rockdad
Rookie Solder Flinger
Posts: 3
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Post by rockdad on Jul 17, 2006 18:18:44 GMT -5
Hi everyone,
Somewhat of a newbie to the forum...regarding this post, I am the financier to my son's musical desires. He is currently looking at adding his second guitar to his collection and I would like to know from some of you your thoughts regarding the quality, bang for $, etc regarding the Epiphone g-400 guitar. When speaking cost, I would consider it to be somewhat of the "middle of the road" regarding cost, reflective of current-day mass-produced guitars.
I shake when I hear some of the horror stories regarding neck warpage, twist, etc. I want to avoid these pitfalls, so what does one do when looking at the guitar...what questions should be asked?...
Is there anything I can do to protect myself from my ignorance should I decide to purchase this guitar.
Also, my son dreads the Fender Hardcase he uses to transport his Strat. He is wanting a gig bag with double shoulder straps should we decide on this g-400. Your comments on a good protective gig bag in the $60 - $120 range.
Thank in advance for you help, comments, thoughts & direction.
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Post by dunkelfalke on Jul 18, 2006 7:29:24 GMT -5
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Post by RJB on Jul 18, 2006 8:24:45 GMT -5
Ok so really several questions. 1) Epiphone quality? While I have no long term information, in a recent quest for a Les Paul I compared Epiphone to Gibson, and found that while there was a difference in feel, sound, quality. I didn't feel it was worth 2-3 times the price. (I did get a gibson because of finding a great deal on a used model). But I would not hesitate to purchase an Epiphone, but there is some variance from guitar to guitar. So try before you buy. I don't believe that extreme quality issues associated with "cheap" guitars are as common as they were several years ago, especially once you get into more middle of the road pricing. 2) what to look for. Fit and finish. Look at all the joints for gaps/cracks. Sight down the neck headstock towards tailpiece, look for twists/bows. Check the frets for a popped/high fret or nicked/gouged fret. Check the fret ends for them extending beyond the neck width (fret sprout). Have your son play it. Does it feel right, feel for nicks in the back of the neck. (nothing more annoying than that little ding under your thumb that just throws you off. Try several if they are available. Try other brands/models for comparison as well. 3) Gig bag. You should check out a previous discussion we had here. guitarnuts2.proboards45.com/index.cgi?board=coffee&action=display&thread=1145298501 |
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Post by RandomHero on Jul 18, 2006 15:15:07 GMT -5
I worked in a Guitar Center for a while and saw quite a few Epiphones come and go. Most of the ones I saw were very nice, not something you would expect for the price. Beware the purists who will tell you that Epiphone is a fake a shoddy wanna-be Gibson, just because Gibson owns them and they make Gibson models. The quality is pretty considerable for the price.
Just be sure that you actually get the chance to play it, or have your son play it. If there's anything wrong with it, he'll likely notice right away.
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Post by ChrisK on Jul 18, 2006 22:11:58 GMT -5
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Post by antiquodian on Oct 21, 2007 0:03:38 GMT -5
I've had an epi g400 for a few years. A wonderful guitar.Pickups were muddy. Replaced them with Seymour Duncan SH-1 59's. Now it is a screamer and I can't put it down. Quality is excellent, better than the Gibson SG's I find in the stores.
I also use gig bags for my guitars of this calibre. They are just bags to carry them around in. They won't tolerate any kind of compression stress or throwing about, but I avoid that anyhow. Just bags.
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Post by andy on Oct 22, 2007 18:03:59 GMT -5
I have an Epi SG Custom, and as far as the construction is concerned, it is a very good, working guitar. It doesn't have the fine tuned details of a handmade guitar, of course, but a hand-sanded neck or suchlike is really an unnecessary luxury for most of us, and for the sort of money one would expect to spend on this type of guitar, it holds up very well. Yes, the pickups were a little limited and I replaced all three, but then I had specific plans for pickups when I bought the guitar, and had them ready to go straight in.
I think RJB mentioned the best in-strore checks above (about three months ago!), but a quick one on 'sighting' the neck. The best way to describe the way I do this is to hold the guitar by the neck joint, between thumb and middle finger so that it pivots around that point, then, looking down the neck with one eye closed, the other hand is used to tip the guitar body smoothly up and down letting the frets disappear behind one another and rise again. This should appear to happen very cleanly and smoothly, with any mis-aligned frets disrupting the 'flow' of the movement. This will show that either some frets are not parallel, or that the neck has some warping.
As for gigbags, they are fine for COVERING a guitar, and providing some useful handles, but no more than that. This can be enough for many situations, but any pressure, hard impact, or in particular, bending motion on the guitar will go completely unhindered. Fine, if no-one ever leans into your propped up guitar on a train, or if your amp never slides over in the back of the car against your guitar, or some such event. And it rarely happens, so great, but for the day it does, I will be glad I dragged that hard case around all those other times for nothing! In particular, this is worth noting for a guitar such as an SG, which has notorious weak points at the base of the headstock and neck joint.
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Post by mlrpa on Dec 3, 2007 16:25:03 GMT -5
I like the G-400, but a word of warning. I've seen about 30 of them, and admittedly a few other Epi's, that the saddles started eating thru the strings like Homer thru doughnuts! Change the saddles, and your kid will have a pretty decent guitar.
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