drew_half_empty
Looking for Real Life
MY friend just got one of these a couple weeks ago, and since we're roommates now, well, I've been playin it quite a bit and let me tell you this thing is awesome. I thought I would hate the thin neck, which is why I never pulled the trigger on one (you can't find any Hagstrom in town), and it is thin, but just the way it's shaped makes it really comfortable, I can hit every note on the neck all day and not get cramps. The finish is poly I think but all my favorite guitars I've owned have/had poly finishes so whatever, and it looks pretty flawless. At certain angles you can see the wood grain under the tobacco burst and it looks fantastic.
The pickups are pretty alright, sort of PAF-ish, maybe a little more mid-range honk than your standard '59. If I owned one I'd probably swap them out eventually but I wouldn't be in a hurry, they sound good enough. The neck does jazz and blues rock all day, very distinct but still classic tone. You can also get some chime out of it if you have a particularly chimey amp (got it on a fender dual showman reverb and an ac30cc, but not on the old Orange). Bridge is kinda the same way, PAF with a little more honk, which I dig cause it's almost like a hint of p90 or strat bridge along with the normal PAF sound.
The fretboard IMO is the real shining feature of this guitar though, it makes 10's feel like 9's. I'm not sure what all's in the composite, and it doesn't QUITE feel like ebony, but it's definitely as smooth or smoother than maple. Vibrato just feels good on this guitar, and you can bend any string halfway across the fretboard with, well, quite frankly less effort than it takes on any of my guitars.
From what I understand everything on this guitar was made in-house, including tuners, which look pretty cool IMO. It seems to stay in tune pretty well, the bridge looks solid and the pots feel good so far.
Honestly I'm kind of perplexed as to how they're selling these guitars for this cheap, I mean it's probably not gonna prompt anyone to sell their Gibson 335, but if I had an epiphone of any sort it'd be out the door to fund a Viking-- I've yet to play any 335 copy that plays as well or resonates as much as this thing.
If you dig 335's you owe it to yourself to check em out.
The pickups are pretty alright, sort of PAF-ish, maybe a little more mid-range honk than your standard '59. If I owned one I'd probably swap them out eventually but I wouldn't be in a hurry, they sound good enough. The neck does jazz and blues rock all day, very distinct but still classic tone. You can also get some chime out of it if you have a particularly chimey amp (got it on a fender dual showman reverb and an ac30cc, but not on the old Orange). Bridge is kinda the same way, PAF with a little more honk, which I dig cause it's almost like a hint of p90 or strat bridge along with the normal PAF sound.
The fretboard IMO is the real shining feature of this guitar though, it makes 10's feel like 9's. I'm not sure what all's in the composite, and it doesn't QUITE feel like ebony, but it's definitely as smooth or smoother than maple. Vibrato just feels good on this guitar, and you can bend any string halfway across the fretboard with, well, quite frankly less effort than it takes on any of my guitars.
From what I understand everything on this guitar was made in-house, including tuners, which look pretty cool IMO. It seems to stay in tune pretty well, the bridge looks solid and the pots feel good so far.
Honestly I'm kind of perplexed as to how they're selling these guitars for this cheap, I mean it's probably not gonna prompt anyone to sell their Gibson 335, but if I had an epiphone of any sort it'd be out the door to fund a Viking-- I've yet to play any 335 copy that plays as well or resonates as much as this thing.
If you dig 335's you owe it to yourself to check em out.
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