Epiphone Masterbilt 2020 Excellente (quick review)

[Old Woody]

Hi everyone
Just got this by Fed Ex yesterday (quick gripe about Fed Ex I was home when this was delivered and the delivery person left this at the door and walked away no knock or anything I wasn't happy) these are my first impressions of this fine instrument.

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• Old Woody
• Feb 12, 2020

2020 Epiphone Excellente

She's a real beauty and the woods are choice specimens of ebony, spruce,maple and ovangkol. First impressions it's a loud guitar when using a flatpick has a sweet deep bass and excellent note separation but OMG the neck is heavy the overall weight of the guitar is at least 8-9 pounds (I got an electronic scale coming so will post exact weight soon) I don't care for the strings it arrived with and ordered several of my favorite brands to find the right fit for me. Intonation was spot on from the factory but the tuning was sharp (weather?) I have not recorded it yet and believe me the honeymoon is far from over.

 

[Taurus 8]

I'm thinking of getting a new guitar later this year and I am considering an Masterbilt Excellente or a Frontier, depending on how they feel in my hands.

I have a Martin DX1 (and a 2015 Epiphone Casino) and wonder if its sound is biased to more like a Gibson, Martin or something completely unique. I know the Excellentes were designed to give Epiphone a flagship guitar that was more Martin-like back in the day (designed for known Martin player Sonny James I think originally and played by the likes of Loretta Lynn), and I wonder if I got this, I'd essentially be duplicating my existing Martin.

If so, I might lean towards the Masterbilt Frontier as it's more like a Gibson Hummingbird in specifications. Or maybe the Masterbilt Texan. Decisions, decisions!

 

[Old Woody]

I'm thinking of getting a new guitar later this year and I am considering an Masterbilt Excellente or a Frontier, depending on how they feel in my hands.

I have a Martin DX1 (and a 2015 Epiphone Casino) and wonder if its sound is biased to more like a Gibson, Martin or something completely unique. I know the Excellentes were designed to give Epiphone a flagship guitar that was more Martin-like back in the day (designed for known Martin player Sonny James I think originally and played by the likes of Loretta Lynn), and I wonder if I got this, I'd essentially be duplicating my existing Martin.

If so, I might lean towards the Masterbilt Frontier as it's more like a Gibson Hummingbird in specifications. Or maybe the Masterbilt Texan. Decisions, decisions!

That was my choice as well I liked the Frontier and will prolly pick one up sometime I also like the Gibson j-15 as well but the price is steep, as for the sound of the excellente it's bright and sounds like a Martin to my ears. I had one of the masterbilt AJ45's and that has got the same woods as the Texan and I miss that guitar it was just getting broke in ( had it 3 years) when I decided to upgrade guitars. If you pick up a Frontier do a review I'm curious as to how they match up to a hummingbird.

 

[Norton]

An acoustic guitar weighing 9lbs!!?

 

[Old Woody]

An acoustic guitar weighing 9lbs!!?

Yeah compared to my last acoustic this thing is a beast but I have not weighted it yet so a slight exaggeration prolly closer to 6 to 7 pounds. will post it if my scale ever arrives.

 

[Taurus 8]

Well, I ended up buying an Excellente last weekend. I talked with my local guitar shop and on their website an affiliate in another town had one. I liked the specs, and was assured if I didn't like it, they'd take it back. Well, they're not getting it back!

I have never played a Gibson Hummingbird, or a Country and Western, but to my ear, this guitar definitely rivals their tone at a much lower price. It has great sustain and sweet midrange and treble. I at first thought the bass was lacking, which it is compared to my Martin DX1 a little bit, but not by much. I think that the Martin, in comparison has a bit of a false Boom at the low end, much like old stereos did when they had that old "loudness" control, if you remember that far back.

I too will be looking to replace the strings sooner rather than later - they do feel a bit hard after a while, and this is with callouses built up!

Quality control looks great - better than with my Casino I bought a few years back. The frets felt smooth, the strings rest just fine in the nut and the saddle, and it was well set up. The action was just how I like it.

Highly recommended!

 

[Old Woody]

I totally agree the neck is very comfortable to play and it's starting to break in nicely. I have Martin strings on mine and its a big improvement over the Earthwoods I replaced the original strings with, the Martins are 80/20 bronze wound I believe. As you so aptly put it no! they are not ever getting it back If I have a gripe about the guitar it's really more about the setup and I have seen this on most all new Epi's they are not cleaning and polishing the frets very well and you may or may not encounter the black carbon residue? when you change the strings. I have ordered a fret eraser from Stewmac and plan to see what I can do to address this issue. Oh and congrats on your new guitar. I love mine.

 

[ted keane]

I totally agree the neck is very comfortable to play and it's starting to break in nicely. I have Martin strings on mine and its a big improvement over the Earthwoods I replaced the original strings with, the Martins are 80/20 bronze wound I believe. As you so aptly put it no! they are not ever getting it back If I have a gripe about the guitar it's really more about the setup and I have seen this on most all new Epi's they are not cleaning and polishing the frets very well and you may or may not encounter the black carbon residue? when you change the strings. I have ordered a fret eraser from Stewmac and plan to see what I can do to address this issue. Oh and congrats on your new guitar. I love mine.

I go to the Dollar stores and get fingernail polisher/file.The have 4 sides to clean up your frets.Works great.

 

[Old Woody]

I go to the Dollar stores and get fingernail polisher/file.The have 4 sides to clean up your frets.Works great.

Great idea I will give that a try sometime. I ended up getting a D'Addario product called a Fret Polishing System for around $6.99. It consists of polishing paper and a fret protection template. I haven't used it yet as I recently changed the strings (about three weeks ago) so I'll try it in a couple of weeks. I don't know about anyone else but with the quarantine, my strings last about a month.

 

[Raiyn]

I have ordered a fret eraser from Stewmac

https://www.crimsonguitars.com/store/fret-rubber-fret-polishing-abrasive/
I refuse to pay StewMac's ransom. Even with international shipping Crimson has excellent products cheaper.

 

[Old Woody]

https://www.crimsonguitars.com/store/fret-rubber-fret-polishing-abrasive/
I refuse to pay StewMac's ransom. Even with international shipping Crimson has excellent products cheaper.

I will look into crimson guitars , at the time of that post I had a fret eraser from Stew-mac (a set of 2 actually) in my cart when I went to checkout they wanted $7.95 to ship them and like you, I know that by weight that should have been closer to maybe a couple of bucks so I bought the D'Addario system instead and got free shipping paying less than the cost of shipping the erasers . I'm in the middle of a tele parts guitar build so I'm still in the market for fret files and/ or erasers. thanks for the tip.

 

[Raiyn]

I'm in the middle of a tele parts guitar build so I'm still in the market for fret files and/ or erasers. thanks for the tip.

Crimson has them. The honcho over there is a bit of a tool geek. They also have a YouTube channel. Don't let the head tattoos throw you though. He's about the most genteel sounding Brit I've heard since Downton.

 

[Dennie]

I just purchased a new Epiphone Excellente online from “GC” after reading some good reviews. I love vintage remakes and the history behind this one is fabulous.

I have a vintage Martin and a Pre-War rosewood Gibson SJ200 that I play mostly and was looking for a decent dreadnaught that I wouldn’t have to worry too much about getting banged up while playing. The Excelente looked like it might fill that slot.

I own about 20 different guitars from various manufactures and several of my online purchases have gone well without a hitch but,... When my Excellente showed up unfortunately it was completely unplayable.

All open strings buzzed when played.
Every fretted note up and down the neck buzzed horribly.

The bridge was pulling up in the back on both sides. There was a raised ridge line where the wood comes together at the bottom of the guitar at the cable plug in, “possibly” a crack.

My wife is a guitar player also and she shrieked when I first strummed it.

The rest of the guitar seemed ok overall and all the bling was there. It had a Nice pick guard, lovely gold tuners and cloud Pearl inlay was good. The neck also felt very good.

I thought the top finish was excellent but the back and side finishes seemed very thick and plastically.

I also ordered the Epiphone Edread case to go with the Excellente and the case is very nice.

I called “GC” and the dude laughed when I explained the problems with the guitar.
He did however setup an immediate return and paid for the shipping back to GC.

We chatted for a bit and he said I must have just gotten a lemon. I agreed and perhaps it got some rough handling in transit as well.

This Excellente was shipped from California to the east coast and he said that’s where the other 5-6 that they have left are located.

This particular Excellente was made in Indonesia.

I probably could have fixed it by raising the saddle a smidge, perhaps adding a little relief and gluing the bridge back down but a new guitar ought to be a little better than this.

After inspecting the guitar only (as it could not be played) I am on the fence as to wether I would chance ordering another one. The thickness of the finish is my main concern as I think it might choke the sound somewhat from what might otherwise be a good intermediate guitar.

I hate posting such a negative review on this guitar but folks need to know the good and the bad. Most of the reviews I have seen are positive on the Excellente. I wish mine could be too.

Here are a few pics showing the problems.

 

[Old Woody]

Sorry to hear about the problems you have with GC but I used to find high end guitars in their acoustic room with all kinds of problems in SoCal and later when I moved to Reno NV and the brand with the most problems was Gibson and these were USA models in really bad shape so you got to wonder were they shipped from Gibson that way and did the so called techs from GC even look at them when they put them up as demo's. As for the bridge pulling up on your EPI looks like they missed a big part of the bridge on one side with the glue gun or whatever they use to apply it before clamping it down. I worked QC in Machine shops and Aircraft production plants for a lot of years and stuff happens, but if I let something that blatant leave the shop I would have lost my job, but of course in my line of work lives were on the line not just bad music.

 

[Dennie]

Sorry to hear about the problems you have with GC but I used to find high end guitars in their acoustic room with all kinds of problems in SoCal and later when I moved to Reno NV and the brand with the most problems was Gibson and these were USA models in really bad shape so you got to wonder were they shipped from Gibson that way and did the so called techs from GC even look at them when they put them up as demo's. As for the bridge pulling up on your EPI looks like they missed a big part of the bridge on one side with the glue gun or whatever they use to apply it before clamping it down. I worked QC in Machine shops and Aircraft production plants for a lot of years and stuff happens, but if I let something that blatant leave the shop I would have lost my job, but of course in my line of work lives were on the line not just bad music.

I am hearing what you are saying.
Generally I’ve had good luck with GC and Sweetwater. I’ve also had good service from Americanmusical as well.

But this one definitely slipped through the cracks. I haven’t seen anything about GC doing an inspection of anything coming out of their warehouse that’s already boxed up. I think it just gets shipped out buyer beware but don’t know that for sure.

Buying a guitar online is always a crap shoot. Some offer free returns up to 45 days, others don’t especially Reverb where sellers sometimes only offer 2-3 days or no returns allowed at all.

Sweetwater advertises a “55-point” inspection before shipping but I’ve had some smaller quality issues with them also just not as bad as this Excelente from GC.

On the other hand Ive never had an issue walking out with a guitar I’ve played and checked in person at a regular music store.

Guitar woods moving from different temp environments and humidity will be affected.
Not sure what the humidity changes would be for a guitar traveling from Indonesia, to Cali to the east coast. But theirs bound to be some.

I won’t buy another Epiphone Excellente without seeing and trying it in a music store.

 

[Old Woody]

I am hearing what you are saying.
Generally I’ve had good luck with GC and Sweetwater. I’ve also had good service from Americanmusical as well.

But this one definitely slipped through the cracks. I haven’t seen anything about GC doing an inspection of anything coming out of their warehouse that’s already boxed up. I think it just gets shipped out buyer beware but don’t know that for sure.

Buying a guitar online is always a crap shoot. Some offer free returns up to 45 days, others don’t especially Reverb where sellers sometimes only offer 2-3 days or no returns allowed at all.

Sweetwater advertises a “55-point” inspection before shipping but I’ve had some smaller quality issues with them also just not as bad as this Excelente from GC.

On the other hand Ive never had an issue walking out with a guitar I’ve played and checked in person at a regular music store.

Guitar woods moving from different temp environments and humidity will be affected.
Not sure what the humidity changes would be for a guitar traveling from Indonesia, to Cali to the east coast. But theirs bound to be some.

I won’t buy another Epiphone Excellente without seeing and trying it in a music store.

I totally agree my last two guitars have been purchased from Zzounds (Gibson Firebird) and American Music (Epi Excellente) I like the payment plan as I get to keep my guitars rather then flip them for new ones. I have so far been lucky buying online, but I would rather try before I buy. Unfortunately with stores closing it's a sad sign of the times.

 

[Raiyn]

Sweetwater. I have zero regrets buying from them, and only one real complaint - they forgot my candy when I ordered my Doheny.

 

[Old Woody]

Sweetwater. I have zero regrets buying from them, and only one real complaint - they forgot my candy when I ordered my Doheny.

I feel your pain :( lol the candy is the main reason I buy my strings and accessories from them.

 

[Raiyn]

I feel your pain :( lol the candy is the main reason I buy my strings and accessories from them.

I made it quite clear to my guy when I placed my pre-order the other day that I wanted my damn candy this go 'round.