Post by grayn on Jun 23, 2015 21:13:54 GMT
Epiphone, TV Pelham Blue, SG Custom, with Maestro.
NGD: Those who read my Music Man, Albert Lee NGD, may remember that I also had a quick go on this guitar and took a fancy to it. A cheapie but goodie.Being a beautiful, sunny day and me being off work, me and Mrs grayn did what we often do and headed for the coast. First to lovely Morcambe, which was radiant, in the sunshine. After a stroll along the prom and beach, I headed for Promenade Music. Having noticed that Fender's Vaporizer combo's price, had
plummeted to 200 quid, I was keen to have another go on one and possibly acquire it.
When I got there, it was sold. I complained that they really should try keeping their Website more up to date. Well, they made me a brew, which restored my good humour. So I proceded to try a number of guitars, I couldn't afford, at the moment. A Duesenberg Semi, which was like a Gretsch but better. A Patrick Eggle Semi, with P90s, which was really good. If only it had a tremolo. And a Rickenbacker semi.....Nah!
I also tried a very cheap, Burns Cobra. It is £199 and is a very tidy guitar. Trisonic pickups and a nice smooth trem. Tempted but Nah!
Then me and the Mrs went to Cleveleys for lunch, at our favourite cafe, The Cove.
Sitting there, looking out on a pure blue sky, with waves rolling onto the beach. You can't beat it.
Anyway, remembering the SG, I rang Sound Affects, to make sure they still had it. Yes they did and it turns out, it is pre-owned. Spot on.So I drove over and took the oppertunity to try out some other gear, I've been looking at. A Carl Martin Headroom Reverb unit, which is a real spring reverb (not digital), in a very wide , double pedal. A lovely bit of kit but it's sound didn't wow me enough, to fork out the 200 smackers. Also tried a Roland Blues Cube. A solid state combo, that does it's best to look and sound like a vintage Fender valve combo. And I have to say, it does it bloody well. Very cool, tweedy look, with 2 channels (clean & dirty), that you can mix. Great, valve like warmth, with digital, spring reverb, that to all intents and purposes, sounds just like the real thing. It's a winner, Roland.
Oh yeah, the SG. Preowned but apart from ancient strings, was pretty much, as new. They say the neck is slim taper? Well it feels pretty chunky, to me. But being an SG, that neck feels just right. Extremely comfortable to play. The
pickups are humbuckers but they can be coil-tapped, which gives some lovely choices of tone. My favourite so far, is both pickups on, with the bridge on HB and the neck on S/C. Not bad for surf. The bridge HB, on it's own, sounds
fantastic, with overdrive. Pretty decent pickups. Coil tapped HBs, never sound quite like proper S/Cs but these ones do have a cool sound, of their own.
The finishing on this Custom SG is pretty good, with a nice varnish, lots of binding and a very cool colour. Under the varnish, you can see that none of the wood's pores and mini grooves have been filled in. So it looks kind of rough, I suppose. The varnish is smooth and lovely, though and I think it looks kind of cool, in an off-beat way. Down to personal taste, I guess.
The Maestro vibrato is quite a looker, if a little industrial. It's nice and smooth but rather like a lot of Bigsbys, it doesn't give that much pitch change/wobble. Definitely better than no trem but after the Albert Lee's, it does have a primitive feel.
I've not been a fan of most of the Epiphones I have played, though they do produce some stunners. But overall, this SG Custom is a bloody good guitar, for peanuts. For not much over £200, I've got a handsome SG, that just sounds good, feels like an SG should and exudes character.
OK I won't be using it for surf and it could never compete with the Albert but it's a great rock guitar, that definitely punches well above it's price.
SPECIFICATIONS
Top - Material Mahogany
Body Material - Mahogany
Neck Material - Mahogany
Neck Shape - 1960's SlimTaper™
Neck Joint - Glued-In
Truss Rod - Adjustable
Truss Rod Cover - 2-Layer (Black/White) with "Les Paul Custom" in White
Scale Length - 24.75"
Fingerboard Material - Rosewood with "Pearloid" Block Inlays
Headstock - Clipped-Ear Dovewing, 3-on-a-side with "Split Diamond" Inlay
Bridge Pickup: Epiphone ProBucker-3™
Neck Pickup: Epiphone ProBucker-2™
Controls_ Bridge Volume with push/pull coil-splitting, Neck Volume with push/pull
coil-splitting, Bridge Tone, Neck Tone, 3-Way Toggle
Binding- Fingerboard - 1-Layer / Headstock - 5-Layer
Knobs - Black Tophats with Silver Inserts
Fingerboard Radius - 12"
Frets 22 - Medium-Jumbo
Bridge - LockTone™ Tune-o-matic
Tailpiece - Maestro™ Vibrato
Nut Width - 1-11/16"
Hardware - Nickel
Machine Heads - Grover™ Rotomatic, 18:1 Ratio
Pickguard - Black, 3-Ply
Output Jack - Epiphone Heavy-Duty 1/4"
Strings - D’Addario® 10, 13, 17, 26, 36, 46
NGD: Those who read my Music Man, Albert Lee NGD, may remember that I also had a quick go on this guitar and took a fancy to it. A cheapie but goodie.Being a beautiful, sunny day and me being off work, me and Mrs grayn did what we often do and headed for the coast. First to lovely Morcambe, which was radiant, in the sunshine. After a stroll along the prom and beach, I headed for Promenade Music. Having noticed that Fender's Vaporizer combo's price, had
plummeted to 200 quid, I was keen to have another go on one and possibly acquire it.
When I got there, it was sold. I complained that they really should try keeping their Website more up to date. Well, they made me a brew, which restored my good humour. So I proceded to try a number of guitars, I couldn't afford, at the moment. A Duesenberg Semi, which was like a Gretsch but better. A Patrick Eggle Semi, with P90s, which was really good. If only it had a tremolo. And a Rickenbacker semi.....Nah!
I also tried a very cheap, Burns Cobra. It is £199 and is a very tidy guitar. Trisonic pickups and a nice smooth trem. Tempted but Nah!
Then me and the Mrs went to Cleveleys for lunch, at our favourite cafe, The Cove.
Sitting there, looking out on a pure blue sky, with waves rolling onto the beach. You can't beat it.
Anyway, remembering the SG, I rang Sound Affects, to make sure they still had it. Yes they did and it turns out, it is pre-owned. Spot on.So I drove over and took the oppertunity to try out some other gear, I've been looking at. A Carl Martin Headroom Reverb unit, which is a real spring reverb (not digital), in a very wide , double pedal. A lovely bit of kit but it's sound didn't wow me enough, to fork out the 200 smackers. Also tried a Roland Blues Cube. A solid state combo, that does it's best to look and sound like a vintage Fender valve combo. And I have to say, it does it bloody well. Very cool, tweedy look, with 2 channels (clean & dirty), that you can mix. Great, valve like warmth, with digital, spring reverb, that to all intents and purposes, sounds just like the real thing. It's a winner, Roland.
Oh yeah, the SG. Preowned but apart from ancient strings, was pretty much, as new. They say the neck is slim taper? Well it feels pretty chunky, to me. But being an SG, that neck feels just right. Extremely comfortable to play. The
pickups are humbuckers but they can be coil-tapped, which gives some lovely choices of tone. My favourite so far, is both pickups on, with the bridge on HB and the neck on S/C. Not bad for surf. The bridge HB, on it's own, sounds
fantastic, with overdrive. Pretty decent pickups. Coil tapped HBs, never sound quite like proper S/Cs but these ones do have a cool sound, of their own.
The finishing on this Custom SG is pretty good, with a nice varnish, lots of binding and a very cool colour. Under the varnish, you can see that none of the wood's pores and mini grooves have been filled in. So it looks kind of rough, I suppose. The varnish is smooth and lovely, though and I think it looks kind of cool, in an off-beat way. Down to personal taste, I guess.
The Maestro vibrato is quite a looker, if a little industrial. It's nice and smooth but rather like a lot of Bigsbys, it doesn't give that much pitch change/wobble. Definitely better than no trem but after the Albert Lee's, it does have a primitive feel.
I've not been a fan of most of the Epiphones I have played, though they do produce some stunners. But overall, this SG Custom is a bloody good guitar, for peanuts. For not much over £200, I've got a handsome SG, that just sounds good, feels like an SG should and exudes character.
OK I won't be using it for surf and it could never compete with the Albert but it's a great rock guitar, that definitely punches well above it's price.
SPECIFICATIONS
Top - Material Mahogany
Body Material - Mahogany
Neck Material - Mahogany
Neck Shape - 1960's SlimTaper™
Neck Joint - Glued-In
Truss Rod - Adjustable
Truss Rod Cover - 2-Layer (Black/White) with "Les Paul Custom" in White
Scale Length - 24.75"
Fingerboard Material - Rosewood with "Pearloid" Block Inlays
Headstock - Clipped-Ear Dovewing, 3-on-a-side with "Split Diamond" Inlay
Bridge Pickup: Epiphone ProBucker-3™
Neck Pickup: Epiphone ProBucker-2™
Controls_ Bridge Volume with push/pull coil-splitting, Neck Volume with push/pull
coil-splitting, Bridge Tone, Neck Tone, 3-Way Toggle
Binding- Fingerboard - 1-Layer / Headstock - 5-Layer
Knobs - Black Tophats with Silver Inserts
Fingerboard Radius - 12"
Frets 22 - Medium-Jumbo
Bridge - LockTone™ Tune-o-matic
Tailpiece - Maestro™ Vibrato
Nut Width - 1-11/16"
Hardware - Nickel
Machine Heads - Grover™ Rotomatic, 18:1 Ratio
Pickguard - Black, 3-Ply
Output Jack - Epiphone Heavy-Duty 1/4"
Strings - D’Addario® 10, 13, 17, 26, 36, 46
Jo whoever he is.
