GerryC Posted June 14, 2020 Share Posted June 14, 2020 (edited) I appear to have gone full circle from owning a Sheraton by Gibson (Samick Korea) many years ago and now a Sheraton 2 Pro (China). Not intentional as I was selling another guitar and was offered this plus some cash in exchange. Having the good fortune to have owned and played many USA made guitars (Anderson, Gibson, Hamer and Musicman and one made in Japan (Gretsch), Indonesia (Ibanez) and Korea (Epiphone) I was a little hesitant on a guitar from China. The feeling of somehow going backwards but boy did I get that Wrong According to the serial number the guitar was made in May 2015 which makes it, I assume; to be one of the first II Pro´s made. The build quality is nothing short of amazing and believe me when I say I have owned guitars 3 times more expensive that were not better than this. The rosewood fret board has a very tight grain and is so dark it could be confused with Ebony. Fret inlays have no gaps at all and I mean no gaps, the binding is a work of art and having gone around the guitar with a fine tooth comb there is not one blemish or defect on any of it. Apart from one and it took my camera to pick it up. At certain angles you can see a small light patch next to the binding on one of the F Holes. Obviously whoever installed the binding wiped some surplus glue off the guitar but did not use thinners. This is really knit picking as I said before the binding on this guitar is a work of art. Plus I suspect that 90% of people would not see it without my pointing it out. This Sheraton is everything that my first one wasn´t and if this is typical of guitars coming of the Epiphone factories in China then I can only raise my hat. Talking of hats as you can see a previous owner has replaced the control knobs with Gold Top Hat Reflectors, which to my eyes look much better on the natural finish. It is also apparent that this guitar during its 5 years has hardly been played which is something I am going to remedy. The only thing I have done is sort out the action and I am awaiting for some Ivory Coloured Pickup rings to be delivered and when they are I will replace the black ones, give the fret board a clean, polish the frets and re-string it. I also removed the pickguard as I neither like the design or indeed the almost transparent colour. Not sure I will bother replacing it as I think the guitar looks superb without it. Buying a guitar on line is bit like playing bingo and sometimes you do get lucky. They say you get what you pay for but this guitar punches well over its weight. Oh and lastly when did they drop the NAT finish option? I am feeling very lucky to own one especially in such mint condition and with a rosewood board which makes it a keeper I think. Mind you sadly and looking back regretfully I have never kept a guitar for longer than a few months LOL. I have attached a single which due to the size restrictions I have had to drastically reduce in size but at least you get the picture (Pun intended). Edited June 14, 2020 by GerryC Spelling Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kidblast Posted June 14, 2020 Share Posted June 14, 2020 I have a 2015 just like yours. I had to do quite a bit of fret leveling to get the action right. but, yea,, nice playing/sounding semi hollow, hard to beat it for the price. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GerryC Posted June 14, 2020 Author Share Posted June 14, 2020 21 minutes ago, kidblast said: I have a 2015 just like yours. I had to do quite a bit of fret leveling to get the action right. but, yea,, nice playing/sounding semi hollow, hard to beat it for the price. Not sure what has been done on this guitar in the past although I have found a December 2019 receipt in the case listing work carried out by a tech but no fret leveling on the list. I have checked them with a rocker and they are perfect although they need a polish. I am still trying to get my head around the condition of this guitar and the fact it has obviously hardly ever been played. Ah well my good so I'm not complaining. I have just blacked out the Pickguard as I cannot stand that transparent tortoise shell but I'll do a fresh post on that. Oh and just out of interest what month was your 2015 manufactured? Gerry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kidblast Posted June 15, 2020 Share Posted June 15, 2020 23 hours ago, GerryC said: Not sure what has been done on this guitar in the past although I have found a December 2019 receipt in the case listing work carried out by a tech but no fret leveling on the list. I have checked them with a rocker and they are perfect although they need a polish. I am still trying to get my head around the condition of this guitar and the fact it has obviously hardly ever been played. Ah well my good so I'm not complaining. I have just blacked out the Pickguard as I cannot stand that transparent tortoise shell but I'll do a fresh post on that. Oh and just out of interest what month was your 2015 manufactured? Gerry I'd have to check that, need to run the serial # thru a dater.. I can post back later. I am not crazy about the p/g either. I've left it alone tho. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GerryC Posted June 16, 2020 Author Share Posted June 16, 2020 21 hours ago, kidblast said: I'd have to check that, need to run the serial # thru a dater.. I can post back later. I am not crazy about the p/g either. I've left it alone tho. On the pick guard it certainly looks better black on the natural but the shape is still weird, why it has to bulge down almost to the three way toggle is beyond me. I shall be interested to see how it looks when I get the Ivory pickup surrounds delivered and fitted. Apart from the looks the main thing is it plays and sounds a dream. I´m just interested to see how close these two guitars are on date of manufacture. Gerry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kidblast Posted June 16, 2020 Share Posted June 16, 2020 I think a 335 pickguard would fit better too. The Epi one IMO is too big, (much like that darn headstock!) According to Guitar Dater.. Your guitar was made inChinaon May, 2015Production Number: 3440 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GerryC Posted June 18, 2020 Author Share Posted June 18, 2020 How about that same month and production numbers are really close mine is 3879. Cream pickup surrounds look much better on this guitar but that is just my humble opinion. Correction from my first post. "Talking of hats as you can see a previous owner has replaced the control knobs with Gold Top Hat Reflectors, which to my eyes look much better on the natural finish". This is rubbish LOL they came with the Gold Top Hat Reflectors in 2015although they have now changed them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GerryC Posted June 18, 2020 Author Share Posted June 18, 2020 Frets polished, new set of strings and Ivory Pickup Surrounds fitted. That´s it no more changes I will now keep the frets polished with the ends of my fingers. LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kidblast Posted June 19, 2020 Share Posted June 19, 2020 that looks great Gerry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GerryC Posted June 19, 2020 Author Share Posted June 19, 2020 7 hours ago, kidblast said: that looks great Gerry. Thanks my friend, if I remember correctly with Gibson's they always match the color of the three way selector button and pickup surrounds not sure why Epiphone didn't do that . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LOSTVENTURE Posted July 4, 2020 Share Posted July 4, 2020 From everything that I have seen, 2015 was the year that Epi really stepped up their game. Fit and finish became equal to Gibson, and all of the hardware became top notch. I have the Sheraton 2 Pro, although from 2018, an ES-339 P90 Pro from 2015 and a Custom Pro from 2017, and all are exceptional in both build and tonal virtuosity. And the inrtoduction of the splittable ProBucker pickups was just frosting on the cake. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duncandog Posted July 15, 2020 Share Posted July 15, 2020 Here is my Sheraton II 2012 Qingdao built. This is my first Epi and really blown away by the build quality and acoustic resonance of this instrument. I have played numberous 335's and really prefer this Sheraton over them. I replaced the p/ups (Dimarzio 36th Anniversary PAF's) and pots/jack/switch (Stewmac pkg). This one is a keeper. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LOSTVENTURE Posted July 17, 2020 Share Posted July 17, 2020 I chose my 2018 Sheraton over the Gibson 335 based completely on the splittable ProBuckers. Those just added a range of tones that the Gibson did not. Other than those pickups, the two guitars were the same. The Epi was a little nicer dressed though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GerryC Posted July 19, 2020 Author Share Posted July 19, 2020 On 7/16/2020 at 1:11 AM, Duncandog said: Here is my Sheraton II 2012 Qingdao built. This is my first Epi and really blown away by the build quality and acoustic resonance of this instrument. I have played numberous 335's and really prefer this Sheraton over them. I replaced the p/ups (Dimarzio 36th Anniversary PAF's) and pots/jack/switch (Stewmac pkg). This one is a keeper. Looks lovely anyone know why they have dropped the Natural? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GerryC Posted July 19, 2020 Author Share Posted July 19, 2020 On 7/17/2020 at 2:13 AM, LOSTVENTURE said: I chose my 2018 Sheraton over the Gibson 335 based completely on the splittable ProBuckers. Those just added a range of tones that the Gibson did not. Other than those pickups, the two guitars were the same. The Epi was a little nicer dressed though. Yes on the looks front they are killer. The only thing I would change would be to drop that inlay on the 1st Fret and add a couple up the dusty end of the fretboard above the 12 Fret. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dc3c46 Posted July 19, 2020 Share Posted July 19, 2020 Yes, it is a great guitar, especially for the money. Craftsmanship and quality is excellent. I do have a natural one.After removing the ugly pickguard, changing pickups to Bareknuckle Stormy Mondays and adding a Bigsby, it is a joy to play. Fits right in with my Gibsons and Gretsches. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GerryC Posted July 19, 2020 Author Share Posted July 19, 2020 6 minutes ago, dc3c46 said: Yes, it is a great guitar, especially for the money. Craftsmanship and quality is excellent. I do have a natural one.After removing the ugly pickguard, changing pickups to Bareknuckle Stormy Mondays and adding a Bigsby, it is a joy to play. Fits right in with my Gibsons and Gretsches. I installed some Bare Knuckles Mississippi Queens on a Hamer Newport Pro a few years back, just beautiful. Another guitar I should have never sold LOL. Oh and talking natural a Natural Gretsch Country Club which was a little like holding a Grand Piano and yes I shouldn't have sold that one either as it had a spruce top which made it rarer than hens teeth. Still very happy with the Sheraton as value for money its hard to beat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldUncleSkeeter Posted December 9, 2022 Share Posted December 9, 2022 Hey there Gerry, sorry to revive this thread but I just got my hands on 2017 MIC Natural Sheraton II Pro after almost getting an 2010s MIK Natural Sheraton II and I'm glad I did, love this guitar and going to put cream colored pickup rings after seeing your build. Quick question, on your serial what's the 5th and 6th number? I'm trying to figure out why they slowed/stopped producing Natural Pro's (It's so rare to find one) and I think maybe it has to do with the factory. The few Natural Pro's I've found online all have 20 as their factory code which is the Daewon/China Unsung plant (it's unknown which one it comes from) and I wonder if your does too. Mine has 20 as the 5th and 6th meaning it comes from that plant as well. Maybe they don't make Natural Pro's in their Qingdao factory (code 15) and that explains the rarity of it. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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