Epiphone ES175 Reissue Electric Guitar

Feature:
No accessories. Just the guitar. I'll probably put some Gibson pickups on it at some later date. I'm happy with what's on there now. Some people complain about the tuners. I find no fault with them. By the way, this guitar is flawlessly beautiful. No mistakes anywhere.

Quality:
I dare anyone to compare their Gibson ES-175 with my Epi. I have read some reports of people who were very unhappy with the Gibson 175's built in recent years. Evidently the old ones made in the 50's were fantastic. The only real advantage of the Gibson over the Epiphone now would most likely be the pickups.

Value:
It is definitly worth the price.

Desirability:
Actually, I own it. I have seven guitars including a Les Paul, which is a beautiful guitar, however, the one that stands out and really grab my eye is the ES-175. I love the retro cutaway design, with the sharp edge. Most guitars have the cutaway smoothed out to a gentle curve. I really like the sunburst design--and everything else about the way it was designed and built. It really is a work of art.

Sound:
This guitar has a great mellow sound for jazz, but if you want a little "twang" for country, just turn the tone control up a few notches and you'll get all the twang you want. I don't know much about the new sounds of today's rock, a solid body guitar is probably better for that. Oh yes, no feedback---quite unusual for a real hollow body guitar.

Ease of Use:
It arrived with a broken E (1st) string. I put another whole set of strings on it, lowered the bridge a little, set the intonation and started playing. It plays really easy. I can go for hours with any strained or hurting fingers. I'm playing it through a small Ibanez Bass amp---sounds great. I also use a rather large 40 year old Acoustic amp---all kinds of equalization stuff on it which gives ita big enough sound to provide accompaniment for congregational singing at my church.

Support:
I had to pick some number here. I actually have never contacted the company. If I have any problems, or when the frets wear down, I'll contact a local luthier.

Overall:
This will be the last guitar I will ever buy. If it gets broken or damaged beyond repair, then I will buy a replacement. When I want to play smooth jazz, this is my instrument. I have the Les Paul and my other guitars to do other things, but I find myself using them less and less. As I said before, as things wear out on it, such as frets or tuners I'll have a luthier take care of it. I will also probably in the future put some genuine Gibson 50's style pickups on it.

Feature:
Great tone controls and tuners for the price. Very close to Gibson.

Quality:
Much, much better than I ever expected. Feels great. "On The Road"- be careful, somebody will steal the Epiphone E on the pickguard or the guitar all together.

Value:
Gibson ES-175 is $3199. Epiphone ES-175 is $499 Both are quite similar.

Desirability:
This guitar is so "sexy", I took my strap and shortened it and now I can play with my lower arm coming from the bottom of the guitar (where the strap is attached) and horizontal to the strings. With my strats, I have a hard time doing this.

Sound:
This guitar sounds amazing. I bought this guitar thinking it would be a piece of junk for $499. On the contrary. This guitar, direct from the distributor, was a shocker. It is so beautiful and it plays well. I did some research and found out that Gibson's contract for the ES-175 was an American made product. The Epiphone is not made in the USA. The guitar was produced to standard in Indonesia and set-up in the USA. Obviously, Gibson could not produce this in the USA or it would be twice the price. A little more research revealed that Indonesia has decent work conditions and the Indonesians are well known for quality workmanship. I would never have bought this guitar if I found out that it was produced in China. Let's face it, China could care less about what they ship to our country.

Ease of Use:
After adjusting from a Strat to the larger finger board, I was able to play some of my favorite music in a whole new tone and style.

Overall:
All I can say is buy it for $499. Wait until you see how well you did...