James Bay?

[Peter C]

How have people been able to tell that James Bay got a composite one? I watched the videos he did with it and I can't tell from the footage.

From what I can see, the one JB was given is as black as the rest and shows no telltale Rosewood nor wood signs.

Also see that Anderton's (UK supplier) are now correctly stating the fretboard as Basswood, shame Epiphone are still resisting owning up.

 

[The wood yard heywood]

I've had a look with a jeweler's loop and you can see a very fine grain and various irregularities that you wouldn't get with a synthetic material. I think they've heavily sealed it with something to get that black colour/effect - god knows why. Might try rubbing it off with something at some point. Plus stating that the fingerboard is rosewood and not doing that would be a major fraud I would have thought. Mind all of the promotional photos you see show it as a lighter wood.
For those wanting to hear a bit of how it sounds check out

This is a bit of a poor review from the andertons boys, they normally do such a good job. Not much playing to go off sound. Rob is a very good a metal guitar but should bother appearing in most reviews

Breaking News.......
On closer inspection of the so called Rosewood fretboard, I became more convinced that it wasn't.
So I contacted Epiphone and got this (shortened) reply today:

"The Epiphone division is using now basswood composite for the fingerboards of the James Bay signature"

So there we have it, sold under a false description of Rosewood. I feel duped to say the least.
Bad enough basswood, but basswood composite! Are they insane, they've just killed it's authenticity in one.

I have receive my guitar midd october, i am very happy with its sound quality and the p90 pick ups performance. I knew there was something a miss with the finger board. Playability is great i doubt it can much affect my actual play. It is a big shame for apearences though.

I will take some photos of my new guitar and do a video tomorrow. Been working on my music room for a few weeks so only just set everything back up.

 

[The wood yard heywood]

Hello again guys as i said i would add a short video as sound bite.
I have a list of reasons for mistakes in my audio and video recording skills. Along with a few more reasons my playing isn't perfect. I can make up more reasons too
This is my first self recording i must state! I will make more videos in future, i will get the standard up, And I'm practicing my playing all the time.... It's getting there

So please excuse the mess........Constructive criticism is welcome and shovel some banter in too.


Equipment:
Guitar : James bay sig Epiphone century Hollow body p90
amp : Hayden Hgt20p pre tube 2x8"inch speaker
Camera : Sony nex5 compact mirrorless 20.1mp
microphone: built in camera mic (positioned on top of the amp while recording)

 

[Davis Sharp]

Thanks for posting this. The tone from your picking is sweet.

 

[John]

No criticism here, the tone is sweet. Good sound demo.......

 

[The wood yard heywood]

Thanks for posting this. The tone from your picking is sweet.

No criticism here, the tone is sweet. Good sound demo.......

Thanks guys I should have a few of his track down I a couple weeks so will post again. Camera micro phone isnt to bad. I will position it opposite amp next time. This was filmed with it sat on top of the amp.

 

[Davis Sharp]

Looks like you're in an echo-y room so you might want to test the mic distance from the amp. If you can't eliminate the echo, just call it "natural reverb."

 

[The wood yard heywood]

The room was awful for echo before i had the carpet fitted, mainly due to the shape and the type of insulation behind the plasterboard/gyproc sheet.

I had the reverb up about 3/4 of the way in this recording, im pretty sure it is a good real spring reverb in this amp. And the hollow body all adds to that.

I will do a few more test videos and try the camera in from other areas see if i can get a direct sound from the amp. I will message on here again when i have some more videos of my epiphone century.

 

[Cam]

Bringing this thread back, just yesterday I managed to get my hands on one. I had to ship it in from Japan because of the mess the Gibson/Epi distribution has made for the guitar market in Australia, but it came quickly and with no issues.

I can safely say this is 10 times better than the standard Century. I played a few of those and just couldn't bond with them. This has been incredible from opening the case. It is literally everything I wanted it to be.

I'll post photos later in the week when I have time, but apart from a few craftsmanship things I personally have a problem with, it is such a fantastic guitar, even if it doesn't do everything another guitar could.

 

[yelemusic]

It's a fine guitar, this Epi James Bay, the only one thing I dislike is that the body isn't as arched as the original. It's a pretty straight top with very little arch to it. Guess they wanted to simplify production to keep the price below a certain limit.
I love the color! Man, that deep red is gorgeous!

I'd love to try an old one now, but I suspect they are hard to find!

 

[Raiyn]

Bringing this thread back, just yesterday I managed to get my hands on one. I had to ship it in from Japan because of the mess the Gibson/Epi distribution has made for the guitar market in Australia, but it came quickly and with no issues.

I can safely say this is 10 times better than the standard Century. I played a few of those and just couldn't bond with them. This has been incredible from opening the case. It is literally everything I wanted it to be.

I'll post photos later in the week when I have time, but apart from a few craftsmanship things I personally have a problem with, it is such a fantastic guitar, even if it doesn't do everything another guitar could.

So, is it as tragic a case as some would have us believe?

 

[Cam]

Finally got round to recording some good audio samples from this guitar. It sounds pretty killer, and to my surprise does a fantastic job handling gain.

Also as far as the composite fingerboard goes, to me it feels identical to rosewood, or whatever variety of it used to be put on Epiphone's. Genuinely cannot tell the difference when I'm playing.

 

[Stuart]

I went a bit off the rails the other morning & found myself in a red hot bidding war for a 1961 Century, just like James Whatshisfaces. I bailed at a bit over US$1,100 (AUD$1,500) &, frankly, now I’m regretting my lack of kahoonas!

 

[Raiyn]

Also as far as the composite fingerboard goes, to me it feels identical to rosewood, or whatever variety of it used to be put on Epiphone's. Genuinely cannot tell the difference when I'm playing.

You mean to tell me that people were fussing over absolutely nothing?

 

[Cam]

You mean to tell me that people were fussing over absolutely nothing?

Hahaha, I was sceptical at first like many, but yes, I was fussing over something aesthetically. Obviously we've grown accustomed to the look of rosewood on guitars, but this basswood composite stuff feels the same, sounds the same, and is an effective alternative. No complaints here lol

 

[Raiyn]

Hahaha, I was sceptical at first like many, but yes, I was fussing over something aesthetically. Obviously we've grown accustomed to the look of rosewood on guitars, but this basswood composite stuff feels the same, sounds the same, and is an effective alternative. No complaints here lol

 

[Cam]

In fairness though, I think most of the anger towards Epiphone came from the fact that they didn't openly state on the product page that they stopped using rosewood. For months after they were still advertising it as it having one.

 

[Stuart]

In fairness though, I think most of the anger towards Epiphone came from the fact that they didn't openly state on the product page that they stopped using rosewood. For months after they were still advertising it as it having one.

 

[Raiyn]

In fairness though, I think most of the anger towards Epiphone came from the fact that they didn't openly state on the product page that they stopped using rosewood. For months after they were still advertising it as it having one.

I didn't perceive it as "anger", I saw it as one dude in particular (not you) whining about a forced change on a low production volume guitar and the marketing department not making the change on the website fast enough. I thought I'd made that clear, but no bother.

Now, as I've said, I get the disappointment on some level. That said, I couldn't get a straight answer out of the main driver of the complaint here as to whether it made an actual difference in the real world it terms of actually playing the blasted thing. Which is the ****** ****** ****** point of a guitar.

To me it sounded like Jeremy Clarkson whinging about his bacon not being center-cut in the middle of the bloody outback.

Credit where it's due: You certainly manned up and admitted it made no real difference which is more than I'll say for your contemporary.

These sort of things happen, and will continue going forward.

 

[wildeman]

He's gone Disco now so plastic is totally fine.