Customer Reviews

Epiphone G-400 SG Electric Guitar, Cherry

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I haven't had many guitars but the ones that I have had are as follows:

1992 Washburn Nuno Elec (or was it 93??)

1989 Fender Strat American (Brother's. Was mine for a while)

2000 Fender Strat Eric Clapton

2000 Epiphone Riviera

I've had the opportunity to play many, many other guitars as well but only when one owns a guitar can he or she truely get to know it.

I played the G400 for about 15 minutes at a local shop and thought to myself that it'll do. I brought it home unimpressed and I felt more like "mission accomplished" rather then "hell yes". I bought it because I needed a guitar to play instead of my EC Strat which I cherish and do not want to get beat up. I plugged in the G400 and played it a bit and again felt that it'll do. Over time, I noticed that I could play the G400 far better than any other guitar that I've used. I noticed that I could control it a lot better and create more nuances. I could thrash it and it sounded great. I could delicately play it as a precision instrument and it just does what I want it to do and sounds wonderful while doing so. It just kind of clicked one day. In an instant, I went from thinking that this is just a cheapy guitar into thinking and knowing that this thing is WONDERFUL.

This is not a good cheap guitar. This is not a great cheap guitar. This Epiphone G400 is just plain awesome dare I say even epic. Oh I just dared! It is indeed epic.

I get the same questions from people. "But can It play blues?", "does it do metal well?", "hows the neck dive?"

Hell yes it can. Blues is a state of soul, you can play the blues with damned near anything. It does metal VERY well. The neck dive isn't so much a problem as the heaviness of my strats are. The G400 is lightweight and ALIVE.

Is this guitar for everyone? Of course not but I'm fairly certain that any true guitarist would very much appreciate what it is, what it can do, what it sounds like and what it represents.

If you want to give an AMAZING gift. This would be it. Give it to your son and he will light up. Give it to your father and he may shed a tear. Give it to your brother and he'll probably hug you. Give it to your sister and she may hook you up with her "one friend". You know which one I'm talking about. Yeah...yeah you do ;)

I've had mine for 2 years and have had no problems. My other guitars are collecting case-dust :( Also, I have it from a good source that Epiphone instructs the chinese manufacturer that makes this guitar to use the better cuts of wood for the cherry edition. I don't know how true that is but my cherry red version sure does look AWESOME.

I've been playing guitar for 15 years now. The most "valuable" guitar that I own was actually built from a kit that I bought from Carvin. I used to work at guitar center, so I've had a chance to mess around with the most expensive guitars available to the layperson. Yes, the $3000 Gibson's and PRS's were nice. I'm not good enough to really justify the purchase of one of those though... And honestly, I couldn't say "hey, that $3000 Gibson Les Paul really sounds $2300 better than that $700 Epiphone Les Paul."

Anyway, I needed something with a fixed bridge. After a few months of researching and trying out guitars, I settled on this one because of the price and features. $350, gets you a guitar made of solid wood says a lot right there. When it arrived, the action was perfect, and it played surprisingly well. I couldn't find any real flaws in the workmanship, and the Grover tuners work perfectly. The only complaint I'd have is the pick-ups, but they're stock pick-ups (I'd even replace Gibson's stock pick-ups with Seymour Duncan's or EMG's) that I had already planned to replace.

Ultimately, if you're looking for a budget axe that plays well, looks great and sounds great, I highly recommend this one!

With this guitar, you get what you pay for. This was an upgrade for me when I first bought it two years ago, and I was very impressed at the time. For $300, this still is a very impressive axe. It plays fast, and plays very well. I play mostly rock/metal, and while your typical SG isn't known as a "metal" guitar, I can say that the neck plays very well. As far as sound goes, it's not bad. The stock pickups are decent, although they'd be the first piece I'd upgrade. I'm also a believer that sound comes first and foremost from your hands, then the amp, then the guitar. I rated this 4 stars because it plays much better than a bottom end guitar, although it doesn't play quite as nicely as a few others I've played. I'm also not arguing that it sounds better or as good as a Gibson, but I am saying it's not bad and definitely gig-worthy. Whether you're starting out and can invest $300+money for amp, or a seasoned player looking for an extra guitar to dink around with -- I'd say go for this model. For the record I've been playing guitar for about 5 years, this is one of three electrics I own at the moment and a backup to my souped up Agile AD-3000.

Trust me when i say BUY THIS GUITAR.EXCELLENT SELLER/SHIPPING. Item perfectly as described.Overall its the perfect buy.Oh yea and it looks best in cherry..Angus Young can back me up on that one

gibson quality, great sound, well made. LOOKS WICKED!!!

nothing better for the money

I purchased this guitar with a lot of question marks in my mind... I always bought guitars from local stores and did not know what I would get from a "blind" purchase off the Internet (amazon.com). Well, I guess I was lucky. It turned out to be a very nice guitar. I tuned it and it did not even need a setup. For the money, I think it is fantastic... Why would I buy a Gibson when I can get the same for less than half the price? Quality of workmanship is very good. I'm not 100% happy with the pickups, but that comes with the "affordable" price. For the time, they will do the job...

Among my three other electric guitars, this one immediately became the favorite one!

Length:: 0:29 Mins

This is just a video I took of my SG. It's definitely my favorite guitar and it plays like a dream.

EDIT: Since this review I have had my E.SG looked at and found out why it wouldn't stay in tune, it plays so much better now and keeps in tune very well. It may not have the feel of a Gibson SG, but I will admit it is a great guitar! Just make sure if you buy one you buy one from somebody who has set the guitar up properly, the thing with mine was it had sat in a box for god knows how long, and with weather conditions and changes any guitar just left sitting around will go out of whack. So be careful who your buying from and don't always be fooled by a warranty that says if anything is wrong with the guitar or just needs a quick service bring it back for a free service. Cause I had mine looked at twice, had to leave it there for a week and it came back with the same problems, I took it to someone who knew what they where doing after that, and within half a day the thing sounded top notch and haven't put it down since!

ORIGINAL REVIEW:

I'm only telling you about my E.SG, this may not be the case with other ones, but if it is, then be fair warned that you are probably going to have to do alot of adjustments to it.

I bought myself a Gibson SG Special, which im perfectly happy with, but I bought a Epiphone SG aswell for something to just leave lieing around and not worry about polishing it when i'm done and not put it back into a case to take care of it.

But I have to say, i am really not happy with the E.SG. For starters, the sound is nothing like a Gibson, it may look like one, but there is a HUGE difference in overall sound. Being a hard rock player, ya can probably guess I try to go for the AC/DC sound, and this guitar just doesnt seem to have that certain sound in it.

For starters, the damn thing doesnt stay in tune, i've had it looked at and fixed about 2 times now and i've only wasted my money on that because after taking it to someone else who knew more about these guitars, he told me that basicly these things have a nut on them that is just made of crap. A Gibson SG uses a nut made out of bone, and now when I can be bothered doing it, I will have to take it back in to get the nut replaced with a Gibson one just so this stupid thing stays in tune.

it goes out of tune very easily: i'm, not talking about once every 10-20-30 minutes, i mean once every 10-20-30 seconds! Trying to play one simple song has become frustrating for me using this thing because I cant even get through a simple riff and into a chorus without it just clearly sounding out of tune.

The sound of it unplugged is an easy way to tell the difference between this and a propper Gibson SG. An SG has a great tone, where as this thing sounds like a tinnier type of sound. Probably great for alternative players who just strum a few chords but trying to play the things I do it just sounds horrible on this thing.

I've spent more time trying to tune it then I have playing it, and again, its just frustratingly annoying to where I just wanna throw the damn thing away after I break it over something. A guitar should never be like that, but this thing is.

The thing that gives me the *bleep* aswell is how if you lean on it just slightly you bend it, and its annoying as hell to try to play this thing sitting down and it suddenly sounds like someones speeding up the sound or slowing it down like a whammy bar or wha wha and such sounds. I wanted these kind of guitars cause I dont like whammy bars, and this thing may as well have been called the whammyless whammy bar SG.

The pick ups dont sound as good as a Gibsons, but youd expect that, I dont have any problem with that.

Overall, it doesnt look like a bad guitar, but it has a thinner body and neck then what an SG has and its tuning problems and keepin git in tune are really annoying. I'd highly recomend you go for the propper Gibson SG, particuly the Gibson SG 61' Reissue if its this look your looking for. They might cost a bit more, but they are worth it compared to this thing which you are going to need to buy a new nut for and not have that classic rock sound, just an alternative kind of thing.

Again, it might just be the one I have, I dont know, ive never owned any other Epiphone before, and if Alternative strummings your thing and you dont hit it all that hard, then it might be more appropriote to use, but i'm sure you could find a better knock off of the Gibson's then the Epiphone models.... this one is just a pain in the f n a

I have recently had the same comments made to me about the E.SG G-400 range and say they are just garbage.

This is a pretty nice guitar if you do not want to buy the Gibson one.