RobinTheHood

Samick, 2005. I doubt you'd be able to get a build sheet, but what would you like to know?

Saein 1997 for sure. The average resale price for a typical LP Standard of that age is around 250 - 350 USD.

Your guitar was made in 1999 at the bohemia musico delicia factory in Czechoslovakia. That's why it has the Gibson style truss rod, as well as Schaller parts on it. These are highly regarded in the Epiphone community as above the average Epiphone in quality. http://epiphonewiki.org/index/Bohemia_Musico-Delicia.php

J is an unknown factory that we suspect stands for Jakarta Indonesia. Your guitar was made in 1997.

I suppose that depends on the context. If we are talking about counterfeits, then yes, they will build something that looks like a guitar, but barely qualifies as one if they can. At the other end of the extreme, you have Qingdao that builds good quality with good QC, though I'm not a fan of the fret work for the most part. At least with the ones I've played. The biggest problem with Chinese OEM guitars is that they are usually low end to begin with and QC is pretty sketchy. I think that QC is where China let's things slip by. I bought a used MIC Peavey guitar that retails for about a buck. The fretboard was delaminating from the neck because the glue dried out. The up side is that the fretboard came off really cleanly and went back on with minimal work. You really do get what you pay for in most cases.

I think the first digit is actually an "I" instead of a one. If so, I'd say 1997, but will need pics to be sure.

I have a Chinese made Les Paul style guitar by Allen Guitars, designed and distributed by Rick Allen of Mid Michigan Music. Awesome and beautiful guitar. Not sure what factory it came out of. It doesn't even have a serial number. This git was somebody's main axe for years. China will build to what ever quality level they are allowed.

Ha. Nevermind. The info came from my own website. I guess it's been awhile since I've looked at the specs for these guitars. My apologies on the wrong info. Vantage it is! I should have refreshed my memory before answering.

Are you sure? I had Samick Vantage pickups that came stock in a 1994 g-310. They were very low output. Though, they were also covered like these, so I guess it's within the realm of possibility. Where did you find this info, if you don't mind me asking.

We'd have to see this guitar to determine what it is. If it is truly an Epiphone, then it will have Epiphone specs. The only legit Epiphones with Gibson logo on the headstock (not truss cover, which is common) were the 1983 American series guitars that were rebadged as Gibson's at one point. Let's see some pics.

They are Epiphone i-series pickups. That probably doesn't really mean anything though. They were short lived, so I guess if you like them, keep.them? Im with you on Chinese products. Quality is quality and China produces the quality that they are told to produce for the most part.

Drop it 3" and take it to the track? Nah! Lift it 3" and take it off-roading!

Kelly is a subsidiary of Goodyear and, I believe, American made. Hankook are Asian, but pretty darn popular as an inexpensive alternative. I see lots of these here in Michigan. I've had many of these tires. They seem to last 3 or 4 years if the majority of your driving is local. I have Falkens on my jeep (265/75/16) pretty wide tires and they ride really smooth. But these are my first, so i can't speak for their longevity.

This may sound like a dumb question, but have you changed the strings? The original Epiphone strings are garbage. They don't hold tune even when new.

Those were from the list of colors that Epiphone advertised. Maybe a few other color combos got through the line. I dunno. The wiki isn't perfect. It's hard to be 100% accurate 20+ years after the fact.

Oh, you also might have to extend the trem cavity a little bit to fit the tremolo arm into the guitar, unless it has already been done for the Special that is in there now. You'll have to take off maybe a quarter inch of wood, I think. The tremolo will cover it though.

Interesting. That looks a lot like the Bennder tremolo, but obviously is not. I'm going to guess that it is not lined up properly because the original Bennder screws, which are still intact, don't quite line up with the notches on the FR Special. Like I said yesterday, the Bennder had slightly different post spacing. If you can't find a Bennder, you will most likely have to drill stud holes to accommodate a better Floyd Rose. Just be sure to measure everything properly so you don't end up with offset again. I used a licensed FR Fastloader from Guitar Fetish. It loads from the back instead of having to cut the ball ends off of the strings. Yes, it's a Chinese licensed FR, but if you aren't cranking on it or abusing it, it should work fine. Otherwise you will be paying a premium for a real FR. Those are probably your only options unless you manage to find a Bennder. And again, they weren't very good. They were made with cheap metal that rusted quickly and the trem blocks were pot metal or zinc or something that ended up crumbling apart. It's hard to find a Bennder with the block still intact if you can find one at all. Here is a link to Guitar Fetish FR Fastloaders. https://www.guitarfetish.com/Floyd-Rose_c_710.html

The problem here is that B2 doesnt jive with known Bohemia serial formats. Im honestlynot sure how to decipher the 2 other than 1992, which I believe is too early for czech made epjphones.

Well, I can tell you that the Bennder and Floyd Rose string spacing are close enough to work, if not the same altogether. A lot of the Epiphone super strats came with either a Bennder or a Floyd as bridge options. Both the 635i and 935i came with a Schaller Floyd Rose, so I can't see how the string spacing would be incorrect on a 435i conversion. Are you sure the pickups are original? They may be non f-spaced replacements. All that being said, finding a Bennder bridge is not easy. EBay or reverb are your best bets. But...I can tell you right now that you'll never reinstall a Bennder without filling in the FR stud cavities and re-drilling the body. The Bennder has screws that mount directly to the body of the guitar, whereas the FR has studs that screw into a sleeve. That and the FR is about 2mm wider at the bridge posts. Honestly, the Bennder was a terrible bridge. You'd be better off getting a good quality licensed Floyd Rose that is a direct replacement for the holes that have already been drilled.

No, not from the factory like that. It's definitely a modification.

Not sure that you can other than contacting Epiphone and they may or may not help. Maybe inspect a couple for matching numbers. Left and right should have different part numbers on them...if they are on there.

Lea Paul Junior that someone put a classical neck on. You can see where they moved the bridge back to accommodate the neck length.

http://epiphonewiki.org/index/Les_Paul_Pee-Wee.php The PeeWee came out in 2001, afaik. If you post pics of the guitar and serial I can give you a positive ID.

I agree. I'm not much of a fan of the cherry burst either.

It's definitely rosewood. Not sure when the pao ferro boards went into full effect but it's not uncommon to use up the rosewood they already had on hand. I've seen new Epiphones at guitar center with both types of boards, so who knows. It's rosewood, so enjoy!