stephen
04-25-2005, 07:25 AM
I played an Epiphone Masterbuilt Acoustic yesterday. I stopped in the local GC to pick up some strings, and there she was settin over with the lower priced Yamaha's, Fender's Epi's etc. Now me and acoustics in general have just not gotten along to well the last 20+ years. I just cant seem to find onbe that I am really comfortable with. Until now.
Its a Gibson J style (round shoulders) Dreadnaught. Satin finish, rosewood back and sides, ebony fret board, vintage style tuners. I dont recall the model number; sorry guys.
Well I picked this one up, and even without playing a single note, I just knew by the way it felt in my hand, that this puppy was gonna sound nice.
The box just had a 'feel' to it that screamed "Craftmanship!". The neck is joined to the box via a standard dovetail joint, but the heel is a low wide profile, not the high and pointy variety of the last 100+ years.
The neck is I beleive, a moderate U shape, and felt very good in my hand.
The guitar is exquisitally light: it feels delicate, but the construction is extremely solid. I could not find one flaw in the finish of this guitar: no excess epoxy at joints, bindings, fretts, in-lays, bracing etc.
The back is a solid, beautifully grained single piece of Rosewood, as is the side (most acoustics I have seen lately, are at least a 2 piece on the sides witha joint at the top, and at the bottom by the strap button. Georgeuos binding, in-lays, simple but flawless rosette and pleasantly simple/elegant hardware completed the package. The grain on this guitar is top-notch! normally i wouldnt see this type of grain on a guitar under $1,500.00 .
Then I pulled out a pick and gave this puppy a spin. to quote Emeril Lagassi, BAM!! This puppy definitely was packing some teeth! Now I am a tried and true Martin D-15 tone hound. I think that a D-15 is the best sound for an acoustic, bar none. Well no longer is it the lone acoustic tone champ, cause I have to say we have a new co-champion here! Nice crystaline highs, beautiful booming (but not overbearing) bottom end, excelent projection, and this beautiful resonating feel that the box produces, that communicates just as much too me, as the sound eminating from it! It let me know to try different types of pick attacks, and I would know by how it was resonating, as to the rewards it offered: Layig into the strings aggressively brought out an aggressive growly punch that I can only describe as acoustic over-drive! Floating my strumming hand back and foth from the neck to the bridge, while rolling my thumb down towards the edge of the pick unleashed a plethora of pinch-harmonics that I have never heard out of an acoustic! And not random harmonics (got it one time to never find it in that spot again), but very repeatable.
Playing wise, it is bar-none the undisputed champ in my opinion. Since i have suffered so many injuries to my hands over the years, a hard and high action guitar is a basic no-no (and unfortuantely most acoustics fall into this category). Well the action on this guitar was surprisingly low. I mean reall low! properly set-up Les Paul low! As soon as I saw that i was worried that I would be hearing a lot of frett buzz, but try as I may (short of intentionally making it buzz by using bad technigue), not one buzz was ever heard!
Played quite a few P&W songs on it, a few Led Zepplin numbers, ad a couple of originals, and I couldnt believe how it performed everyone to perfection!
It comes with a hard shell case. MFSRP is $984.00. GC price is $669.00 .
Only one thing I was bummed about: No electronics (peizo/EQ). but I could get over that really easy!
On Stephen's scale of 1 to 10 (10 being best) I give it a 10! I think all the companies makin them $1,500.00 to $3,000.00 + acoustic guitars need to learn a few things from this Epiphone.
Its a Gibson J style (round shoulders) Dreadnaught. Satin finish, rosewood back and sides, ebony fret board, vintage style tuners. I dont recall the model number; sorry guys.
Well I picked this one up, and even without playing a single note, I just knew by the way it felt in my hand, that this puppy was gonna sound nice.
The box just had a 'feel' to it that screamed "Craftmanship!". The neck is joined to the box via a standard dovetail joint, but the heel is a low wide profile, not the high and pointy variety of the last 100+ years.
The neck is I beleive, a moderate U shape, and felt very good in my hand.
The guitar is exquisitally light: it feels delicate, but the construction is extremely solid. I could not find one flaw in the finish of this guitar: no excess epoxy at joints, bindings, fretts, in-lays, bracing etc.
The back is a solid, beautifully grained single piece of Rosewood, as is the side (most acoustics I have seen lately, are at least a 2 piece on the sides witha joint at the top, and at the bottom by the strap button. Georgeuos binding, in-lays, simple but flawless rosette and pleasantly simple/elegant hardware completed the package. The grain on this guitar is top-notch! normally i wouldnt see this type of grain on a guitar under $1,500.00 .
Then I pulled out a pick and gave this puppy a spin. to quote Emeril Lagassi, BAM!! This puppy definitely was packing some teeth! Now I am a tried and true Martin D-15 tone hound. I think that a D-15 is the best sound for an acoustic, bar none. Well no longer is it the lone acoustic tone champ, cause I have to say we have a new co-champion here! Nice crystaline highs, beautiful booming (but not overbearing) bottom end, excelent projection, and this beautiful resonating feel that the box produces, that communicates just as much too me, as the sound eminating from it! It let me know to try different types of pick attacks, and I would know by how it was resonating, as to the rewards it offered: Layig into the strings aggressively brought out an aggressive growly punch that I can only describe as acoustic over-drive! Floating my strumming hand back and foth from the neck to the bridge, while rolling my thumb down towards the edge of the pick unleashed a plethora of pinch-harmonics that I have never heard out of an acoustic! And not random harmonics (got it one time to never find it in that spot again), but very repeatable.
Playing wise, it is bar-none the undisputed champ in my opinion. Since i have suffered so many injuries to my hands over the years, a hard and high action guitar is a basic no-no (and unfortuantely most acoustics fall into this category). Well the action on this guitar was surprisingly low. I mean reall low! properly set-up Les Paul low! As soon as I saw that i was worried that I would be hearing a lot of frett buzz, but try as I may (short of intentionally making it buzz by using bad technigue), not one buzz was ever heard!
Played quite a few P&W songs on it, a few Led Zepplin numbers, ad a couple of originals, and I couldnt believe how it performed everyone to perfection!
It comes with a hard shell case. MFSRP is $984.00. GC price is $669.00 .
Only one thing I was bummed about: No electronics (peizo/EQ). but I could get over that really easy!
On Stephen's scale of 1 to 10 (10 being best) I give it a 10! I think all the companies makin them $1,500.00 to $3,000.00 + acoustic guitars need to learn a few things from this Epiphone.