Epiphone Prophecy Dismay!

[rythmking24]

Hello,

 

After reading many good reviews of the Prophecy SG GX, I decided to buy one, despite being sceptical due to the fact that they're made in China.

 

So, it arrived today. Initially, it certainly looked the part. But once I'd set it up properly (as the shop or factory setup was terrible)and played it for a little while, I was shocked at the quality, or lack of.

 

I should start by saying that I adjusted everything to the specifications within the owners manual. The action was in fact a little higher than I would like it (6/64ths bass side, 4/64ths treble), but it was still quite playable. Firstly, it had a lot of fret buzz, despite there being a fair bit of relief in the neck. But most disappointing was the fact that it was fretting out in various places high up the fretboard. Now, I've had a few guitars where the strings fret out on big bends, but this was fretting out with no bending at all. I was getting the same notes on two frets next to each other. High frets? In one place, it probably wouldn't be too bad, but in 3 or 4 places, I think that's shocking.

 

After hearing and reading so many rave reviews, I can't believe I got such a bad one. I know the cheaper guitars are hit and miss, but I've never had such a lemon. The only good thing about it are the 'Dirty fingers' pups, which are awesome. Just a shame the fretwork is so bad, that the high notes won't sustain for more than a second.

 

Has anyone else experienced such problems?

 

Cheers.

[Whitmore Willy]

Has anyone else experienced such problems?

 

RK,

 

I don't have one so my personal answer would be no.

I do, however, have a couple of questions.

 

You say you adjusted everything according to the manual.

Did you adjust the neck relief?

If you have the relief set proper and are still having those problems:

Is it brand new or used?

Where did you get it from?

Can you send it back?

 

Willy

[rythmking24]

Did you adjust the neck relief?

If you have the relief set proper and are still having those problems:

Is it brand new or used?

Where did you get it from?

Can you send it back?

 

I did adjust the neck relief. And then adjusted it a bit either way to see if it made any difference... but it didn't.

 

Also, the guitar is brand new. I bought it from GAK (Guitars, Amps and Keyboards, in the U.K), and I will indeed be sending it back. They're going to give me a replacement, which I hope is better.

 

Cheers.

[KX36]

I hope I don't cause any offence, but I have to ask: Are you sure you're setting it up properly? E.g. are you adjusting neck relief with a straight-edge tool or are you doing ti by eye? If you're taking measurements at certain frets, are you comparing the measurements in the same way as the target, e.g. if a target value was taken while fretting at frets 1 and 22 and measuring at fret 12 and then measuring the gap from fret to string, are you fretting in the same places and measuring in the same place?

 

Did it have these problems before you set it up or only since you adjusted it?

 

I had a relatively similar problem but to a lesser degree on my Epi LP standard. If I straightened the neck so that a notched straightedge had 3 points of contact with the fretboard and similarly with the frets, I had a W shaped profile across the neck with the gaps at their lowest at roughly 0.25mm. I played that with a high action for 3 years before levelling the frets myself; but my problem was never as bad as yours sounds.

 

Unfortunately, I think all epihpone guitars coming out of the same factory are finished and set up to the same standards and that usually includes quite a bit of neck relief to compensate for quite a bit of variety in the levelness of frets between guitars. It doesn't really matter if its a special II or a prophecy GX if its coming from the same factory; the Elitist Casinos are the ones that are manufactured set up to tighter specifications

[Plymouth58]

The setup on my SG prophecy EX was very good coming out of the factory, no fret buzz at all.

 

I'm very happy with mine except for the poor fretjob. Some fret-ends are sharp, especially the ones higher up the neck. Even the frets on my Studios are percfect, so I didn't expect this problem on a custom...

 

The 3-way switch and the (loose) strap-buttons aren't perfect either... :-(

[rythmking24]

I hope I don't cause any offence, but I have to ask: Are you sure you're setting it up properly?

 

Did it have these problems before you set it up or only since you adjusted it?

 

Hi,

 

No offence taken. It's a valid question. I did do it properly, and took precise measurements. I am quite experienced at setting up guitars. I have had a few Mexican Fenders and many Korean made Ibanez, Deans etc. And like I said, there's often the odd high fret. But this guitar has much bigger problems.

 

Is it not just possible that I've got a bad one? I mean, having browsed the Gibson forum, I have read threads about the lack of quality control in the Gibson U.S.A factory.

 

Anyway, I am sending it back, and they are going to replace it. I just don't want another one like this

 

Cheers.

[midiman56]

That's a real shame, King ...

 

I've had mine for close to a couple of years now and it has always been perfect ... MIC as well, so it's not like anything can be blamed on a factory change.

 

Hope the new one is in better shape when you get it!

 

Jim

[james_edward]

These days I don't think set-up from the factory means anything, I don't see how it can. 2 weeks ago my son bought a new Ibanez that took 3 hours of work and a new nut to make it playable, when he got it home you would have said it played like a POS, a few hours later it plays like a dream - moral of the story is for the money we pay, you're not going to get a great set up right out of the box, 9 out of 10 times.

 

At the same time I understand people who expect a playable guitar right out of the box because they have to pay for set-ups, but with the cost of labor these days nobody is going to do the set up work for free (and doing it in China means nothing after transport etc).

 

I pay no attention to how a guitar is set up when I'm looking at them in a store, new guitars need new strings (and almost all need a new nut and therefore a complete set up)so it's pointless to do anything other than confirm that it can be made playable.

 

I don't know what you're doing or how your measuring, but we have numerous Epi's and every one has great fretwork, every one played like s**t when we bought it and every one plays like butter after a new nut and a set-up.

 

It could be you have a lemon or perhaps the fine points are still to be found in your set up method, but I'm sure if you exchange it the next one will be fine, besides those pups sound really good...

[KX36]

Is it not just possible that I've got a bad one? I mean, having browsed the Gibson forum, I have read threads about the lack of quality control in the Gibson U.S.A factory.

Quite possible, and from what you say, quite likely. As I say, there's a lot of inconsistency in "budget" guitars such as Epiphones and it's pot luck where in their wide range of QC passing specifications the guitar sits. I think unless it's an Elitist, all Epiphones meet the same QC standards. Just had to rule out user error first before blaming the guitar since you said you made adjustments and the problem's there afterwards.

 

My set up from the factory/shop (GAK too) was pretty good, and by that I mean the action was pretty high and uneven across the bass to treble, but they did this on purpose to compensate for the uneven frets. If I set it to the textbook set up, it would have buzzed.

[zombywoof]

While most folks seem to have little problem with the build quality of guitars made in China the most common complaints I have heard about made in China guitars involve the nut, saddle and fret dressing. The only way to get around this would be to do something like have all the guitars shipped unfinished to Nashville where the nuts and saddles can be done properly and the frets dressed right. Other guitar makers are going this route but they tend to be much smaller operations than Gibson. So I guess for now the only way around this is to buy the guitar and have the work done by a good repair guy.