Brucebubs

I've had mine for a month now - ordered it with a hard case and set up from The Acoustic Centre in Melbourne, Australia - they did a superb job. Took these pictures as unboxed it - that's a factory fitted humidity control thingy in the sound hole. The only change I've done is swap the plastic bridge pins to bone (nut & saddle are already bone)

I think the rosewood Historic Pre-War SJ-200 pick guard is beautiful. I prefer it over the plainer pick guard on my Historic 1957 SJ-200.

I own an early model laminate Epiphone EJ-200 and it's a fun guitar when you learn to approach it with a firm hand to bring out it's best tone. I also have the new Epiphone 'Inspired by Gibson' Hummingbird as seen in that clip and it is a fantastic guitar for the money - way more responsive than my old EJ-200. I'm super pleased with mine. At the other end of the scale is my 2020 Gibson Custom Shop Historic 1957 SJ-200 - the sheer depth of the tone is staggering after playing the Epiphones, the gap is almost as big as the price difference ... almost.

How did they 'drop straight' in if you needed to drill for that second locating screw and what bushings did you use going from screw-in Grover sealed gear to push-fit Waverly open gear?

I'd love to compare them!

My 2020 Custom Shop Historic 1957 SJ-200 came with Gotoh Keystones and they are superb.

Thread is 9 years old - the new 2021 Epiphone 'Inspired by Gibson' Hummingbirds are a whole new ball game.

Thanks ... this is actually the whole family.

The Epiphones are not Gibsons ... but they do deserve credit for the changes they've made with this new 'Inspired by Gibson' series. - All solid woods - new thin finish - keystone tuners - re-designed shorter headstock - simpler rosette - bone nut & saddle - soundhole pickup controls - extra color on pickguard pattern. Nice upgrades that make them more responsive to play and a nice improvement over the older models ... this IBG Hummingbird is a heck of a nice guitar for $799 ... but it's not a Gibson.

Yes, bought the EJ-200 second hand from a little music store in Hobart, Tasmania - ordered the Custom Shop 1957 SJ-200 through an Australian dealer and that's what they charge - Gibson's outside the US are mighty expensive and policy prevents US dealers selling new guitars to customers in other countries with existing dealers - Guild and Martin also have the same policy now. Here's an Australian listing for my guitar https://www.mannys.com.au/gibson-1957-sj-200-vintage-sunburst That works out at US$8181.00 for a guitar listing for US$5999.00 ..... and I paid more than that!!

They're all surprisingly different from each other - The EJ-200 is a ball when you approach it with a heavy hand but doesn't do much if treated lightly - the Hummingbird is much more responsive and versatile and has the loud, clear mids associated with mahogany back and sides - the SJ-200 has incredible depth and warmth and balance. Both Epiphones have a rather narrow 1.69" nut that won't suit some people and the Gibson 1.72" nut is my ideal size. They're all good but the Gibson definitely has a 'wow' factor going for it.

My 2012 Epiphone EJ-200 is good. My 2021 Epiphone 'Inspired by Gibson' Hummingbird is better. My 2020 Gibson Custom Shop Historic 1957 SJ-200 is best! Bear in mind the new Hummingbird cost me 4x more than my EJ-200 and my SJ-200 cost me 30x times more than my EJ-200!

Nice choice - I googled Gotoh SG-301 and checked out the variations available I liked these gold ones with white keystone buttons too.

Yep, as the post above says ... they come with .012"s and I'm sticking with them! My new Epiphone 'Inspired By Gibson' Hummingbird comes with .012"s too.

As someone once pointed out - once your fingers are on the fretboard it doesn't really make much difference with the nut. So I left mine alone but if I needed a new nut for some reason then I would definitely upgrade to bone.

They are not Gibsons but they are very good guitars for relatively small money. I think they are excellent value.

These are made in Indonesia same as my 2012 Epiphone EJ-200 pictured below and yes, I bought it new. Hard case is an optional extra. You can notice the new re-designed shorter headstock on the new guitar.

I have a 2012 EJ-200 from Indonesia and it responded very nicely to a saddle and bridge pin upgrade to bone and a set of DR Sunbeam round-core strings - that's all I did to it.

Mine was delivered yesterday - beautiful set up by 'The Acoustic Centre' in Melbourne, Australia. The only thing I'm going to change is swapping the plastic bridge pins for bone on the first string change.

Good point.

Gotoh TK-7740 are 18:1 direct replacements for Grover Rotomatics https://www.allparts.com/products/tk-7740-gotoh-sg301-full-size-grover-style-3x3-keys Any open gear replacement is going to be lighter but nearly all of them use push-fit bushings and the existing holes in your headstock will be too large so you will need a set of 'reduction' bushings - open gear tuners also have 2 locating screws per tuner so drilling is required too. Grover are also making a great looking keystone style tuner with a screw-in bushing which solves the 'reduction' bushing problem but still requires a 2nd locating screw hole on the back of the headstock.

I won't buy Martin strings anymore after experiencing this on several different sets - I'm guessing there's moisture sealed in the packs that causes this - to their credit Martin did replace these but enough is enough.

It's a non compensated saddle - super easy to replace and if you widen and lengthen the slots in those pins just a little to give the string end binding some more room they'll stop popping up when you start winding some tension on the string.

The only thing I find difficult about playing a jumbo is just mediocre they make all other guitars sound and feel.

Gibson got the gauge absolutely right with .012 'Lights' on my Custom Historic 1957 SJ-200 but I don't think PB's were just quite right, I found 80/20's have a much sweeter balance.