If Epiphones were Gibsons...

Re: If Epiphones were Gibsons...

AlexR said:
I'd like for Epiphone to say what their woods really are rather than 'mahogany body' when its a 1mm veneer over poplar.
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the routing on my epiphone looks like it was done freehand in a jungle clearing, its all covered by the cover plates and stuff, barely, but jeez how cheap are you when you don't even have a template to route the thing with?
 
Re: If Epiphones were Gibsons...

The headstock and name doesn't really matter to me. For the price range, I'd take an Epi LPC over a Gibson LP Studio
 
Re: If Epiphones were Gibsons...

To tell you the truth, I don't really care what name is on the headstock as long as it plays good, sounds good, and is good quality craftsmanship and finish.

I've had some very excellent Gibsons in my day, and I've had some so-so ones, and I've had some downright crappy Gibsons that I returned as soon as I got them. A total of 12 Gibsons: 6 were excellent, 4 were so-so, and 2 were very bad. 5 were returned.

I've had some very excellent Epis, and some so-so ones, but I've never had an Epi as crappy as the crappy Gibsons I've had. A total of 7 Epis: 6 excellent, 1 so-so (but fixable to make it very good), and I've not had to return any of them (yes, I've at least replaced pups on all of them except for 1 which came with Gibson Dirty Fingers pups).
 
Re: If Epiphones were Gibsons...

I don't really care either way. I've been looking at Epiphone headstocks for years; I've had time to get used to them. If Gibson wants to keep a separate name brand and a separate headstock -- for marketing, to deter counterfeiting, or whatever -- it doesn't bother me. I think they want the Gibson name to mean certain things, while the Epiphone name means other things. I don't see anything wrong with that.

If wishes were horses…
If the river were whiskey…
If wooden rulers were bacon strips…
 
Re: If Epiphones were Gibsons...

I don't know that I hate the Epi headstock as much as I hate it on a Les Paul or SG body. On the dots, Casino, Sheraton etc, it doesn't bother me because I'm used to it. Anything but a Gibson headstock on a LP or SG doesn't look right to me. Wouldn't, and hasn't stopped me from buying a kick-butt Epi, but I would prefer the Gibby headstock with the Epiphone logo on the LP and SG bods. Case in point, I just bought an Epi Genesis and the headstock doesn't bother me a bit because when that guitar came out, it was an Epiphone design and the headstock came with the design.
 
Re: If Epiphones were Gibsons...

I really like epiphone. Their bottom of the line stuff isn't worth much. But for $400-600, I think you get a better value. I do my own setups and pup changes like most all of the guys here and even if it is a Gibson, I'm gonna want to change stuff. So I have a hard time spending $1500 on a guitar that I will still set up to my liking and change the pups on. I can spend $500 on a good epi, swap the pups, give it a good setup and it would compare to most gibsons.

That being said, I own both. I got a great deal on the Gibson. I did a set up and have changed the pickups. There are definite differences, mostly in hardware quality and I will say the Gibson was way easier to set up than the epi. But for the money I like the epis.

To get back to the original question, i don't guess it would make much difference to me but I wouldn't want to see epi with a Gibson price tag.

On a side note, I don't understand the hatred of the epi headstock.
 
Re: If Epiphones were Gibsons...

A friend of mine bought what he thought was a Gibson J-45 acoustic at a bargain price. After showing it to me, I pointed out that it was an Epiphone with the end of the headstock cut and shaped like a Gibson, with a Gibson headstock veneer applied to it.

The funny thing was.....it sounded and played good enough to pass the test, so he wasn't too bummed out that he bought a fake.

There's no doubt Epiphones would sell much better if the headstock was shaped just like a Gibson. That's why Gibson doesn't do it. Too bad they didn't at least shorten the Epi headstock decades ago. It's too late to change it now. I've had trouble getting Epiphones into cases and gig bags because of the added length.
 
Re: If Epiphones were Gibsons...

Gearjoneser said:
A friend of mine bought what he thought was a Gibson J-45 acoustic at a bargain price. After showing it to me, I pointed out that it was an Epiphone with the end of the headstock cut and shaped like a Gibson, with a Gibson headstock veneer applied to it.

The funny thing was.....it sounded and played good enough to pass the test, so he wasn't too bummed out that he bought a fake.

There's no doubt Epiphones would sell much better if the headstock was shaped just like a Gibson. That's why Gibson doesn't do it. Too bad they didn't at least shorten the Epi headstock decades ago. It's too late to change it now. I've had trouble getting Epiphones into cases and gig bags because of the added length.
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For acoustics, the "Masterbuilt" versions have the old, smaller New York-type headstock. The "Anniversary" electrics seem to have the same smaller New York-type headstock. Not sure if it's enough to solve the case issue. (Don't have one. Have a real 1949 Epiphone Blackstone made in New York, with it's own case. :) )
 
Re: If Epiphones were Gibsons...

AG2997 said:
If Epiphone's instead said Gibson and changed their headstock shape to the regular Gibson type, would you be more likely to buy them?
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They would still be the same guitar as they are now- even if they wrote Gibson on the headstock. No i would not bother. Great guitars for the money, but still not great guitars.
 
Re: If Epiphones were Gibsons...

gibson175 said:
Great guitars for the money, but still not great guitars.
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You're only half right...

Yes, they ARE great guitars for the money.

But, with the right pups and a good setup...they ARE great guitars. Period!

Maybe not all of them are great, but except for one, all of them that I own (7) are great . And yet, of the 12 or so Gibsons that I now own or have owned I can say that only 5 of them (and 3 of those were from the 60's) are great, 5 or 6 are ok, and 1 was so bad I returned it right away.

From my experience, the odds of getting a great Epi (6/7) are way higher than the odds of getting a great Gibson (5/12). It's just frosting on the cake that even with changing pups and all the electronics on the Epi's, that they are 1/3rd-1/4th the cost of the Gibsons.
 
Re: If Epiphones were Gibsons...

i'll be honest, if the epiphone les paul custom had a gibson headstock, i'd buy one in a heartbeat. the epi headstock just looks wrong to me, even though i think some of their guitars are pretty decent.
 
Re: If Epiphones were Gibsons...

blueman335 said:
The line between lower-end Gibsons and higher-end Epi's continues to blur, and that's not counting the Elitist line.
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This is why Epis do not need Gibby heads and logos. Too easy for someone to slap a decal on the head and pass it off to an unsuspecting buyer for a few hundred more.

Stratman said:
Epiphone is Gibson...

Since Gibson owns Epiphone...


When will the rest of you understand that fact!
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When will you understand the fact that just because Gibson owns the Epi brand name, that an Epi-branded guitar was not built in the USA by Gibson USA workers in the Gibson USA facility, ergo, Epi is not Gibson is not EPi.

When Gibson shipped the Epiphone production out of America, Epiphones ceased to exist. Whatever they make now with the Epiphone logo is NOT a real Epiphone, it's just another ESPee/Hoshino/Hondo made to order.
 
Re: If Epiphones were Gibsons...

My experience is exactly what 80's_Metal said. My experience is with a high-end manufacturer, usually I can pull 3-4 off the shelf and find a great one. With lesser brands, I have to play 10-20 of them to find that special one that happened to come off the production line with everything in tolerance and working well. But it is indeed possible and you can come away with a really nice instrument on the cheap. Maybe a few upgrades and it's a keeper.

There is also the other end of the spectrum where the high-end manufacturers in certain cases put a lot of cosmetic appeal into the instrument but little care into it's function as a musical instrument, and subsequently are just taking advantage of people and overcharging because of their name and past reputation.

Either way, while I've experienced better odds finding a good guitar with a great name, the budget lines do knock out some good ones too.
 
Re: If Epiphones were Gibsons...

Little Pigbacon said:
So they've got a custom shop now?
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...made to order in bulk according to the specs of the importing "big name".....

You can get an Epi LP or an Edwards LP or an Agile LP or a Gibbs-on LP all made in the same shop, in bulk quantities, for import into the U.S.
 
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