Epiphone 1966 LE SG Info?

[GuitBit]

Hi All,

I've had this for a bit and out of curiosity I'd like see if I could get more information on it. It's a 2007 Epi 1966 G-400 Limited Edition.

Here's what I know:

Mahogany body & neck, Stoptail & TOM Bridge, full-size (or near enough) 500k pots, full batwing pickguard, grover tuning machines, "SG" truss cover, "Limited Edition Custom Shop" imprint on back of headstock, made at the QingDao (EE) plant in what I believe is called "Classic Cherry" finish.

Here's what I like:

Much lighter than any SG I've ever tried. I believe it is actually lighter than my Squier Strat. Much less neck heavy than your typical SG, although I haven't tried the newer G-400 Pro series. The neck is very playable, and feels very nice in my hand. The controls feel very well made, as does all of the hardware.

Here's what I don't like:

The frets aren't quite right. It's probably going to get a fret-leveling and dress. There are several frets that are just slightly out-of-sorts, causing some dead ones, and would be more if the action were set as low as I'd like it. This is probably the biggest problem I have with the guitar, but it is correctable. The bridge pickup was suprisingly underwhelming. I had to raise it to nearly touching the strings before it was even balanced with the neck pickup at what I would consider "normal" height. It just doesn't seem to have very much output at all. A definite candidate for replacement, but I don't hate the tone. Lastly, the clear coat has some fogginess in spots (on the back). It's not horrible, but certainly not what I was expecting.

 

So that's what I know about it. If anyone has more information about anything else, or even further information about the above I'd love to hear it. Thanks!

[tweed2]

Welcome GB, I love my Korina SG and a good fret leveling, end dressing and polishing will do wonders for it. I actually found two that needed to be set a little more. Enjoy yours and stick around. Lots of good information and advice. Here's you forum warming present. +1

Mine after swapping out the stock PUs for Seymour Duncans.

[brad1]

Welcome to the forum!

I have a 2006 G400 from the same factory. Mine is fairly neck heavy. And it weighs about 8 lbs..

Never had any fret problems with it either. In fact, the frets are excellent. Not telling you this to make you feel bad. But to show that it really depends on the individual model you get as to what condition it will be.

 

The pups are a crap-shoot also. Many folks complain about the neck pup. Not usually about the bridge.

I actually like both pups in mine.

 

Anyway, glad you made your way here. Stick around, there's a lot of smart guitar players around here (excluding me) to learn from.

That's why I've been here for so long.

[GuitBit]

The pups are a crap-shoot also. Many folks complain about the neck pup. Not usually about the bridge.

I actually like both pups in mine.

 

Thanks, brad1. Yes, that's what I found surprising. I've seen some complaints about the quality of the fretting, but the fact the bridge pickup is so weak was a bit off-putting. I actually am fine with it's tone, but would have liked to at least have the output comparable to the neck. The plan now is to eventually get a set of SD JBs and 2 push/pull pots and rewire it like the new SG Pro is wired. Also, I'm thinking I'll swap out the knobs for the old witch-hat ones from the original. Something about the big fat ones that are on there seems wrong.

 

And thanks for the info tweed2. I'll probably give the fret-leveling a go on my own. I've gotten some pointers of how best to do it and it sounds like something I'm capable of. If I do I'll post some pics and an update.