agradeleous Posted September 24, 2014 Share Posted September 24, 2014 Well I said I was on the hunt and I was not kidding I put out feelers to Epiphone via a friend on with connections , Canada , England /Scotland and Germany I was digging everyday since I posted on the other EF500Ra thread by Nyghthawk I also started looking at Blueridge , Eastman , Guild , and Recording king I went back and forth so much my head was spinning I really like the Adirondack rosewood body combo with ebony fret boards but man the price started going up again . I almost settled for the guild F-130rce which got good reviews and was today anyway I went back to digging ... you folks realize that Google puts use in a search bubble that makes hard to get all the info that really out there . Ok so long story short many many pages in like I have done before and it's tedious becuase of all the hopeful hits that don't say how old or long ago it was posted . Ok so after a time switching to the cell phone and couch cushion another place to try ok here we go click ok ..... click ok there it is ok .... add to cart ... Hmmmmm .... no sold or no longer available messages add to cart click ! HOLY Epiphone batman it did not work I don't know why not smart phone friendly so I called and asked you folks got this ? ..... after a bit Yup we do .. Yaaaaaaaaaay ! you see there was just one picture and it was blurry and no info about the guitar so I calling was the thing to do and it paid off so it's on the way here some pick they took . I asked for neck check I'm anal about necks and wavy fret boards said looks new and neck and all is great . So we'll see have 48hrs to return or I can always resell it other wise but I hope it works out . comes with a case to Yaaaay ! Now after looking at the pics I do see something that makes me wonder it looks as though the serial number is blacked out wonder why that would be ? I must find out asap ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nyghthawk Posted September 24, 2014 Share Posted September 24, 2014 That's not a black out. Refurbished. My DR 500mce's looks just like that from about 3 ft away. On the other hand, I am really happy with my guitar so that not necessarily a bad thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
agradeleous Posted September 24, 2014 Author Share Posted September 24, 2014 That's not a black out. Refurbished. My DR 500mce's looks just like that from about 3 ft away. On the other hand, I am really happy with my guitar so that not necessarily a bad thing. Well ... Yup your right ! I just called up CO and asked about it he said it was MIRC thingy where the Epiphone sells it to them and some in need of repairs or what ever but can't be sold as new so have to put another serial number on it. I seen more of this on Ebay and mostly for minor issues . what do have confrimed and it very well be the issue for it going to MIRC is the abalone around the neck in the pic it looks a little narrow and sure enough it is but it's uniform so I'm not concerned about it as for the rest of the guitar he said it's a new as can be so that's cool even looks like there's still plastic on the truss rod cover screws so I tend to believe it was not privet owned. Scott the sales guy did say it was brought in by a another shop closing up and they had guitars from MIRC . He also said it sometimes is a better thing coming from MIRC but I'd need more reasoning to help get a good warm fuzzy feeling LMAO. so all good for now just tap tap tap goes the waiting for it arrive LOL OH I love my DR500mce as well I thing I have pics here somewhere I think . Her sound is really taking shape and I just put on the Enriball aluminum bronze for the first time still evaluating ..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cougar Posted September 25, 2014 Share Posted September 25, 2014 I seen more of this on Ebay and mostly for minor issues . Yes, I imagine that's going to be one fine instrument, regardless of its refurbishness, which is usually some minor cosmetic flaw or something, as you say. By the way, with google you can search, for example, " site:craigslist.org Epiphone EF500RA " and that should give you any out there on craigslist anywhere in the country. It shows there's currently one in Reno put up 5 days ago, but it looks like they stained the top blue or something. Weird. so all good for now just tap tap tap goes the waiting for it arrive LOL Isn't that part of the excitement? The anticipation.... :) OH I love my DR500mce as well I thing I have pics here somewhere I think . Her sound is really taking shape and I just put on the Enriball aluminum bronze for the first time still evaluating ..... Be prepared that the 1.75" nut width on the RA is going to feel different than the 1.68 on the DR.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cougar Posted September 25, 2014 Share Posted September 25, 2014 Where the heck are you anyway, Agradeleous? You have an interesting accent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cougar Posted September 25, 2014 Share Posted September 25, 2014 I seen more of this on Ebay and mostly for minor issues... Almost all the IB64 Texans available on ebay are "seller refurbished." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
agradeleous Posted September 26, 2014 Author Share Posted September 26, 2014 Hey all , Cougar :) where am I at or from ?lol . The trail starts at upstate NY runs down to WPB Florida then ends up here in Salisbury NC. Should I have stayed ? Yup met my wife and have the best son ever ! Lol now we can move bwahahaha ..... The wide neck huh ? Been waiting for that I have short fat fingers that narrow spacings hate ! If you have heard my music finger picking is mostly what I do er ... As of late.:) After all my years of playing that's one thing I never caught on to was the wider neck Doh! I was a closet guitarist way to long before getting out into the real world lol .I'm still a closet guitarist just get out more hahaha .... Yourself? Where you from or at ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cougar Posted September 26, 2014 Share Posted September 26, 2014 ...ends up here in Salisbury NC... Yup met my wife... Haha. I'm from L.A. area. Met my wife online, like, 15 years ago. Moved to the Wild West theocracy of Utah where nearly everybody carries a concealed weapon. We're card-carrying members of the counterculture. The wide neck huh ? Been waiting for that I have short fat fingers that narrow spacings hate ! Ah, you're going to like it then. I was a closet guitarist way to long before getting out into the real world lol . My playing has moved from the closet into the living room. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
agradeleous Posted September 26, 2014 Author Share Posted September 26, 2014 Living room music is awesome how about some audio ? I wanna hear what ya play :) Hey tried your link on how to search the EF it came up with one EF and only one search page the EF was 675 firm . This on the phone so ..... But no other pages to search . That's the bubble Google puts in ,your search will reveil different results then mine .:( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
agradeleous Posted October 1, 2014 Author Share Posted October 1, 2014 Ah well .. I got the guitar just 2 hrs ago and well folks sad to say I'm returning it the sad part is I'm out 120 in shipping :( I'm just to anal about fit and finish so back she goes . I also am not sold on the sound but that could me not used to the body style other then she plays good v neck .. What ? never noticed it from the dr500 to the ef I never noticed the difference . the wide neck is great for me sad to let her go back but really it's not worth that much money to me for the poor QC . So I send her off tomorrow . Issues I noted 1) inlay around the neck and body joint . I guess the top was cut to narrow to fit the neck so the inlay suffered ... but I knew that before hand . 2) body and neck joint where the sides round the upper bout and join the neck it seemed they offset the sides seem to tapper in on the top and they do not match up good enough for me on the other side. It has a kind of set in look this would explain the next issue . 3) the backs bracing is not perpendicular to the neck alignment . Same issue I had with the one of Chinese DR500mce I rejected. 4) Back braces extend into the edge/side of the guitar body enough to see light coming in from two of them. the price I paid was 545.00 + 60 bucks on shipping. Not that anyone would be interested but if you feel this unit is worth something to you let me know asap as I have to send it back tomorrow. You can have it for 485.00 + shipping I forgot it has the original soft sided hard case with the humidity meter . That I like LOL they need more of those hahaha OK onward and upward :) Edit : So i find myself looking hard again at various triple 0's and I come up short mostly because everything in the poor mans range of 1,000 for solid woods is hard pressed to find in local stores even if their major chains. As one would expect We would keep looking for something to fit the bill and I think I have . I have read some positive reviews on the Guild Gad series the F-130RCE well know one had one in stock anywhere close or at all so I thought another search lead me the local store in town which truned out was a guild dealer ...well I been there and I guess I never seen a guild after all they are small . Well I called up for the heck of it and by crome they had the model I was looking for ... well it turned out it was the Mahogany one. I played it and was very surprised .. not much bling but dang it was well sounding and put together it also had some the prettiest wood I've seen on this price range . I might not be the best guitarist in the world but I know good wood and grain characterization when I see it and this was the bomb . She played great sounded I'm sorry to say way better then the EF500ra I had and returned and it does sadden me to say so . The Guild to my surprise and the same masterbilt construction which it seems most vender's are reverting back to . As my luck would have it once I seriously started looking for it it became elusive another guitar that all of a sudden ( to Me ) That's no longer available but was last week ! WT :) Seems Fender sold the Guild line to Cordoba all new news to me but maybe not so to most of you folks in any event the guitar I want to give a shot once again is ... POOF ! gone LOL destiny once again .. Ok so that said all I know is the Guild 130ce Mahogany is great even compared to the Martins which I played recently They be had at 7-800 with Top line Hard shell case . The Rosewood body and Sitka top or F-130R CE ... I found only one at a major chain and only in the warehouse not in any store so I took another leap of faith based off the 130CE Mahogany body and went with it . Funny ... at one time I thought 510 n ebay the ef500ra was to much then found that same guitar for slightly more and grabbed it only to have it be a lemon at 120 buck loss to buy another guitar again based on faith . What will the fates decide this time :) Take care Ags Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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