darling67
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Posts posted by darling67
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3 hours ago, pohatu771 said:
I have one. The first example I got should have never made it past QC, but the one I have now (and another Wilshire and a Crestwood and Coronet I played in the store) is practically perfect.
This one was definitely set up in the factory - the intonation was almost perfect after traveling thousands of miles across several climates and weather extremes. Whether that setup is to your taste, though, is a different question. I'll lower the bridge a little bit when I change the strings next time.
The advantage to the Wilshire over the SG is the two-piece bridge and tailpiece. They should sound the same.
3 hours ago, mihcmac said:I have bought 3 new 2020 Epiphones with the new headstock over the last couple of months, a 339, a Wilshire and a Coronet that was sent a friend of mine who was hiding out from COVID in AZ. All three were ready to play right out of the box with very good action and no buzzing. The Wilshire and Coronet are built different from my older G400's in that they are made with 2 slabs of mahogany with no veneer like what is used on my G400. Also I am a P90 freak, I have several Epiphones with P90 PRO's which are my favorite sounding P90 style pickup. I love playing my Wilshire and I can't seem to stop, its really hot..
My Wilshire
My Coronet at my friends house.
My 339 after a few mods.
All 3 played like they had been setup, they came from MusicZoo's online store..
Thanks so much for your replies and insights!
I, too, love P90s. I've got my aforementioned Epi SG Special, as well as an Epi ES-339 P90 Pro. The 339 was perfect right out of the box—save for a strange vibration that began emanating from a location that seems to be underneath the neck pickup. This does not effect the amplified sound. It is strictly a "cosmetic" sound... if that makes any sense.
How does the neck feel on the Wilshire? Is it a wide neck, slim, somewhere in-between?
Anyway, I am trying to decide on this new Wilshire or a Gretsch 5222 Jet. I've got a single cut-away 5230 Jet with Bigsby and Filtertrons... and the 5222 Jet has no Bigsby and BroadTrons. So, I am trying to decide which would be the most different from what I've got of the two Brands.
Thanks again!
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Hello, everyone!
I've been considering getting one of the new Wilshires. I know they're not the same quality level as those American-made "Reissues" that came out some yeas ago. But was still wondering if anyone has acquired one of these new models, and what their thoughts are on them regarding fit and finish.
I've got a 2020 Epi SG Special with P90s. It's a decent guitar, but it needed a little TLC out of the box before it was 100% playable. So I am not sure if I need another Chinese-made P90 Epi or not—and if I want to risk buying another guitar that will need a setup or other adjustments. But they look cool, sound great (on the youtube demos I've watched), and are unique to the Epiphone brand—as opposed to an Epiphone version of a Gibson.
Thanks!
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1 hour ago, Bill Sheehan said:
Thank you, D, I'm glad to know you're enjoying that new SG! After much consideration, I went ahead and "pulled the trigger" on the same Special P-90 model, in sparkling burgundy. Although I've had very good service from "SW" in the past, I decided to go with Chicago Music Exchange this time, as they are a little closer to home, and they indicated that they'll do a full inspection and basic set-up before sending the guitar to me, including the installation of a fresh set of 10's. It sounds like these are on back-order right now, so it may be a while. But I'm really excited to be getting this new guitar, and grateful for all of your input! I'll let you know when it arrives!
At a point where I thought I might be returning this guitar to SW, I was considering maybe asking them to replace it with a Sparkling Burgundy model.... but the Faded Pelham is great, and I wanted to keep this guitar if possible. I chose it specifically, at a time when they had four to compare/choose from. It felt like "mine", and I am glad I kept it and finally had it fixed.
Good news that you're pulling the trigger... and you're welcome for my input. I just checked and Guitar Center has Sparkling Burgundy in-stock. But I understand you'd want to have a guitar that gets a thorough once-over before it ships. I'll be on the look-out for a "NGD" post from you.
😉👍
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12 hours ago, Bill Sheehan said:
Good morning, d67, thanks for that followup! I'm a little surprised that your SG arrived with those issues, as the merchant from which you purchased it is known for giving an instrument "a good going over" (although not a formal "setup" unless you request it and pay the extra cost associated with it) before it goes out the door. And to be sure, I have had very good experiences with that merchant in the past. But, nobody's perfect, and occasionally even the best of us slip up a little. But anyway, I was wondering how you're liking your new guitar by now? I've been thinking about getting one, as I've always loved the SG body style, especially with those white-buttoned tuners, that clean and simple pre-compensated "all-in-one" wraparound bridge, and of course the P-90 pickups (which I've also yet to experience). In my 50+ years of playing, I've tended to be a Strat, Tele, and Les Paul guy. If you don't mind, I'm curious as to whether the P-90 pickups are able to be raised and lowered as on other guitars, or are they fixed in place? Do your P-90's carry a lot of electrical "hum"? Also, are you getting decent intonation from your wraparound bridge? And finally, are you maintaining "10-guage" strings on there? THANKS!
Hey, Bill...
Yes, the merchant in-question is known for their "55-point inspection"... and truth be told, this is the second guitar I've purchased from them that had issues. First was an Alvarez acoustic. Had some fret buzz. In that instance, I didn't bother with contacting them about it. I took it to a luthier who is a friend of a friend. Anyway, this SG's issues were obviously more extensive, so I had no choice but to get them involved.
Anyway, about this SG.... I've had several SGs over the years. Eight to be exact. They're my all-time favorite guitar. I only own three of them today (and one of them is this new Epi). I didn't know about P90s, myself, until maybe six years ago....? I've always bought guitars with humbuckers. Crazy, considering I've been playing for like 40 years. I love them... and I love this guitar. Never had a guitar without a tune-a-matic bridge, so that is a new one for me. The intonation is great—of course, I just had it set-up... and yes, the P90s are adjustable. He actually adjusted them a little bit on this Epi. Not much hum from them. I am not much of a stickler for things like that (unless we're talking unacceptably noisy)... a little hum doesn't bother me. Lastly, yes—I use 10's on all of my guitars. Basically, this guitar has been out on the stand since it was fixed, and I love playing it. I know that's the case with any new guitar. But I dunno... this thing is very.... seductive. 😍
I would go ahead and get one of these. I'm sure the 2019 Gibson version of this guitar would feel more expensive. But this feels and sounds great... and for 1k less? It was a no-brainer. I would just beware of the QC issues that these 2020 "Inspired By" Epi's seem to be plagued with. I took a chance and bought sight unseen. I'd say check on out in-person, but that's not possible at the moment 😷.
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2 hours ago, Bill Sheehan said:
No problem, and I might've misunderstood the issue, which I initially thought was that your strings (as a unit) were drifting off toward the treble side of the fretboard, such that your high E string was wanting to "slip off" the edge of the fretboard. Sounds like maybe you were actually just having some more general slippage of the high E string "tuning-wise", and it's good to know that's been corrected! Judging from your photos, your strings appear to be aligned just fine, i.e., you're not experiencing the dreaded "string drift factor" that guitars sometimes suffer from.
Have fun with that nice instrument!
Yes, initially the high E string was, indeed, slipping off the edge of the fretboard with the most minimal of effort.
I posted some pre-fixing pics—when I first got the guitar— in another thread in this Epiphone area. If you look closely, I think it can be detected that the high E was a bit too close to the edge of the fretboard—at the very least, it appeared to be further from the B than the B was to the G.... etc., etc. I could be wrong. It may very well have simply been the neck being out of whack and/or the stop bar needed adjusting in unison with the neck "straightening".
Whatever the Guitar tech did has made it play perfectly now.
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8 hours ago, roberyto said:
Actually is one of the new series of Epiphone inspired by Gibson, love the pickups, the guitar is gorgeous, and i like the fat neck shape. The only thing that it left me a huge bitter taste, is that it came full of high frets (look like that they are badly seated), a bad cut nut, and some minor paint issues. QC is very poor.
Right. I was just saying it looks like the old Gibson "Classic" that they were offering in the late 2000's. Full-face PG, P90's, fat/wide dot neck.....
Sorry about the issues. Seems these new "Inspired by" Epi's are fraught with problems. One would be very lucky to get one that was ready to rock right out of the box.
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15 hours ago, Bill Sheehan said:
Darling67, I was just wondering what the problem might've been that was causing your high E string to drift too close to the edge of the fingerboard and want to slip off, and what exactly was done to remedy that issue?
Hey, Bill.
You know what was weird... the high-E string slippage was the initial issue with this guitar. But that seemed to remedy itself, and it morphed into a dead string. Fret and pluck it, and nothing but a tinny, buzzy plink ensued.
So, unfortunately, I can't give you any further info on what caused the string slippage... other than what I outlined a few posts above.
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18 hours ago, roberyto said:
Nice! Thanks for the reply, now enjoy that beauty as much as you can!
I have been! 😉👍
Btw... that's a cool TV Yellow LP Junior in our avatar. I love P90s. Discovered them a little late in my years as a guitarist. But better late then never.
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I'd have thought an ES-339 case would work for the Casino Coupe. Pretty much the same size, body, length....
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5 hours ago, roberyto said:
Congrats!! That's a really nice color :), BTW what did the shop said about the repair? What do they do?
Cheers,Upon first impressions, he said the neck appeared to be a bit bowed. He fiddled with the truss rod a little until the buzz seemed to diminish, and said it would be ready in just a couple days.
In the end, he basically gave it a setup. Tightened the machines, adjusted/set the stop bar tailpiece for intonation, adjusted the P90s… and then some cosmetic things like polishing the frets and fretboard....
Sweetwater covered it, so it was no sweat off my back—save for a new set of strings, as I was a bonehead and forgot to bring a new set with me when I dropped it off.
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10 hours ago, richey88 said:
That's awesome! I got this one, lve teh P90's!
Ah, nice! Which one is that? It looks like the Epi version of what Gibson called the "Classic". I had one of those.
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Well, the saga of my Epi SG Special has finally come to a satisfying conclusion, and I am finally getting around to posting a "NGD".
This guitar arrived with some issues. Fret buzz, and high-E string slippage off the fretboard. With all the Covid-19 disruption, it took Sweetwater a while to give me the "OK" to have the fixes executed at a local repair shop… but I just picked her up at the shop, and she now plays—and sounds—like a dream!
Now that she's ready to rock, I present to you all my new 2020 Epiphone SG Special in Faded Pelham Blue! I kept the warranty sticker/plastic coating on the pick guard until I was 100% certain she was a keeper. Felt good to finally peel it all off!
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On 3/22/2020 at 10:35 AM, gearhead said:
I really like the new Inspired by Gibson line. Been looking hard at them! LOL.
Yea, like I NEED another guitar! Have 9 gits and a bass now!
But NEED has nothing to do with it. GAS!
I "promised" my wife I had "no need" for another guitar this year.... that I had enough and what I needed....
But, as you pointed out... this is not about "need". "Need" has no place in the world of guitar acquisition.
Unfortunately, my new Epi SG Special has some relatively minor issues—but enough so that I need to have it "fixed". As such, I've not been in the right frame of mind to post my own pics yet. I feel like it should be in tip-top playability at the time of the official "NGD" announcement!
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5 minutes ago, rct said:
Nine(9) Guitar Centers within 100 miles of me, from Brooklyn out to King of Prussia down to Wilmington. All closed. This will leave a mark.
rct
That's going to hurt. GC is the last company that needs to lose revenue from it's stores… not that any store needs to lose revenue.
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1 minute ago, mihcmac said:
Like rct says there is nothing you can do that can't be undone... Most of the online people that complained about fret buzz got their guitars from Sweetwater and got buzz relief by loosening the truss rod. When neck adjustments are done it can take a while to settle in. A normal tweak to fix the problem you are talking about would be about an 1/8 counter clockwise turn and let it set for a while and check if the buzz is better, it ain't rocket science.. Or you take it in to be setup by a pro..
PS in my opinion Sweetwaters 55 point inspection is worthless..
LOL! 😄 55 point-less inspection?
Ok, thanks!
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12 minutes ago, rct said:
Doing one thing or another out of context won't do you any good. The guitar needs to be set up to function correctly, which is done in a certain order. If you follow general rules you can't do anything to a guitar you can't fix a minute later.
rct
So what would step #1 be for a guitar that began with fret buzz, that turned into a dead string? 😒 I'm thinking the string slippage will be remedied when the other things are.
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6 hours ago, mihcmac said:
I have noticed that a few new Epiphone owners experiencing fret buzz have backed off the nut tension a little to help relieve the buzz. Then after the neck settles are able to lower the bridge a bit.
Because I live on an Island almost all of my guitars are purchased online. A few of my new Epiphones came with the nut completely backed off from Musicians Friend., Sweetwater claims to setup before shipping, perhaps they over tightened the neck. Epiphone necks are typically not as stable as Gibsons and can go back for a while stabilizing in their new environment.
God luck and stay well...
Hey, thanks for the insights...
Yes, Sweetwater does their "55 point inspection". So, it's hard to fathom how they'd miss something so obvious. I do find it odd how, when I first got the guitar, it was mainly some fret buzz and the string slippage. But since then, it's graduated up to a dead string.
So, it seems like there's some "adapting" or "adjusting" going on with something… the neck, specifically! I don't dare mess with my guitars, out of fear of screwing something up worse. Could giving the truss rod a couple turns help at all? I wanted to adjust the wrap-around stop bar (these don't sport a bridge), thinking it might help, as well.
Not really sure what else to do or where to begin trying to remedy this on my own, if the guitar can be salvaged and avoid a return.
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5 hours ago, mihcmac said:
My 2011 Epi 61 SG Special's frets go well into the binding, which was typical on the old G400 style Epiphones. Most of your photos show look like the frets are extending far enough over the binding but the dressed angle, to me, looks like it may be too great where the top of the angle is over the fingerboard. If you can see it, the angle of my fret ends are more vertical starting at the edge of the fingerboard.
If any are like zigzag's below, you may want to contact Gibson support..
Interesting observation. Right, like my frets are "sloped" down and away... creating the right circumstances for a string to slide off—like a water slide! LOL!
I have a feeling this guitar will ultimately be returned. Need to initiate and authorize it first, and Sweetwater has been dragging their feet getting back to me. They're usually a lot more attentive and on the ball. I guess Covid-19 is screwing with everyone's lives in one way or another.
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On 3/11/2020 at 10:59 AM, truetone6 said:
Thanks guys!
Bravo! I like the Faded Pelham Blue… but that Burgundy Metallic (or whatever it's called) looks real sharp—excellent color for an SG, of course.
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13 minutes ago, zigzag said:
The slippage problem may also be also be pronounced by the fret tapering closer to the edge of the fretboard. It's funny, but I've had this issue only with my 335, and it has changed the way I play it. It mainly affects my vibrato and pull-offs. This is the only Gibson, or Epiphone for that matter, I've had this issue with, and otherwise, I love the neck and the guitar. But I shouldn't have to change the way I play it just to put up with shoddy workmanship. I wish I had caught it during the return period.
I'd heard about all the QC issues with these 2020 Epi's, but I have had really good luck with buying guitars sight unseen. Never any issues at all. My luck has run out, it appears. I can't adjust or modify my playing style enough to circumvent this. Nor do I want to. Strings shouldn't slip off the fretboard so effortlessly.... and now the string is dead? Eek!
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Thanks for all the replies, gents.
I just picked her up to play, and the high E string is now virtually dead. Plucked it, and it's just a sad, buzzy, toneless noise. 😕
I think Sweetwater is going to get this guitar back from me. Not sure what the deal is, but I don't think I want to deal with the deal! 🙄
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10 hours ago, zigzag said:
It may just be the lighting, but it seems to me like your neck binding is thinner between the second and fourth frets. Could it be possible this is contributing to string slippage. It took me over a year to notice this on my 335 at around the fifteenth fret. It is high enough to where it is not the cause of the slippage, but it is now all I see when I look at this guitar.
Wow! I hadn't noticed that. Good catch.... I don't think it's the lighting, either. I'll go check it out now. If it is, then this is a return—no way around it.
Thanks.
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11 hours ago, deeman said:
I agree, yours is totally better and we totally de-railed this thread about high e slippage. My apologies to the OP.
No sweat. These things happen.... and if it's because of The Beatles, then there's no foul! 😀
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12 hours ago, Sgt. Pepper said:
Corrected. I should have looked. I only have 8 or 9 copies of that album in all forms. Used to have it on 8-track. Loaned it to my friend and he never returned it. Been listening to that album since '79 and all this time I've gotten it wrong. I suck.
Well... as much of a self-proclaimed Beatles aficionado I have been most of my adult life, I still get things wrong that I was certain I had nailed-down… whether it's "who sang what", or "who played what on that song", etc.... I am always learning new things. One of the great things about The Beatles: there's so much to KNOW.
The new Wilshire, Coronet and Crestwood
in Epiphone Electrics
Posted
Thanks for the input, everyone.
I may still pick up a new Wilshire. But I'll need to actually play one at a shop, as to avoid another "2020 SG Special" situation. I think the Gretsch Electromatics are a bit more reliable "out of the box", and so that Jet is still in the running.