LongMan Posted May 28, 2010 Share Posted May 28, 2010 Hi all, I'm a new member to this forum. Located in northern Germany (so please forgive my bad english). 6ft7 tall , thus the nick Age 49, playing guitar for over 30 years now as an amateur. Been a fan of the Epiphone guitars ever since, and own a couple of them. Before posting on any topic let me thank you all for this forum. It has been a great and invaluable source of information for me over the past few months. Great community, and much fun to read! I hope I can contribute my 2 cents as well over the time. My guitars (from oldest to newest): 1982 Japan Ibanez Artist AR-1500 sunburst (great double cutaway Les Paul clone) 1990 Korea Squier Stratocaster sunburst 2002 Japan Epiphone Elite 1963 ES-335 cherry 2002 Japan Epiphone Elite Les Paul Standard Plus honeyburst 2006 Korea Epiphone Broadway natural 2007 China Epiphone Les Paul Custom (3PU Black Beauty) black 2010 Indonesia Epiphone Emperor Swingster orange Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crust Posted May 28, 2010 Share Posted May 28, 2010 Hi You have some nice guitars, post some pictures (of the Epiphones). what do you like (or dislike) about them ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brad1 Posted May 28, 2010 Share Posted May 28, 2010 Welcome LongMan! Bad English? I don't think so. I teach high school kids here in the US. If more of my students wrote like you I would be very happy. Your English is ausgezeichnet! Glad you are here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LongMan Posted May 28, 2010 Author Share Posted May 28, 2010 Hallo in den Norden Welcome over here Mr.Long Thanks! but you seem to be the first member who owns the new Swingster:-$ Well' date=' that surprises me a bit. It's a great guitar, very flexible in tone, superior to the standard Emperor from my point of view. Checked it in the guitar shop for 15 minutes and bought it right away (although I didn't intend to buy a guitar that day...). On the first glance I took it for a 51xx series Gretsch Then I recognized the headstock inscription, and finally I saw the price tag... The Swingster has both a sleek, silvery and colorful tone with parallel PU coils, or that full rich sound of serial coils (especially on the neck PU). Putting on flat wound strings forces it even more to a great jazz tone. Plus that Bigsby, which works great thanks to the roller bridge Epiphone installed instead a standard tune-o-matic bridge. I'm sure there are some more here who wanna see it........ Well, I already learned that my guitars don't even exist until I've uploaded some pictures here But I'm sorry, the Swingster is borrowed to a friend currently, who does record a jazz session with it. Hopefully I will manage to upload some images of the other instruments the next days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianh Posted May 28, 2010 Share Posted May 28, 2010 Welcome Longman, and please post some pics of the Ibanez Artist too. I have an '81 AR-200 and it is the nicest playing guitar I have... Cheers, Brian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LongMan Posted May 28, 2010 Author Share Posted May 28, 2010 HiYou have some nice guitars' date=' post some pictures (of the Epiphones).[/quote'] Will do, I promise what do you like (or dislike) about them ? In general I like that Epiphone guitars give a great value for the money. Especially the Elite series can compare to any instrument even in the double price range. A friend of mine swears by the Gibson brand, and would go for a custom shop ES-335 Dot Reissue if only he could afford it. But when he played my Elite ES-335 he changed his mind completely about Epiphone being only a cheap Gibson substitute. Rarely you get instruments offered that are not as well made as you expect, or in worst case are simply crap. But that is true for nearly all brands from my experience. Had this when I went for the Broadway. In 3 shops they offered chinese made Broadways, one with a twisted neck, one with a lot of dirt under the clear finish, and one with uneven bindings. The fourth one I found was from Korea, with a straight neck, perfect finish, and well set up. But hey, if you don't like it, simply don't buy it. All in all I'm very happy with all my Epiphone guitars. Made the one or other modification on some of them, but mostly for optical reasons (e.g. changing the control knobs to other colors). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LongMan Posted May 28, 2010 Author Share Posted May 28, 2010 Welcome LongMan! Bad English? I don't think so. I teach high school kids here in the US. If more of my students wrote like you I would be very happy. Your English is ausgezeichnet! Glad you are here. Thanks for your kind words! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LongMan Posted May 28, 2010 Author Share Posted May 28, 2010 I have an '81 AR-200 and it is the nicest playing guitar I have... The AR-1500 looks quite similar to the AR-200, except it has some more embellishments like gold hardware, the Gibraltar bridge (with brass sustain block underneath), brass nut, walnut veneer on the machine head, and the head inlays are mother of pearl. And mine looks pretty worn, has been on the road for 20 years. A real workhorse it is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gl297 Posted May 28, 2010 Share Posted May 28, 2010 Hello and welcome, I'm a new comer here myself, cool people. So what type of music is your favorite. Being from Germany, Do you appreciate the greatness that is Rammstein? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LongMan Posted May 28, 2010 Author Share Posted May 28, 2010 So what type of music is your favorite. I hear a quite broad variety of music' date=' mostly from the old style blues/rock/jazz corner, but also electronica (which are based almost entirely on synthesizers) and classic pieces. Some of my all time favorite guitar players are Stevie Ray Vaughan, Billy Gibbons, Jimmy Page, David Gilmour, Wes Montgomery, George Benson, Pat Metheny, Duane Allman, Mark Knopfler, just to mention a few. But there are always new influences, any day you may come across great pieces of music. For example I recently heard the german blues guitarist Henrik Freischlader. I don't know if he's already well known overseas, here in germany he played with some famous people like B.B. King and Gary Moore. Great guy, playing the style of blues guitar I appreciate most. And he's self taught as well, and not even my age. That gave me another kick to practice even harder[biggrin'] On the guitar I'm playing old style blues/rock most time, sometimes jazz as well - when nobody is listening I'm not an educated guitar player, but self taught, so my playing capabilities are limited. Well, if my capabilities would match my enthusiasm I could make an easy living from playing the guitar Being from Germany, Do you appreciate the greatness that is Rammstein? Well, this is not exactly my kind of music, although they have several songs I like a lot. The whole attitude and stage appearance is too martial for my taste. The guitarists of Rammstein are nice guys though, you wouldn't believe it when you see them on stage Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianh Posted May 28, 2010 Share Posted May 28, 2010 The AR-1500 looks quite similar to the AR-200' date=' except it has some more embellishments like gold hardware, the Gibraltar bridge (with brass sustain block underneath), brass nut, walnut veneer on the machine head, and the head inlays are mother of pearl. And mine looks pretty worn, has been on the road for 20 years. A real workhorse it is.[/quote']I've got the gold hardware and brass nut too (and the cloud tail/pearl tuner knobs), but no fancy fretboard inlays or walnut veneer headstock. One coil cutter on the bridge PUP, and the "Flying Fingers" Super 80 pickups (I think). It's also a workhorse, definitely not a case queen: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LongMan Posted May 28, 2010 Author Share Posted May 28, 2010 I've got the gold hardware and brass nut too (and the cloud tail/pearl tuner knobs)' date=' but no fancy fretboard inlays or walnut veneer headstock. One coil cutter on the bridge PUP, and the "Flying Fingers" Super 80 pickups (I think). It's also a workhorse, definitely not a case queen: [img']http://i608.photobucket.com/albums/tt163/brianehuff/AR700/P1020674.jpg[/img] Nice guitar! Just found an image from the Ibanez 1983 catalog: I got the left one (the right is the AR-1505). Seems there are only slight differences between yours and mine, the veneer on the headstock, 3-piece block inlays on the fingerboard, slightly brighter sunburst finish. But apart from that they look pretty similar. Mine features Super 58 humbuckers, no coil tap or phase invert though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianh Posted May 28, 2010 Share Posted May 28, 2010 Mmmm. The purists over on the Ibanez forum seem to like the Super 58s better than the '80s. Beautiful guitars and they play like a million Euros! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gl297 Posted May 28, 2010 Share Posted May 28, 2010 I think that those ^ are my favorite looking guitars of them all. I gots to get me one of those Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smips65 Posted May 28, 2010 Share Posted May 28, 2010 Thanks! The Swingster has both a sleek' date=' silvery and colorful tone with parallel PU coils, or that full rich sound of serial coils (especially on the neck PU). Putting on flat wound strings forces it even more to a great jazz tone. Plus that Bigsby, which works great thanks to the roller bridge Epiphone installed instead a standard tune-o-matic bridge.[/quote'] Welcome Here Mr. LongMan Do you find the electronics to be in good order, more specifically, are they of a durable quality. I know the Swingster has push/pull pots for the pups, do you notice any rude noise, or drops in volumn/quality when switching. I've been really gassing for one of these, but the wine red one, rather than the orange. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LongMan Posted May 28, 2010 Author Share Posted May 28, 2010 Mmmm. The purists over on the Ibanez forum seem to like the Super 58s better than the '80s. Never played the 80s' date=' so I can't compare. The Super 58 have relatively low output, but a gorgeous warm and mellow tone when played clean. On the neck pickup you will think is comes from a big jazz mama like the L5 rather than from a solid body. Actually I already thought of getting me this pickups as replacement for my Epiphone Broadway. Turning up the gain on the amp the tone will change it to a sweet singing tone, with rich overtones. The bridge pickup has a more slim, contoured tone, but with much body, and without ever getting unpleasant sharp at any point. Both PUs are pretty well controllable via the volume controls. The tone never dies, just becomes clearer, even if you turn down to 1 or 2. So basically you can set the crunchiest tone you need on the amp, and then control the drive from the guitars volume controls while you are playing. This way you get a broad range of dynamic. Beautiful guitars and they play like a million Euros! Indeed! I remember when I got this guitar, it was my first 'real' guitar, or what a professional guitar player would call a real guitar. It was a universe difference to the instruments I played up to then. I had the impression the guitar was playing on it's own, with me doing nothing more than slightly tapping the chords to indicate what I was intending to play Btw.: Pat Metheny is pictured with an Artist in the booklet of the "Travels" live album. From the the sound this could well be another AR-1500. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LongMan Posted May 28, 2010 Author Share Posted May 28, 2010 Welcome Here Mr. LongMan Thanks! Do you find the electronics to be in good order' date=' more specifically, are they of a durable quality.[/quote']I cannot say much about durability so far, as I have the guitar for 6 weeks now. Was probably one of the first Swingsters shipped in town. I know the Swingster has push/pull pots for the pups, do you notice any rude noise, or drops in volumn/quality when switching. So far no strange noises when using the PU selector switch or the push/pull pots, but that may change over time. My Swingster has one fault, that I realized when discovering the push/pull pots at home (the guys in the shop were not aware the guitar has them): The serial switching (switch pulled) of the bridge pickup doesn't work correctly. The tone nearly dies instead becoming fatter. Probably a bad solder joint in the switch or the PU. I will return the guitar for warranty repair. I would recommend to check all the switches before actually buying the guitar. I would have done, if only I had known of them I've been really gassing for one of these, but the wine red one, rather than the orange. Looks nice, the red one. Even the black one has a nice touch. When I bought mine they only had that one orange on stock. In my opinion the orange one looks ugly, but in such a nice way, I actually like it for being ugly It was more or less an impulse buy, for the most part based on the tone of the parallel switched humbuckers. I also liked the body size, it is more handy than the Broadway with it's 17 inch. And finally the Bigsby with the roller bridge. I immediately started playing surf sounds and other strange stuff, which I never had done on my other guitars. Much fun Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReneBoedker Posted May 28, 2010 Share Posted May 28, 2010 Welcome to the forum, LongMan. Du hast tolle Guitarren. Ich freue mich auf sie zu sehen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eggs Posted May 29, 2010 Share Posted May 29, 2010 I think that those ^ are my favorite looking guitars of them all. I gots to get me one of those Welcome LongMan... Good geet folk can be found within (WARNING: May contain nuts!) gl... speaking like Gollum this geet has you gotseez... LOL[biggrin] eggmuffins Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LongMan Posted May 29, 2010 Author Share Posted May 29, 2010 You asked for pictures, well here we go. (The Swingster is still used in a recording session, so no picture of it today) Epihone Broadway Manufactured 2006 Unsung plant Korea Mods: Changed black and silver speed knobs to gold witch hats Epihone Elite 1963 ES-335 Manufactured 2002 Terada plant Japan Mods: Changed gold speed knobs for silver and black ones Epiphone Elite Les Paul Standard Plus Manufactured 2002 Fujigen plant Japan Mods: Removed pick guard, this top is simply too beautiful to cover it with an ugly piece of creme plastic Epiphone Les Paul Custom Black Beauty Manufactured 2007 Qingdao plant China Mods: Removed pick guard, the plain white plies don't match the creme binding at all, changed neck PU for Gibson P94R, changed bridge PU for Gibson Burstbucker Pro (middle PU is still Epi stock). Still to do (parts are already here): Change nut, change bridge to TonePro II (the buzzing drives me nuts), change tuning machines to Grover Locking Rotomatics. Ibanez Artist AR-1500 Manufactured 1983 Terada plant Japan Mods: Mounted additional Yamaha G1D hex pickup for playing synthesizers from the guitar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gl297 Posted May 29, 2010 Share Posted May 29, 2010 WOW!!! man what an awesome collection. *I really wish that Gibson and Epiphone could come up with a way to attach the pickguards on LP's without using screws. I still like the Ibanez the best but the Epi elite is right up there too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eggs Posted May 29, 2010 Share Posted May 29, 2010 LongMan, You certainly know how to enter a Forum with panache[blink] Nice work man! eggmuffins Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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