So I was given this guitar from my friend, it says it's a epiphone les Paul custom, it looks like a SG to me, unless les Paul's have double cut aways. Anyways, it has three pick ups and I have no idea what those are or why I have 3, and then there are 4 knobs that I don't really know what to do with either. 3 knobs say volume, and the last one says tone. If any one could help me figure more about my guitar and how to set it up. That would be great!! Thank you!
The Les Paul was introduced in 1952. In 1958 Gibson introduced the "Les Paul Special", which was renamed the SG in 1959. With re-issues and whatnot, that SG style has been marketed several times as a "Les Paul Special - double cut"
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Without seeing a picture, one can only guess. How are the pickups placed on your guitar? Do you have a bridge pickup, a neck pickup and one in between? Is it possible one is a humbucking (dual, reverse coiled) and the other a single coil?
If you don't have a pickup selector switch on your guitar, this would make the four knobs sensible: a volume and tone control for each pickup.
A quick search suggests the only three-pickup Les Paul ever made by Epiphone was the "Black Beauty." And it had the tradiitonal single cutaway. There is a three-pickup Epiphone that matches your basic description, the G-400 Custom. Might this be the one?
Duke Ellington said it best: "If it sounds good, it IS good!"
