What did you do to your Epiphone today?

[Darkness]

I have a new teammate at work. I've been training her for a few weeks and she was telling me about her teenage daughter. I mentioned I get worried about the kids and their addiction to social media, they need real life hobbies. She told me her daughter plays a few instruments... including guitar. Hmm...

I told her I play a bit too. She said her daughter hasn't been able to play for a few months because a string is broken and the guitar is out of tune. She took it to GC and after a mi th of waiting for a string change, she took it back and canceled. I told her bring it to me, I'll take care of it.

Picture reveal at 5pm post! It is an Epi!

 

[Spankdaddy]

Today I changed out the pro classics for the ProBuckers 2/3 combo. Although I liked the bare zebra look before I like this look better and it sounds great also!!

 

[Darkness]

Well, after getting home and walking the dogs, I pulled the guitar from my car and went upstairs. I didn't really examine it when she handed it to me, and now that it is out of the case, I think...


Looks like an Ebony Custom. Serial number indicates Samick from the year 2000, so maybe some things were different on that model, but by customs I have seen and played, it seems irregular at least.


First thing I noticed was the fretboard is not ebony. It doesn't look to be rosewood either, it looks just like the laurel on my Trad Pro. Excuse the filth, I will clean it up. Also note, the binding on the body is not as many ply as my Koa or Blackback. On this guitar the count matches the headstock.


I then naturally looked at the headstock. It is quite small and skinny, and the script is very skinny. The diamond is very small compared to my two customs. Maybe that is an older design, I can't be sure as I'm only familiar with recent MIC models. Also immediately apparent is the Grover tuners are all aimed in a chevron pattern, I've never seen that.



It is dirty, it needs strings badly, but to be fair to it I noticed the setup is pretty nicely done. Whoever owned it before seems to have enjoyed it, maybe it plays well, I'll find out once I clean it up and string it.

Those pickups I don't know anything about, other than a lot of EMG are active. This one has a battery in the control cavity and the bottom was swollen, so I went ahead and replaced it. It has some weird mini pots and little green caps. I didn't identify any of those parts, they're alien to me, but again I'm a noob.


Aside from all that, all hardware is gold except the bottom strap button, which looks to have been replaced. Top strap button is MIA, as is the pick guard. Take a look, let me know what you guys think. I'm going to proceed with the cleanup as promised.

 

[Equalphone]

I have a new teammate at work. I've been training her for a few weeks and she was telling me about her teenage daughter. I mentioned I get worried about the kids and their addiction to social media, they need real life hobbies. She told me her daughter plays a few instruments... including guitar. Hmm...

I told her I play a bit too. She said her daughter hasn't been able to play for a few months because a string is broken and the guitar is out of tune. She took it to GC and after a mi th of waiting for a string change, she took it back and canceled. I told her bring it to me, I'll take care of it.

Picture reveal at 5pm post! It is an Epi!

Maybe you can give it back to her with a free tuner?

 

[BGood]

It's in those years that templates were stolen to make fakes. Fortunately, those templates were kind of funky, thus making fakes easier to spot. Thus the weird tuner pattern, the small diamond, the wonky knobs position/pattern.

It is legit though.

 

[Darkness]

Maybe you can give it back to her with a free tuner?

If I had a spare tuner I'd give it to her. So far I've wiped down the body, lots of dusty grimey scum came off. I gave the frets a once over with an eraser, the difference is night and day. Now I'm eating, but soon I'm going to hit the bridge with my brothers toothbrush and string it up.


Tail looks generic


Hey is that my avatar?

 

[Darkness]

It is legit though.

Think so? This might be one of the "better" Korean builds then?

Little details seem wrong to me, like as I was removing the strings I thought the headstock was also on the thin side(front to back). Also the back feels slightly concave, but when I look in the light it doesn't look dished at all. I noticed the paint on top is thin enough to spot at least a 3 piece body. I don't have hands on experience with Epiphones that are old enough to drink.

 

[Darkness]

This thing cleaned up very nice. Going to stretch the strings a bit and tune again, then check intonation (which seems okay from a glance). Tuners were all loose, so those got snugged up too. Last detail is I need to align the knobs. The bridge set seem to be 180* out. This may or may not go back to her tomorrow, depends how much I like playing it.

 

[BGood]

GOOD job !

To perfectly align the tuners, put a ruler, or a pencil ... or a Popsicle stick ... horizontally on the top side.

 

[Darkness]

@BGood thanks. It turns out the customs with rosewood do seem to exist, and after cleaning the filth and giving a little oil rub the fretboard revealed itself. It plays beautifully, although I don't like the active pickups much. Fret work is wonderful and clean ringing happens across the whole board. I kinda want the guitar now hahaha. It is going back to the owner tomorrow.

 

[soulman969]

This thing cleaned up very nice. Going to stretch the strings a bit and tune again, then check intonation (which seems okay from a glance). Tuners were all loose, so those got snugged up too. Last detail is I need to align the knobs. The bridge set seem to be 180* out. This may or may not go back to her tomorrow, depends how much I like playing it.

View attachment 24916


View attachment 24917

She cleans up nicely and the fretboard now looks far more like rosewood. Given it's age and being from a pre-MIC era I would expect some differences that make comparing it to new production to be more difficult. It doesn't appear to be a fake though.

 

[otisblove]

I wanted to re-record a solo on a song I’m mixing and grabbed my SG. Didn’t like what I was hearing so I recorded it on a different guitar. No shame there. Different horses for different courses.

 

[Equalphone]

If I had a spare tuner I'd give it to her. So far I've wiped down the body, lots of dusty grimey scum came off. I gave the frets a once over with an eraser, the difference is night and day. Now I'm eating, but soon I'm going to hit the bridge with my brothers toothbrush and string it up.
View attachment 24913

Tail looks generic
View attachment 24914

Hey is that my avatar?
View attachment 24915

Show her how to use the Fender tuning app on her phone. Free and easy.

 

[Darkness]

Show her how to use the Fender tuning app on her phone. Free and easy.

Yeah I recommended that. I have it on my phone for when I check guitar shops.

 

[Maguchi]

Played the heck out of it. Turned up the volume knob to get some grind. Then did some volume swells with the right hand pinky and some tone knob swells on long sustained notes while doing whole step slides on the fretboard with my left hand.

 

[Charles Carter]

I put mine down and played a K.Yairi for a change.
Seeing if I could remember a couple of classical pieces I hadn't played for months.
Not a bad effort as it turns out. A couple of prompts required on the less played piece.

 

[Pierce103]

Had an old B7 with the vibramate laying around and threw it on my Greeny.

 

[BGood]

Had an old B7 with the vibramate laying around and threw it on my Greeny.

View attachment 24952

It's then not a Greeny anymore ?

 

[SEMiller]

SG fret level, crown, polish and setup, done by JMB Guitars, Kings Park, NY

 

[Equalphone]

It's then not a Greeny anymore ?

It’s a Breeny!