MW
Great Quality Guitar for the Price
After seeing the somewhat less that positive reviews I thought I should share my experience. I had a friend with a Gibson ES335 many years ago and would play it whenever we were jamming and loved the sound and the feel of it. .
This guitar comes very close to the sound of the Gibson ES 335 ( this is my opinion and not based on any detailed comparison).
I didi pay for the "set-up" that Thomann does (about 50 Euro) and it was well worth it. Guitar out of the box was perfect. The sound is great and for the price this has to be one of the best quality /price options out there. Having bought an Epiphone "inspired by Gibson " a couple years ago, this guitar is major step up for Epiphone.
This guitar comes very close to the sound of the Gibson ES 335 ( this is my opinion and not based on any detailed comparison).
I didi pay for the "set-up" that Thomann does (about 50 Euro) and it was well worth it. Guitar out of the box was perfect. The sound is great and for the price this has to be one of the best quality /price options out there. Having bought an Epiphone "inspired by Gibson " a couple years ago, this guitar is major step up for Epiphone.
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Amazing guitar, but factory QC is a lottery
The guitar is awesome, but only if you get a good example. The first one I received was terrible. The nut was misaligned, the fret ends were sticking out, and the neck binding was uneven, raised and damaged in places. The 21st fret was dead. There was no way to set it up properly without taking it to a tech for fret work. To be clear, this was not a shipping issue on Thomann’s side. It’s a QC problem at the factory.
I sent it back, and the replacement turned out to be a fantastic guitar with no issues at all. I set it up to my taste without any trouble. I’m not planning any upgrades or mods apart from installing strap locks.
Playability: the neck is great. The SlimTaper profile is very comfortable. It’s slimmer than the baseball-bat necks on 50s Gibsons, but it’s not an Ibanez either.
Sound: the pickups are absolutely killer. The guitar can be wild at times, and it really opens up with a tube amp at the edge of breakup. It handles quite a lot of distortion without going into squealing feedback. Fuzz is trickier. With a Big Muff it can start to squeal, but with a gate on the pedalboard or on the pedal itself (I have Sovtek Big Muff Deluxe) or by switching the pedal on and off it stays under control. You can also get great sustained notes and controlled feedback, which is really hard to get out of a Les Paul.
It sits well in a band mix. The guitar sounds quite open. The attack isn’t as strong and punchy as a Les Paul’s, but I wasn’t looking for a second Les Paul. I wanted a different instrument.
Comfort: it’s a big guitar, but that doesn’t bother me. I find it comfortable.
Looks: really beautiful. Everyone who has seen it was blown away, and the first reaction is always “wow”. The finish feels closer to satin, so the neck doesn’t get sticky. The overall finish quality is top-notch. It looks expensive and classy, but not in a “hang it on the wall and be afraid to touch it” way. It’s the kind of guitar you want to pick up and play all the time.
The case is perfectly fine: soft, well made, no glue sticking out anywhere, feels robust. I’d call it ideal, although I probably wouldn’t check it into the hold on a flight.
P.S. Big thanks to Thomann for their help and the hassle-free replacement. Great service as always!
I sent it back, and the replacement turned out to be a fantastic guitar with no issues at all. I set it up to my taste without any trouble. I’m not planning any upgrades or mods apart from installing strap locks.
Playability: the neck is great. The SlimTaper profile is very comfortable. It’s slimmer than the baseball-bat necks on 50s Gibsons, but it’s not an Ibanez either.
Sound: the pickups are absolutely killer. The guitar can be wild at times, and it really opens up with a tube amp at the edge of breakup. It handles quite a lot of distortion without going into squealing feedback. Fuzz is trickier. With a Big Muff it can start to squeal, but with a gate on the pedalboard or on the pedal itself (I have Sovtek Big Muff Deluxe) or by switching the pedal on and off it stays under control. You can also get great sustained notes and controlled feedback, which is really hard to get out of a Les Paul.
It sits well in a band mix. The guitar sounds quite open. The attack isn’t as strong and punchy as a Les Paul’s, but I wasn’t looking for a second Les Paul. I wanted a different instrument.
Comfort: it’s a big guitar, but that doesn’t bother me. I find it comfortable.
Looks: really beautiful. Everyone who has seen it was blown away, and the first reaction is always “wow”. The finish feels closer to satin, so the neck doesn’t get sticky. The overall finish quality is top-notch. It looks expensive and classy, but not in a “hang it on the wall and be afraid to touch it” way. It’s the kind of guitar you want to pick up and play all the time.
The case is perfectly fine: soft, well made, no glue sticking out anywhere, feels robust. I’d call it ideal, although I probably wouldn’t check it into the hold on a flight.
P.S. Big thanks to Thomann for their help and the hassle-free replacement. Great service as always!
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