epiphone get it right (beware the BIG pic)

Bacchus · Post by **Bacchus** » Thu Jun 09, 2011 7:18 pm

George wrote:The Classic Vibes are amaaaaaaaazing.

Aye. the Vintage Modified are pretty good too.

Mages · Post by **Mages** » Thu Jun 09, 2011 7:30 pm

pumpkin wrote:feels like plastic, probably because it is. Deadens the vibtration. Looks like ass. Poly sucks.

what vibration? it's a solid block of wood, it doesn't vibrate. the whole vibration idea is a holdover from acoustic guitars and has no basis in solid body electric guitars. even if there is vibration, how does that effect the energy the pickups are getting from the magnetized strings? until someone can give me one scientific fact backing up the whole "nitro sounds better" nonsense I'm going to continue to disregard it as pseudo-science hearsay.

pumpkin wrote:This universal accepted as fact.

I would say it's more like a common misconception.

honeyiscool · Post by **honeyiscool** » Thu Jun 09, 2011 9:25 pm

endsjustifymeans wrote:I'm still suspicious of all of these. Epiphone's QC is as bad as Gibson's. I wouldn't expect Squier or even Rondo build quality out of these instruments. Every Epi I've ever touched has been poorly crafted turd.

Seriously? Both of the Epiphone Les Paul Standards I have called mine have been close to impeccable. The stock pickups aren't even bad either.

endsjustifymeans · Post by **endsjustifymeans** » Thu Jun 09, 2011 9:31 pm

Wilshire, goth sg, LP special II (to be expected), sg 400. All complete shit.

Gabriel · Post by **Gabriel** » Thu Jun 09, 2011 9:33 pm

Mages wrote:I would say it's more like a common misconception.

This

honeyiscool · Post by **honeyiscool** » Thu Jun 09, 2011 9:57 pm

endsjustifymeans wrote:Wilshire, goth sg, LP special II (to be expected), sg 400. All complete shit.

All kind of low end products here... just saying. I'm not belittling your experiences, but you haven't even tapped into what's considered the "Standard" line of Epiphones and certainly not the high end stuff either. If all I saw were Affinities and Bullets, I would find Squiers pretty good, but I wouldn't find them fantastic either.

That said, I have an acquaintance who is a guitar collector, he has been collecting for decades, has worked as a tech for touring bands, has $20,000 guitars on the wall like they're nothing. One of his main axes? A new Wilshire that he put in a pair of vintage Gibson pickups into.

endsjustifymeans · Post by **endsjustifymeans** » Thu Jun 09, 2011 10:10 pm

I'm really only interetsed in low end equipment and I've had much better experiences with squier's. Squier Duo sonic (90's), squier's new duo sonic, bullet strat, squier '51, squier sparkle telecaster, squier bronco bass... have all played and sounded great. My only bad experience with squier to date was the new series of jagmaster, really didn't agree with me. These guitars are all below the prices of most of the epiphone's I tried and were 10 times the instrument in terms of quality.

That said, I do miss my Gibson Gothic Les Paul, that was a great guitar... the neck was just tooooooo fat for me.

endsjustifymeans · Post by **endsjustifymeans** » Thu Jun 09, 2011 10:22 pm

I'm also not saying all epi's are shit, just that they are severely inconsistent. Squier was once like that as well. I think it's relatively recently, last decade maybe, that they're general quality has been so spot on.

honeyiscool · Post by **honeyiscool** » Thu Jun 09, 2011 10:23 pm

I can feel what you're saying. But the thing is, $300 for a Squier gets you near the top of the pile, $300 for an Epiphone gets you at the entry level. You kind of have to double your money for Epiphone before you get something comparable to what $300 will get you at Squier. Squier enters their sweet spot at $230 with the Strat and Tele Standards, Epiphones enters their sweet spot at $450 with the LP Standards, which makes them closer to MIM Fenders than Squier price range. That's all I wanted to point out.

I do think higher end Epiphones are absolutely worth their price tag and for all the Agile love in the world, when it actually came time to drop $300-450 on an LP, I found more to like in Epiphone than Agile.

I'm a huge Squier fan, too, btw. I currently have six Squiers, which make up about half my collection at this point. But we also can't ignore the fact that for a while, they were known for being really terrible guitars. Just a few years ago, when I was starting guitar, there was a huge stigma around Squier because people could still remember the mystery wood and plywood crap they used to churn out. Of course, by then, Squier had become quite good, but it's taken some time for it to build its reputation back up. Epiphones have always had at least a decent rep.

Ankhanu · Post by **Ankhanu** » Fri Jun 10, 2011 12:50 am

My history with Epiphone is one of intense inconsistency as well. I've played some that were pretty nice, but I've played a lot more shit. Doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to the differences either.

StevePirates · Post by **StevePirates** » Fri Jun 10, 2011 3:02 am

endsjustifymeans wrote: That said, I do miss my Gibson Gothic Les Paul, that was a great guitar... the neck was just tooooooo fat for me.

This is the guitar that I play most often.

Post by **Doog** » Fri Jun 10, 2011 8:49 am

Mages wrote:
pumpkin wrote:feels like plastic, probably because it is. Deadens the vibtration. Looks like ass. Poly sucks.
what vibration? it's a solid block of wood, it doesn't vibrate. the whole vibration idea is a holdover from acoustic guitars and has no basis in solid body electric guitars. even if there is vibration, how does that effect the energy the pickups are getting from the magnetized strings? until someone can give me one scientific fact backing up the whole "nitro sounds better" nonsense I'm going to continue to disregard it as pseudo-science hearsay.

pumpkin wrote:This universal accepted as fact.
I would say it's more like a common misconception.

Boom, Snake oil bullshit.

The biggest effect it'll have in the electric paradigm is how the guitar FEELS and, while there's nothing wrong with taking that into consideration, it has no bearing on what's coming out of the output jack.

George · Post by **George** » Fri Jun 10, 2011 9:13 am

Nitro ages and wears more prettily.

pumpkin · Post by **pumpkin** » Fri Jun 10, 2011 9:16 am

With regards to tonal characteristics poly or nitro, there is no difference other than the look and the feel, which in the case of poly: sucks. However, not all electric guitars are solid body. Poly on a semi definitely deadens vibration, because you're encasing the fucking thing in plastic.

There is a reason the best guitars in the world use nitro.

endsjustifymeans · Post by **endsjustifymeans** » Fri Jun 10, 2011 3:16 pm

pumpkin wrote:With regards to tonal characteristics poly or nitro, there is no difference other than the look and the feel, which in the case of poly: sucks. However, not all electric guitars are solid body. Poly on a semi definitely deadens vibration, because you're encasing the fucking thing in plastic.

There is a reason the best guitars in the world use nitro.

Are we really having this conversation? Isn't piddly shit like this best reserved for offsetguitars?

pumpkin · Post by **pumpkin** » Fri Jun 10, 2011 4:02 pm

endsjustifymeans wrote:
pumpkin wrote:With regards to tonal characteristics poly or nitro, there is no difference other than the look and the feel, which in the case of poly: sucks. However, not all electric guitars are solid body. Poly on a semi definitely deadens vibration, because you're encasing the fucking thing in plastic.

There is a reason the best guitars in the world use nitro.
Are we really having this conversation? Isn't piddly shit like this best reserved for offsetguitars?

Now, don't act all buthurt.

Gabriel · Post by **Gabriel** » Fri Jun 10, 2011 4:32 pm

I don't know if I'm in the minority but I really dislike Nitro. I've got nitro on my Eastman and although it looks and feel lovely it dents SOOOOOOO easily. I play my guitars alot so they get quite worn fast. I've always preferred poly though.

Addam · Post by **Addam** » Fri Jun 10, 2011 6:14 pm

mrperson wrote:I don't know if I'm in the minority but I really dislike Nitro. I've got nitro on my Eastman and although it looks and feel lovely it dents SOOOOOOO easily. I play my guitars alot so they get quite worn fast. I've always preferred poly though.

I have a couple of old guitars, including a '70s Bronco with Nitro on the face and poly on the back.

Love the sexy smooth shiny poly on the back!

The old nitro feels like paper, but looks cool as fuck all browned and cracked up.
Wouldn't like it on the back side of a neck at all!

I've sprayed a couple of guitars with nitro from rattle cans.
Got a sexy shiny finish on the necks too!