Lepsky Guitars

Lepsky Guitars is a custom electric-guitar builder based in Krasnodar, Russia. The name comes from Evgeny Lepsky, and the workshop dates its guitar building to 2009. Its range includes six- and seven-string instruments, traditional-looking models, and extended-scale guitars with a more modern shape.

The models give you a starting point. Woods, pickups, bridges, finishes and other details can change with the build. So two guitars with the same Lepsky model name may have quite different specifications.

The builder

Evgeny was posting his work on the Russian GuitarPlayer forum by October 2010, introducing himself as a guitar maker and directing readers to photographs and sound samples on his website. That old thread is a useful record of the name before the current catalog. It includes links to earlier instruments called Spirit, Spirit of Saturnus and Sirius.

The workshop now presents its instruments through model pages, a completed-guitar gallery and a Custom Shop section. The gallery is worth keeping alongside the specifications. The model page describes the available choices; a finished instrument shows which of those choices someone actually made.

The models

S Model and T Model cover the more familiar side of the range. The catalog also lists a ModernTele. These sit alongside the more pointed, sculpted instruments that tend to appear in Lepsky's heavier playing demonstrations.

F Model is a 24-fret, bolt-on design with a 25.5-inch scale. The published specification lists an alder body as the starting point, with other body and fingerboard woods available. Pickup layouts range from three single coils to combinations of single coils and humbuckers. Gotoh tremolos and hardtail bridges are among the options. It is a useful model to look at if you want to see how widely the shop varies a familiar double-cutaway format.

Dominator takes the range toward slimmer necks and extended-range setups. Its specification lists a five-piece neck, a 16-inch fingerboard radius and 24 stainless-steel frets. Six-string versions use a 25.5-inch scale; listed seven-string choices include 25.5 inches, 27 inches and a 25.5-to-27-inch multiscale. Both bolt-on and neck-through construction are listed. Those are options in the model family, rather than features every Dominator shares.

Gravity has a curved top. Element uses a flat top with bevels. Their specification pages share several neck and hardware choices, but the body treatment is a straightforward way to tell them apart. The Custom Shop also lists Element T versions and separate six- and seven-string builds.

Pickups and hardware

Lepsky's specification pages list Russian pickup makers ARB and Fokin alongside Seymour Duncan, DiMarzio and Bare Knuckle. Depending on the model, the hardware choices include Gotoh tremolos, locking tuners and fixed bridges. Controls and pickup switching can also vary.

There is a useful outside reference in Guitar Magazine's 2022 interview with Japanese distributor Sleek Elite. The instrument discussed there was a Gravity 6 with ARB pickups and a Schaller Hannes bridge. That documents one configuration, rather than establishing a permanent specification for every Gravity.

Players

Shokran guitarist Dmitry Demyanenko is listed among Lepsky's artists. His artist page shows an Element 7 Multiscale DD. He is one connection to the brand, alongside players using its S, F, Dominator and other Element builds.

See the instruments

Lepsky's own S Model demonstration gives another view of the range. Watch the Lepsky S Model video, or browse the workshop's completed-guitar gallery.

Builder details

• Builder: Evgeny Lepsky
• Location: Krasnodar, Russia
• Guitar building since: 2009, according to the workshop
• Website: lepskyguitars.com
• Model reference: Guitars and Custom Shop

Sources

Lepsky; early builder thread; F Model; Dominator; Gravity; Element; Dmitry Demyanenko; Guitar Magazine's Sleek Elite interview, March 16, 2022; builder directory.