El Degas Guitars - Thoughts and opinions . . .

[YellowJacket]

Hey,
I've been talking to this 17 year old boy who has been playing guitar pretty seriously (He bought my Gibson electronics off of me and I helped him install them in a Douglas Les Paul copy. The wood on that thing was so terrible that I was able to resize the holes in the body for the bigger pots with scissors =-o rather than a drill bit) . His folks don't support him in his music and he has basically been buying budget gear, saying he can't afford an Epiphone. He said he really wants an El Degas Les Paul copy, but I have absolutely no idea about these instruments or if they are even worth $$$s. He wants to trade his Barracuda SG, a Samick, and $150 to get one. I was wondering if anyone knows anything about them and can offer some advice. I'm tempted to tell him to save his $$$s.

 

[DaveBorn2Rock]

I don't know about el degas but I've heard good things about the Agile LP copies.

 

[YellowJacket]

I tried the guitar: An El Degas custom. It basically plays like a good epiphone and sounds better since the owner dropped my Burstbucker Pro pups in it. All the epis that were in the $800 - $960 ranger were pretty comparable to this guitar in terms of playability while the El Degas had better clarity and note separation, probably because of the Gibson electronics in it. We AB'd it next to a Gibson LP Studio and the Studio had a better neck but the tone was pretty similar, with the Studio being slightly more muffled or muted. The Salesman was flapping on about how the Epiphones would be better because of wood quality and electronics, something that cracks me up because of 'budget guitar' etc etc. OH well, not a bad buy for $350.