LongMan

Did you have the opportunity to play one? What do you think?

I'm not able to decide if that guitar is a fake or not. However here are some things to consider: • The Elite series started in 2002, and was later relabeled to Elitist (in 2004 I guess) - so it is unlikely that this is a guitar from 2001 if it is a genuine Elitist model. • The serial number would point to 2011 rather than 2001 on an Elitist model (my Casino Elitist serial starts with T1.... as well, and that is a 2011 model made at Terada plant Japan). • The Elitist label is indeed a print and not a sticker: • As an Elitist Casino 1965 VS it should have Grover tuners: The 3-screw trussrod cover however would be correct, see above. On the other hand my other Elite Epiphones have Gibson style 2-screw TRCs that are engraved GIBSON (not Elite or Elitist). Seems they changed the TRCs between models and years.

Rewiring the guitar with high quality wire may slightly improve the high end, especially if you reduce the wire length to the absolute minimum. On the other hand it will not change the overall sound character, which is determined by the pickups and type of wiring. If you like the sound of the guitar with the stock wiring, and nothing is wrong with the pots and switches, it may be a good idea to leave it as is. Keep in mind that a rewiring job may potentially ruin the resale value of the instrument, no matter how much it improves the sound. Buyers normally prefer instruments in stock condition.

Bringing up this old thread again because I just finished the modification of my Wildkat Studio. Now why modifying it at all? Because it has a lot of features I like, and some I did not like that much. Pros: • The overall look and semi-hollow construction • Body size and shape • Neck shape and width • It has P90 pickups • I like the stop-tailpiece version Cons: • It was neck heavy • It sounded plain dull, compared to a couple of other P90 guitars I own (Epiphone ES-339 P90 with Kloppmann SB-52 PUs, Epiphone 1955 Les Paul Custom, Duesenberg Starplayer TV Hollow) • The wiring scheme was way too complicated for my taste Here's what I did to my Wildkat: • To cure the neck-heavyness I changed the Grover Rotomatics for Grover V98N open tuners. To fill the big holes in the headstock I used sockets that are 10mm on the outside and 6,5mm on the inside. • Pulled the original wiring harness. It's amazing how much cable you can stuff into a single guitar.... I ended up with over 10 feet after I pulled everything out (note there are running 3 or 4 wires in parallel): • For the new harness I decided to keep things as simple as possible. So I made a Tele-style wiring with single Volume and Tone pots. The wiring goes PUs -> PU switch -> Volume -> Tone -> Output, straight forward. 2 of the original pots are now superfluous. To get the right pickups right was a bit tricky. The original pickups are wound way to hot for my taste, the neck PU reads 11,7k and the bridge PU 12,2k DC resistance. I wanted a full and round sound, with open high end, creamy distortion - not the bite of a modern P90 like in the 1955 inspired Les Paul Custom. This guitar should go in direction warm jazz tone, or a creamy bluesy crunch if you dial up the gain on the amp. For that purpose, and given the straight forward wiring, most of the aftermarket P90 with AlNiCo 5 magnets and 8,5-9,5k were still way overdone for my taste. Finally I came across the Lollar P90 dogears in 50s wind specification. These have de-gaussed (weakened) AlNiCo 2 magnets, and the spec sheet reads 7,1k for the neck and 7,4k for the bridge PU. This is even less than the underwound AlNiCo 5 P90 that Lollar offers. What can I say? The Lollar 50s wind P90 did nail it! The sound of these in my Wildkat is spectacular, exactly where I wanted it. On the clean amp channel you get a warm full jazzy sound with well balanced low end, and lot of sparkling top end. If you slightly roll back the volume on the guitar it sounds almost like an acoustic. On the drive channel with moderate gain you get a nice creamy distortion. Increasing the gain the thing starts singing nicely. And even at higher gain you still have a a lot of dynamic control, that 50s wind PUs do not compress the amp the way a full powered AlNiCo 5 P90 does. First thought: No way this is the same guitar... For good measure I also added a TUSQ nut and an ABR style quality bridge that was left over from another project. The look of the black PU covers is a bit odd on the first sight, but the pole piece spacing of any aftermarket P90 seems to be different from the slanted Epiphone neck P90. On the other hand there are other Epis like the 50ths anniversary Casino that also features black P90 dogear PUs. At least this plastic covers will not cause any microphonic effects. Hope I did not hurt anybody with this modifications :-) But it is so much more joy to play now...

May I ask if you got the Dot or ES-335 Pro? I fully agree that the Dot is a great value, a colleague of mine got one recently and could not be happier. I love bound necks, in the same color as the body binding if possible. From that point of view the Dot did never cause that full GAS attack with her black fretboard edges. When the ES-335 Pro came out I almost pulled the trigger on it, if only it were available here. Looks great with the creme bound fretboard and the Gibson style pickguard, at almost the same price as the Dot. In the end the Sheraton 50th anniversary became available, and that ended all discussions This one is on par with the standard Gibson ES-335 from my point of view. (The Nashville Custom Shop VOS editions are another cup of tea though).

I guess it still looks woodish, seems the flash light has brightened that up and gives the impression of brushed aluminum.

Congrats, that guitar looks gorgeous!

You should not post that kind of attracting pictures I'm tempted to buy another one in natural as long as they are still available.

Interesting, what exactly is the benefit of it? And does it change the look of the guitar? In case of the Sheraton I would like to preserve the classic look of the guitar.

No, I guess they are comparable. Both have some benefits compared to a plastic nut. No, to be honest. So far I have not dealt with the concept of compensated nuts.

I went with a TUSQ nut (part number PQ6060-00) and a Gibson Nashville bridge. For the bridge I considered 3 different models of non-wire TOM, that offered pretty much the same features (Tonepros, ABM, Gibson Nashville). The Gibson was simply the cheapest of the 3. The bridge change wasn't necessary for intonation reasons, the original bridge did intonate perfectly. But that particular wired ABR-1 bridge had a persistent rattle and buzz on several notes, especially in the higher fretboard range. That's why I decided to go for a non-wire bridge, but stay as close as possible to the original.

Do you refer to that kind of edge where the neck runs into the heel? I did a special lighting, so it appears more pronounced than it really is. But it is indeed more "square-edged" than on Casino or ES-335. However I didn't notice any problems so far. My VSB version has a Qingdao China factory code. Btw.: I got the guitar back from my luthier today, after a full fret dress and setup, with new nut and bridge. Plays insanely well ;) An he found some appropriate words for the factory setup, no need to repeat here...

Are you sure this is an original? I found pictures of a 1961 and a 1965 Sheraton, and both show the same sunburst as the 50th ann. reissue. 1961: 1965: The 1965 is the closest match to the reissue I saw so far in terms of the sunburst, at least from the front view. In regard to the headstock shape and the Tremtone the 1961 is closer to the reissue. Apart from that is does nicely match my Casino VSB, so from my point of view they got it spot on They just look great side by side.

Ups, wrong info I guess, afaik Balsa wood is called Chromite. Anyway, there are so many kinds of light wood (balsa, poplar, birch) that can be used for the inner part of plywood, or at invisible spaces like the center block.

The Casino neck isn't that slim from my experience, but a bit narrower than the Sheraton/Riviera. Almost 2mm less on the nut, and almost 4mm less on the end of the fretboard. The string spacing isn't that much different, the strings just run closer to the fretboard edges. (Btw. I own an Elitist Casino, the Riviera ltd. Edition and the 50th anniversary Sheraton, so I can compare them one to one). So indeed the Casino neck feels a bit tinier, first because it is more narrow, and second because it is set 3 frets deeper in the body (neck meets the body at 16th fret instead at 19th fret on the Sheraton). The entire Casino feels somewhat toy like compared with the relatively heavy weight Riviera (remember the Casino is a full hollow body thinline, and does weight significant less compared to a semi hollow ES type guitar). Exactly my thoughts when I played my Sheraton for the first time. I pretty much like that profile.

Embellishments, it's all about the fancy look on the Sheraton. Gold hardware instead nickel/chrome, fancier bindings, fancier inlays on fretboard and headstock. Basically the same difference as between an ES-335 and an ES-355 mono. In terms of construction it is the same guitar. If you ask for the differences between the chinese made Riviera Limited Edition and the 50th anniversary Sheraton there are some more (I own both guitars): Standard chinese mini humbuckers on the Riviera vs Gibson minis on the Sheraton, the smaller more elegant headstock on the Sheraton. Full size Grover tuning machines on the Sheraton vs somewhat cheap Kluson type tuners on the Riviera. The Sheraton also is lighter, maybe they used poplar (or Chromite as Gibson calls it) for the center block of the Sheraton. The finish of the Sheraton is done a lot better, e.g. no black painted F-holes. The Sheraton has a more comfortable neck profile for my taste.

Sorry to hear... on the other hand I'm glad I'm not the only one Seems the entire run has QC issues in one or the other way. After playing for some days I decided to replace both bridge and nut. The bridge is squeaking and rattling, no matter how you adjust it. So I'll put in a Gibson Nashville bridge (this one is a lot cheaper here compared to the Tone Pros Nashville style bridge). For the nut I will take a GraphTech TUSQ, have good experience with these on other guitars. Originally I was looking for an Elitist Sheraton in excellent condition. However I had to import it from overseas, no offers around here. That would have cost me app. €1500-1800,- including tax and customs. After setting it up professionally and replacing bridge and nut the 62 reissue Sheraton will be well under €850,-. Still a good deal for that guitar I guess.

I fully agree with your argument. But here are a few thoughts why I will not return this particular guitar: - The VSB is already sold out today, so most likely I will get no replacement, just get back my money. But I like the guitar apart from that issues, so I will rather fix it myself than return it. - The dealer is 450km away, so no chance for me to bring it to the shop and ask for a proper setup. Btw. this is the only dealer in Germany that actually sold this guitar. - The base of the guitar is OK, the issues can be fixed resulting in a great instrument. - Even if the dealer had still VSB Sheratons on stock I would not return it. There's a certain risk that another guitar is even worse, with issues that cannot be fixed easily (cracks in the finish etc.). I've been thru this story already, I never got a chinese Epiphone that had no issues. And there were worse ones than this Sheraton. I know that this sounds a bit cynical, but that is my experience - I currently have 8 Epiphones, and sold 2 other ones. Mine is missing that running number as well. Just fill in your favorite number

Thanks! It will get a full pro setup including fret dress. I planned that anyway, so I don't care too much about the action out of the case. It's just annoying for people who expect a playable instrument out of the box (and you could well expect that for this price tag). Already fixed that one. Was just giving 2 nuts a few turns to get it straight. But still: Why didn't they do it at the factory?

Indeed, saw pictures of the real thing on the Sweetwater web site. That convinced me to order one. From the promo shots I wouldn't have bought one. Btw.: In an earlier post I quoted a picture of the red one, missing a nut on the Frequensator tailpiece. A miracle happened, the missing nut silently appeared Did anybody say Photoshop? That will not happen, best I could get is another box that nobody opened before shipping it to the customer.

Got my VSB now: First impressions: + Nice and tasteful vintage sunburst, very similar to the Elitist Casino VSB. + No black painted F-holes! That finally was the reason to pull the trigger on this one. If the shipped guitars had black painted F-holes like the first Epiphone images did show, I would not have bought it, period. + Nice neck shape, very much like the Gibson 60s slim taper on their ES-335, different from other ES type Epiphones (Riviera Limited Edition, Dot, Standard Sheraton II). + Very light weight, much lighter than my Riviera Ltd, lighter than my korean built Sheraton II, even a tad lighter than my Elite ES-335. + Very detailed remake of the 62 Sheraton. + Good overall build quality of the wooden parts. + Decent sound, the Gibson mini humbuckers are way better than the standard full size humbuckers on other chinese Epiphones. Very open and mud-free sound. Unfortunately my guitar has some flaws: - Action is way too high, almost 1mm over the first fret, almost 3mm over the 12th fret. - The string holders on the Frequensator tailpiece are mounted somewhat aslant, see picture. - Partially the innermost ply of white binding on the top is still covered by the black paint. - Intonation is a bit off. - The spring in the TOM bridge that holds down the saddles was already off on one side. - The neck has a bit too much bow. - The bridge pickup volume control doesn't work at all, you get always full volume (well, at least better than having the pickup not working). - Both pickups have astonishing low output, and are somewhat prone to noise. Maybe caused by wrong soldered harness. For a guitar in the €700 euro price range this are a bit too much mistakes for my taste. However I will not return it, as I don't expect another guitar of that series to be much better. The playability issues can be solved with a proper setup (which I would have done anyway), and I can fix the harness myself. At least there are no issues with peeling off gold or cracking finish, and the hardware like pickups, bridge and tuning machines is mounted straight.

Yep, even by just touching it, without looking at the guitar My MIK Sheraton has the fretboard binding wrapped around the fret ends, just like the Gibson custom shop ES type guitars. And the neck profile of the MIK Sheraton is more a D-shape (pretty close to the current Gibson 60s slim taper necks), as opposed to the more C-shaped MIC necks. I have both MIK and MIC (and even a MIJ) ES style Epiphones, so I can compare them directly.

That bridge looks like a Schaller STMG: http://www.thomann.de/gb/schaller_stmg_steg.htm

Why changing anything? I guess the Swingster sounds great with the stock electronics. I have a Swingster, beside an Elite ES-335, an Elite Les Paul and a Broadway. The Swingster has a great tone on its own, an the Bigsby is a nice bonus on top. If anybody would ask for a versatile guitar with hollow body construction I would recommend the Swingster any time. The body is small enough to be still comfortable to play (a full size jazz mama like the Broadway isn't everybody's cup of tea), the neck has a more thin shape (compared to e.g. the Broadway which has a fat neck), much like the Gibson 60s necks.