« Epiphone Dot »

Although I have played mostly solid body electrics,I have always lusted for the archtop and especially the Gibson ES355,this probably stems from my early rockabilly roots.Unfortunately I could never afford the original so I finally opted for the next best thing the Epiphone Dot and I have never regretted that decision. Through a lot of searching I managed to purchase a brand new unit in a natural finish from an EBay seller for $320, a far cry I must say from the expensive Gibson.

I really like this guitar. The finish is flawless, it has a silky smooth neck and the all around playability is comparable to much more costly instruments. The pickups although not vintage humbuckers are quite responsive and played through a processor are capable of just about any guitar sound, best of all they are whisper quiet. For an extra 50 bucks I managed to squeeze an original hardshell case with the epi logo out of the seller and again the quality is excellent. I have heard some complaints about the tuners and pickups on this guitar, but as far as I am concerned the tuners on the model I have are quite smooth and responsive as are the pickups. Frankly I wouldn't change a thing

There is not a lot to dislike about this guitar, but if I had to be nitpicky I would say it is a rather heavy instrument and a bit unbalanced, making it somewhat tiring to play when standing for any length of time and awkward to hold in ones lap because the lower bout seems heavier than the upper one, I suspect though that this complaint could be lodged against most brands with similar models.In addition to the weight, the attached logo on the pickguard keeps falling off, which begs the question of why it wasn't stamped on in the first place.These minor annoyances aside I would reiterate again that for the quality and price its hard to beat the Epiphone

I have had this instrument long enough to examine it very closely and with the exception of the pickguard logo, from my observations I cannot find a flaw anywhere in the finish or fit up. In my opinion, for the price paid, the quality of this instrument is second to none

I have grown very attached to this guitar and there is no way I would go back to a solid body. There is something magic about the feel and sound of a hollowbody guitar and one that words cannot descibe you just have to experience it first hand, and the Epiphone Dot is a good place to start

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com