roygrif's Full Review: Epiphone Archtop Dot Electric Guitar
I purchased an Epiphone Dot for $479 from Musicians Friend. Right off the bat I found myself not enjoying it that much for the following reasons:
1. The volume and tone knobs wobble when they turn.
2. The guitar will not stay in tune.
3. The g-string will not intonate correctly.
4. The finish was not flawless.
5. The plug-in jack would refuse to tighten.
6. The nut for the pick-guard fell off for no apparent reason.
Anyways my first modification was to have the horrid cheap black plastic nut removed and had a decent bone nut put on. That seemed to cure most of the tuning problems however that did not cure the biggest problem of all. The g-string will simply not intonate correctly. No matter where I placed the string saddle and how I tuned it. It was either in tune on the first few frets and out of tune below the 5th fret or it was in tune between the 12th and 5th frets and flat on the first three frets and played in open.
I've emailed Epiphone Gibson about this and they say take it to a dealer but I'm fed up with messing with it. This guitar had a label on it saying it had been set-up and inspected in the USA. I disagree, it was simply given the visual once over and put back in it's case.
I've decided to trade it in for a Rickenbacker as I'm about done with inferior quality guitars. For me a guitar simply must stay in tune and have excellent intonation, that is my pre-requisite. The Epiphone does not perform these simple functions, no matter how cheap it was or how pretty it is.
It even sounds pretty good but how can I play live with a guitar that sounds out of tune?
I think my advice would be to ensure that you thoroughly check and play your Epiphone's intonation before purchasing it. There just seems to be too much tolerance from one guitar to the next, alternately you could buy a real Gibson or an American made Epiphone.
On the positive side, the guitar plays well in clean settings and in highly distorted settings, with excellent sustain and good playability. The kind of music I play is brit-pop/mod/indie so it's well suited for those styles of music. Really the sounds isn't too far away from a Gibson Les Paul, except that it appears to have even more sustain than a Les Paul.
The guitar sounds best played through my Fender Hotrod Deville 410 60 watt tube amp. And as said before handles a lot of distortion easily. With a creamy full Gibson tone all the way.
My last Epiphone before this guitar was an Epiphone Sheraton which was definitely a notch above the Dot with a bound body, neck and a faster fret-board. I also own a Vox Mark III and a Rickenbacker 360/12 both of those guitars are flawless works of art. With no intonation troubles.
I guess my only piece of advice is, if you must buy one of these please play it first or be prepared for a long battle trying to lick it into shape. If you can possibly save the money and buy a Gibson or one of the more expensive Epiphone's such as the Sheraton, Casino or Riviera you'll be a lot happier.
I'm sorry but Korean quality is just not up to the task in hand yet. They may be able to make cheap radios but they have not mastered the fine art of guitar-making yet.
The Epiphone Dot Arch Top Guitar features 2 humbuckers and chrome hardware. The scale is 24.75 in. and the nut width is 1.68 in. It has a set neck joi...More at Amazon Marketplace
The Epiphone Dot, based on the Gibson ES335 Dot, features the same double humbucker, double f-hole design, with the incredible price/performance ratio...More at American Musical Supply
The Epiphone Dot, based on the Gibson ES335 Dot, features the same double humbucker, double f-hole design, with the incredible price/performance ratio...More at American Musical Supply
The Epiphone Dot Arch Top Guitar features 2 humbuckers and chrome hardware. The scale is 24.75 in. and the nut width is 1.68 in. It has a set neck joi...More at Amazon Marketplace
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