Customer Reviews

Epiphone Dot Studio Semi-Hollow Electric Guitar Worn Brown

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

 

 

I've been playing 20 plus yrs with studio and performing exp......This guitar has a warm vintage tone which is so sweet!!!! The lack of a hard finish lets the guitar breathe so to speak and gives that vintage sound guitarist dream about... add a few Gibson humbuckers and you have a $2,000.00 Gibson sound......it took about 8 hours of playing to break it in...change the strings...the factory ones are fair....this guitar blows away most Ibanez and Mexican strats....I cranked it up on a 65 watt amp....wow.....a real sound...not plastic like so many new guitars out there today.. a great price.... I will use this guitar on my next recording project.....p.s make sure you carefully tighten up the tuning keys and the volume and tone controls...the red one looks better than the walnut finish....Triple J....( from detriot motor city )

I've always wanted a Gibson ES-335, but didn't have $2,800 to spend on one. I purchased a Dot Studio instead. WHOA!! It's rock solid. Its stripped-down, no pick-guard, flat-finish appearance with black hardware is definitely cool, & after having it set up by a local luthier for $50, it plays like butter & handles everything from Judas Priest to Wes Montgomery. I couldn't be happier. I have a 1985 Fender Stratocaster, 2008 Squier Telecaster, & 1976 Electra Les Paul as my other current electrics (I've owned many others over the years). I find myself splitting time equally between the Fender and the Epiphone. For the money, I've played nothing better (& I've played a lot of guitars in my 43 years of playing). Highly recommended.

THE DOT STUDIO IS A GREAT GUITAR, as I now have one!
I did have a cross threaded nut on the jack socket, annoying but not a huge issue...plays like a dream!
The finish on the worn vintage sunburst I have is a little rough in a couple of spots on the top side but not something that bothers me. That and the cross threaded nut does make me think the general quality control at Epiphone may be questionable. I had heard you needed to be lucky.
However, it still looks damn cool and plays and sounds incredible. Simple controls are good enough. Sounds great pushed to the limit, but also great for warmer jazz tones.
Bottomline? I bought it to play not to smooth its top side and I really love this guitar. I am amazed you can buy this much guitar for $300!

I purchased my Dot Studio new from a Guitar Center. Once in every other blue moon, a guitarist picks up a guitar and something magical happens; the guitar just feels "right" in his hands and body. That is the only way I can describe my experience with my Dot. A couple of things need to be understood here. 1) I am not an Epiphone kind of guy. I have always gravitated to Fenders or custom luthier made instruments (I built a few and fix a pile of stringed instruments). 2) I am definitely not a "Made in China" kind of guy either. Yes, the Epi Dot Studio is made,.... there. 3) The Dot Studio finish (worn brown, worn cherry and worn brown burst) suck. Not that the finish is applied poorly, it's just too Early American furniture looking for me. Having said that, I can bypass all the negativity about this guitar based on "how" I buy guitars. I buy them because they feel and play well. Call me strange, but I still like people with character rather than beauty, prestige, or money. I like my guitars the same way. The Dot Studio has excellent sound and playability "character".

This guitar answers it all. It is simple to use with just a single volume and single tone control and a single switch to excite the hot bridge pickup, warmer neck pickup, or combination of the two. You can dial in a ton of tone for just about any kind of music you play. The price allows the collector (or rather, hoarder) to buy just one more. It also gives the beginner a quality instrument. This is so important. I cannot tell you how many people I've spoke to that quit learning because they bought a cheap, hard to play instrument. For the working musician, a few minor upgrades will make this your number 1 Blues machine.

Oh, one more problem with this guitar. It won't leave my hands.

This is truly a wonderful guitar, but straight out of the shop it does have some minor flaws that need to be addressed. The machine heads (tuners) are not Grovers, which means they don't keep the instrument in tune like a set of grovers. Buy them for 45-50 bucks and install them. It takes ten minutes and you'll be happy you did it. It not only improves on the guitar's ability to stay in tune, it improves the tone too. Don't ask me how, it just does. Also you'll probably want to get a decent bridge for it as well. I just ordered one off ebay made by TonePros for 65 bucks. The stock pickups are great, I wouldn't swap them out for anything. I love the sound. Perfect for fingerstlye (my specialty). All in all it's a great instrument.

Experience:

-Have been playing since the second grade
-Teach guitar privately and in two well known and respected music shops
-Have two albums published on iTunes
-I Perform regularly

I'm a college student, so money is really tight for me. I've been trying to learn to play guitar for a few years now and have bought a used acoustic to study on. This summer, as a graduation gift to myself, I scrounged up $200 for this beauty and have not regretted it since. Compared to what I was practicing with, this has basically saved my life. I learned more in about 2 months with this guitar (its action is better and it just feels so much better) than I did in almost 2 years with my old acoustic.
On top of that, it just looks beautiful, the sound is great either playing acoustic or with an amp, and it's simplicity is really good for a begginner. I also like how it does not have fret markers on the fretboard - I feel as if it is giving me a better feel since I basically don't have that as a 'crutch' and have to learn to play by feel and not by looking.
Overall, its just a great guitar and I don't think that for the price it could be beat. Epiphone is top notch in my book, and now with a recommendation from a friend I'm trying to save up for an epiphone hummingbird as my next piece.

This guitar continues to impress me and others who have played it with its warm, mellow tone and ease of play. It appears to have been set up properly at the factory and I haven't had to change a thing. It appears and sounds ideal for accompaniment roles, i.e. rhythm guitar.

First, let me say this. For the money you could not find a better guitar at this price. OMG the sound is just the best. As a teenager I played a old Fender Strat and just picked around and played with it(in early 70's). I bought a Fender Squire Strat pack with a little amp. On my birthday my wife bought me a 50 watt Marshall amp so I got the itch to really learn the guitar. I am just a beginner and know five chords and run scale. So, I came across this guitar at my local music shop and just could not pass up the price. Took it home and just fell in love it but as a beginner, it is so much easy to finger chords on the Fender Squire strat than this guitar because of the tapered end of the Squire. But, let me say this, I am in love with guitar and will use as my primary after I learn on the Squire. Also, the small amp that came with the Squire is just bad and you cannot get into learning with hearing all the buzz of the strings. Do yourself a favor and buy a good small amp for either one of these guitars. The best guitar to learn on is the travel acostic Alarez guitar. My wife is learning on it and I cannot pry it from her hands. By the way, you will never learn guitar unless you get your companion involved. My first go of learning had my wife going nuts from my practicing so now she is learning & now she overlooks it. Anybody who loves the Cream, Beatles or BB King and the blues will not find a better guitar than this Epiphone Dot Studio at this price.