Epiphone Slash "AFD" Signature Les Paul Special-II, with Gig Bag

First at all, I must say that the package arrived safe, on time with no damages and well wrapped.As a real beginner guitar player and knowing almost anything about guitars, I made a huge research for months about entry level guitars in order to find the perfect one for me.Because of the shape and sounds, I realized that my style was a Les Paul guitars and not Fender guitars.The second thing I found was that the most reliable Les Paul guitars brand for budget people like me was Epiphone. This brand belongs to Gibson, the most well-known brand that invented Les Paul style guitars. In fact, Epiphone makes cheaper Gibson guitars with good quality. It is like “they copy themselves”.Everybody say that Epiphone Standard is a great guitar if we want to start to talk about Epiphone good Les Paul guitars, but it is about 400 dollars, too much for a person who doesn’t play guitar and just want to try and experiment with this new hobby.So I found two options. I wasn’t sure about Epiphone Special II and Epiphone 100. They are models not with the size and weight that a real Les Paul is, also with bolt on neck and not glued neck. These are issues that a lot of people complain, but I think that beginners will get used to that kind of things until we learn and become more experimented guitar players, with more money and be able to afford a more expensive and better guitars. For now, to learn and practices, this kind of entry level models are great.While I was trying to decide, Epiphone launched this AFD model that is not only an improved Epiphone Special II, but also it has the Slash style, with colors, logo, gig bag, signature guitar picks, cable… everything.Why I thing Epiphone Les Paul Special II AFD is the best guitar for beginners?Epiphone affirms that this guitar model was designed in conjunction with Slash himself, who added some great features in order to make this guitar seems and feels like the guitar he plays and to make this guitar the best options for beginners. This particular issue can gives us a kind of confident and security about the quality of the guitar.The guitar has a flame maple AAA top veneer finished in Appetite Amber color at the front and dark cherry color at the back and neck, just like Slash’s original (Special II improvement). Body and neck made with mahogany wood, like all classic Les Pauls.Fingerboard made with rosewood with acrylic dots fingerboard inlays.New excellent powerful Epiphone Ceramic Plus open zebra coil (Special II improvement) in black and white, that will give you the overdriven, screaming metallic tone that Slash made famous. Epiphone ensures that this improved Special II guitar delivers a fatter, richer and nasty tone that you couldn’t find in any other guitar at the same price thanks to its two open coil humbucker pickups.Tuner built in shadow into the bridge pickup mounting ring, are easily found in higher levels guitars like Epiphone Ultra’s or others more expensive models, but impossible to find in guitars at this range of price (Special II improvement). This tuner works with a Lithium long-lasting battery, easily accessed from a compartment on the back of the guitar, and it will help us to keep the guitar in tune.Hardware made of chrome that makes it more reliable. It is great to find tuners made of this material in a guitar of this price. (Special II improvement).E-media free online guitar lessons (Special II improvement. Find only in Epiphone Special II packs, not with the single guitar).1 tone and 1 volume strap buttons and one 3 way switch that allows you to switch between neck or bridge pickups.Tune-o-matic system and tailpiece stopbar that make the guitar keeps in tune and gain more sustain. Epiphones says that there are proud to affirm that its tune-o-matic bridge gives 20% more sustain than others bridge systems.And I know that this doesn’t help to make us a famous guitar players or learn how to play guitar faster, but people like me who love rock music and are guns and roses fans, for sure will appreciate Slash logo in gold at the headstock and also Slash logos at the gig bag and at the guitar picks.My verdict: Excellent value for money. Simple control system will suit beginners. The sound quality is great and it is a perfect choice if you want to find a guitar to play and enjoy Rocksmith, another excellent and interesting tool in order to learn how to play electric guitar. I think both (Epiphone Special II AFD and Rocksmith video game) make and excellent combination in order to learn how to play guitar while you have fun!!!In my opinion, for beginners this is the best guitar now a days in design, materials, sound, hardware and value for money.

I'm an intermediate player who has been playing acoustic guitar on and off for about 20 years. Had an electric squier about 10 years ago, but never took to it, so i traded it for another acoustic. This is my first exposure to electric in quite some time. I've had this for a little over a week now, have been playing it daily and am really enjoying it. It came packaged very well. I love the colors, although the red on back is more opaque than i thought it would be, it still looks nice. I've read some reviews where there were issues with the build quality, but i haven't found any blemishes on mine. The built in tuner is awesome, and the guitar has stayed in tune since the day i received it. I bought a Fender Mustang I amp, and for just playing in my home, it sounds great and there are a ton of effects to play around with. Definitely happy with my purchase and recommend to anybody that is looking for a nice quality guitar at a great price. I can't say if it's good for a professional, but for the average player it's a great buy.

This guitar was very impressive for the money at first. But, 4 months later it no longer works. The cord input is broken. I had a real Les Paul for decades and nothing ever went wrong with it. Now I have to deal with a warranty claim after only 4 months. Don't buy this garbage!

I love this guitar. Great the budget price. Only had one issue when I received the guitar it was buzzing like crazy I thought was easily fixed by adjusting the truss rod and lowering the action. Other than that I love the blusey crunchy sound and the sleek design of the body. Anyone who loves Slash will love this guitar.

The guitar sounds just as good as my 2003 Gibson Les Paul studio.The built-in tuner uses a CR2032 coin cell and not the 9V the tag says.Strings will need replaced right away; the ones it came with have that old/unplayed in a long time feel.The yellow maple finish on the top looks outstanding.In short, this is a great kit for a beginner & intermediate player. Make sure you get the right battery and a change of strings. After some setup on the action, it’s worth it.

Great starter guitar. Very comfortable, good sound, good looking. Not as heavy as Gibson Les Pauls, so would probably be good for younger player. Neck width is a little slimmer so that is great with those with smaller hands. In line tuner is cool. Probably should take it to a guitar shop to have it set up professionally so it will sustain its tone when playing some chords, but not immediately necassary. Mine charged me $20, so it isn't that big of a deal. Had one issue with a defective tuner that wasnt noticed until the strings had to be changed, but Epiphone customer service was super nice and are sending me a replacement tuner. Play it every night.

The guitar came in good shape. I play through a Blackstar amp which sounds amazing. It feels great too. Unfortunately a day after I got it the internal wiring failed and I had to return it. I always put my cable through the strap so this was simply poor quality. It's a good starting guitar, but not advanced. It's also not really close to Slash's guitar, as the pickups are different, the pickup switch is in a different place, and Slash's has two more knobs. Consider this before purchasing