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Hatsubai « Signature model by Epiphone »
Published on 07/07/11 at 19:01Zakk Wylde has been one of Gibson's more famous artists. He's had tons of different signature models throughout the years, but this is Epiphone's take on his most famous model. It has a mahogany body with a maple top, a set maple neck with a rosewood fretboard and trapezoid inlays, 22 frets, binding all around, tune-o-matic bridge, two humbuckers, two volumes, two tones and a three way switch.
UTILIZATION
The first thing you always notice with this guitar is that it has a pretty outrageous paintjob. The paintjob on this was surprisingly almost as good as the actual Gibson version. I saw a few bleed marks, but they were extremely minor, and you'd really have to take a lot of time to look for them. The fretwork on this guitar was iffy. There were some low frets that needed attention, and you start to notice it once you lower the action. The nut was cut decently, so that wasn't a huge deal. Aside from that, it's basically a standard Les Paul.
SOUNDS
The guitar didn't sound as good as the original version, and there are a few reasons for that. First of all, these are EMG HZ pickups. The HZ pickups are passive pickups that don't really sound like a real EMG. I believe Alexi Laiho uses these, but they're really not the best pickups out there, IMO. The bridge pickup did sound similar to an EMG 81, but the neck pickup wasn't really my thing for whatever reason. If you convert these to real EMGs, be sure to disconnect the bridge ground.
OVERALL OPINION
The guitar could use a pickup swap and an ebony fretboard. Aside from that, it's pretty close to the original one. Considering that the actual Zakk Wylde costs a fortune, this could be a decent alternative. However, pay attention to things like fretwork and how nicely the nut is cut. Play a few and see how you like them.
UTILIZATION
The first thing you always notice with this guitar is that it has a pretty outrageous paintjob. The paintjob on this was surprisingly almost as good as the actual Gibson version. I saw a few bleed marks, but they were extremely minor, and you'd really have to take a lot of time to look for them. The fretwork on this guitar was iffy. There were some low frets that needed attention, and you start to notice it once you lower the action. The nut was cut decently, so that wasn't a huge deal. Aside from that, it's basically a standard Les Paul.
SOUNDS
The guitar didn't sound as good as the original version, and there are a few reasons for that. First of all, these are EMG HZ pickups. The HZ pickups are passive pickups that don't really sound like a real EMG. I believe Alexi Laiho uses these, but they're really not the best pickups out there, IMO. The bridge pickup did sound similar to an EMG 81, but the neck pickup wasn't really my thing for whatever reason. If you convert these to real EMGs, be sure to disconnect the bridge ground.
OVERALL OPINION
The guitar could use a pickup swap and an ebony fretboard. Aside from that, it's pretty close to the original one. Considering that the actual Zakk Wylde costs a fortune, this could be a decent alternative. However, pay attention to things like fretwork and how nicely the nut is cut. Play a few and see how you like them.