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MGR/Martin Richardson « Epiphone Special II »
Published on 10/05/04 at 15:00Christmas was coming around and my good friend(almost like a big brother) had gotten me interested in guitars by letting me borrow one of his and learning on that. the main thing i learned was that i had to have one of my own. it was a custom ibanez rg w/ tremelo, sd pickups, etc. it was good to learn on and taught me what i liked in guitars, i learned to love the humbucker(an invader) in the bridge position, and at the time and musical taste, hate the tremelo. it just got in the way and i didn't need it. so i went looking around at entry level guitars in packages. after countless hours online the Special II had came across my eyes and seemed to fit the bill. i went down to the local Guitar Center and had a look at everything with my dad, and ended up with the Special II package(amp, strap, cord, etc.) and a guitar stand for $220 out the door.
The Special II has some pretty awesome pickups for being stock on a lower end guitar. the pickups look almost identical of a SD Jazz(neck) and a JB(bridge) minus the Seymour Duncan text and probably sound very similar. the tune-o-matic bridge makes tuning very stable and offers a lot of sustain. it sounds very good for punk, rock, jazz/blues, etc. i can get some really clean tones out of it in the 2nd and 3rd positions and a lot of different distortion tones in the bridge, bright or dark(but not exactly muddy). action is good, and the cosmetics are also very appealing w/ chrome hardware on a black guitar(and from what my friends have said, it looks very good on me). its a nice basic guitar that can still impress the ladies.
the les paul shape is not as comfortable as the strat shape when sitting and you need to be careful when standing up as the strap tends to want to slip off near the neck(strap locks can fix this). theres some buzzing every once in a while and the tuners aren't great(but what do you expect from such a cheap guitar). the neck is not thin, which makes it somewhat difficult to play faster stuff if you have smaller hands. its a bit heavy for a beginner and my shoulder tends to hurt when standing with it for more than 20 minutes(maybe if my strap just had more padding). the gold text on the head stock and on the 3 way switch doesn't look good on a guitar with a black and chrome scheme, kinda tacky.
seems to have lasted pretty good, no problems so far in the 10 months i've had it.
its a great beginner guitar and if you wanted to truly make it your own by adding pickups, tuners, etc. it could be even better and a lot of fun. now that i've played more(and more guitars) i realize that i want a strat shape more right now with a trem setter(to help with stability, or a stringthru like a schecter) and will probably sell the Special II. its a great guitar and i really want to keep it but i'll always remember it and would definitely advise any player to add a les paul style guitar(even this inexpensive one) to their arsenal. i know i will definitely want another les paul and will get one when i can.
This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com
The Special II has some pretty awesome pickups for being stock on a lower end guitar. the pickups look almost identical of a SD Jazz(neck) and a JB(bridge) minus the Seymour Duncan text and probably sound very similar. the tune-o-matic bridge makes tuning very stable and offers a lot of sustain. it sounds very good for punk, rock, jazz/blues, etc. i can get some really clean tones out of it in the 2nd and 3rd positions and a lot of different distortion tones in the bridge, bright or dark(but not exactly muddy). action is good, and the cosmetics are also very appealing w/ chrome hardware on a black guitar(and from what my friends have said, it looks very good on me). its a nice basic guitar that can still impress the ladies.
the les paul shape is not as comfortable as the strat shape when sitting and you need to be careful when standing up as the strap tends to want to slip off near the neck(strap locks can fix this). theres some buzzing every once in a while and the tuners aren't great(but what do you expect from such a cheap guitar). the neck is not thin, which makes it somewhat difficult to play faster stuff if you have smaller hands. its a bit heavy for a beginner and my shoulder tends to hurt when standing with it for more than 20 minutes(maybe if my strap just had more padding). the gold text on the head stock and on the 3 way switch doesn't look good on a guitar with a black and chrome scheme, kinda tacky.
seems to have lasted pretty good, no problems so far in the 10 months i've had it.
its a great beginner guitar and if you wanted to truly make it your own by adding pickups, tuners, etc. it could be even better and a lot of fun. now that i've played more(and more guitars) i realize that i want a strat shape more right now with a trem setter(to help with stability, or a stringthru like a schecter) and will probably sell the Special II. its a great guitar and i really want to keep it but i'll always remember it and would definitely advise any player to add a les paul style guitar(even this inexpensive one) to their arsenal. i know i will definitely want another les paul and will get one when i can.
This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com