erik1930 Posted May 25, 2013 Share Posted May 25, 2013 I guess the title says it all. I currently have an Epiphone Sheraton which doesn't really suit the style that I enjoy to play/learn; i.e. Rockabilly. Any ideas on what the most suitable guitar would be. My problem is that I am hoping to sell or swap my Sheraton (with very little or no cash outlay), so that Gretsch White Falcon really is out of the equation!! Also, I am not keen on Telecasters and would like a large hollow body.I was thinking about the Epiphone Emperor or Swingster. I would be grateful for any advice. Thanks!! :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigneil Posted May 25, 2013 Share Posted May 25, 2013 Check out the epi wildKat too. I reckon its the perfect rockabilly machine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigneil Posted May 25, 2013 Share Posted May 25, 2013 And if you like the white falcon look, check out the "royale" range of semi and hollow body electrics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milod Posted May 25, 2013 Share Posted May 25, 2013 Well... I use a Dot now; a lotta rockabilly era people used the 335 and variations - the Sheritan would be one - so I don't personally think something else is needed although you may wanna look at a Swingster. I just personally wouldn't dump the Sheritan. I did too many swaps for this sort of reason that I regret. Gotta remember too that a lot of full hollows were in use in the original rockabilly era. There was a lot less amplification then, though, compared to what's available today. m Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erik1930 Posted May 25, 2013 Author Share Posted May 25, 2013 Thanks Bignell and Milod for the advice. I will think on your suggestions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluelake07 Posted May 25, 2013 Share Posted May 25, 2013 Yeah Erik, guitars with single-coil pickups are the sound of 50's rockabilly. Carl Perkins recorded Honey Don't and Blue Suede Shoes with a '52/'53 Gibson Les Paul Goldtop with P90's and then bought a Gibson ES-5 with three P90's. The Seymour Duncan Phat Cat is a P90 that is designed to be used on a guitar routed for humbuckers and installing a pair of those is an option if you otherwise like your Sheraton. The Epiphone Wildkat, Riviera P-93 or Swingster would be great if you decide to replace your Sheraton and want a vibrato tailpiece. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erik1930 Posted May 25, 2013 Author Share Posted May 25, 2013 Thanks bluelake - more for me to research. :) Yeah Erik, guitars with single-coil pickups are the sound of 50's rockabilly. Carl Perkins recorded Honey Don't and Blue Suede Shoes with a '52/'53 Gibson Les Paul Goldtop with P90's and then bought a Gibson ES-5 with three P90's. The Seymour Duncan Phat Cat is a P90 that is designed to be used on a guitar routed for humbuckers and installing a pair of those is an option if you otherwise like your Sheraton. The Epiphone Wildkat, Riviera P-93 or Swingster would be great if you decide to replace your Sheraton and want a vibrato tailpiece. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dennis G Posted May 25, 2013 Share Posted May 25, 2013 I too am thinking Wildkat for what your want, but then again, I'm biased (see avatar) It's just a great all 'round Rock a Billy guitar! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CheapShoes Posted May 26, 2013 Share Posted May 26, 2013 If playing that genre, I tend to think of hollow-bodied guitar sounds as Rockabilly X 50s rock and roll, and Telecasters as Rockabilly X Honky-Tonk. Heck even a Stratocaster can do Rockabilly or Country plenty fine. It's all about playing style and attitude... and single coils. A Tele or Strat with humbuckers is not the same guitar and should have been renamed, IMHO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyphre Posted May 26, 2013 Share Posted May 26, 2013 I know it's not an Epiphone, but on a budget these Xaviere xv-950 guitars look like tasty rockabilly machines... http://www.guitarfetish.com/Xaviere-XV-950-Rockabilly-Hollowbody-Guitars_c_311.html http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=zjFNjloJ0y8&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DzjFNjloJ0y8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
claydots Posted May 26, 2013 Share Posted May 26, 2013 The FlameKat... not just for looks but it has P-90's and what you want is Twang. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milod Posted May 26, 2013 Share Posted May 26, 2013 It's not just single coils for heaven's sake. We've today a significantly different technology. Playing rockabilly is, as was said above, a matter of attitude. Plenty of the 50s pickers adapted to whatever they were comfortable with, which included both single coil and HB pups. Don't forget too that their amps weren't all that powerful and that, as folks trained largely on acoustic guitars, they initially had a preference for full hollows; many, if not most of those quickly adapted HBs. Later came various solidbodies and semis... But again, "we" tended as young folks nowadays, to look toward new stuff that fitted what "we" did, and the HBs worked just fine and almost nobody thought of the difference in the same way "we" do now. At least none of the pickers I knew in the regions where I was picking. "Looks?" Yeah, for better or worse. It's not that there weren't differences, but rather that the preferences were just beginning - and more often in terms of perceived playability in gigs as opposed to pups per se. Let's put it this way: When I was playing for money, I never bought a guitar for its pups - and I was playing more than a bit of rockabilly one way or another well into the '70s. And I never knew anyone else who had a different perspective. If it felt right, you made it work. m Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diverden Posted May 27, 2013 Share Posted May 27, 2013 My 1965 Casino Elite sounds great playing Rockabilly. The Dwight Trash Casino does a great job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erik1930 Posted May 27, 2013 Author Share Posted May 27, 2013 Thanks for all the comments. I'm sure that most guitars can be used for any style but these days there is so much choice around that it gets confusing! But I am listening to what everyone says. Thanks again! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supersonic Posted May 27, 2013 Share Posted May 27, 2013 IMHO, I don't really think the "style" of the guitar really matters. You can get great rockabilly sounds from a Les Paul just as you can from any of the guitars mentioned above. I think picking style, amp, and amp settings have more impact on the tone than the type of guitar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clarkuss Posted May 27, 2013 Share Posted May 27, 2013 Another vote for Swingster: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyphre Posted May 27, 2013 Share Posted May 27, 2013 The swingsters are incredibly cool looking. O_O I do think the style of guitar has *something* to do with it. Look at what most modern rockabilly players play. Certainly there is some reason for their choices. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milod Posted May 28, 2013 Share Posted May 28, 2013 Yeah, and Doc Watson played a Les Paul at an early point in his pickin' career, including fiddle tunes, before he went to flattops and the Gallagher acoustic. Needless to say, though, the appearance of the guitar wasn't exactly a major concern. Yeah, folks use all kinds of guitars for all kinds of reasons. I probably swapped a cupla three-four dozen electrics in the 70s to have guitars that I thought fit the style for different gigs with different groups. In retrospect I guess it's fine to do if that trips your trigger. But nowadays I've done short jazz gigs with a small acoustic-electric flattop, cowboy with a 175, folk blues with a Gretsch single pup archtop, blues with my '70s Guild S100c SG clone, and lots of country, rock, country-rock and, if you will, Rockabilly, with a Dot. It ain't the guitar, it's the picker and a guitar he or she is comfortable with, although that does tend to change over a bit of time. Feedback at high volumes is a concern, though, especially on a full hollow. I also did a lotta country rock/rockabilly, etc., with an old '50s single pole pup archtop in the late '70s, but more because I had a super setup on it at the time so that even with the fat neck, it kinda played itself with the technique I was using for a saloon trio. Look at it this way... If you're comfy with your guitar(s), don't figure you've gotta swap for "style." If you're not, or if you've got an uncontrollable case of GAS (guitar acquisition syndrome), do whatever. I freely admit I have gone through periods of GAS even after I got a stable of guitars that like me to play as much as I enjoy playing them - but the looks are rather less than secondary. Also don't forget that an electric guitar is an instrument of two parts - the guitar and the amp. Both have more than a few controls. String choices and technique make a world of difference too. A lot of us in the late '50s and into the mid '60s used flatwounds on everything electric. Too, even a given pup setup can sound quite different with even the same technique played in a different position between fingerboard and bridge. Play your attitude and it'll pay out. The Swingster is not a bad choice at all if you feel you've gotta swap. I've never cared much for whammies, but I didn't 50 years ago either, although such as Chet Atkins played with 'em. I've played one and it wasn't bad and had more controls than, say, the kinda hollow of the olden days with one or two pups. m Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Campbell Posted September 4, 2013 Share Posted September 4, 2013 Outside in the cold distance a Wildkat did growl... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluemans335 Posted September 4, 2013 Share Posted September 4, 2013 If you're Sheraton isn't doing what you want, then that pretty much settles that. No point in trying to force the issue. You'd be happiest with a Wildcat or Swingster. Either one is ideal for rockabilly, you need to consider their strengths and weaknesses. Both have vibrato bars. One is a semi-hollow with P-90's, the other is fully hollow with HB's. Being single coils, P-90's have a little more noise. Full hollowbodies feedback easy at high volumes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aster1 Posted September 4, 2013 Share Posted September 4, 2013 Well actually, a Nice Gretsch would be my first & near only choice!! Maybe a 5420 in the moderate price ones!! That's just me however!! Aster Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bloozeguy Posted September 4, 2013 Share Posted September 4, 2013 As I look over these responses, I'm a little surprised no one has suggested looking for a used ES295. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluelake07 Posted September 4, 2013 Share Posted September 4, 2013 Epiphone ES-295, nice guitar. I see that sellers are getting $650-700 for them on Ebay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluemans335 Posted September 4, 2013 Share Posted September 4, 2013 Epiphone ES-295, nice guitar. I see that sellers are getting $650-700 for them on Ebay. Are they out of production? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlie brown Posted September 4, 2013 Share Posted September 4, 2013 Only my opinion, but I'd keep the Sheraton, and (maybe) replace the pickups, with TV Jones Filtertrons, or...something similar. Personally, I think you can use the Sheri, "as is," with the right settings, and amp. But, the Filtertrons will get you into "Gretsch" territory, without the Gretsch Price tag. Another alternative, is DeAmond or TV Jones (and other's) Dynasonic (or, the like), single coils. Tele "Twang" and more! Still, "Rockabilly" is really more a "style" than any one particular sound/"tone," IMHO. Any guitar, will work, just fine...IF one knows how to play that style. Good Luck! CB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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