Epiphone: The Master Faker?

When you buy a guitar, you buy either the real thing or a clone. Fender and Gibson have made, and defined the real thing. Squire and Epiphone make the official fakes. Countless brands, from big brands such as Yamaha to small, hardly known startups such as Aria and Quest have made the unofficial clones, to various qualities. But where most of these clones are aimed at beginners (and priced accordingly), Epiphone aim themselves at the experienced Guitarist, who isn’t necessarily a Lawyer or Doctor. As a clone, they sit more expensive then almost any other cloned brand. There are many real Fenders that you could buy cheaper then the average Epiphone.

If there is one phrase that can define Epiphone as a brand, it’s Affordable Quality.

An Epiphone is, for almost every intensive purpose, a Gibson. They use the same Pickups as their Gibson counterparts, pretty much the same electronics with the primary difference being the woods used and small details (and of course the Epiphone label on the top). As such, Epiphone Gibson copies are now used by many successful artists such as KISS’s Ace Frehley and Paul McCartney who have grown to love the brand (or guitar). It is not simply a poor mans Gibson!

Epiphone produce clones of most successful Gibson guitars, however their arch-top guitars are considered especially good. They were a brand before they were bought out by Gibson post world war two. As such, they have some of their own models as well, and continue to design some of their own models and artist signature models. Arch-tops of there own include the Sheraton and Casino, some early models which are considered better then the Gibson’s of the same era (but perhaps not as well known). They also successfully cloned the ES3xx with their Dot and Dot Studio. Sharing the names, they have made highly successful clones of the Les Paul, The Explorer and SG series (among other designs).

An Epiphone I find particularly notable (although not their best known model) is their Lucille clone, based on BB Kings famous Guitar(s?), as well as conversation with the King of Blues himself about enhancements that he would like to see in his guitar. It is shaped like an ES300, but without the F holes. The internal body acoustics though remain, which contributes to its rich and warm tone, and the removal of the F holes helps eliminate some of the feedback problems of the ES300 series. It has more opportunities for tone control then almost any off the shelf guitar, containing both the standard 3 way Pickup selector and the special Veri-Tone control, as well as individual tone and volume knobs for each pickup. This allows it to be able to make sounds that resemble a single coil as well as the rich jazz tones that so many musicians crave. Another particularly special feature are the Stereo jacks. You can still (for obvious reasons) still play with a single channel, which mixes the sound of pickups (like most electric guitars), but you can also access separate channels for each pickup. Recording, or live, this opens up many exciting opportunities for tone controls. Did I forget to mention it looks absolutely breathtaking?

An Epiphone is opportunity to have an almost Gibson guitar, at the price of a Mexican Stratocaster. The Epiphones are an excellent Guitar at excellent value, and as such are a guitar, which are made for the normal guitarist: These are player’s guitars. They weren’t designed to simply hang on a wall and occasionally be played but instead will take the punishment of the gig circuit and cry for more. If you can’t afford a real Gibson, but want the same tone, try the master faker. Perhaps an Epi might be right up your alley.