1Casey1 Posted January 31, 2011 Share Posted January 31, 2011 Hi, Looking for comments; good or not so good on the Masterbilt EF-500RCCE. Just looking for your thoughts on the instrument. I see my local shop is going to get some in this week and I'd like some feedback before a take a peek. Notwithstanding, each of us has our own unique ear; however, how do you like the build quality? Is this a robust instrument in terms of how it is built? Any issues that are consistent problem; like anything else built on a production line there are always a few with problems, but its a small minority (hope that word is still politically correct ) versus consistent problems. All comments are welcome. Have a great week. Regards Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bloozeguy Posted February 1, 2011 Share Posted February 1, 2011 Hi, Looking for comments; good or not so good on the Masterbilt EF-500RCCE. Just looking for your thoughts on the instrument. I see my local shop is going to get some in this week and I'd like some feedback before a take a peek. Notwithstanding, each of us has our own unique ear; however, how do you like the build quality? Is this a robust instrument in terms of how it is built? Any issues that are consistent problem; like anything else built on a production line there are always a few with problems, but its a small minority (hope that word is still politically correct ) versus consistent problems. All comments are welcome. Have a great week. Regards I've played the guitar a couple times, unplugged, and loved it! Ended up, though, with a different model Masterbilt (AJ500RC 12-fret); but my choice was between those 2 models. The Masterbilts are known to be of "robust" build, even as they have a rather light "feel." All that said, I have not played it plugged in, and there seems to be problems with Epi's electronics, from what I've read on these postings. Maybe someone else can elaborate on that. The guitar on its own is a gem, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MickeyNJ2 Posted February 4, 2011 Share Posted February 4, 2011 Hi 1Casey1, I've been considering the EF-500rcce for some time now - however every time I go GC or Sam Ash they never have one in stock. In fact the last time I went to my local GC they had minimal Epis at all. If you do go and check one out let me know what you think. I'm interested in the Finger Style 1.75 nut width. Now I'm also interested in the DR-500mce which has a 1.725 nut width but I like the available vintage sun burst. I looked online last week and GC says they have a EF500rcce at my local store...if I can ever get a few extra minutes I'd like to see. Good luck and let us know how you make out Bloozeguy - Where'd ya get the 12 fretter? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1Casey1 Posted February 4, 2011 Author Share Posted February 4, 2011 MikeyNJ2 Just a bit of history. I ordered two Masterbilts in Jan and had them shipped to my home. Both of them had issues, for example large wood chips were left in the body of the guitars. When I flipped the guitars over you could hear the chips flopping around inside the body. Literally it took me 15 minutes to get all of the chips out of one of the guitars. Splatters of white glue could be seen when looking into the sound hole. These splatters were a bit smaller than a half dollar. Excess glue could be seen on the cross bracing inside the guitar. I used an inspection mirror to check the interior of the guitar. On one instrument, the pickup didn't work at all. So I returned both guitars. IMHO, Gibson should not have allowed either of the above mentioned instruments to pass Quality Control. This happened in early January I did like the sound so in mid-January I talked to my local shop and decided to try it one more time, so I ordered a 500 RCCE. I asked them to hold it for pick up and not open the box until I arrived. On 2-1-11 they called and we opened the box looked at the guitar. This guitar had no wood chips bouncing around the inside of it.....good sign! There weren't splatters of white glue all over the inside of the instrument like the other one, another good sign! I plugged it into an acoustic speaker at the shop and it worked find, the pickup on the neck and body worked great and sounded excellent. So, I took it home and pulled out my inspection mirror. Like the other two, Gibson allowed this to pass QC with what I consider too much glue for the manufacturing process; however, it isn't as sloppy as the other guitars I returned. I have a Takamine that I paid several hundred dollars less for and the quality of the build is cleaner, as robust and it doesn't have all the glue on the cross bracing. My comment, Gibson is making a huge profit off of this instrument with minimum manufacturing processes relating to QC. Here's what counts: This is an all wood instrument and the sound conveys to the musician it's all wood. It it like my Martin HD28, no but you can't compare apples to oranges and it would be unfair to Gibson to do so. The sound for this guitar is sweet, I like it a bunch. For a factory set up, it's above average compared to others. I haven't set up the action on it yet and still it's very enjoyable to play. After it's set up, this thing is going to play like butter. Taking the entire experience into consideration this is the best bang for the buck as long as you're selective when your purchase. Plugged in playing is just an awesome experience with the cedar/rosewood combo. Sounds is very nice! Would I recommend that you buy one? When buying it just take a real good look at everything because I found there are big difference between the same model ............but it's worth keeping on to find one that is right, dang it sounds gooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooood and it's all wood, for the price range I'd say without a doubt, GO FOR IT! Regards, Chuck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bloozeguy Posted February 4, 2011 Share Posted February 4, 2011 Hi 1Casey1, I've been considering the EF-500rcce for some time now - however every time I go GC or Sam Ash they never have one in stock. In fact the last time I went to my local GC they had minimal Epis at all. If you do go and check one out let me know what you think. I'm interested in the Finger Style 1.75 nut width. Now I'm also interested in the DR-500mce which has a 1.725 nut width but I like the available vintage sun burst. I looked online last week and GC says they have a EF500rcce at my local store...if I can ever get a few extra minutes I'd like to see. Good luck and let us know how you make out Bloozeguy - Where'd ya get the 12 fretter? Got it in June of '07 from The String Shoppe in Columbus, OH. I was in the process of bringing my daughter home (MD 'burbs of DC) from school and was browsing the High St. area near OSU. Stopped in and fell in love! When i got home, ordered by mail. All handled very well from the shop(pe), and a bloody good deal to boot! And, it seems to me as though I got mine just in the nick o' time before Epi pulled 'em. Doubt if you'd still find a new 12-fretter there, but at the time they certainly seemed well-versed in all things Epi; I think they also received some award then from the company as a leading dealer. However, I wonder if anyone else is noticing stores dropping their Epiphone affiliation. I know of one out this way, and I seem to have heard of others recently. Or maybe this kind of thing just happens in the instrument biz. Any comments? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red 333 Posted February 4, 2011 Share Posted February 4, 2011 MikeyNJ2 J Excess glue could be seen on the cross bracing inside the guitar. I used an inspection mirror to check the interior of the guitar... Like the other two, Gibson allowed this to pass QC with what I consider too much glue for the manufacturing process; however, it isn't as sloppy as the other guitars I returned. I have a Takamine that I paid several hundred dollars less for and the quality of the build is cleaner, as robust and it doesn't have all the glue on the cross bracing. Regards, Chuck Chuck, I too like to see insides of my guitars nice and clean, with no excess glue. However, if you've ever looked inside some of wartime and post-war Gibsons, you'd be amazed at how much glue-slop is inside--and these are some of the finest sounding acoustic guitars ever made. Conversly, I've played some real dogs that were as clean as a whistle. Again, I prefer not to see any excess glue myself, as I think that usually says something about what kind of are was taken in making the instrument, and don't want it to dampen the vibration of the top. However, your final bit of advice is the one which we should always use to evaluate a guitar: "it's worth keeping on to find one that is right, [and] dang it sounds gooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooood." Sound in the thing in the final analysis! I'm sitting in a well-made chair, but it sounds like crap. Now I appreciate and seek out well-made instruments. But if a well made instrument doesn't sound good, it's nothing more than a piece of furniture as far as I'm concerned. And if another instrument sounds good but has some faults, well I say, play that baby if that's the one that inspires you to play. By the way, 1Casey1, I have four Masterbilts. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them to anyone. All of mine are made as well as can be expected for the price (and you'd be surprised just how carefully made the Asian guitars are), and better yet, they sound great. Their sound belies their price. Red 333 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1Casey1 Posted February 4, 2011 Author Share Posted February 4, 2011 By the way, 1Casey1, I have four Masterbilts. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them to anyone. All of mine are made as well as can be expected for the price (and you'd be surprised just how carefully made the Asian guitars are), and better yet, they sound great. Their sound belies their price. Red 333 Red 333, Thanks for the comments, which BTW are greatly appreciated. I didn't know about the early Gibson's. I've been lucky enough to see some of the manufacturing processes in China, especially the Yamaha plant....just amazing. I only have good things to say about the manufacturing processes they've established in China. Like anything else that's produced in large quantities (i.e. cars. microwaves etc.), some are just fantastic, some are average; then, there are some that shouldn't have gone out the door. The Masterbilt has an amazing sound (my big ears told me that). While researching, I knew by reading the many positive comments the Masterbilt was worth giving another try, which resulted in a very nice a guitar with great tonal characteristics and very, very comfortable to play. Well That's All Folk's Chuck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1Casey1 Posted February 5, 2011 Author Share Posted February 5, 2011 Hi, While playing last night I started to get all sorts of feed back. So, off to the shop with guitar in hand. They looked at it and said, we'll send it back and order you another one. Now I'm on mission...I've returned 3 Masterbilt's and a 4th is on order. Has anyone else had problems with this Sonic 2 pick-up like I'm having? Gibson, if you're listening I'd do a random sampling to determine if it's systemic or isolated. Chuck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MickeyNJ2 Posted February 5, 2011 Share Posted February 5, 2011 Hey Chuck...Let us know how you make out...I'm looking at the DR-500mce with, I think, the same eSonic2 system - Thanks, mick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1Casey1 Posted February 6, 2011 Author Share Posted February 6, 2011 It will be at least a week before they get the guitar. I'll let you know. Chuck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MickeyNJ2 Posted February 6, 2011 Share Posted February 6, 2011 This is probably why there are so many re-issues on e-bay (stamped used)...it does make you wonder about the consistency of quality. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1Casey1 Posted February 12, 2011 Author Share Posted February 12, 2011 Hi All, Just going to keep this simple. Today I had ownership of my 4th Masterbilt 500RCCE. I owned it for less than two minutes. For the third time the pick-up was bad right out of the box. The good thing about it was it happen in the store with the sales-manager. The guitar, new in the box, taken out of the box and had a total pick-up failure. I told them to send it back and order another one. Now, I'm on a mission until someone tells me otherwise. They (Gibson) are losing money on this one. Paying freight back and forth every time. I guess Gibson just passes the cost onto the Customers for things like this. Doesn't sound like good business to me, but what do I know? If anyone from Gibson cares to contact me, by all means send me a private message and I'll be more than happy to discuss the fantastic support the local store has provided and address the absolutely, unbelievable, sub-standard quality control Gibson allows. Kindest Regards, Chuck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MickeyNJ2 Posted February 12, 2011 Share Posted February 12, 2011 Hey Chuck...this is becoming quite the saga...and quite concerning. I just ordered a DR-500mceVS from Guitar Center in Cherry Hill, NJ – if Gibson is monitoring. It too has the Sonic2 system…I hope I don’t have the same problems. See my post DR-500 and Guitar Center – gta50 has the dr500mce and apparently has no problems. Hope all works out for you and please keep us posted…mick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1Casey1 Posted February 12, 2011 Author Share Posted February 12, 2011 Mick, They all can't be bad. Just make sure you take it out of the box at the store and plug it into an amp. I brought a guitar strap so I can stand and walk a bit and play. When I plugged it into the first plug it was fine. But oh man, when I plugged it into the second one it went off the charts. The look on the Manger's face was priceless. Let me know how yours works out. For me, I'm thinking age old adage, "the 4th time is charm"..... and it should work fine. I've spent a lot of time on this and would like to get one that works. I'm going to another part of this forum and see if I can get some phone numbers to call Gibson on Monday. Chuck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1Casey1 Posted February 15, 2011 Author Share Posted February 15, 2011 Hi All, The Gibson rep and I had a long talk this afternoon. It was a very productive dialog and I believe the root cause was determined. Gibson has some corrective actions to incorporate into their nomenclature and it should resolve the pickup issue. All that was needed was attention to detail Thanks again Chuck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TxStrat Posted February 16, 2011 Share Posted February 16, 2011 Mick, I have had the DR500MCE VS for several months now and almost always play it through a PA. I have used it with and without my LR Baggs Venue DI and I haven't had any more trouble than "normal" with feedback. By the way, are you sure that GC ordered the VS. When I bought mine, they told me that they ordered the VS but when I called a couple weeks later, to check the status, they told me they couldn't order it in anything other than the Natural finish. Epiphone is supposedly doing the Natural finish exclusivley for GC/MF. I actually found mine at a local shop here in North Texas and have been extremely happy with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MickeyNJ2 Posted February 17, 2011 Share Posted February 17, 2011 Hey Tex, Thanks for you input...The first sales guy I spoke with at GC suggested the same thing...that maybe the VS version is for Sam Ash which doesn't make sense to me but I guess anything is possible. Most of the Epiphone adds I’ve seen show the DR-500mce in VS. But the fact remains that Sam Ash had the VS hanging on their wall and GC has the natural hanging on their wall. My receipt does say DR-500mceVS and is a computer printout not hand written...so I guess we'll see what comes in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milod Posted February 18, 2011 Share Posted February 18, 2011 Just a cupla observations from an old guy... First... I'm not familiar with this particular guitar or pickup system, but... in general terms... 1. RE internal glue spots, olden days and today. I think there often are different mentalities among guitar makers producing what for them were "mass market" instruments through the ages that may or may not match what "we" may think appropriate. I think some old timers felt the external finish was pretty important and the fitting of woods extremely important - but a bit of glue or whatever simply was no big deal. Chips inside? I dunno. Whatever. I'd frankly prefer that concept to a "perfect finish and press everything else together from the CNC machine" regardless that an old timer may have relaxed a bit and done some additional joinery - then slopped some glue when he put it together. 2. I've personally never had feedback issues on A-E guitars or old archtops I've added a mag pickup to that have driven other folks stark raving mad. Even at times the same exact guitar. A lot has to do with speaker placement, etc. That experience dates back into the 1960s, btw. So I don't know about this particular guitar/pickup setup, but... one reason a lotta A-E guitars have various controls not found on "regular" electrics is precisely to help dampen feedback, although at times removing or lessening the overall response of the guitar. (E.g., EQ dropping a section of the sound spectrum.) m Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1Casey1 Posted March 10, 2011 Author Share Posted March 10, 2011 This is the 4th Masterbilt I've returned since 07 Jan 2011. This time I didn't return the guitar to the vendor. I shipped it back to Epiphone and their customer service contacted me. They confirmed the guitar needed to be replaced. That's the good news.....the bad news they won't have any new stock available until the next lot of instruments are received from overseas. COMMENT: Overall I must admit Gibson/Epiphone is doing everything possible to correct the problem. They are resolving the problem and providing the best product support to the Customer. Even though this is my 4th return, I should have worked with Gibson right from the get go. It's a bit more time consuming; however, I believe their strategy to provide the best possible Customer support and achieve customer satisfaction is sound. A few words are driving this entire ordeal: The SOUND the guitar produces Regards. Chuck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1Casey1 Posted March 10, 2011 Author Share Posted March 10, 2011 Triple post, sorry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1Casey1 Posted March 10, 2011 Author Share Posted March 10, 2011 Wow, 4th post...it's late and I hit the enter button 3 too many times. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1Casey1 Posted March 10, 2011 Author Share Posted March 10, 2011 double post, sorry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1Casey1 Posted June 30, 2011 Author Share Posted June 30, 2011 After waiting over three months, Epiphone shipped a replacment RCCE. Had to wait for new shipment because they were out of stock. The pickup on this one has been flawless. On the other hand, the frets weren't close to being even. So, after waiting 3 months, I has to spend another $100.00 to have the frets dressed. On a $800.00 guitar I found that a hard pill to swallow and I was tired of dealing with Gibson. Now the guitar plays excellent. Action is low and there is no fret buzz. Overall I like the instrument. As far as Epiphone and their product control....it's the worst I've seen. It's too bad! I was going to buy a Les Paul Traditional Pro which is close to 2K. But after my experience with Epiphone and the poor quality, I bought a Fender instead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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