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Epiphone Zakk Wylde Les Paul Custom Electric Guitar Bulls-Eye
Searched Epiphone Zakk Wylde Les Paul Custom Electric Guitaulls-Eye in Reviews
Not bad for the money I spent. 
| Sound |
The ZW Bullseye comes standard with EMG HZ pick ups in the neck and the bridge. These are passive pick ups that EMG claims are voiced to match the EMG active 81 and 85 ZW set. Well you can forget that! These pick ups are very brash sounding, with no real character. Microphonic feedback was a regular occurrence until I replaced them with the ZW EMG set. Now the guitar screams. I would highly recommend this upgrade!
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| Action, Fit, & Finish |
The action was very good, as I had it set up at the music store I purchased it from. The nut is complete garbage, so I had it replaced after using the guitar for about a month. I had all kinds of tuning problems with the original nut, now I have a Tusq simulated bone nut on it and it plays the way it should. The addition of the new nut also allowed a lower action with no fret buzz.
The fret work was clean and the frets didn't need any honing or filing. The block inlay work was fair, as you could see that they cut out a bit too much wood in a few of them and the used a clear filler to correct the work. This was very surprising, as this particular ZW was made in Korea and every other MIK ZW Bullseyes I've come across have had excellent inlay work. The clear finish on the back of the neck was uniform and very smooth allowing easy movement, and the shape of the neck (C shape) is very comfortable.
The finish, while only a decal (yep, thats not paint you're looking at), was done very well and is very difficult to tell that it is in fact a decal. You just have to know where to look. The body/neck binding was also done very well.
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| Reliability & Durability |
Well before I put in the new pickups and the new nut, I wouldn't go to a gig without a back up. The tuning problems and the brash sounding EMG Hz pick ups dictated it to be used only a few times in each set. After the addition of the nut and the EMG ZW active pick ups I've never needed a back up, although I still carry along 2 other guitars just to be safe. I have played about 200 full shows with my bullseye now and it always holds up. At this point the finish is holding up and I don't see any problems yet.
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| Customer Support |
N/A
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| Liked about it |
Plays well, nice action even with the horrible plastic nut, very good fret work, over all fit and finish were very good.
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| Didn't like |
Horrible plastic nut, EMG HZ pick ups are brash and lack character, block inlay work could have been better. I had to drop another $200 for the ZW active EMG pickups, and another $100 for the new nut. I paid $679 for my Bulls eye brand new with a SKB hard shell case, (and no its not a second) so for a total of $979 I have a good guitar that really smokes, that I absolutely love! But I'd have a hard time recommending this route to someone else, when you can buy a Wolfgang Special for a few hundred more.
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| Overall satisfaction: |
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3.5 |
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Epiphone Hit a Bullseye?
| Sound |
This guitar has two passive standard EMGs equipped, which immediately signals that this guitar is for rocking, and rocking hard. I enjoy rocking, but also play some laid back blues and the odd ambient jam session. I must admit that I enjoyed playing this guitar through a Marshall (where Les Pauls belong) with the EMGs. They complimented each other well, with a threatening low end and a sharp high end, ala Mister Wylde himself. I found the guitar lacking in versatility when I tried playing some cleaner tones. Sure, it kept its nice low end, but it just doesn't seem to have a character of its own when on clean and not overdriven to the hilt.
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| Action, Fit, & Finish |
The guitar was set up fine. It has a typical Gibson-esque neck, with similar action. The electronics were flawless.
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| Liked about it |
1. It is aesthetically pleasing. It just looks rock 'n' roll.
2. The EMGs are great for metal, great true metal tone for those pinched harmonics.
3. The action was great, stick on some very heavy strings and you should sound like Zakk in no time.
4. The price tag: for the price you are getting something far superior to a Epiphone Les Paul standard, yet not quite a Gibson. And therefore falls in between.
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| Didn't like |
1. Lack of versatility. Found it lacklustre when playing other genres outside of Rock/Metal. This is a MAJOR drawback for me and will affect its overall score drastically, as I enjoy playing various stlyes of music, and being so limited in a 700euro+ guitar is too much for me to swallow.
2. This guitar is HEAVY. And I don't mean it in the metal way. Its just HEAVY. I've never felt a guitar with so much weight in the body!!
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| Overall satisfaction: |
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3.0 |
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Forget being a gibson snob when there's value to b
| Sound |
The guitar runs through a 100watt tube amp and 4x12, i more often than not use this guitar for playing drop tunes for grindcore or melodic death metal and i run the guitar with rotosound nexus 10's strings. The standard emg h4/h4a hz pickups are enough for the majority of people and will admittedly grind along nicely as well as produce vintage tones with some manipulation of the tone and volume controls, Think along the lines of vintage hot humbucker tone and you are almost certainly going to know what to expect. The pickups bass response can get a little unclear and muddy under heavy distortion and are definitely better at lead tones rather than pumping heavy riffs.
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| Action, Fit, & Finish |
The finish and setup is beyond immaculate on my guitar showing that gibson really have upped the ante in their Chinese factory and are obviously doing their upmost to produce a good quality guitar that represents value. The neck is 60's profile and is a good handful but not uncomfortable and made from is maple and has a oil finish up to the headstock join where the ivory paint starts again featuring the zakk wylde logo. the frets on the rosewoos fretboard are well installed and the custom markers made of perloid are perfectly installed with no drops or raises. Only a few complaints exist with this guitar, firstly is the very poor quality nut, its quite soft and prone to strings sticking, considering the supposed high gain nature of this guitar i would expect the control cavities to have been copper or alu lined rather than graphite painted, still this is nomial considering the great value this guitar represents. I would say that the bullseye finish and the association with zakk wylde will not suit every one, but i'm not a big ZW fan but found the guitar a great value representation of a U.S. les paul with a big heavy body (10.4 lbs) and excellent hardware! Its a gibson in all but name!
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| Reliability & Durability |
The guitar has been superb so far i have had a new nut fitted and changed the pick ups and pots to suit my needs. The nut rectified any tuning instability i had through string snags and it plays perfectly every time i pick it up, as an all round guitar it would be very easy to live with. Having compared the guitar to quite a few U.S standards i would now pick this, its far better than any i've so far tried. I use the guitar as my main drop d stage guitar and intend to keep it as i've found nothing better!
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| Liked about it |
The fit and finish
grover tuners
quality hardware
feel of the neck
Good weight
value for money
Paint job
Great platform for an outstanding guitar
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| Didn't like |
The nut
Poor shielding
Zakk wylde association
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| Overall satisfaction: |
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4.0 |
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Do you love Zakk?
| Sound |
The EMG HZ pickups are ok, nothing to write home about. It depends on your style and your ear. I found them to be ok, but a little brassy sounding for lack of a better description. The overall tone of the guitar is ok. If you were to install the Zakk Wylde EMG pickup set you would get a better approximation of Zakk's sound. This guitar weighs a lot less than a real Gibson LP.
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| Action, Fit, & Finish |
My guitar came from one of the big online music stores, the action was unplayable upon arrival. The fretboard needed to be oiled and cleaned, and the frets needed to be leveled and polished. It felt like I was playing on gritty frets. The finish of this guitar is sub standard for an $800 dollar guitar, the shot lines had bleed through and the actual bullseye graphic is a sticker, not paint. The finish of the bridge and tuners was just fine with no marks or blems noted. The three way toggle switch was loose and needed cleaning as it made all kinds of noise when switching.
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| Customer Support |
The company I purchased the guitar from has an excellent return policy which I used on this guitar.
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| Liked about it |
There was not a lot to like about this guitar for me.
Once the guitar was setup it played well. Very fast neck for this type of neck profile.
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| Didn't like |
The coloring is off, it's not the yellow that you see in the company pictures, it's like a creme corn color, the finish is sub par for an 800 dollar guitar.
The pickups should be EMG active pickups, otherwise the sound is off from what you would expect.
The fit and finish is bad. I had actually received three of these and the last one was the worst player of all them but the best looking one. Epiphone really needs to step up to the plate if they are going to sell what is basically a LP custom for 100 dollars more. This guitar does not even come with a case which was another negative for me. Bottom line, if you worship at the altar of Zakk Wylde then you will probably love this guitar, if not, just buy the Epi LP Custom and save a few bucks.
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| Overall satisfaction: |
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2.0 |
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Not what I expected at all
| Sound |
I don't like to give bad reviews but I want you to know just where I stand on this one.
This guitar sounds so cheap it is not even funny. It sounds like you are playing neck deep in mud. I played this guitar on a Mesa half stack and was so turned off by the tone...oh wait...what tone?
It does not sound rich / full or bright...Yeah it is noisy and it has no variety of sound what so ever.
Two badgers fighting sound a whole lot better than this guitar.
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| Action, Fit, & Finish |
Cheap, cheap, CHEAP! Was it set up? UH no! Did it stay in tune...hmm no!
It looks like it has a plastic top in my opinion. Not even the same color as the Gibson.
The tuners are garbage, the strings are junk, stock pickups are trash and the wood doesn't feel like wood at all.
If you are a true poser, and you know who you are, then buy this paper weight, have fun.
The material used to make this guitar is a manufacturing flaw and the choice of pickups were another flaw.
The fact they even let this thing out of the warehouse is beyond me.
I had very high hopes and was really let down here.
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| Reliability & Durability |
I do not think there is one thing about this guitar that says "reliable". I don't trust the switch, the jack, the pickups, the nut or the tuners.
I bet the neck will warp and the "gold" hardware starts to pit and look haggard in a year.
I would not take this guitar outside let alone on the road. The finish was bad.
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| Customer Support |
I am sure the support is great....their phone rings off the hook after putting this thing on the market I bet.
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| Liked about it |
I like the fact I don't own it.
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| Didn't like |
The pickups are real bad.
The nut is worthless.
The finish sucks.
Epiphone couldn't even get the colors right.
Sorry I am so negative about this guitar...I don't like people throwing their money away on junk.
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| Overall satisfaction: |
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1.0 |
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not bad for the price
| Sound |
sound hhhmmm it didn't sound nothing like zw les paul that's for sure,that said it wasn't bad either.i played this through 2 setups,line6 flextone111 amp and through a boss me50 plugged into a carlsbro glx amp.to me this guitar sounds more like a superstrat ie ibanez jackson ect ect rather than a les paul.
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| Action, Fit, & Finish |
bought second hand so cant comment
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| Reliability & Durability |
only had it 2 weeks so cant comment here neither
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| Customer Support |
no dealing with c/s
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| Liked about it |
i liked the cameo finish on this guitar nice.going to customize it then it will smoke ;-)
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| Didn't like |
didn't like the bridge much,cheap n plastic.on the whole the guitar sounded nothing like a zw les paul but if you out the stock pickups n replace the bridge then you have yourself a nice guitar.i wouldn't put anyone off from buying zw epiphone its not bad for the price but don't be expecting it to sound like a zw les paul cos you will be disapointed.
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| Overall satisfaction: |
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3.5 |
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It just didn't do it for me.
| Sound |
I thought the guitar sounded dull
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| Action, Fit, & Finish |
Action was ok.. Fit and finish I thought was ok..
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| Reliability & Durability |
Should be ok..
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| Customer Support |
I didn't buy it, just checked it out for a couple hours..
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| Liked about it |
Looks.. It's got the rock star looks for sure.. it's a set neck.. It is reasonably good for a begginer, but you'd be better off with something else for your money. I think it cost too much.. and I think they are made in China now and even the best Epi's I've played from china just felt like toys.. I don't trust the chinese at making much.. Check out the houses they've made from Chinese dry wall, etc.. they are trying, but not there yet..
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| Didn't like |
Cheap feeling, dull muddy sound, too bassy to me.. binding sucked I thought..
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| Overall satisfaction: |
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2.0 |
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Awesome guitar
| Sound |
Very rich sound,pups are really great and not only for heavy riffs,clean tones are good but would be better if it comes with a split switch.I play from 70's,80's and 90's pop rock to hair metal to dream theater and it covers everything.Of course it doesn't has a trem but tonewise speacking,it covers all those styles.
Through my meas triaxis+2.90+marshall 1960B cab it sounds really great.
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| Action, Fit, & Finish |
It came with a factory very low strings action with no buzzes.Neck straight and very solid.
It's a shredder's les paul.
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| Reliability & Durability |
Finishing is awesome,after 2 years it's still brand new.
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| Customer Support |
No problems.
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| Liked about it |
1- Pups are awesome.
2- Fret job and neck are perfect.
3- Finishing is very good.
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| Didn't like |
1- It doesn't has a trem.
2- No split switch.
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| Overall satisfaction: |
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5.0 |
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internal use: spec98 spec471 spec553
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