Pros and cons- Alex Lifeson Epi

[zionstrat]

Talk to me about frets.. scratchy on the end or not leveled or what?

[Seashore]

Talk to me about frets.. scratchy on the end or not leveled or what?

On that Matt Heafy LP it was both. Not horrible or unplayable or anything, just not great. I had a guy level and smooth them and it's nicer now. Frets on my Schecters both came in much nicer shape.

Pickup changes are also a pain in the butt because of how long and narrow the hole is between the pickup routs and the control cavity. Might not be a problem with the Lifeson.

[Rex_Rocker]

I've had two newer Epis, so my sample size isn't enormous. But I do keep reading and hearing the same issue with the frets on Epis with online reviews and whatnot.

The most common issue is people find they're scratchy. No biggie, polish them and that's it.

The second most common issue is they're uneven and they need a fret leveling and recrowning and whatnot. Not THAT big of an issue, but I do find it pretty annoying to have to spend whatever the shop wants to charge you for a fret leveling on a brand new guitar. Both of mine were like this, sadly.

The worst issue I had with one of mine was that the frets were not properly seated, and there were some gaps on the edge of the fretboard and the frets where the strings would sometimes get caught.

Also, the fret material is not amazing either. I play my Gibson a lot more than I do my Epi, and it looks like the strings are impressing more on the Epi. But that's pretty common most mid to lower-end guitars, I think. And I do play very hard, so that's to be expected.

[Rex_Rocker]

My other big gripe with Epis is their Lock Tone bridge is trash. The saddles rattle and buzz like crazy andi their plating is super flimsy, especially the gold. Luckily, the Lifeson doesn't suffer from that issue.

[ehdwuld]

The Gibson version has a piezo doesn't it?

[zionstrat]

I believe it does and it's definitely something I would look into retrofitting... Trying to remember can you put ghosts in a Floyd?

[ehdwuld]

i looked at the link above
and it wasn't listed as piezo