Epiphone Negative Series

Re: Epiphone Negative Series

haha I saw that in the L&M catalogue too, they look like pretty sweet axes though, and WHOA a not so stupid idea from Gibson? I'm SHOCKED!
 
Re: Epiphone Negative Series

Markk said:
This seems like a ploy to just throw something out there. As if they had nothing better to do and at the bottom of the barrel they had this 'negative' idea and said, "whatever, let's give them this."
Click to expand...

If Epiphone's try to evoke Negative emotions with their negative series, they've succeeded.

Personally I think it's a neat idea but I don't find Gibson's body shapes attractive so they lose me there.
 
Re: Epiphone Negative Series

The headstock is a point... it is usually pretty dark, wouldn't it come of as greyish/white in a negative?

*waits for someone to edit one of their gibbo's and post the pic*
 
Re: Epiphone Negative Series

Not bad IMO, it'd be nice if they offered the SG's and LP's with the choice of dots or inlays. For some reason I've always liked the look and feel of Fender's with a rosewood board, so hell why not a Epiphone with a maple?? As long as they also keep it to the Epi line also, let Epi experiement with stuff like this and keep Gibson for the most part stable without very radicle changes like these..
 
Last edited:
Re: Epiphone Negative Series

^ I see what ya mean. Let the son do what the father thinks isn't safe for him.

Being a Fender man, I'd be tempted to get one, maybe the SG bass. BUt I'd scrape off the black paint on the headstock and make it all maple. And maybe a brown/orange sunburst...
 
Re: Epiphone Negative Series

kevin134 said:
Not bad IMO, it'd be nice if they offered the SG's and LP's with the choice of dots or inlays. For some reason I've always liked the look and feel of Fender's with a rosewood board, so hell why not a Epiphone with a maple?? As long as they also kep it to the Epi lie also, let Epi experiement with stuff like this and keep Gibson for the most part stable without very radicle changes like these..
Click to expand...

+1. Epi should have introduced these years ago. I'm not a maple fretboard fan myself, but many players are, and this gives them more options. I think this is a great idea. If you're a mahogany/rosewood guy, like me, then there's no shortage of traditional models to choose from. This doesn't take away from them. And if you don't like Gibson designs, then you're way out in the weeds. Strange boy.
 
Re: Epiphone Negative Series

apj said:
I thought those maple boarded RDs in the 70s looked pretty sweet. Are they also maple bodied or just the fretboard?
Click to expand...

Funkfingers said:
All maple. Even heavier than a Norlin-era Les Paul.
Click to expand...

apj said:
When I checked out the gibson maple studios, I really didn't find them a ton heavier compared to a full weight (non chambered) les paul.
Click to expand...

The original Gibson RD guitars to which apj and I refer looked like a cross between a Firebird and an Explorer with a regular "spade" headstock. I do not know where Gibson/Norlin sourced its Maple but it was very dense, making the guitars of the period unusually heavy.

During the same era, CBS/Fender managed to buy in some of the heaviest Light Ash known to mankind.

Of late, Gibson has been re-issuing several of its Seventies designs, including the RD - albeit with a revised scale length. They may have tried mahogany this time. I have not had a chance to examine one. So far!
 
Re: Epiphone Negative Series

Funkfingers said:
During the same era, CBS/Fender managed to buy in some of the heaviest Light Ash known to mankind.
Click to expand...

astrozombie said:
made me giggle. :)
Click to expand...

Thank you. That was "light" in the sense of colour. (The English name for the same wood is White Ash.)

Back in the Seventies, there was a craze for building guitars of high mass in an attempt to increase mechanical sustain. Millionaire guitarists were commissioning custom-built, luxury instruments, built from exotic timbers, sporting brass hardware and bristling with controls.

It is possible that, in the mid Seventies, Gibson and Fender were jumping onto that "high mass" bandwagon. It is also possible that the overweight timber came dirt cheap. Hmm. I wonder which of those alternatives is the more likely? ;)
 
Last edited:
Re: Epiphone Negative Series

Diocletian said:
I like V and Explorers although there's something "toy-like" about all of them.
Click to expand...

It could be the way they're being presented. All on one page and like that really do make them seem like mass produced cheap toys.
 
Re: Epiphone Negative Series

The SG and LP are interresting...I have always wanted a maple-boarded SG. Are these really one-piece maple necks tho? Something tells me they are mahogany with maple boards.

Either that, or they just made a surplus of Zakk Wylde necks and decided to use them. That would also explain why the explorer and V cost so much more, since the neck design is unique.

If these things have decent pickups in them, they might sell. At least the Prophecy Line, as wretched as it was, had nice pickups.
 
Re: Epiphone Negative Series

I think the "negative" guitars look cool. I wouldn't buy an Epi only because I'm discriminating enough to feel the Korea all over it, but it's a cool idea and pretty sharp-looking.
 
Re: Epiphone Negative Series

G-words with maple fretboards look like Miatas with truck tires to me.

Miatas are cool and truck tires are cool, but together --- NUH-UH!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top