HTSMetal Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 Hey guys, I'm a long-time lurker here on the forum and finally decided to join up after getting an Epiphone Wildkat! I'm a huge fan of Epiphone semi-hollow and hollowbody guitars and I've had my eye on picking up an Epiphone Wildkat for what feels like a century. After GC tossed the wine red version on sale for a paltry $299, I just had to scoop one up. I mean, what's not to like -- P90s, Bigsby, flame maple top, mahogany body, just classic, awesome jazz, rock and blues machine. Cue the waiting game, and after a few days it arrived...broken. UPS did a number on it, even with it being double boxed and packed extremely well. Neck was cracked from the beginning of the fretboard to the fifth fret on both sides, down to the wood. Fast forward a couple hours later and I'm at my local GC getting my return processed. They tell me that they don't have a replacement in stock so I'll have to spin the cylinder, re-pull the trigger and hope that UPS doesn't demolish the next one. Luckily enough, a different GC associate comes back from his lunch break, walks up and swears they have one in stock in the back. He disappears for about 10 minutes and returns with this absolute beauty: So needless to say I took her home. Some out of the box impressions: - Neck relief was set flat as a pancake out of the box, so I dialed in some relief and she plays awesome. No fret buzz anywhere, even with almost absurdly low action. It also has a dual-action truss rod. - Super resonant and loud acoustically when played without an amp. An awesome guitar to practice with when the wife is snoozin'. - Bigsby stays in tune with moderate use, but real diving on it and your tuning is WAY out of whack. Par for the course with Bigsbys and I don't intend to use it for more than just simple added effect. - Nice and light, much lighter than my Sheraton II and the smaller body size is more comfortable. - As many say, the Alnico V Epiphone pickups are dark, but not muddy to my ears. Muddy in my opinion implies a far too pronounced midrange which these don't have, the neck pickup is just lacking a bit of top-end sparkle. Crank the treble setting on your amp and rock. All in all, I'm super enthused with this guitar at the $299 price point. I don't think I'd be nearly as impressed if I'd sprung for the Royale version at $449, but overall she's a keeper and a looker. On to the guitar porn! And did I mention this thing has a killer flame maple neck? The one I returned did not, so when I saw that the replacement did I was super enthusiastic. Very fitting for a "Wildkat": Grab one while they're still on sale! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dennis G Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 First off, congrats on a great new guitar. Wildkat's IMHO are one of the best values out there, but then again, I'm biased: Second, yeah, I just use my Bigsby for subtle effects and have no tuning issues. Nice looking 'Kat. Enjoy. Edit: and welcome to the forum!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HTSMetal Posted February 26, 2015 Author Share Posted February 26, 2015 First off, congrats on a great new guitar. Wildkat's IMHO are one of the best values out there, but then again, I'm biased: Second, yeah, I just use my Bigsby for subtle effects and have no tuning issues. Nice looking 'Kat. Enjoy. Edit: and welcome to the forum!! That's a real beauty you've got there! Did you swap pickups in it, or just the covers? If you did swap the pups, what did you replace them with? I'm already thinking about replacing them and I'm not sure if I want to go the GFS or Artec el cheapo route or get something a little nicer... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dennis G Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 That's a real beauty you've got there! Did you swap pickups in it, or just the covers? If you did swap the pups, what did you replace them with? I'm already thinking about replacing them and I'm not sure if I want to go the GFS or Artec el cheapo route or get something a little nicer... Thx. I like it a lot. I was having some p/u and switching issues, so on my luthier's recommendation we swapped the p/u's for Lollar P90's. Part of that decision was ease of installation as I recall (he did the work). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kidblast Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 I've always liked these myself. I've got the big brother (I guess you could call it that) the Swingster Royal, (Sweetwater had them on sale for $599 back in 2012, so I snatched it up before the price went back to $750) but yes,,, these Wildkats are definitely cool axes. for $299, how can you go wrong! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davidjon Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 Beautiful guitar. Congratulations. I recently bought a Pearl Red version from Musicians Friend. I payed bit more ($329) than what you paid, but love the sparkly red body and sparkly gold binding, plus I would have paid sales tax if I got one from Guitar Center. Mine needed a few tweaks like your's did and the 11th fret is tad bit high. Hadn't had a chance to see if it has just lifted a bit or what the deal is with it. But this weekend I'm going to take a closer look. All in all I really like the guitar and the price is fantastic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pesh Posted February 28, 2015 Share Posted February 28, 2015 HNGD! Lovely finish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thisjack Posted March 2, 2015 Share Posted March 2, 2015 I took advantage of the same sale you did and bought the last one my local guitar center had. Before I pulled the trigger I took it the repair department to see what kind of set-up it would need. He lowered the action a little, but otherwise it was great. Been playing it for almost a week now and still in love with it, not bad for a guitar I bought essentially because it was beautiful to look at. And all for $299.99, couldn't be happier. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cunningham26 Posted March 2, 2015 Share Posted March 2, 2015 Has anyone played this in comparison with a sorrento? I really want a bigsby-equipped p90 sorrento, but they seem rarer than a hen's tooth, especially since my dream is a burgandy mist one (hot pink guitars!). I've played a couple wildkats and thought they were ok, but since they're almost the same setup as the sorrento, would love someone's opinion on them in comparison. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parabar Posted March 2, 2015 Share Posted March 2, 2015 I own both, and they do not sound alike at all. P-90's seem particularly sensitive to the sonic attributes of a guitar's construction. The Sorrento is a full hollow body while the WildKat is a heavily chambered semi. The Sorrento sounds very much like a Casino, as they are almost the same guitar except for a single Florentine cutaway versus double Venetian cutaway. The wood in the Wildkat is thicker and denser (mahogany with a maple top) and sounds tighter and brighter, while the Sorrento sounds warmer with more midrange. The aptest description I can come up with is that the Wildkat sounds like a Telecaster on steroids --- beefier and thicker, but still crisp and bright, while the Sorrento sounds more like a jazz guitar on the neck pickup, with more wood and air in the tone, while the bridge pickup has more snarl and less twang than the Wildkat. Played clean, the Wildkat is crisper and brighter than the Sorrento; with distortion the Sorrento has more growl and the 'kat has more bite. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cunningham26 Posted March 2, 2015 Share Posted March 2, 2015 Thanks Parabar that was just what I was looking for! Well, that and this: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crust Posted March 2, 2015 Share Posted March 2, 2015 Thanks Parabar that was just what I was looking for! Well, that and this: cool isn't an appropriate enough description... way cool...maybe..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crust Posted March 2, 2015 Share Posted March 2, 2015 I own both, and they do not sound alike at all. P-90's seem particularly sensitive to the sonic attributes of a guitar's construction. The Sorrento is a full hollow body while the WildKat is a heavily chambered semi. The Sorrento sounds very much like a Casino, as they are almost the same guitar except for a single Florentine cutaway versus double Venetian cutaway. The wood in the Wildkat is thicker and denser (mahogany with a maple top) and sounds tighter and brighter, while the Sorrento sounds warmer with more midrange. The aptest description I can come up with is that the Wildkat sounds like a Telecaster on steroids --- beefier and thicker, but still crisp and bright, while the Sorrento sounds more like a jazz guitar on the neck pickup, with more wood and air in the tone, while the bridge pickup has more snarl and less twang than the Wildkat. Played clean, the Wildkat is crisper and brighter than the Sorrento; with distortion the Sorrento has more growl and the 'kat has more bite. interesting review. I really enjoy playing the Wildkats. As you kind of implied, the Sorrento doesn't seem to like high volume/over-drive as much as the Wildkat's. I will adjust the sound effects and settings to dial in "the spot" on the Sorrento. I guess that it isn't really designed to be a high gain, really loud electric guitar, maybe. As you stated, more "jazzy"...which is OK too, as it is a sweet sounding thing the way it presently is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crust Posted March 2, 2015 Share Posted March 2, 2015 that purple thing is pretty neat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fromnabulax Posted March 2, 2015 Share Posted March 2, 2015 Here's my two cents... I don't play distorted or overdriven guitar. I have the same $299.00 Wine Red Wildkat as the poster, and I have a recent natural 1962 reissue Sorrento with a pair of what are supposed to be Gibson USA mini humbuckers. At the volume I play the Wildkat is just kind of lifeless. It has none of the warmth or twang that my mid 90s American Standard Tele has. It sounds like it's fighting its way through 6 feet of cotton gauze to get any real tone at all. I am used rolling my eq down on any single coil pickup to get the warm and buttery jazz tones I like the best. On the Wildkat I have my tone set to 10 and it still sounds lifeless to me. It's got a very nice neck and is weighty enough to feel like a 'real' guitar, but I am just frustrated by it all told. At $299.00 it's not a bad guitar, but there are better $299.00 guitars out there and I suspect this one will be traded away before too long. On the other hand, the Sorrento offers me all the tonality, warmth and ease of playability that I would have expected from any new Gibson ES 125T, if they were still being made. That's what I was looking for when I bought it, and that's what I got. I look forward to summer when I can haul this thing out to all the outdoor gigs I would never subject my real Gibson ES 125s and 175 to. I am thinking of routing it out for dog ear P90s, but the pick ups in there are now are excellent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dennis G Posted March 4, 2015 Share Posted March 4, 2015 I own both, and they do not sound alike at all. P-90's seem particularly sensitive to the sonic attributes of a guitar's construction. The Sorrento is a full hollow body while the WildKat is a heavily chambered semi. The Sorrento sounds very much like a Casino, as they are almost the same guitar except for a single Florentine cutaway versus double Venetian cutaway. The wood in the Wildkat is thicker and denser (mahogany with a maple top) and sounds tighter and brighter, while the Sorrento sounds warmer with more midrange. The aptest description I can come up with is that the Wildkat sounds like a Telecaster on steroids --- beefier and thicker, but still crisp and bright, while the Sorrento sounds more like a jazz guitar on the neck pickup, with more wood and air in the tone, while the bridge pickup has more snarl and less twang than the Wildkat. Played clean, the Wildkat is crisper and brighter than the Sorrento; with distortion the Sorrento has more growl and the 'kat has more bite. Thanks for this. I have a Wildkat, and an Elitist Casino, and while I love the look of the Sorrento, I've often thought that it's just a single cut Casino, so to speak, for what it might have to offer. Glad I held off. Thanks again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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