{"product_id":"1998-epiphone-by-gibson-les-paul-standard-goldtop-w-usa-pickups-japan-fujigen","title":"1998 Epiphone by Gibson Les Paul Standard Goldtop w\/ USA Pickups, Japan Fujigen","description":"Up for sale, a 1998 Epiphone by Gibson Les Paul Standard Goldtop in exceptional condition and in perfect working order, upgraded with a pair of Seymour Duncan humbuckers and a premium wiring harness. Crafted in Japan at the venerable Fujigen factory, this Epiphone was a result of the longstanding partnership between Gibson USA and their Japanese distributor, Yamano-Gakki.\n\nDesigned only to be sold within the Japanese domestic market and featuring Gibson's \"open book\" headstock shape, this uncommon Epiphone iteration of the classic Les Paul Standard platform features a carved maple top, solid mahogany body and neck with a long tenon joint, and a bound rosewood fretboard. The upgraded USA-made Seymour Duncan humbuckers include SH-1 '59 PAF in the neck position and an SH-4 JB at the bridge. The SH-1 ‘59 was designed in the spirit of the original PAF, with sweet singing sustain, tight lows, and just enough midrange to deliver full-sounding chords while retaining clarity and articulation. The SH-4 JB bridge pickup is Duncan’s original hot-rodded humbucker, with powerful low end, crisp, singing highs, and a slight midrange bump that adds crunch or chunk to heavy chords and translates to a singing, vocal-like quality when playing melodic lines. This Les Paul Standard weighs 8lbs 14oz, professionally setup here at Mike \u0026amp; Mike’s Guitar Bar with 10-46 strings, low action, and spot-on intonation.\n\nThe mahogany neck has a medium C-shaped profile carve with just enough roundness in the shoulders at the nut, gaining additional heft further up the fretboard, measuring .835” deep at the 1st fret and .999” at the 12th. The bound rosewood fretboard has pearloid trapezoid inlay, and the stock medium jumbo fretwire retains its full factory height and well-rounded crowns, showing only light wear beneath the plain strings on frets 1-5. This guitar plays cleanly up the 24 3\/4“ scale with a straight neck and a responsive, optimally-adjusted truss rod. The nut measures 1 11\/16” in width, carved from bone for optimal note clarity and sustain. The headstock features Gibson's distinctive \"open book\" shape, something only offered on Japanese-made domestic market Epiphone instruments, as well as a “Gibson”-embossed truss rod cover. The original Kluson-style tuners with lightly greened keystone buttons turn smoothly and hold accurate pitch, and the back of the headstock retains the “Made in Japan” script text and inked serial, dating production to 1998.\n\nThe electronics function as intended, with the Seymour Duncan humbuckers wired to an upgraded wiring harness with USA-made 500K CTS pots and premium Sprague Orange Drop tone caps. Hardware comprises the nickel-plated ABR-1 bridge and stopbar, both of which have a very faint dusting of surface patina. Plastics include a quartet of gold speed knobs, cream pickup rings and switch surround, and a cream single-ply pickguard which exhibits some requisite pick scuffing\n\nThe gloss Goldtop finish is notably well-kept, with cosmetic wear limited to a handful of minor nicks on the lower bout on the back and body perimeter, as well as a scant few faint finish scratches in the clear coat of the gloss on the body as a whole. The gloss finish on the neck profile is flawless.\n\nThe original Epiphone-branded gigbag is included.","brand":"Eiphone","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43725707673856,"sku":"809617","price":1749.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0550\/4437\/4714\/products\/medium_75c1742f-8722-4203-bb9c-ae461ba98983.jpg?v=1751502009","url":"https:\/\/mmguitarbar.com\/products\/1998-epiphone-by-gibson-les-paul-standard-goldtop-w-usa-pickups-japan-fujigen","provider":"Mike \u0026 Mike's Guitar Bar","version":"1.0","type":"link"}