Epiphone

I bought it almost new, its previous owner decided to sell it after playing it only a little. It’s from 2014 (Limited Edition). This guitar’s main asset is its killer look. It cleartly won’t go unnoticed, not even in its rock bag! When you open the rock bag, you find a well-manufactured guitar, really well finished, with no doubtful adjustments and a beautiful mahogany color. Inlays are beautiful, even though I doubt they’re made of genuine mother of pearl. Both necks are equipped with very good-looking ivory-colored bindings. Of course, the myth is heavy to bear, just as the guitar is with its 16 lbs. As far as aesthetics is concerned, it’s a real success and a beautifully-made Korean instrument. A little cons for the hardware and especially the tuners that are not really precise and that will have to be changed (for Schaller ST-6K for instance) Playing it unplugged reveals a rather important sustain (nothing surprising considering the mahogany surface involved), and its balanced overall tone comes as a good surprise. The XII-string neck’s sound already sounds rather massive. You can play it while sitting, the comfort won’t be optimized but you still can manage to play this way if you find the right position. Contradicting what I’d read here or there, there’s no risk selecting something unwillingly with your pick, as the selectors are not that awfully placed. The XII-string neck remains the easier to play, it is higher plus it can be played without being disturbed by the 6-string neck – the same can’t be said of the latter. Here comes the comment to get up, strap the guitar and plug it in an amp. First, strapping it comes with a surprise: the guitar bends forward. Yeah, necks bring weight and the problem with dual necks is that they’e impossible to balance. Playing hence gets even more difficult, as you won’t only have to play the guitar but also to carry it by the neck! No joking around… Of course, carrying it this way during an entire show is not even to be considered. It soon becomes exhausting, even if it’s a real pleasure to play – every second, every note. So, I plugged it into a Boss GT-5 associated to a Roland Jazz Chorus 55, then straight on the JC-55 and also on a Vox Pathfinder 10. It took me some time to find a setting that allowed to take full advantage of the beast and its sounds. Overall, it has a little more trebles and mids compared with bass to my taste. In brief, it spits fire, even with an action set awfully high and pickups set terribly low. On crunch sounds, it’s a real pleasure, blues comes naturally, so does rock of course, the very essence of the 1275. For distorted sounds, like for really, heavy sounds, it works all the same, the humbuckers do their job. It’s time we evoke the switches and pots. So we get 3 switches with 3 positions each, one for each pickup selection and one to select the active neck. Hence, it’s possible in the intermediate position to select both necks. The resounding sound brings a nice little something. However, they don’t sound as loud when both selected as they are then split. Regarding the pots and control knobs, there’s a volume and tone control for eack neck. The outcoming sound is great, the pickups do their job and I must admit this was my main concern regarding this guitar. I tried Stairway, Tangerine, Knocking on heaven's door, Have you ever seen the rain and a few others. It just sounds great. Great sound balance, the “XII” neck brings depth on rhythm sounds, and the 6-string one is great for soloing. After almost 5 hours playing it in 3 days, I can say I’m not disappointed at all to have been able to access such a dream so reasonably priced (the EDS1275 is definitely not). The only cons I could find on this beautiful, limited edition model is its tuners. For the rest, nothing to complain about, the guitar sounds good and it’s not something often seen – or owned. If you manage to find one (used or new – there are still a few here and there) and you feel tempted by it, don’t hesitate, go on and buy it!

This could be a contender. It's well made, very good when amplified and a pleasure to play at any time; it also doesn't break the bank Gibson no longer make Ukuleles... Apart from the fact that Gibson own Epiphone and Epiphone make this particular model of Ukulele. Also as Gibson own Epiphone and this is an Epiphone it means this is a real Les Paul rather than just a Les Paul shape. It even says Les Paul on the headstock. The Epiphone Les Paul comes in two finishes, the Vintage Sunburst, like mine, and the Cherry Sunburst, (when this model was introduced it came with a 3 colour sunburst for both finishes but in 2013 they changed this to a less impressive - to my eye - 2 colour sunburst) The Ukulele itself is very solidly built, (in Indonesia). It feels like you could club baby seals to death with it and then still knock out a tune. The downside of this solidity is it has a very thick sound board and this coupled with the fact it has quite a thin body means it's not very loud acoustically, you can of course put it through an amplifier though and it does do very well when amplified It's also worth changing the strings to get the best out of the sound and I have gone low G with it now which gives it a slightly more Guitar like feel. One thing though, It may say Les Paul, it may even look like a Les Paul but it sounds like a Ukulele. (And if anyone wants to be clever, remember Les Paul did own a number of Ukuleles, he did play them and he was part of Gibson tech team when they made the ETU3 Electric Tenor Ukulele in the late 40's)

My wife gave me money, so I bought this guitar on my birthday at Guitar Center on December 21st, 2007. She jokingly said, just as long as you get a guitar without a Floyd Rose... LOL !!!! I tried out 8 different Epiphone Les Paul Custom guitars, until I got one that felt comfortable and had great tone. I chose the Alpine LPC. This GC employee was quitting and decided to give me a great deal, $ 510.00 with the then top of the line SKB case and told me to leave immediately...LOL !!!! The pickups sounded great, but I wanted something more aggressive, so I dropped in a Dragonfire Screamer Alnico 5 pickup (16.94k ohms), mounted a Wilkinson Roller bridge and a Schaller tailpiece with fine tuners. The original wax potted bridge and neck pickups were rated at 14.20k ohms and the neck pickup was 8.43k ohms. The guitar totally out classed my 1974 Gibson Les Paul Custom, in terms of tone, sustain and playability. The Epiphone LPC action was lowered low and doesn't fret out at all, even when I do two and a half step bends and the Grover tuners still kept things in perfect tune. The fret work was very good and needed minimal work, a tiny bit of file work on the 9th fret. I own many of the top brand guitars ; Gibson, Fender, Jackson, Kramer and Ovation. This Epiphone can stand tall like a Gibson or any of the big brands. Today, Epiphone has added better pickups, better internal wiring and is much closer to Gibson specs, but pre 2019 Epiphone guitars were great modification platforms and are a great value for your hard earned money.

Ok so I just picked up this old Japanese Epiphone really inexpensive here in Bulgaria. It was a mess. Cleaned it up and took it to my Luthier. We replaced the tunig keys with inexpensive replacements from Ebay UK and refretted the instrument. After stringining it with Martinextra lights it sound crappy but was very easy to play. I took it back to the luthier and had hime change the bridge to bone from plastic and went with a heavier set of strings. So all you players having this sound iossue with the bass strings being thin sounding this fixed the problem The guitar plays and sounds like a dream! An excellent inexpensive investment!

This is an older model that I bought in 1995. Made in South Korea in the Samick factory, it has some differences with the current model: dot markers, pickups without covers, black plexiglass knobs, no decorative inlay on the head, "GIBSON" marking on the truss-rod cover. Other than that, it is as much inspired by a '61 SG as the newer models: all mahogany set neck, 22 frets, small plate, Tune-o-matic + stop bar, two humbuckers served by a volume and tone each and a 3-position selector. And a beautiful finish that varies from maroon to carmine red depending on light. UTILIZATION The profile of the neck is quite thin and rounded, and flattens towards the body, which easily accessible high notes, it could even have 2 or 3 more frets. The ergonomics are excellent, no need for a forearm chamfer like a strat because it falls naturally on the "hip" that is bevelled on both sides. The weight is reasonable, but balance is not perfect: it's head heavy. With a strap that "sticks" well and some habit (neck tilted up), it's a no-brainer. SOUNDS Let's say that my style of music is suitable for its sound (rather than the opposite ...). I have completely reworked the wiring, with split humbuckers, series wiring, etc. but I kept the original pick-ups. The sound is very fat, punchy, and not bright at all. This is even more so on the neck pick-up. These pick-ups are loud! In practice I only use the bridge pick-up, dimed. The volume pots are not very progressive, and yet the tone pots muddy the sound by removing all the treble. I discovered fairly recently that a simple wiring modification (50's wiring) makes for a much more usable sound, at the expense of the ability to mix "to zero" the pick-ups in the middle position. I do not know how the current G-400 is wired. Sounds obtained are excellent for any kind of edgy rock and metal-not-too-symphonic, either rhythm or solo at various levels of saturation. In clean and crunch sounds, the blues is yours. It remains in a register fat or dark, never piercing or bright (unless you splits the pick-ups, you gain in treble what you loose in volume). The mahogany and set neck construction provide an impressive sustain. A tendency to feedback at high volume can be a problem on stage. Edit 14/07/2013 : I finally decided to switch pick-ups a few months ago, for a Seymour Duncan kit (SH-4 JB bridge and SH-2N Jazz neck), and i'm rediscovering my guitar! The reason for change was mostly microphonics at high volume. The sound of the bridge PU is not fundamentally different, maybe a bit more defined but none more punchy. A bit better, but it was already good. The the other hand, for the neck PU, Wow! There were treble there, just not picked up by the original device! Lots of subtlety with crunch sound, and always fatness with some gain. Character remains mainly the same, but with wider possibilities thanks to a usable neck pick-up, and more subltl volume pots. I recommand to change at least the neck pick-up if it sounds too muddy for you. OVERALL OPINION I use it for 16 years, this is my first electric guitar. I had not tried anything else, I wanted the guitar of Angus and Tony. Over the years, she took the blows, the frets are pretty worn ... but it still sounds! It is still my # 1 guitar. (Edit 2013 : it must now face the competition of its compatriot PRS SE ...) I love the profile of the neck, not too thin nor too large for my small hands, the general shape which is very ergonomic and the versatility gained by electronic mods I added. With experience, of course I would do the same choice ... most of my experience is based on that choice. However, the Epiphone productions have evolved, the average value as well, and my wallet too. If it catches fire, I might replace with a Gibson ...

(Originally written by wesmuler/translated from Audiofanzine FR) Guitar made in Korea. 20 frets, floating pickup. Very nice looking floating bridge that matches the guitar's look perfectly. UTILIZATION Very ergonomic neck. Pleasant. Ergonomic guitar. It's a real jazz guitar. Everything is good: shape, looks and sound. It's quite surprising considering the price. The small floating pickup does its job pretty well. The size of the body reminds me of some older Gibson models. SOUNDS This instrument is perfect for jazz (Wes Montgommery, Joe Pass, Georges Benson). However, people must stop thinking that the sound depends solely on the guitar! THE GUITARIST MUST ALSO BE CAPABLE... The sound is round regardless of the style. OVERALL OPINION I've been using this guitar for two months. I own six other jazz guitars with different prices. This is one of my favorites. It has everything a great guitar has... it is a great guitar. I recommend it. But watch out for models made in Indonesia (the last series), like some Joe Pass Emperors. Buy an older model.

The Epiphone Dot Studio is a clone of the classic Gibson ES-335 Semi-Hollowbody electric guitar. It has a mahogany top, back, sides, and a set in place neck. The neck is maple with a rosewood fretboard. It has two Vintage Alnico V plus pickups and a 3 way selector switch with a tone knob, and a volume knob. I believe they are made in the USA, though I could be wrong. It has 22 jumbo sized frets and a 12" fingerboard radius. The guitar is light and fast and very smooth to play, and really great looking. The finish is great and I love the brown woody look. UTILIZATION The guitar is a great play, and has a great range of tones. It's comfortable to wear, and doesn't weigh too much. Feels good on the shoulders and is comfortable to sit with. The sounds range from mellow and subdues to sharp and bluesy. It's great for hard rock, jazz, or acoustic sounds too. The neck is nice and fast and feels really good, and the frets are all perfect. It's a real treat to play, and I just love the action on it. SOUNDS The Dot Studio sounds great clean or distorted, and offers a wide plethora of sounds to pick from. I can get a good clean 80's shimmer with some reverb and chorus, or I can get a nice crunchy modern rock sound with a distortion pedal. It's also great for jazz with a nice smooth, mellow tone that's very even across it's frequency range. OVERALL OPINION Overall, the Dot Studio is an awesome option for someone who wants a good guitar and doesn't want to shell out. The 335 looks and vibe rock, and the sounds are sweet. It's great to perform with and gives a nice classy look on stage. It's comfortable, affordable, and an all around great guitar.

The Epiphone DR-100 (Ebony) is a 6 string guitar that has a spruce top and it is mahogany on the sides and back. The fret board is rosewood and the neck is mahogany as well. You can actually purchase this guitar in Natural, Vintage Burst and Mahogany at the same exact price so it comes down to personal preference as far as the color goes. UTILIZATION This guitar is very affordable costing less than 100 dollars and most guitars that I have ever used in this price range are pretty cheaply made and more “toy like” but this DR-100 is the opposite of that. It is built very well to be in this price range the tone is bright and has a lot of energy to it. I would suggest that this guitar is more for the first time user, but the build does not make it feel like a “cheaper” acoustic. SOUNDS This guitar does not come with a case, so that is something to take into consideration before purchasing. There are 20 frets and it has a slime taper neck shape. There are 6 strings and it comes with a tuner. I had this guitar for a while before selling it because I didn’t use it anymore. I sold it to a first time learning musician who wanted something to learn with and I suggested this because of the price and tone. OVERALL OPINION The tone of this guitar is very good for this price range and I would say it should be the main selling point of it. Most people would think the Ebony finish would be the selling point but I say listen to it first before you make a decision. If you can go down to your local store and mess around with it you will hear just how great it sounds and you will want to add it to your collection.

When my boss's old epiphone mandolin finally became so fragile that it could no longer be used on tour, we acquired a new Epiphone MM-50E to fill the void left by an instrument that had served him well for many years. The MM-50E is naturally finished out of Sitka Spruce, with a maple neck, and simple appointments such as cream binding on the neck, headstock and body, and a beautiful ornamental inlay in the headstock. It boasts 23 frets set into 14 inch scale rosewood with simple dot inlays, and a 1.06 wide genuine bone nut. Hardware is simple but elegant, comprised of vintage-style inline tuners with pearloid buttons, adjustable rosewood bridge, and chrome-finished string anchors with snap-off cover. amplification is provided courtesy of a NanoMAG pickguard-style pickup and preamp system, with individual volume, bass, and treble controls. Individual string output levels are controlled via miniature trim pots on the pickguard. UTILIZATION Right out of the box, the MM-50E plays decently well. This one required a setup, but most of them do. String spacing is comfortable, unlike cheaper mandolins, which can have their strings too closely spaced. The Nut was adequately cut and polished, allowing the mandolin to be properly intonated throughout the length of the scale, and allowing string vibration to resonante sufficiently throughout the instrument. It's also worthy to note that one should buy a specialized jack-tightening tool, as accessing the inside of the Mandolin is virtually impossible. The jack tends to come loose from time to time, and tightening it with a standard wrench can cause the jack to turn, to the point of breaking the wiring inside, and then you're truly screwed. Stewmac sells several models of these jack tighteners that prevent this from happening. SOUNDS The MM-50E plays decently well unplugged, but most people purchase it for its amplified capabilities, which is where the NanoMAG pickup comes under scrutiny. The individual controls for Bass, Treble, and Volume are quite nice on the NanoMAG. However, we typically leave them wide open and control EQ and volume through an LR Baggs Para-Acoustic DI unit, which works beautifully. Physically, the pickup portion of the NanoMAG is poorly designed, using a threaded wheel to support one end of the pickup, and raise or lower its height. I found that very little adjustment was capable without the wheel coming off completely, and having to be carefully re-attached. Another issue with the NanoMAG pickup is noise. It generates buzz and hum in the upper frequencies that is nearly impossible to completely eliminate, so our FOH engineer tries to gate it off as best he can. I would elect to bypass the EQ/Preamp circuit of the NanoMAG if I could, as I suspect this has a lot to do with it the noise. When properly set up, the MM-50E produces a nice, full, rich sound through the sound system, with good note separation and warmth. OVERALL OPINION The Epiphone MM-50E is a reasonably professional instrument, and has served us well on tour for over a year now. It hasn't been without its issues (such as the noted pickup problems), but we've been able to deal with them. It's unfair to compare the instrument to vintage or high-end mandolins, but for a modern, production model mando, it is a very good instrument, nicer than most Fender or Ovations I've played. Perhaps in the future Epiphone can improve on their pickup system.

SPECIFICATIONS Body mahogany Top maple Neck mahogany Neck Joint Bolt-on; Tapered Heel; 4 bolt recessed Scale 24.75 Nut Width 1.68” Fingerboard rosewood with Dot Inlays Fingerboard Radius 12” Pickups 700T Humbucker (bridge) 650R (neck) Controls 2-Volume, 2-Tone Tailpiece LockTone™ Tune-o-matic Hardware Nickel Color ebony (EB), Heritage Cherry Sunburst (HS), Vintage Sunburst (VS) (Left-handed HS) UTILIZATION This is a Les Paul in name only. I remember Les Paul being furious with Gibson for changing his signature model to the SG shape starting in 1960-61. He was so mad that he told them to take his name off of the guitar. With a guitar as nice as the SG, if Les Paul wanted his name off of it, why would he stand for it being put on something like this cheapo from Epiphone? The Les Paul 100 is a bit of a junker, to be blunt. It is hard to get a great setup on, meaning beginners will have to press harder, and for many of them this is discouraging. The body looks neat, until viewed up close - the guitar I tried had some small but noticeable finish imperfections in it. The fact that it is a bolt on does not help. SOUNDS Here's the real stinger - the pickups sound awful. They function, so it's not like the guitar does nothing. But the sounds it does make are extremely thin, with no definition, especially at high-gain scenarios. The pickups just have this dull blandness I couldn't shake, no matter how I set up the controls on the guitar or amp. OVERALL OPINION This is just a throwaway guitar, honestly. It would be a decent prop for a music video, as long as the camera wasn't HD or zoomed in too close. It really is that bad - if I were on a super tight budget, I'd try to look elsewhere, like an Ibanez. If the classic styling is that important to you, just save up for an Epiphone Les Paul Standard - you'll thank me.

The Epiphone FT-79 Texan is a dreadnought style acoustic guitar from the 1960's. I believe the Texan guitars were made as early as the 1950's, but the particular one that I've used was from the mid 60's. The guitar is only acoustic as it's doesn't have any pick ups or electronics. This guitar is basically Epiphone's model of the J series acoustic guitars from Gibson, although I believe that this is from before Gibson and Epiphone were one. I don't know where the guitar was made nor the materials it's composed of... UTILIZATION The feel of the Epiphone FT-79 Texan is really something special. It's a super easy guitar to play as it's got that special fluid feel that's much like that of the Gibson acoustics from the same era. Since there are no electronics to play with, there's nothing you need to know beyond it's playability, which is really stellar. They don't make too many acoustic guitars that are more enjoyable to play. SOUNDS The sound of the Epiphone FT-79 Texan follows suit with it's feel, as it's got a full bodied sound that sounds incredible when recorded. It sounds much like many of the Gibson model guitars from the same era, which are also some of my favorites. While I don't prefer this to something like a J-50, it's still an incredible sound and at a certain point it becomes about personal preference more than anything. The FT-79 is a classic guitar and has been used on countless recordings over the years, so it can definitely treat you just as well. OVERALL OPINION The Epiphone FT-79 Texan is pretty hard to find at this point, but they are out there to be had for sure. Of course it will cost you a pretty penny to acquire one of these, but that's going to be the case no matter what when you're looking at top tier acoustic guitars. I don't think I'd go with the FT-79 if I were to buy any acoustic guitar, but I wouldn't be surprised if there were some people who would! Simply a stellar guitar that any player would love to have or even try.

The Epiphone SST Classic 1.75 is a nylon string acoustic/electric guitar. The 1.75" amount refers to the width of the nut, and therefore the width of the neck itself. There's also a 2" version that's the same price - this is just a matter of personal preference, but it's worth trying both sizes if possible. The guitar has a Shadow NanoFlex pick up inside of it that is controllable with the outboard panel of settings for it. The body of the guitar is made from chambered mahogany, while the neck is rosewood. UTILIZATION The feel of the Epiphone SST Classic 1.75 is quite good as the guitar is easily playable. I don't know exactly how it compares to the 2" nut version, but I would imagine that both are within the same ballpark. When plugged in, the sound of the guitar is easily controlled with the outboard panel which includes EQ and volume control. SOUNDS The sound of the Epiphone SST Classic 1.75 is actually pretty good as it certainly sounds like a nylon string guitar and a good one at that. It's not the best nylon string guitar I've heard or played before by a long shot, but it does sound good and would be suitable for recording or otherwise. The owner of the studio I work at has one of these at his home studio but he brought it by a few months ago and left it in the studio. I've done a little bit of recording with it and have definitely been happy with the sounds I've been getting from it. OVERALL OPINION In my opinion, the Epiphone SST Classic 1.75 is a very solid nylon string guitar for the price. It's perfect for the guitar player who might want this kind of sound every now and again, but doesn't use it all the time and perhaps only for recording purposes. It can definitely be nice to throw in a nylon string guitar sound once in a while, and the SST Classic is perfect for this kind of use since it's fairly inexpensive but is still a good instrument...