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IB 64 Texan


brixa

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Hi folks. I fancy getting a new Epi IB 64 Texan as a backup acoustic for my Gibson J45.

 

Can you advise please on 'fixed, compensated saddle' . Does this means it's glued-in and can't be removed for sanding down to lower action if required? What do i do if I need to lower action. Got small fingers and need low action and 11 or 12 guage strings

 

How is the playability and the electrics on this?

 

I've got a VOX VT15 and mostly play Beatles and 60's stuff on the Gibby and Ric 330.

 

Am I better off just getting an Epi Dove or Hummingbird?

 

Any advice appreciated.

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I'm a huge fan of the IB'64 Texan. It's not a "real" Texan (in an earlier thread, Red offered a great and detailed rundown of the differences) but it's got some serious mojo. Or at least the one I bought does.

 

As for the "fixed, compensated saddle," that just means the saddle does not have the adjustment mechanism that came on the vintage Texans. Those were great tone-suckers, so you're better off with the fixed saddle. Yes, you'll be able to lift the saddle out without any problem.

 

As far as the electronics go, it's got the Shadow Sonic NanoFlex and I'm quite pleased with it. I've gigged with the guitar a number of times -- in quiet coffeehouses and loud bars -- and I've not had a bit of trouble with it and it has always sounded good.

 

As discussed in yet another thread, I recently had the finish on mine sanded down to remove some of that Asian polyurethane gloss and give it more of a vintage nitrocellulose patina, and the work really loosened up the top. It has become a monster of a guitar; in some aspects, it gives my '98 Gibson J-45 a run for its money. I know Epiphone goes with the poly finish because it is faster and cheaper and withstands the wanging of 14-year-old kids playing the instrument in guitar shops, but it really does make me wonder just how good these guitars would sound with a nitro finish.

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I know Epiphone goes with the poly finish because it is faster and cheaper and withstands the wanging of 14-year-old kids playing the instrument in guitar shops, but it really does make me wonder just how good these guitars would sound with a nitro finish.

The only inexpensive, non poly-finished acoustics I can think of are Godins (Seagull/Art & Lutherie/Norman/Simon & Patrick), which are excellent guitars, and very loud and resonant. They don't specify what type of lacquer they use; it's just listed as "lacquer"). Many of us question the dipped-in-poly thing about Epiphone electrics, but on an acoustic?

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The poly finish on my IB'64 seemed lighter than most Asian poly finishes I've seen, but it is still much heavier than your run-of-the-mill nitro finish. And putting that poly finish on a guitar is like telling an Olympic runner to race while wearing a cement overcoat.

 

Cheers guys. Appreciate the information. I await the arrival of them into the U.K. again. My local dealer will advise when they are back in stock

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The poly finish on my IB'64 seemed lighter than most Asian poly finishes I've seen, but it is still much heavier than your run-of-the-mill nitro finish. And putting that poly finish on a guitar is like telling an Olympic runner to race while wearing a cement overcoat.

 

Poly finishes are pretty thin these days. There's no reason they can't be thin, either. If the manufacturer is making an instrument intended to be sold very inexpensively, they can little effort to spend time/labor preparing sanding tops and filling the grain on solid bodies, so they use a heavier coat of poly to hide the defects in the wood that surface preparation would otherwise eliminate. When they manufacture an instrument they intend to sell at a higher price, they can take a little more time preparing the wood, so the finish can be thinner. Nitro finished instruments are usually priced much higher than their poly finished counterparts (Taylor and some others are exceptions, of course), so more attention still can be paid to the preparation of the wood, which means the nitro can be applied even thinner.

 

I think thin coats of nitro are a recent phenomenon, anyway, influenced by the current condition of vintage guitars, where the finish has sunk into the wood. When some of those guitars were new, they had thick finishes! Those old 40's and 50's Gibsons were famous for having thick, thick coats of nitro. Even the pick guards were covered over for a time!

 

Red 333

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