waynereed

Just picked up a Special 2 from ebay. Mint condition. Not a scratch on it. Plays fine. (Intonation is off a bit but no biggie.) Plugged it in, and it sounds terrible. Horrible sounding guitar. And my rig is killer. FYI: I don't own any low end guitars. I bought this to resell because no one was bidding on it. My rig is more than impressive. All tube amps. (Fender DR and Marshall) It's my gig rig. No issues. When I strum a chord it sounds pretty bad. When I pick separate strings, it sounds like I have a ring mod pedal on?!? Pick ups each work in positions 1, 2 and 3. Volume and tone pots seems to work fine. action is a bit low but not stupid low. No buzzes. And the pups are at a realistic height, albeit a bit low. But not high. Over the note played you hear this weird, metalic kind of pinging. Kinda like if the strings were not tightly seated over a metalic component. Like a space between the strings and the bridge, which is unlikely. But that's what it sounds like. I know these are way low end guittars. But based on many videos I just watched they still DO sound like a guitar, not an effect in a scifi movie! LOL Any ideas? Wayne

UPDATE: heal plate has the following . . . Hand crafted in Korea by Epiphone The Epiphone Company Nashville, Tennessee USA 0 17246 ~ Note: The "0" is stamped into a slightly etched rectangle. The 17246 is on a white sticker. ~ I have a pristine Firebird. The head stock has a gold painted Gibson logo. The heal plate on the back says Made by The Epiphone Company of Tennessee, made in Korea. On the back of the headstock is stamped "USED". No other markings or numbers. I'm trying to find out at least approximately when it was made. And approximately what it's worth. I did a lot of Net searching. This does not look like the cheapie Firebirds selling on ebay for $400. It's a rich looking sunburst. Gold hardware. Looks and sounds great. Plays great as well. Heavy as Hell! LOL Any ideas or comments would be much appreciated! Thanks, Wayne Reed thenettrainer@yahoo.com