Epiphone korina explorer and flying V

[eclecticsynergy]

Very happy about a '58 profile neck (if they are actually the fat & chunky), also pleasantly surprised they have long tenons.
Good for you, Epi. I think the only other long tenon Epi was the Amos - wish I'd bought one of those for $900, with the trapezoid case...
Also glad the necks are korina as well; AFAIK most Epi korinas actually used mahog for the necks.

Disappointed that they're veneered, if they indeed are. Waiting for actual confirmation from someone who's seen one in person.
Even more disappointed about the "aged natural" tinted finish, as Epi used on its other korinas.
To me, natural korina should be yellow; even the 65-year-old originals aren't that brown.
I imagine management insisted on the tint, to make sure of an obvious-at-first-glance difference from the korina Gibsons.

EDIT: Actually, the pics at Sweetwater don't look as brownish; maybe it's just the lighting on the Epi site.
Again, looking forward to confirmation from somebody who's compared them in person..

I think I'd be okay with Indian laurel; I have a couple of pau ferro boards that play well, though they feel hard and sound a bit bright.
Burstbucker 2 & 3 are good by me too, as long as they're potted. I'd rather have the Amos' A6 pickups, of course.
Nice that they include a hard case, too. Then again, at $1300 they should.

 

[Rex_Rocker]

Wow, those PRSs look great!

Thank you! The red one was pretty, but it had a thing where for some reason, every pickup I tried in it sounded slightly weak and thin. Not too bad, but definitely not my best-sounding guitar. Plus I ended up selling it because the neck profile just wasn't my thing. It was the Wide Fat, which was OK, but it was the 10" fretboard that I never bonded with. The stock TonePros bridge was also slightly finicky to adjust because I never got the tool with the guitar, for some reason.

The Korina one, I just kinda rushed into buying it because I found a good deal on it. But that one sounded even thinner. It had the same neck profile, but with standard small-ish frets rather than jumbos like the Nick Catanese. Believe it or not, I actually liked the less adjustable bridge in that one better, but the downside is I couldn't use my preferred set of strings with it, because I like a wound 3rd, and that just wouldn't intonate right in that bridge with preset intonation. Also, it looks better on the pic, because I took car of snapping the pic in the right angle, but the seam lines on the multipiece body looked pretty bad in person, TBH.

To be completely honest, I've only really owned a single PRS SE that I actually bonded with. And I've had like 5. That one had some serious QC issues as well, but it was so pretty, and the neck profile was so good (it had the wide thin neck profile with a fb radius that was doubtlessly flatter than 10"), that I just got a tech to fix it. I had to sell that one to buy another guitar. I don't regret doing that, because the next guitar that I got ended up being one of the best I've had, but I do miss it. It was a Paul Allender, and out of the PRS SE's I've owned, it was the only one that didn't have an underwhelming top, LOL.

Very happy about a '58 profile neck (if they are actually the fat & chunky), also pleasantly surprised they have long tenons.
Good for you, Epi. I think the only other long tenon Epi was the Amos - wish I'd bought one of those for $900, with the trapezoid case...
Also glad the necks are korina as well; AFAIK most Epi korinas actually used mahog for the necks.

My Epi 1959 also has the long neck tenon! Pretty sure a few of them have it now. Every Bonamassa sig has had it.

 

[ThreeChordWonder]

I bought one from zzounds.com in July last year. $599 and 12 months interest free.

I changed all the "gold" hardware to chrome because I don't like fake "gold" and fitted a set of SD Saturday Night Specials. I also fitted a set of Graphtech Ratio locking tuners I had lying about, which were a straight swap for the originals.

Thats my 2015 Gibson SG on the left, my 2020 Player Strat on the right.

 

[ThreeChordWonder]

I can see the veneer seam on the edge of the body. Same old sh*t.
$900 bucks for a "indian laurel" FB, no thanks.
PRS has super nice Rosewood slabs on all their SE models. Why Gibson insists on cutting corners is pathetic.
Ever since Mark Agnostic took over that company has gone to the dogs.
Beware the bling cuz its just bling.

The Epi V I bought is solid Korina, or so they say. Probably two, three blocks underneath and with a veneer to and back, yes.

The way to tell is to look "inside the V" - the cut-out.

But then, i only paid $600 for mine. The Gibson version is TEN GRAND. So I didn't expect a Mercedes for Kia money.

 

[ThreeChordWonder]

PS I saw the Andertons vid the other day. Theirs had a case. I thought "Hey! All I got was a cardboard box!"

Then I saw the prices. $1299. I paid $599 for mine... $900 to $1000 including the upgraded pickups, etc. I can buy a nice case for $300, let alone $700...

 

[eclecticsynergy]

Saw edge-on pics posted to on another board: these appear not to be veneered like regular Epi korinas.
This is a very good thing in my book.

Also the neck is a fairly thick C shape, according to someone who owns both this version and the Amos.
Chunkier than the Amos' D shape, which was already noticeably fatter than standard Epi necks.
These are described as not quite full '58 baseball bat, but in the neighborhood of 59 specs.

They're starting to look like a better deal to me than they seemed at first.

 

[JMP/HBE]

The Epi V I bought is solid Korina, or so they say. Probably two, three blocks underneath and with a veneer to and back, yes.

The way to tell is to look "inside the V" - the cut-out.

But then, i only paid $600 for mine. The Gibson version is TEN GRAND. So I didn't expect a Mercedes for Kia money.

My local Vintage guy sold an original 50's Korina V [forget the year] that had ties to a famous Blues player. He had the guitar a long time and sold it to someone in Japan.
The guitar sat in Customs for about 3 weeks while my friend sat with his butt clenched tight as a frogs behind underwater.
When the guitar finally cleared Customs and made it to Japan Reverb deposited around $300K in my friends bank account.
Not too shabby.

 

[Rex_Rocker]

The Epi V I bought is solid Korina, or so they say. Probably two, three blocks underneath and with a veneer to and back, yes.

The way to tell is to look "inside the V" - the cut-out.

But then, i only paid $600 for mine. The Gibson version is TEN GRAND. So I didn't expect a Mercedes for Kia money.

The thing is yours is not the Gibson CS collab one. Yours is the previous model.

Which is not bad by any means, but these are new and a little different.

 

[ThreeChordWonder]

The thing is yours is not the Gibson CS collab one. Yours is the previous model.

Which is not bad by any means, but these are new and a little different.

I hope the extra $700 is reflected in the guitar,not just the case.

 

[ThreeChordWonder]

My local Vintage guy sold an original 50's Korina V [forget the year] that had ties to a famous Blues player. He had the guitar a long time and sold it to someone in Japan.
The guitar sat in Customs for about 3 weeks while my friend sat with his butt clenched tight as a frogs behind underwater.
When the guitar finally cleared Customs and made it to Japan Reverb deposited around $300K in my friends bank account.
Not too shabby.

I presume that was an original 58. Those things are rarer than rocking horse manure.

 

[ThreeChordWonder]

Of course, you could just buy a Chinese knockoff on fleabay, junk everything except the pre-painted mahogany and mahogany / rosewood neck, and start over.

 

[Mincer]

I bought one from zzounds.com in July last year. $599 and 12 months interest free.

I changed all the "gold" hardware to chrome because I don't like fake "gold" and fitted a set of SD Saturday Night Specials. I also fitted a set of Graphtech Ratio locking tuners I had lying about, which were a straight swap for the originals.

Thats my 2015 Gibson SG on the left, my 2020 Player Strat on the right.

I like that much better than the gold. I know gold is more traditional, but I never cared much for that look.

 

[ThreeChordWonder]

I like that much better than the gold. I know gold is more traditional, but I never cared much for that look.

Me either. Sometimes it's plating, but more often than not it's much cheaper to apply lacquer with can and will mark or rub away.

 

[Aceman]

The Epi's are Korina veneer not solid.

Please be sure to include a verb in all sentences.

I'm pretty sure we all know the Epiphone Korina is a color, not a wood. At least you should, based on the price.

 

[Aceman]

I don't know enough about Indian laurel to make a call on how suitable it is for fretboards. There are a lot of woods that would probably be fine. I am not stuck on any one thing.

For everyone who complains about this or that fretboard material, I bet most can't tell the difference without the spec sheet.

I remember playing a Richlite Les Paul. It was freaking excellent.

 

[Aceman]

At the end of the day, the bottom line is, as it always was: If it feels good and sounds good it is good.

It doesn't matter what it is or isn't made of, who wound the pickups, if the gold is 24k, 14k, or genuine electroplate.

Musicians need to shop with their ears and hands - not their eyes. And, if you can solder and play, most what makes it sound not-good is easily fixable for ~$100 and a 60 minutes of your time.

 

[Mincer]

For everyone who complains about this or that fretboard material, I bet most can't tell the difference without the spec sheet.

I remember playing a Richlite Les Paul. It was freaking excellent.

I've used several Richlite boards, and they are not only fantastic to play on, they look great, too.

 

[Aceman]

I've used several Richlite boards, and they are not only fantastic to play on, they look great, too.

This was on a Les Paul Custom though, so as good as it was...I expect the real deal Ebony, especially for the price.

 

[ThreeChordWonder]

Please be sure to include a verb in all sentences.

I'm pretty sure we all know the Epiphone Korina is a color, not a wood. At least you should, based on the price.

Although some of the previous ones were only Korina veneer, I was told the later ones, like the 2021/2 one I bought, are solid Korina throughout, all be it three pieces of Korina glued together with one sheet Korina veneers on the front and back.

Regular Gibsons are often two or three piece bodies under the paint, I have been told, and like I said, I don't expect a Mercedes for Kia money.

 

[JMP/HBE]

Please be sure to include a verb in all sentences.

I'm pretty sure we all know the Epiphone Korina is a color, not a wood. At least you should, based on the price.

https://www.cookwoods.com/collections/korina

"Take the beam out of your own eye before you remove the splinter from mine".

I'll be glad to tell you where you can stick your verbs.