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Stupid CL Epiphone EA-255


Steve112

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Question, are you bored ? What could possibly prompt you to want to be the Craigslist Popo ? Sellers can charge whatever they want, buyers will and do pay what they can live with. The end. Without having first hand experience with an instrument personally all you have accomplished here is spouting off about something that doesn't belong to you. I bet that is a damn fine Epi.

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I am not understanding why people are so down on this model of guitar? Before posting I did a little research, and it seems EVERYone thinks these are a total piece of junk and barely worth $150 at best. I don't get it, since they were made by Matsumoku, one of the premier Japanese mass production builders of the time period. That should suggest something totally different than what everyone is saying about them. I don't get it at all. What makes these such a hunk of junk? [confused] Is it pure snob factor since it was made in Asia and not the USA?

 

I have a Matsumoku made solid body Vantage guitar, and it has just about the best quality and sound of all of my guitars. Yes, it sounds better than both my 93 Mexican Strat with Custom Shop Pickups, and my stock pickup Epiphone LP Standard. It can actually sound like both of those guitars, and does a better job at it.

 

 

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The scale is 25.5", the tailpiece is a frequensator, the pickups aren't P90, and the switch is in an unconventional place. That model of Casino sure was a departure from what came before it and after it.

Yes, having played this model albeit with a different name tag nearly forty years ago, I found it to be an example of early Japanese low quality instruments. The Casino name was borrowed for a short time only and the description and title is not of any Casino I've personally ever seen or played.

Lastly, $1350.00 is absurd for such a low quality guitar. In short, a very poor deal for someone with little knowledge of these guitars, which actually was my point.

 

Edit; My '14 Dot and ES339, and many other Epis I've played are superb instruments, well beyond comparison to these EA255s. ANY modern Asian guitars of reputable branding are very good instruments which I respect and enjoy playing.

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Matsumoku built guitars to spec for a variety of distributors. Some were wonderful --- I have a Ventura branded Matsumoku-made Barney Kessel that rivals some Gibsons I've played. But when Epiphone outsourced their guitars to Matsumoku in the 1970's, they wanted cheap, and that's what they got. The EA-255 was sometimes also called a Riviera and sometimes a Casino, but bore absolutely no resemblance to the guitars we think of with those names other than being a double cutaway with two (sketchy) pickups. Some had bolt-on necks. They are generic guitars that wore a variety of brand names with only minor cosmetic differences, and were not related to any original Epiphone designs. They have no collectible value whatsoever, and because the fretboards were made before computer controlled manufacturing, some are damn near unplayable. They typically go on eBay for a few hundred bucks tops.

 

Later on in the mid-1980's, Epiphone reverted to original specs for the Casino, Riviera and Emperor (like today's Broadway), and the Matsumoku versions of those guitars are superb --- close to Elitist quality.

 

Anyone willing to spend over a thousand dollars on a used guitar can get many, many FAR superior instruments for the money. Only someone very inexperienced or naive would consider a price like that for the prototypical "cheap Japanese guitar."

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Question, are you bored ? What could possibly prompt you to want to be the Craigslist Popo ? Sellers can charge whatever they want, buyers will and do pay what they can live with. The end. Without having first hand experience with an instrument personally all you have accomplished here is spouting off about something that doesn't belong to you. I bet that is a damn fine Epi.

Sorry, it's not a "damn fine Epi" and I've played one. I've been playing good guitars for over fifty years...you?

What prompted me to post is precisely this, I don't want to see a newish player buy an instrument that is widely held to be generally inferior for a huge dollar only to deeply regret it later.

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Sorry, it's not a "damn fine Epi" and I've played one. I've been playing good guitars for over fifty years...you?

What prompted me to post is precisely this, I don't want to see a newish player buy an instrument that is widely held to be generally inferior for a huge dollar only to deeply regret it later.

 

And I'm curious, I see people do this a lot on these forums. Do you say something on CL? Can you, I guess is the better question. Seems a shame to gripe about it here while the person is selling it over there.

 

rct

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Matsumoku built guitars to spec for a variety of distributors. Some were wonderful --- I have a Ventura branded Matsumoku-made Barney Kessel that rivals some Gibsons I've played. But when Epiphone outsourced their guitars to Matsumoku in the 1970's, they wanted cheap, and that's what they got. The EA-255 was sometimes also called a Riviera and sometimes a Casino, but bore absolutely no resemblance to the guitars we think of with those names other than being a double cutaway with two (sketchy) pickups. Some had bolt-on necks. They are generic guitars that wore a variety of brand names with only minor cosmetic differences, and were not related to any original Epiphone designs. They have no collectible value whatsoever, and because the fretboards were made before computer controlled manufacturing, some are damn near unplayable. They typically go on eBay for a few hundred bucks tops.

 

Later on in the mid-1980's, Epiphone reverted to original specs for the Casino, Riviera and Emperor (like today's Broadway), and the Matsumoku versions of those guitars are superb --- close to Elitist quality.

 

Anyone willing to spend over a thousand dollars on a used guitar can get many, many FAR superior instruments for the money. Only someone very inexperienced or naive would consider a price like that for the prototypical "cheap Japanese guitar."

Thanks for this informative reply Parabar. [thumbup] I knew most but not all of your info. I was not being snarky by posting about the listing, I'm trying to help someone from getting ripped off.

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And I'm curious, I see people do this a lot on these forums. Do you say something on CL? Can you, I guess is the better question. Seems a shame to gripe about it here while the person is selling it over there.

 

rct

 

 

I've replied to sellers by email, and give them the benefit of the doubt that they just dont know what they've got. maybe it was dad's old guitar and he cherished it every day, and they didn't bother to look it up, but they believe it's valuable. This seller seems to be trying to play it off that this is just a good playing guitar, and admits that it's not something collectible. a simple email with the info posted here, along with some price recommendations, is enough. the only way to respond publicly would be to post your own "re: " listing, which is the best way to get a lot of keyboard warriors blasting you to mind your business, free market, etc.

 

We've all learned a lot through these forums and other resources, and its helpful to share that knowledge in a positive way. after all, the guy's trying to sell it, right? go forth and do good things!

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And I'm curious, I see people do this a lot on these forums. Do you say something on CL? Can you, I guess is the better question. Seems a shame to gripe about it here while the person is selling it over there.

 

rct

Yes, good point rct. In fact I've replied directly to sellers on CL previously. Due to feeling that this is OUR forum and there are many new players I genuinely was thinking this as more of a public service or a heads up. But if this is offensive to some, I'll happily refrain from this activity.

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Yes, good point rct. In fact I've replied directly to sellers on CL previously. Due to feeling that this is OUR forum and there are many new players I genuinely was thinking this as more of a public service or a heads up. But if this is offensive to some, I'll happily refrain from this activity.

 

No man, seems fine to me. I know everything* about guitars, so I'm often giving out such advice when asked. I just wondered many times and now I know that you folks do talk to the sellers sometimes.

 

rct

 

*Yes, everything, that's what I said.

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