Dr. Epiphone Interview - Guitars and Gear Vol. 46

[CoreyT]

From Sweetwater.

 

[charlie brown]

You know, all "enthusiasm," and/or "hype" aside, I would tend to agree,

overall, that Epiphone now, is better than it's ever been! Sure, the

"Elitist" versions were (still are, in the case of the Elitist Casino)

stunning, and much pined for, still. But, even the "regular" versions

are so much nicer, now...that the percieved gap is constantly closing...IMHO.

 

The only real improvement, I could hope for, are versions, with affordable

Nitro finishes, and (even more important, to me) period correct truss rods,

and (2-hole) covers, to go with the (otherwise) period correct spec's, of

the various "reissues." Some may not think any of that is really necessary,

but, I (for one) would LOVE to see it happen...as just that little "extra"

to make them "perfect!"

 

Still, overall...Great Job, Epiphone!! Keep up the constant improvements!

 

CB

[bonzoboy]

I have to chip in with my 2 cents about the Epiphone quality.I have 6 Epis that cost from around $400 up to almost $3,000 and each one of them is of outstanding quality in playability,tone and fit and finish with no flaws whatsoever.Back in the 90s and earlier QA wasn't a priority with Epiphone and the brand suffered greatly for it,but since 2000 they have become almost obsessive about quality and I haven't seen one come from the factory yet that had any quality issues.Sadly some people are perpetuating the Epi reliability myth and people who don't know the difference are taking their misinformed word for it. and avoiding the brand,that's a pity because they are missing an opportunity to probably get the guitar of their dreams.

[milod]

I'd definitely agree that the Epi may overall be the best mass-production guitar marque around today.

 

If one took one of today's Epis that are around the $400-600 US price range today, I'd wager they could bring roughly the same price in the early '70s along with the Gibsons, Guilds and Gretsches of the era and would be "legends" today.

 

Thing is, they're available in large numbers too with a high percentage of "just fine as is" factory guitars. That's what I find surprising, if not astonishing. We hear a few howls here, but ditto about other brands.

 

No guitar is perfect and frankly, I think most of those "new guitar blues" I read here and elsewhere is a matter of transportation and climate influence on the woods involved, not overall quality. I've run into that problem myself with several guitar brands if they didn't sit in a store a while in my same general climate and then received a setup.

 

Thing is, it's a factory, not a handmade guitar. At one time company policy allowed lower quality electronics and that caused some questions of reliability. Frankly I trust my Epis as much as any other similar instrument build regardless of price. As one guy mentioned in a thread a year or two ago, it seems to make more sense to take an Epi Dot out to a $100 band paycheck than a Gibbie 335 even if you mostly play the 335 at home. It's a great workman's tool.

 

Tone... it's kinda the same thing. Give me a strad and I'll still have the cat vomiting on the living room carpet while I'm scratching through an effort at either fiddling or violin-playing. Give an expert a violin that's an advanced student model and he'll sound like... an expert.

 

Playability... Actually I'd prefer today's standard Epi neck to the '50s necks or the "v" on either an Epi or a Gibson or a Martin or whatever the comparison. I wish more Epi acoustics of various sorts had the shorter 'stedda longer scale but...

 

90-95 percent Gibson quality at 25 percent of the price tag is kinda a no-brainer unless you're playing some pretty high-end gigs or simply want to own the finest example of a type of guitar. Or I guess if you have a lot more money than I do and dropping $2-10,000 means the same to you as $3-500 does to me. Although I've gotta admit I've spent more than the 5...

 

m