the difference between classic Fender chime and a darker, heavier tone.
Blending Fenders
Hagen’s signal gets sent to both a Fender Hot Rod Deville and a Blues Junior. He likes to crank the Junior’s single 12" speaker for a nastier midrange.
Brandon Hagen's Board
Hagen runs from his guitar into a JHS Colour Box, which adds a bit of dirt and can be used to attenuate high or low frequencies depending on which room Vundabar is playing. From there, the signal hits a Keeley Compressor, EHX 2020 Tuner, EHX Pitch Fork, EHX Micro POG (which is always on with subtle octaves up and down to beef things up), Boss Blues Driver, Way Huge Swollen Pickle, MXR Carbon Copy (which is also always on), and a Boss DD-7—Hagen loves the sound of stacked delays.
Price unveiled her new band and her new signature model at a recent performance at the Gibson Garage in Nashville.
The 6-string was inspired by the J-45 she bought at Nashville’s Carter Vintage Guitars after she was signed to Third Man Records, where she made her 2016 ice-breaker album, Midwest Farmer’s Daughter. But her affection for Gibson acoustics predates that, going back to when she found a 1956 LG-3 in her grandmother’s home. The guitar had been abandoned there by her songwriter great uncle, Bobby Fischer.
“I played it for years before I found my J-45,” Price recounts. “At Carter Vintage, I tried a lot of guitars, but when I picked up that J-45, I loved that it was a smaller guitar but really cut through, and I was just really drawn to the sound of it. And so I went home with that guitar and I’ve been playing it ever since.”
“Having a signature model was something I had dreamed about.”
Of course, Price was also aware of the model’s history, but her demands for a guitar were rooted in the present—the requirements of the studio and road. The 1965 J-45 she acquired at Carter Vintage, which is also a cherry ’burst, was especially appealing “compared to a Martin D-21 or some of the other things that I was picking up. I have pretty small hands, and it just was so playable all up the neck. It was something that I could easily play barre chords on. I could immediately get everything that I needed out of it.”
If you’ve seen Price on TV, including stops at Saturday Night Live, The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, and Jimmy Kimmel Live!, you’ve seen her ’65. And you’ve also seen, over the years, that part of the soundhole’s top has been scraped away by her aggressive strumming. It’s experienced worse wear from an airline, though. After one unfortunate flight, Price found her guitar practically in splinters inside a badly crushed case. “It was like somebody would have had to drive over this case with a truck,” she relates. Luckily, Dave Johnson from Nashville’s Scale Model Guitars was able to put Humpty Dumpty back together again.
After that, an alternative guitar for the road seemed like a requirement. “Having a signature model was something I had dreamed about,” Price says. Friends in her songwriting circle, including Lukas Nelson and Nathaniel Rateliff, already had them. Four years ago, a tweet asking which women they thought should have signature models appeared, and one of her fans wrote “Margo Price.” Smartly, Price tagged Gibson and retweeted. Codey Allen in Gibson entertainment relations spotted the tweet and agreed.
The double pickguard was chosen for Price’s J-45 because of its symmetry, as a nod to the Hummingbird, and due to her heavy strumming hand.
Photo courtesy of Gibson
“The neck is not quite as small as my J-45, but it is just a bit smaller than many J-45s fives, and very playable no matter what size hands you have.”
“And so we began our journey of building this guitar,” Price says. “I debated whether it should be the LG-3, which I still have hanging on my wall, or the J-45. I went to Montana and visited their [acoustic] factory and sat down with Robi Johns [senior product development manager at Gibson acoustic], and we ultimately decided that the J-45 was my guitar. Then we started talking about the specs. We did pull from the LG-3 in that the body of this signature guitar is a bit smaller. It still has a really loud, clear sound that rings through. The neck is not quite as small as my 1965 J-45, but it is just a bit smaller than many J-45s, and very playable no matter what size hands that you have.”
The pickup that Price selected is a L.R. Baggs VTC Element with a preamp, and she took a prototype of the guitar on the road opening for the Tedeschi Trucks Band. “I am used to playing with a really loud band, with drums and sometimes a couple electric guitars, and I wanted to make sure that this guitar just cut through,” she says. “It was really important to me that it be loud, and it cut beautifully. It’s got a mahogany body and scalloped bracing, which makes it very sturdy. This guitar is a workhorse, just like me.”
The Margo Price J-45’s most arresting characteristic, in addition to its warm sunburst finish, is its double-sided pickguard with an etching of a quartet of red-tailed hawks in flight. It’s practical for her strumming style, but it’s also got a deeper significance.
“We talked about all sorts of things that we could put on the pickguard, and I’ve always been a big fan of the Hummingbird, so what we did is a bit of a nod to that,” Price continues. “I’ve always been drawn to red-tailed hawks. They are supposed to be divine messengers, and they have such strength. They symbolize vision and protection. I would always count them along the highway as I’d be driving home to see my family in Illinois.”
Birds of a feather: “I’ve always been drawn to red-tailed hawks,” says Price. “They are supposed to be divine messengers, and they have such strength. They symbolize vision and protection.”
Photo courtesy of Gibson
With its comfortable neck, slightly thinner body, and serious projection, Price notes, “I wanted my guitar to be something that young girls can pick up and feel comfortable in their hands and inspire songs, but I didn’t want it to be so small that it felt like a toy, and that it didn’t have the volume. This guitar has all of those things.” To get her heavy sound, Price uses D’Addario Phosphor Bronze (.012–.053) strings.
Price says she and her signature J-45, which is street priced at $3,999, have been in the studio a lot lately, “and I have a whole bunch of things I’m excited about.” In mid March, she debuted her new band—which includes Logan Ledger and Sean Thompson on guitars, bassist Alec Newman, Libby Weitnauer on fiddle, and Chris Gelb on drums—in a coming out party for the Margo Price Signature Gibson J-45 at the Gibson Garage in Nashville. “I’ve been with my previous band, the Price Tags, for more than 10 years, and it’s definitely emotional when a band reaches the end of its life cycle,” she says. “But it’s also really exciting, because now, having a fiddle in the band and incredible harmony singers … it’s a completely different vibe. I’ve got a whole bunch of festivals coming up this year. We’re playing Jazz Fest in New Orleans, and I’m so excited for everyone to hear this new iteration of what we’re doing.”
With its heritage cherry sunburst finish and other appointments, the Margo Price Signature Gibson J-45 balances classic and modern guitar design.
Photo courtesy of Gibson
