Oh dear. I'm not normally such a sucker for advertising.

Less than two months ago, I talked about an ad Epiphone ran in Guitar World for their new line of guitars. Leslie West was the spokesperson, so the ad caught my eye.

Who knew Epiphone would also catch my wallet?

I came across the Epiphone Juniors at a guitar shop a week after seeing the ad. To be blunt, I was not impressed. These guitars looked like underfed Les Pauls, and the finishes were dull and uninspiring. In other words, one got what one paid for ($235 Canadian).

However, last Saturday I just dropped into a nearby music shop on a whim. Lo and behold, my attention was grabbed by a guitar which looked a lot like this 1959 Les Paul Junior:

Yes, it looked a lot like this guitar: single pickup, rosewood fretboard, double cutaway, and best of all, the same cool TV Yellow colour! I didn't know Epiphone made a guitar like this!

Then I saw the price tag.

$132 (around $90 U.S.)

For a NEW guitar?!

Turns out that the store had a big sale a few weeks ago, and this guitar was still bearing a 50% off price tag. So I played it that day. It felt pretty good, all things considered. But the store was crowded, and I was running late. So I set it down, and decided I'd give it more thought.

So I thought about it. For $132, I'd get a cool-looking axe (I took photos, and I'll put them up once they're developed) and since it's an Epiphone I can have some fun upgrading the bits and pieces. In fact, one of my main reasons for buying this guitar is that I WILL do some upgrading.

Come Monday morning, I was back with my plastic.

The Epiphone has pretty good action, considering its simplistic bridge. As for the sound: I guess it's what one would expect from a P-90 made in Asia (heck, when the complete guitar costs less than a good pickup, you know there'll be some shortcuts made).

Now, it's time to start thinking about the upgrades! It looks too cool not to SOUND cool, too! Details to follow!

If you haven't yet read my little "rant" against Guitar World, you can do so now!