Mark Lee Posted March 15, 2009 Share Posted March 15, 2009 What's you opinions on the Epiphone Masterbilt AJ 500 R versus the AJ 500 ME? What about the electric versions (AJ500 RE and AJ 500 ME) Do you think they'd hold up to 15 - 60 guage strings? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jinder Posted March 15, 2009 Share Posted March 15, 2009 Both are fine guitars, you couldn't really go wrong with either. BUT... Please take heed of this. You will have to tune down at least a whole tone to get any guitar to withstand 15-60 gauge strings. Nick Harper uses 17-66 on his Lowden, but tunes down to C-F-A-D#-G-C, IE concert pitch but down two whole tones. No stock acoustic guitar would withstand 15-60 strings tuned to concert pitch. If the guitar didn't implode right away, you'd very rapidly have an unplayable guitar due to extreme top bellying, neck distortion, bridge lifting and possible broken braces etc. I would never use anything heavier than 13s, and am hesitant to go heavier than 12s on my guitars due to problems I've had in the past with 13s. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TWilson Posted March 15, 2009 Share Posted March 15, 2009 Jinder speaks truth. +1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheLiveSoundGuy Posted March 15, 2009 Share Posted March 15, 2009 For the "Money Vs Value" aspect, they're really hard to beat. The Masterbuilt line is first rate. They remind me of time when a good Gibson was that price. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jinder Posted March 15, 2009 Share Posted March 15, 2009 I do believe the Masterbilts are the best value acoustic out there in the sub-£1000 range at the moment. I wish they weren't all satin finish though. I'd have a DR500P, the maple dread, in a heartbeat if it was glossed. I just use my guitars all the time and gig them heavily, so I couldn't have a satin guitar I had to baby...that's why I haven't gone for a Martin 15 series slothead 12-fret dread yet. Great tone, but it'd look like a car crash after 6 months of me using it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TWilson Posted March 15, 2009 Share Posted March 15, 2009 Jinder-I've had a yearning for a 12-fret slot head for some time also. I'm thinking of getting one of these for throwing in the rig and heading for the mountains, beaches, forests and streams! Solid sitka, solid rosewood, bone nut and saddle, forward shifted X bracing, pyrimid saddle, abalone rosette and purffling (sp?) 12-fret slothead, nitro finish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Lee Posted March 16, 2009 Author Share Posted March 16, 2009 Both are fine guitars' date=' you couldn't really go wrong with either. BUT... Please take heed of this. You will have to tune down at least a whole tone to get any guitar to withstand 15-60 gauge strings. Nick Harper uses 17-66 on his Lowden, but tunes down to C-F-A-D#-G-C, IE concert pitch but down two whole tones. No stock acoustic guitar would withstand 15-60 strings tuned to concert pitch. If the guitar didn't implode right away, you'd very rapidly have an unplayable guitar due to extreme top bellying, neck distortion, bridge lifting and possible broken braces etc. I would never use anything heavier than 13s, and am hesitant to go heavier than 12s on my guitars due to problems I've had in the past with 13s. [/quote'] I already use at least 13 - 56 on all my guitars (all 12 of them) some are very old (my oldest is a 1940 Epiphone Emperor). They are all in top nick. As long as the setup is done well and the truss rod is tight, they all withstand superheavy strings at concert pitch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jinder Posted March 16, 2009 Share Posted March 16, 2009 Are you mainly an archtop player by any chance? I know they are built to withstand very heavy string gauges (although I would be hesitant with your Emperor on account of it's age), but speaking as a qualified engineer and someone who has worked a fair bit with wood in the past (not meaning to sound patronising, but I just wanted to make it clear that I wasn't talking out of my behind), I would go as far as to PLEAD with you not to put those 15-60 gauge strings on a flattop acoustic guitar. Archtops, Electrics at a push, okay, but the way an acoustic flattop is built, braced and functions in terms of stress distribution throughout the top makes putting that much tension on it an absolute nightmare waiting to happen. For a start, the way an archtop and flattop work is completely different, the strings and bridge on an archtop exhibit a downward pressure on the (usually laminated) top, which is arched in a way that can withstand fairly monstrous pressure. This design creates vibration, when played, that runs vertically through the top, creating that distinctive archtop 'honk'. Flattop work completely differently, with the only reinforcement for the top being in the bracing and bridgeplate assembly. String tension on a flattop pulls not only forward (towards the neck), but also upwards, due to neck angle and other variables, causing the often problematic 'bellying' of the top behind the bridge, or 'rolling' of the bridge. At best, using the type of super heavy strings you mentioned on a flattop is going to cause you to have (maybe not now, if you're lucky, but certainly within a year or two) a guitar with almost unplayably high action, possibly broken braces, a severely stressed top, and probably severe intonation problems from having everything pulled out of shape. I'm not trying to be a smart arse, just a player who wants to help another player out. Speaking as an engineer, a woodworker and a player of 16 years (who's seen his fair share of guitar problems, often self inflicted in the past!), please don't put 15-60 strings on a flattop and expect it to last the course and remain usable. You'll either find yourself binning guitars every year or two, or keeping your local luthier's fleet of Mercedes in chauffeurs, services and Meguiars all year round. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jinder Posted March 16, 2009 Share Posted March 16, 2009 TW, that's beautiful...instant Jimmie Rodgers territory! Who makes that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AustinNoName Posted March 16, 2009 Share Posted March 16, 2009 I'd really, REALLY like an AJ500R... I've been GASing for rosewood for ages! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheLiveSoundGuy Posted March 16, 2009 Share Posted March 16, 2009 TW' date=' that's beautiful...instant Jimmie Rodgers territory! Who makes that?[/quote'] +1 Jaw dropping beauty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TWilson Posted March 16, 2009 Share Posted March 16, 2009 TW' date=' that's beautiful...instant Jimmie Rodgers territory! Who makes that?[/quote'] Recording King ROS-647 they are patterned after turn of the century guitars and this one looks an awful lot like a M****n 1930 OOO-45 Deluxe except that one has a pickguard and inlay on the headstock. And, of course, the pricetag! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jinder Posted March 16, 2009 Share Posted March 16, 2009 Austin, me too! I have been eyeing one up for a while, along with the DR500P, but I just wish they were gloss lacquered and not satin. I fear I'd knacker it within weeks. TW, that is a real beauty. I am misty-eyed at the thought of picking Waiting For A Train on one of those...What kind of money are those going for? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajsc Posted March 16, 2009 Share Posted March 16, 2009 Some of the Masterbilts do come with a gloss "top". Hey you can pick one up for 450, It doesn't really matter what it looks like after a couple of years!! IMHO They are really well built guitars, & have tone to die for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jayla Posted March 16, 2009 Share Posted March 16, 2009 Based on all the good things I've read about them, I went out and played a couple Masterbuilts in local GCs but was not too impressed. I either hit on a couple of duds, or else the guitars weren't being properly cared for. I've yet to play one and go "WOW!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheLiveSoundGuy Posted March 16, 2009 Share Posted March 16, 2009 Guitar Center guitars NOT properly cared for??? You musta been drunk or something. (kidding) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jayla Posted March 16, 2009 Share Posted March 16, 2009 Guitar Center guitars NOT properly cared for??? You musta been drunk or something. (kidding) If I had been, the guitars might have sounded better, *and* I might not have noticed the 12 simultaneous, out of sync performances of the intro to "Stairway to Heaven" being played on electrics in the playroom just outside. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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