FUQ (eff -yu - cue) - FAQ's with an EDGE

Tagged As: Epiphone Masterbuilt Guitar

Question:
I got the chance to play an Epiphone masterbilt OM Saturday at the Gibson Bluegrass outlet in Nashville. I was very, very impressed. EI Rosewood/sitka top, very nice satin finish. Fit/finish was excellent, had a v-shaped neck but not so chunky, and 1.75 nut. I got to a/b this guitar with 4 other OM's: a Bourgie, two Santa Cruz and a Huss & Dalton, and for my hack playing skills, the Epiphone was the better guitar, hands down, with the H&D a close second. The Bourgie was just OK, and the SC's were good but not great. All of them had cruddy strings, and all felt like lights - I'm used to mediums on my OM. So, the higher end guitars were prolly not showing their best. The Epiphone had a nice, balanced sound but projected better than the others with great sustain and a little sparkle on the top end which I like. I flatpicked some, fingerpicked a little, and the action was .... ok, hate to say it but it was like buttah. I was scared to ask them to put new mediums on the guitar because I'm afraid I'd have had to buy it, and I have a very good OM already. But, I'd rather have the epi than any of the other models IN THAT STORE AT THAT TIME. Sticker price was about $1100 vs. $3500-4500 for the others. Anyhow, I think anyone in the market for a sub-$1000 guitar should include these in their search. I think the model on this one was EF 500RA, and this one had a natural top, not sunburst. It's a fun store, got to play a used Gibson F5-L mando, a buncha pricey guitars, and watch the luthier repair banjos and mando necks from inside a shopping ma Any comment about this?

Answer:
I was knocked out by the Epi Masterbuilt Series guitars I played while up in Fairbanks, Alaska, in August. That store also had some Bourgeois guitars, and I made a direct comparison between a Bourgeois slope shoulder dreadnought and an Epiphone version of the same style - and, yes, I had the same experience: the Epi smoked the Bourgeois at less than a third the price. I like the sound, playability and price of the Epis. What's more, I ESPECIALLY liked that way cool Epiphone Haircut Headstock - if the cartoonist Robert Crumb were to design guitars, this is precisely the sort of headstock you could imagine him coming up with! Anyhow, I'm definitely a fan of the new Epi Masterbuilt series. Of course, Mike, you and I have similar tastes in guitars - we both own Larrivée OM-03W's - but I wouldn't mind owning one of these Epi Triple O's, either!