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My $150 E by G S-500


Albannach

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As some of you will have read in earlier posts I was after this E by G S 500 from Evilbay and got it on my opening bid of 100GBP. I am not in the habit of buying new guitars and don't expect what I buy to be 'perfect' but with only a few minor niggles, this has turned out to be a bargain and a half!

 

S500Whole.jpg

 

The general appearance is extremely good despite the age of the guitar, post lawsuit. Bodywork has a rich glow to the red metallic and there is only one minor chip on the whole thing at the lower bout edge. Hardly any other marks apart from a little 'grazing' so all in all satisfactory. It is missing the selector switch tip, the tremolo bar and by the looks of it a spring from the tremolo unit. It also had a horrendous earth fault which was quickly traced to the jack socket and 2 minutes fixed that right away. The neck is quite well set up and only the top E saddle needed a little bit of adjustment to get rid of fret buzz above the 12th.

 

S500Front.jpg

 

A few minor scratches on the pick guard.

 

S500Neck.jpg

 

Generally not too bad but you can see where the inlay routing was not exact.

 

S500Headstock.jpg

 

The tuners incredibly have no 'slop' in their action and will outlast the guitar.

 

S500SpringCavity.jpg

 

With the cover plate removed it looks as though there is a missing spring but that can wait until I get hold of an arm.

 

Everybody is always the same with a 'new' guitar - plug it in and decide if you like the sound. I have a Carlsboro Colt 45 at home and it has a general setting for all of my guitars as I can't be a*sed to alter it to suit a specific guitar but |I had to roll back the treble on the EQ to reduce the jangle. Switching the selector and all PUs are functioning well apart from looking a little worn. PU springs will be getting replaced as they are a little weak, the poles will have to be adjusted for O/P but not by much.

 

Sound? Unbelievably it is very full and rich in the second position with a good sustain - if you want to check the sustain of a guitar I recommend the opening 4 notes of Shine On You Crazy Diamond Part III, works for me!

In the bridge position the sound gets a bit more 'dirty' and with a little bit of distortion dialled in sounds heavenly.

 

All in all a real bargain.

 

Right, who knows where I can get a tremolo arm, a selector tip and a spring?

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any number of springs can be used, it's a personal preference on whether you like a hard tremelo or one that is easy to push/pull. You should try to sapce them out evenly though, I usually use three springs. I also like my tremelo to float so I can pull it up a bit if I want. If you or anyone else does not know how to make it do this just ask.

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Yeah, all the guitars that I own with trems only came with three springs. I think you may have gotten an extra. I've had to swap springs between guitars to get the tension I like also. Some are looser than others. My typical config seems to be straight in the center and angled on the sides.

 

Also, the inlays are like that on all of the shark-tooth Epis. I noticed that on mine as well as the countless pics I've seen. Either way, I think the inlays are awesome looking.

 

tpurgatoryt - The lawsuit era headsocks were shaped like Jacksons and ran in 1986. There was no actual lawsuit, but Epiphone had to change the headstocks to avoid one.

 

 

KX36 - There are no fake S-500s or any S-series guitars. They look slick, but never popular enough to counterfeit. They werent all that expensive either.

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As some of you will have read in earlier posts I was after this E by G S 500 from Evilbay and got it on my opening bid of 100GBP. I am not in the habit of buying new guitars and don't expect what I buy to be 'perfect' but with only a few minor niggles' date=' this has turned out to be a bargain and a half!

 

[img']http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w168/Albannach_Cuileag/S500Whole.jpg[/img]

 

The general appearance is extremely good despite the age of the guitar, post lawsuit. Bodywork has a rich glow to the red metallic and there is only one minor chip on the whole thing at the lower bout edge. Hardly any other marks apart from a little 'grazing' so all in all satisfactory. It is missing the selector switch tip, the tremolo bar and by the looks of it a spring from the tremolo unit. It also had a horrendous earth fault which was quickly traced to the jack socket and 2 minutes fixed that right away. The neck is quite well set up and only the top E saddle needed a little bit of adjustment to get rid of fret buzz above the 12th.

 

S500Front.jpg

 

A few minor scratches on the pick guard.

 

S500Neck.jpg

 

Generally not too bad but you can see where the inlay routing was not exact.

 

S500Headstock.jpg

 

The tuners incredibly have no 'slop' in their action and will outlast the guitar.

 

S500SpringCavity.jpg

 

With the cover plate removed it looks as though there is a missing spring but that can wait until I get hold of an arm.

 

Everybody is always the same with a 'new' guitar - plug it in and decide if you like the sound. I have a Carlsboro Colt 45 at home and it has a general setting for all of my guitars as I can't be a*sed to alter it to suit a specific guitar but |I had to roll back the treble on the EQ to reduce the jangle. Switching the selector and all PUs are functioning well apart from looking a little worn. PU springs will be getting replaced as they are a little weak, the poles will have to be adjusted for O/P but not by much.

 

Sound? Unbelievably it is very full and rich in the second position with a good sustain - if you want to check the sustain of a guitar I recommend the opening 4 notes of Shine On You Crazy Diamond Part III, works for me!

In the bridge position the sound gets a bit more 'dirty' and with a little bit of distortion dialled in sounds heavenly.

 

All in all a real bargain.

 

Right, who knows where I can get a tremolo arm, a selector tip and a spring?

 

 

 

 

i really like that guitar. i love the HSS style with the beak style headstock. it is really nice to look at.

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