I'm a beginning guitarist and I'm looking for an upgrade for my old, rusty classical guitar. For the money that I want to spend (not more than €400), I've heard a lot of good things about the EJ-200 + it also looks gorgeous in my opinion.
I've got a few questions about the Epiphone EJ-200 howver and I'd be very glad if you could help me out.
I've heard that the new models (EJ-200SCE) have a solid top rather than a laminated one, is this correct? Does anyone know if it actually sounds better than the older models with a laminated top? I've heard that in general solid tops are superior to a laminated one, but a cheap solid top can also be worse than a quality laminated one.
Secondly, at first I wanted to buy the normal, non-cutout version, because it apparently has a fuller and richer sound. I noticed that Epiphone doesn't make them anymore and have a hard time finding these second hand. I've found one from 1995 which I could buy for about €250, but I figured that for a bit more money I'd better buy a new, cutout versions. My reasoning is that the fact that the EJ-200SCE is new, has solid top and has a esonic2 preamp system (the old EJ-200 doesn't I assume?) makes up for the fact that it's a cutout.
I'd love to play them next to each other to compare the sound, but I don't think that's possible anymore since most shops don't sell the old version anymore. Does the non-cutout really sound so much better?