HNGD new 66 Wilshire

[jonnyg]

I went to look at the new 66 Wilshire today and ended up buying it. I've only had it a few hours but I must say that for the price (£269.00 including a Ritter gig bag) it really is a pretty decent guitar.

The shop gave me the guitar to try straight out of the box and, truthfully, not only was it well set up it was even in tune on the top five strings. I was a little worried by the "Made In Indonesia" sticker on the back of the head stock but further inspection and playing laid that concern to rest.

 

THE GOOD

It's wonderfully light, about half the weight of my Telecaster.

The fit and finish is really exceptional at this price point.

The nut looks like bone and is well cut and finished with no signs of string binding.

The satin finished neck is wide and flat and suits my playing style, although I admit that it may not suit all players.

The frets are well fitted and crowned, with no sharp ends and there is no fret buzz with a reasonably low action.

The switches and pots all feel positive and are well fitted with no crackles. The jack socket is a very firm fit.

I don't know what the coating is (polyester?) but it is flat and even with a satin (semi-gloss) finish which shows off the wood.

(This is the "Worn Cherry" finish and was the only finish the shop had available. I had thought that "Worn Cherry" may have been some form of relic-ing but this is apparently not so.)

The sound is good, like a clearer version of an SG or Les Paul, with quite a bite if you hit the strings hard.

The bridge pickup reminds me of a Telecaster but not quite so shrill.

The tuners seem OK but I will wait have to until the strings are properly stretched in to be sure.

 

THE BAD

The body is obviously made of three pieces of wood and little attempt has been made to find three reasonably matched pieces.

There is a slight cosmetic flaw in the wood just by the bridge pickup which really should have been picked up before manufacture. (It would have been better if the wood had been turned over so that the flaw was at the back.)

The pickup pole pieces don't quite line up with the holes in the pickup covers meaning that the poles are not quite central.

The piece of wood grafted onto the headstock to make up the length is obviously a different grain (or wood type) and colour and the finish accentuates it.

Finally, why is Epiphone fitting that ugly, fat logo on the headstock of its recent guitars instead of the old, slim graceful one?

 

To sum up, I think the Wilshire is an excellent guitar for a very low price which is slightly let down by a few minor cosmetic problems. It's a keeper for me though, I just love that shape. Pix follow.

 

[duane v]

My stomach growls

[Stevie Nazarenie]

it's pretty lovely.! you get those 3 piece bodies on expensive strats. any tone samples?

[brianh]

Nice review Jon, and really nice pics. It seems like a lot of guitar for the money, they're selling for $379 here in the US: http://guitars.musiciansfriend.com/product/Epiphone-Worn-66-Wilshire-Electric-Guitar?sku=581888

 

I've never really warmed up to Wilshires but may have to reconsider. Those mini Humbuckers are nice. One thing that's always worried me about Wilshires (double cut LP Juniors too), is the strength of the neck where it meets the body. Seems like a lot of stress at a critical junction. Any comments about that?

 

[ItsForrest]

Looks good!

UPS tracking says mine should be here Tuesday.

 

Your notes pretty much confirm what I am expecting in the guitar.

In the online photos from a couple big retailers here you can see what you noted about the pole screws not lining up with the cover holes. Possibly the weakest point on my Indonesian made Ibanez was the pickups. As it is somewhat of a budget guitar I rather expect the stock pickups in the Wilshire to be a bit flat as well. Replacements from GFS may be in order.

 

The finish is a satin urethane. Once again, from the retailer's online photos you can see it's not the most refined fit and finish. Since one would expect they would pick the nicest guitar off the line for the web photos I was actually expecting a bit rougher finish than you are showing.

 

How thick is the body? The Tele is 1-3/4" thick and the Wilshire looks rather thinner than that, which would account for the lighter weight.

 

Thanks for the review and pics.

[Bender 4 Life]

Good score jonnyg !!

Your quality pics have me "warming up" to the Wilshire a bit.

[midiman56]

Good score jonnyg !!

Your quality pics have me "warming up" to the Wilshire a bit.

 

Same here! I was not really interested in it either. Something about your "non-studio" shots are making that guitar look ... GOOD!

 

Congrats and happy playing, Jonny!!!

 

Jim

[charlie brown]

Taking all you've mentioned, and shown us, with the photos, I'd still say you did well! The multipiece body, isn't as bad

as some I've seen, for a LOT more money! So..."Good show!!" And, thanks for sharing your information, opinions, and photos!

 

CB

[altair]

Gratz on your new axe! Even with the cosmetic flaws you mention, it's still a beautiful thing! Love the mini buckers.

[jonnyg]

I've never really warmed up to Wilshires but may have to reconsider. Those mini Humbuckers are nice. One thing that's always worried me about Wilshires (double cut LP Juniors too)' date=' is the strength of the neck where it meets the body. Seems like a lot of stress at a critical junction. Any comments about that?[/quote']

 

There doesn't seem to be any unusual weakness at the join. However, I don't go out gigging these days so it's not really going to get rough treatment but, yeah, I do seem to remember that early (Gibson) Les Paul Juniors and SG's suffered from a weakness at the neck join.

 

Possibly the weakest point on my Indonesian made Ibanez was the pickups. As it is somewhat of a budget guitar I rather expect the stock pickups in the Wilshire to be a bit flat as well. Replacements from GFS may be in order.

 

How thick is the body? The Tele is 1-3/4" thick and the Wilshire looks rather thinner than that' date=' which would account for the lighter weight.[/quote']

 

I know that sound is a subjective thing but the pickups sound surprisingly good to my ears. I love the neck pickup on the Wilshire as it is definitely brighter than normal sized humbuckers and gives a very usable blues or jazz lead tone.

The body thickness is a tad over 1 3/8" so yeah that would account for the weight. The light weight makes it a joy on a strap and it's nicely balanced too.

 

Thanks for all the positive comments and thanks to my wife who took the pictures.

 

JG

[Elias Graves]

Very nice. I like the mini humbuckers. They have a beautiful sound.

 

EG

[MaxHart85231281734137]

sweeeet i need mini buckers bad

[unreal77]

What's that? fade cherry or the other one? looks better than the studio shots. Congrats.

[EpiEric]

Finally' date=' why is Epiphone fitting that ugly, fat logo on the headstock of its recent guitars instead of the old, slim graceful one?[/quote']

 

Do you mean that logo vs. this one?

 

 

The logo on your Wilshire is appropriate for the time. It's the same logo a real 1966 Wilshire has. The red logo above is the Epiphone "E" but with the rest of the logo rendered in the "Gibson" font.

 

While it's not always been 100% consistent, it's seemed to me they mostly put the "modern" logo on instruments that were originally Gibson designs while using the vintage style Epiphone logo on instruments that were original Epiphone designs or are significantly modified from their Gibson counterparts.. As Epiphone are reissuing more of their classic guitars, the classic logo is showing up more.

[ant7629]

Very cool guitar, congrats!

 

You have got me curious. Which store did you get it from? Do they do it in gloss finish?

[jonnyg]

The logo on your Wilshire is appropriate for the time. It's the same logo a real 1966 Wilshire has. The red logo above is the Epiphone "E" but with the rest of the logo rendered in the "Gibson" font.

 

I agree that it's close to the correct logo but it's like Epiphone took it and made it bold like you'd do in a word processor. That's made it a bit "fat". The picture below is from a 1965 Crestwood and if you compare it to my earlier pic you'll see what I mean. I don't want to sound precious about it as it doesn't really make a lot of difference to me but I've noticed the same "fat" logo on recent Casino's and Dot's' date=' albeit done with inlays, and I don't think it looks as good.

[img']http://i680.photobucket.com/albums/vv162/jonnyg_photo/CrestwoodDeluxe_65Head.jpg[/img]

 

Very cool guitar' date=' congrats!

 

You have got me curious. Which store did you get it from? Do they do it in gloss finish?[/quote']

 

I bought the Wilshire from Andertons in Guildford, Surrey. I can't tell you about the other finishes as the "Aged Cherry" model sold out almost the first day and they sold both their "Worn Cherry" models the day I bought mine. As I was buying mine another guy came in to purchase one only to be told they'd sold out. I think that interest in the model was way higher than Andertons was expecting.

 

JG

[ItsForrest]

Another Wilshire came home two nights ago. I won't add any pictures because mine is the same color and frankly Johnnyg did a great job and mine don't capture anything he didn't.

 

Ordered it from Guitar Center and had it delivered from the warehouse to the closest store, got the last one of that color from their warehouse in Kansas. I figured that way if there was any problem, there would be no question as to whether it was delivered that way. Fortunately, there were no problems with it, not a scratch anywhere, all the pots and the switch worked and it sounded great plugged into a Peavey Classic. It seems there is not a hard case to specifically fit it. We found a generic case that was close but it still needed a towel stuffed in to keep it nicely in place in the case.

 

Straight to the bottom line: I'm pretty happy with it so far.

I still have to put a new strings on it. I'm going to try it with D'addario 9's. The strings on it now are not mounted so great and a couple of them are slipping on the tuners. Not a big deal. New strings and a bit of nut lube and it will be fine I'm sure.

 

Right out of the box it was set up better than my Casino or my Gibson LP Studio were. Both of them needed new nuts right off but this one is in pretty good shape with just a couple quick passes with the nut files on a couple of high slots. On both my Casino and LP the nut slots were tight and binding (among other problems), not so on the Wilshire. It might need a tweak of the truss rod with the thinner strings but no biggie.

 

The neck is thin and smooth. The fingerboard width measures about exactly the same as my Gibby LP but the neck is thin like an Ibanez. Consequently, it is not as rigid as the LP. If you are heavy handed or tend to lean on the neck (more likely when playing seated), it will flex. My Casino is the same way, not a big deal.

 

The pickups are better than I expected. The pole screws are not quite centered in the cover holes as Johnnyg mentioned but mine isn't as bad as even the factory photos online and it doesn't affect adjusting them. You can see from the wax around the screws that the pickups are wax potted. While the pickups are not as high output as the Burstbuckers on my LP (no surprise), they are brighter and crisper than I expected. I still may try a replacement pair from Guitar Fetish later but not right away.

 

I was certainly nervous about buying a guitar that I didn't have a chance to play first but I think I did good on this purchase. Just about every employee at Guitar center that checked it out said they were planning on buying one, too.

 

The Wilshire is a pretty sweet little player for the price. I've played a lot worse that cost a lot more.

[ItsForrest]

Note: the hex wrench included with the guitar does not fit the truss rod nut.