Prophecy Futura Custom EX first impressions

[RotcanX]

Well, we got one of these things in today so I thought I'd pass along some observations...

 

First thing I noticed was that all three controls were loose. No big deal, pop off the knobs, and then remove the cover so that I could tighten the nuts properly... and lo and behold, 'mini' pots. Yuck. Kind of disappointing.

 

This one is made at the Samick Indonesia plant (SI) and the fit and finish is about par for an Epiphone. Tiny little blem on the lower treble bout, looks like maybe some bug took a dump under the clear coat. Kind of 'wobbly' finish overall, good enough but not amazing in any respect. Satin neck finish will be appreciated by players though. Very flat 'C' neck contour as one would expect on a 'shredder' style guitar. Fingerboard is a bit rough; the fret ends seem to dig into your hands a bit. It's not terrible but it's not blowing me away either. Nice dark rosewood, looks good, but the frets are kinda green, and will need a polishing with steel wool. Great upper fret access all the way to the 24th on this model. Action needs adjusting, I'll attend to that later; out of the box it's too high. Korean 'Grover' tuners seem a bit stiff, not what I would expect from real ones. Looks like it's over for Grover, as sad as that makes me to say.

 

Plugged it into a Marshall JCM 2000 to see what it sounds like and it's not bad. I've never seen the point behind EMG pickups and these do nothing to change my mind on that score. They sound okay, mind you, better than the standard Alnico Classics but a pair of hot ceramics à la 496R/500T would have been just as good IMO without having a stoopid battery in the guitar.

 

So, overall, I give it a 10 on looks, an 8 on sound, a 6 on fit and finish, and a 3 on parts (I thought Epiphone had given up on the mini pots, and the tuners are below par).

 

At $625 Canadian, the competition is going to be very stiff.

[Whitmore Willy]

RotcanX,

 

Thanks for the review.

I never saw what was so great about EMG pups...but, to each their own. It has been alot of years since I worried about "shreading". It is good to hear it seems to be a descent neck. To me, that is one of the most significant parts of the guitar. The rest you can adjust. I can't judge the fret ends by one guitar. We have all seen some bad ones I am sure. I have seen some great guitars come off the line with a terrible dressing on the frets. Sad as it may be, I've had to file the ends myself on some brand new ones.

Sad to hear about the fretboard. For that kind of money I would expect more.

Sorry to hear about the Grovers. I have been a fan of them for decades.

The finish is what interested me the most. (yea, I know it should be my last concern)...But the pictures I've seen make the finish look very nice.

 

P.S. Hope you are doing well and all is good.