Razz Posted April 22, 2014 Share Posted April 22, 2014 New member, glad to be here! About 10 years ago got GAS for a 335, and after reading a lot of online reviews regarding qc issues with Gibson and the potential with a few upgrades to have an excellent guitar, opted for an '00 Epi Dot natural. Changed out the stock tuners for Grovers and stuck a BB Pro in the bridge position. Nice playing nice sounding guitar, played out with it a few times, but mainly used it as my "sittin on the couch watching tv guitar" because as you know, these Dots sound awesome unplugged as well. For the most part though, my #1's have been Gibson solid bodies for gigs. Fast forward to about 6 weeks ago...got the GAS again (from reading all these threads) and so stop in at a second hand store I've been dealing with for 20 years or so. No money, just wanna look around and see what he's got. Didn't know if he'd remember me, been about 7 years since I'd last been in, but sho nuff he did. Anyways, I look around for a bit, see a few good 'uns, a les paul studio I kinda liked etc. and he asks me "you still have that guitar I sold ya back when..." Now this particular guitar was a Gibson RD Artist I'd gotten from him back in '96, how he still remembered that I don't know. So, yea I still have it, and he says he'd trade even for that LP studio. Well, in the almost 20 years I'd had it I had done some terrible things to it, gutted that crap circuit board and active pups, sanded it and "refinished" it with spray paint, never did find any pups that sounded good to me in it and it was basically a project that I never finished. All of this I tell him and he says it's probably still worth enough for the LP. So I'm thinking, cool, I'll take something that's been taking up space in my closet and get something I'll actually use. I return the next day, guitar in tow. I open the case and he says " oh man I misunderstood I thought it was in better shape than this" pretty much just the body and tuners are all that's left. " I couldn't go an even trade for the LP but if you threw in another $150..." Like I said before, no money. I wasn't heartbroken, the LP was ok but I wasn't head over heels for it. So he goes over to the guitar wall starts pointing all the ones he would trade even for. As he's clicking 'em off my minds going " no...nah...unh unh..." You know how it is. Then as he gets to the end of the line, the last two he points out are an Epi 339 and a beautiful wine red '03 Dot Deluxe (you see where this is going? FINALLY gettin to the good part). I take the Dot down and play for awhile, I always base my critique of a guitar on how it feels and sounds unplugged, how it fits in my hand, how it resonates against my body, always taking into account that once I get my strings on it and tweak one or two things that it will improve. The action is perfect, frets and everything else looks very nice. It's got some serious mojo on it, the previous owner obviously played the $&!t out of it, and from the way it's set up knew a thing or two about getting the most out of it. I'm really liking this, but in the interest of variety I hang it back up and take down the 339. No offense to 339 lovers, but after 10 minutes or so of the Dot Deluxe this just wasn't cutting it for me, not even close. So I get the Dot back down and pick around a few more minutes and then hang her back up. I tell the guy "the Dot's pretty cool..." " you mean the Dot Deluxe?" Yea, that one. Bada bing I'm out the door with her and on my way home. Now admittedly I was still a tiny bit of a brand snob, had wanted to walk out with a Gibson, but figured if nothing else I've got another cool Dot to sit on the couch with. Get her home, strung up, cleaned up, running her thru my rig, she's sounding really good, I mean real sweet. Take her along with my '07 VM LP to practice, play the LP for about an hour then switch to the Dot. Soon as I pull her out all in attendance are oohing an awwing over her good looks (isn't it cool how non players couldn't care less about what name is on the headstock?). Plug her in...and there it is!!! That tone I'd been craving and searching for since time began! Warm, round, with just enough mids to keep me interested. Wow! The tone compliments come rolling in...how much more note definition is coming thru etc. So, long (very long) story short, the '03 Dot Deluxe Flametop usurped the '07 VM LP and became my #1 go to guitar and I couldn't be happier! Now I wanna fill my house with Dots! All hail Epiphone! Thanks so much for reading my epic post, it's so nice to be on a forum with people that obsess about guitars amps and pedals as much or more than myself! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Razz Posted April 22, 2014 Author Share Posted April 22, 2014 Ps the stock pups sound great! I feel like such a rebel haha Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Razz Posted April 22, 2014 Author Share Posted April 22, 2014 Thanks Midtowner! I did open a photobucket account but am still trying to figure out the actual pic posting procedure, but wanna get some up ASAP Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vomer Posted April 22, 2014 Share Posted April 22, 2014 Welcome Razz, good story, glad to hear you found 'the one'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Razz Posted April 22, 2014 Author Share Posted April 22, 2014 Upload from your PC to photobucket, then copy the code, it is the lowest of the four codes.... I've been doing all this from my phone, will that work? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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