Just took receipt of this stunning peerless epiphone sheraton on Friday. This is such a wonderful guitar, right up there with my elitists: the woods are beautiful, the finish is super thin, and it sounds and plays great. This makes my 5th Sheraton that I’ve owned: 2 Japanese/American, 2 Korean and 1 MIC. In fact, this guitar is so good I’ve decided to sell my Gibson 335 and keep this one instead. Which brings me to my second point - why can’t Epiphone pull off this level of guitar today? Don’t get me wrong, the new MIC epis are great: the workmanship in the Quingdao factory is on par with the best, but the wood choices (laurel and veneers on $1000+ guitars) and thick finishes still leave something to be desired. If Epiphone wanted to, I think they could make a guitar that goes toe to toe with any Gibson, but it seems like Gibson want to keep that arbitrary distinction between the lines (sure you can have custombuckers in your IBGC, but you’re gonna have to pay Gibson prices if you want rosewood and a nitro finish). Having seen the greatness they are capable of in the past (e.g. elitists), and wowed by the quality of these new MIC epis, I wish they’d allow epiphone to do a no holds barred high end series (what the IBGC should have been), premium woods and craftsmanship with meaningful distinctions above the IBG series (not just upgraded electronics). Really give Gibson a run for their money, and make them sweat a little (like fender Japan did to fender USA in the 80s). Until then, I’m just happy that I was able to find this beauty given the rarity of the peerless Sheratons - this thing sets a standard for what Epiphone should (and could) be.
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