Epiphone AJ-18 Acoustic

Don't know what year I'm afraid.....in fact my info is gonna be seriously scant as I only bought this guitar today! 21 frets, solid. ........Korean! I'm currently living in Seoul. No electronics on the AJ 18S NA. Dreadnought style basic acoustic! I recieved a gig bag and some strings when I purchased this guitar. I really wanted a cut away, but hey, for the price I paid, who gives a damn!

Sound tends to be a little bassy, but that's fine for me...Van Morrison covers hold well on this guitar.

Action is a little high, but I'm used to that, so no real problems there. Bracing is perfect - very clean job! All is in order here.

Strong as an ox!

N/A yet.

As you can now tell from the price I paid, I am exceptionally happy with my purchase! I was initially worried because it was SO cheap, but I did a little research and am now fully convinced that lady luck shone down upon me today. This is a great guitar from what I can tell so far!

Mine is the AJ-18-S, made in 2001 and purchased new. The "S" is for solid spruce top. The other features are as described by others above. Mine is a glossy sunburst; I highly recommend this finish for a number of reasons, but also because the dark borders obscure the shape of the Epihone-style pickguard, making the guitar look more like a Gibson. This guitar has a strap button on the heel of the neck. The manufactuer could have cut costs here by omitting the strap buttdon, but didn't. Also, there's nice purfling where the two sides of the back join. This is another area where the manufacturer could have, but didn't, cut costs.

Contrary to one of the above posters, the braces are not scalloped, nor should they be at this price point. Also, the stupid "E" for Epiphone on the pickguard peels right off with a little prying, which is a very good thing because it's ugly.

The tone on this guitar RULES! Someone above said the tone was too bassy. If that is the case, you should play closer to the bridge.

The sides and back are laminated wood. Some famous Spanish luthier once did an experiment by building a guitar with paper mache sides and back, and a solid wood top. His blindfolded listeners couldn't tell the difference in tone between that guitar and an all-wood model.

Maybe this an urban legend, but this guitar proves that you can get great tone with a solid top and laminated sides and back.

Perfectly set up. Absolutely flawless.

Only time will tell.

Never dealt with 'em.

Stunning guitar in looks and sound. You could pay triple the list price for another guitar and not do as well.

My only criticism is that the so-called gold tuners look cheesy, like gold costumer jewelry.

Don't know what year it was made or where it was made, but I really like this guitar. It's a jumbo, and I love em big. I don't want to feel like I'm going to break it. Very nice finish...and after my banging it up a few times, it still looks sharp. The tuners keep the strings in tune very well. I hardly ever have to drastically retune this guitar. The neck is nice and thick, too. Other than that, what features can an acoustic guitar really have?

The sound is full...with a great bass. Some recordings I've made with this guitar were a bit too bassy. So if you want a lighter sound, this guitar is not for you. I really don't have any complaints about this guitar..except that it's not an electric. I use a Dean Markley soundhole pickup, but it's just not the same. But considering what it is, it's a great beginner/intermediate guitar. I will probably upgrade in the future to a Gibson or perhaps Martin or Taylor.

The action was actually a bit tough and high for me at first. Granted, I was a beginner...but now when I play another acoustic, it's much easier. I guess there is something to be said for this. I learned on a hard instrument, and now everything is cake from here.

Banged it up a few times...still strummin. Not a single complaint here. I don't think this thing COULD break.

Never dealt with them.

Overall: Great instrument...good sound...not so easy to play. I give it an 8 overall. But keep in mind, I'm not pro material yet. I have yet to own a Gibson.

Bought used. Sloped shoulder advanced jumbo just the the old Gibson's. Made probably around 1999 at Samick factory in Korea most likely. No onboard electronics. Straight acoustic. Mine is stamped used on the back of the headstock and as such had a few scratches and dings on it but nothing super-major. The neck is a bit thick compared to my Martins, as such takes a bit more effort to play but not bad. Lovely sunburst SOLID spruce top, mahogany laminate back and sides. Cream-colored binding. Has Martin style black rosette rings. Not sure but it may have scalloped braces. Gloss finish. Plastic nut and bridge pins. Diamond/snowflake type inlays on rosewood fretboard with mother of pearl block inlay and abalone triangle on the 12th fret. Also nice mother of pearl type material inlay for the Epiphone logo on the headsock. I have augmented the fretboard inlays and bridge pins tops with small abalone shell dot inlays from Fretware Inlay Alternatives which jazzes up the appearance a bit. Check out their products at www.fretware.com. Tuners are professional quality gold Grovers. I did replace the plastic saddle with a bone saddle and that has really improved the tone. Strung with Martin light guage strings.

Very nice balanced tone. Not as bassy as alot of dreadnaught-types tend to be. The rounded shoulders give it an almost bell or harp-like tone especially if you pick near the neck. Nice string-to-string definition. I'm hoping the sound will open up a bit over time. Not extremely loud but has very good volume. Has a nice tone for fingerpicking or strumming which I do a little of both. I can't really compare it to my Martin 0001 or Jumbo 12-string but has it's own particular tone. Overall very lovely.

I bought the guitar used and was set up fairly well when I recieved it. I did adjust the truss rod a bit to lower the action and replaced the plastic saddle with a bone one. The interior finish is outstanding with no scruffy bracing or glue gobs. Very clean. Gloss finish is very well applied and the dark brown sunburst looks awesome front and back. The mahogany back has a lovely grain figure. I used some tung oil to reinvigorate the rosewood fretboard which looked a bit dry. Creme-colored binding is well done and tight. I do get an annoying creaking tone as I tune on a couple of strings probably because the nut slots are a bit thin for the string. I did so some filing but will probably have to do a bit more. Overall not bad for a used guitar.

I play at home for my own enjoyment so it should last a good long time. The guitar is solidly constructed and the hardware is top quality so it should last.

Have'nt really had to contact Epiphone but I have had questions answered on the Gibson/Epiphone website occasionally.

I play for my own enjoyment and have a nice collection of electric and acoustic instruments including PRS, Gibson, Epiphone, Fender, Rickenbacker, Danelectro, Martin, Almansa, and Ibanez. I also have a couple of mandolins and electric basses, a six string banjo, a lute, and a bandurria. This Epiphone acoustic fits nicely into my collection and gives me a different acoustic sound compared to my Martins, Almansa Classical, Ibanez acoustic/electric archtop and old Kay f-hole archtop acoustic. For the price I paid, under $200, this is an outstanding value. The overall look and tone would lead one to think this guitar is worth much, much more. I am very happy with it and have had a hard time putting it down.

2000 Model AJ-18 SCE VS. Korean (These are made by Samick, folks). Gibson is rumored to be buying Samick. 20 Frets, Mahogany back & sides, Spruce Top Epi-Six (Shadow) active pre-amp 5 band EQ, Anti-feedback switch & Chorus. Single Cutaway Jumbo , not Dreadnaught, body (Hence the J in the name)gold Gotoh tuners, Gibson style and feel neck & frets. Sunburst finish top and some sunburst on back & neck which fades from light to dark mahogany.

Fantastic Full bodied Acoustic. I tried every acoustic in the store and the only one that came close was a Gibson Dove as an acoustic. It beat Takamine, Guild, Taylor, Ovation & others. And plugged into my 72 Vibrolux Reverb It is INCREDIBLE! The anti-feedback switch works well as does the chorus. I use a Dano Fish & Chips EQ with a Dano Hash Browns Flanger and sometimes a DOD 505 II pedal with great results. The Epi-Six is capable of giving me any acoustic sound possible. It has that unmistakable "Gibson" ringing tone that they were noted for.
It out sounds anything I could try it against. Tone is the reason I bought it, not the name. I intended to buy a Taylor or a Gibson. I'm glad I played the Epi.

"From the factory" it was great. It was actually set up in Nashville at the Gibson Factory (Thanks # 15, whoever you are)according to the sticker on the back of the neck. The action compared favorably to everything I played and better than most. I can't resist tinkering and have lowered it more. I didn't really need to, it played fine but it is lightning quick now. The Finish is immpeccable with the exception that the metal "E" on the pickguard fell off. That's OK, it looks better without it anyway. The tuners are sufficiently tight and the controls have no noise. There are no bookmatching problems with the back and the top is solid. The neck joint is as good as they come.

I play live with it ans have no problems. The finish is as good as you can get on an acoustic. The Gotoh tuners are gold plated and show no evidence of wearing. The strap buttons are nickel and well placed. I use it without a backup and it compliments my Framus 12 string acoustic-electric well.

Haven't needed customer support. Bailey Brothers Music , here in Birmingham AL has been very good . They had me bring it in for "checkups" periodically and Epi has a lifetime warranty, which since Gibson is buying Samick, should be no problem. Three cheers to a GREAT local music store for their follow up.

Gotta max this lady out. I have owned sevaeral Gibsons, Alvarez & others and this one is a keeper. If it were stolen I would find the perp and hang him/her up by his toenails and beat them into subconciousness with a wet carp. Don't want to buy another, I want to keep this one! Thanks Bruce, for putting up with my many visits and letting me get the axe of my dreams! Worth more than I paid for it.

This 21-fret acoustic-electric has a laminated top with an Electar preamp and piezo saddle pickup. Has a single cutaway and plastic saddle, and nice gold plated Gotoh tuners.

Sounds good for the price except for fret buzz. It sounds ok plugged in.

Horrible action and incurable fret buzz(even with high action). Nice finish, but that doesn't really matter considering the bad action.

It is reliably unreliable(consistantly bad).

I bought this used, so I did not contact Epiphone.

I've been playing for two and a half years and bought the guitar when I had only played for a few months or so. I was completly ignorant of what a good guitar is, so I bought it from someone who should have been reliable because he is a professional musician, but I guess wasn't as honest as I had thought. I bought it used and will probably not do that again. The neck is warped, so nothing can be done, I even tried altering the frets, but it only made it worse(oops). I have heard other negetive comments about this acoustic, but some good reviews also. It may be a gamble to buy this guitar, but you could get lucky, it has a lot of features. If you are new to guitars, have someone knowledgeable help you out.

This is an acoustic/electric guitar. It has 20 frets, a mahagony body and neck, and a rosewood fretboard. The neck isn't really thin, but isn't fat either; and the neck/body joint is curved, where many are angled. Mine is in vintage sunburst color, as apposed to natural and ebony, and, in my opinion, is the prettiest color for an acoustic. The body has a dreadnought cutaway design.It has beautiful pearl inlays, and gold hardware. Although it dose not have a pickguard come with it, you can easily put one on, and of your choice of style and color, which is better. It came with a tolex case, only $50 extra, which is very tough and strong. The electronics, which is on the top side, includes slide bars with volume, bass, treble, sub bass, mid, and bright. It is a full sized guitar, but the body isn't extremely humongous, but a nice size.

This is probably the best sounding acoustic/electric I have ever played. Very rich tone, no buzzing at all, and when played with a cheap smal amp sounds awesome. You can put up the distortion and make it sound, well, distorted, or mess with the bars and make up your own sound. I played it on my friends $500 dollar amp and it sounds even better. So it will play well, no matter what kind of amp you have. Sorry, but I only have a distortion pedal, so I can't comment on any other pedal soundings.

Everything on it was set up very well. There were no flaws whatsoever in it, not even the tiniest little defect. All the headpieces(string knobs) were perfectly straight, not a one of them was mis-alligned.

Yes, this guitar will definitely withstand live playing. The hardware would last, but, if you want to keep the finish, which has nothing to do with this particular guitar but all in general, then you really need a pickguard. Mine came without one, and I got one right away, for I wanted to keep mine looking MINT. The finish isn't thin, so it should last a good while. The strap buttons are very solid, and withstand much movement and weight drops. I can definitely depend on it, and would, without a doubt, use it as a main guitar without a backup.

I got it from Musiciansfriend, and they seemed to be very friendly. I am not sure how long the warranty is for, and havent had to get it repaired yet(usually a sign of a long lasting good guitar). They even offered to call me when they got the guitar since my color was on backorder, to put a pickguard on for me; and I thought that was very friendly. But, they forgot to call. A minor dissapointment, but maybe the best in the longrun, saying they might have put on the wrong one or something. They also charged me extra for a box of picks and a strap, both of which I didn't order. I guess they figured since i already paid around $380 for the case and guitar, they could get away with maybe $10 bucks extra. Oh well, not to bother.

There is nothing I had rather asked before buying it, besides the general questions. If it were stolen or lost, I would definitely buy it again, although I'd have to find the guy who stole it first and beat the living crap out of him. I wouldn't lose it, because I take compionship with my guitars and if I moved would carry them. There is nothing I hate about this guitar, and everything I love about it. This is a fairly inexpensive guitar, but is a great guitar if it were like really expensive. I compared it to many others, but I had some musts. I wanted a cutaway, acoustic/electric, and not $1000!! I would like to remind you that in Guitarplayer magazine, it got one of 3 editors picks, rising over many $1000 guitars. That itself is awesome.

This is my first guitar, so I'll answer these questions as best as I can.
This is a Korean made guitar, but I don't know what year it was made. It has 20 frets, and the top is spruce but I don't know about the rest of the wood. It doesn't have a cutaway body. No electronics. The strings are a bit close together, but the neck isn't too thin. The finish is transparent.
I'm giving it an 8 because it's just a basic acoustic guitar. If it had a cutaway body, I'd rate it a nine, but as it is, it fits my needs. I might add electronics to it in a few months.

The factory strings were pretty tinny and they felt extra light. But that didn't matter too much to me, because the lightness was a great help in learning how to play. Now that I changed the strings, I switched to some medium weight (.13 I think) strings, and I really love the tone it has. I thought it sounded good with the tinny original strings, but I was blown away by the new strings. Maybe that is just because I'm kinda inexperienced when it comes guitars though. The bass is rich, and the highs aren't overly bright (which probably comes from the heavier strings) That's okay, because I don't like bright.
It has excellent volume; my housemate calls it the World's Loudest Acoustic Guitar.
I don't have much of a playing style yet, but I've liked it so far. It has just a hint of a mellow, electronic sound almost, which I really like.

First, the good parts: This guitar is just gorgeous. The tuning pegs have a gold finish, and the head has "Epiphone" (in a cursive, rounded script) and a rounded off rectangular thing inlaid in it. It also has some inlays at the 5th, 7th, 9th, 12th, 15th, and 17th frets. The inlays look like sideways rhombuses (tilted sideways square things) with little cutout thin parts pointing inward at the midpoints of each side. The 12th fret is an exception to this, however. It has a larger rectangle of inlay stuff almost all the way across the fret, with a little point down triangle of darker inlay stuff right in the middle. The top wood is a light cream color which matches exactly with the darkish brown side and back woods. The side wood grain has a lot of detail and richness. The plastic trim stuff is a light cream color, which matches the saddle, nut, and back strap peg (there is no front strap peg.)
This guitar insists, in a soft voice, "Pick me up. Play me."
Now, for the bad stuff. The action started out great. But the (former) incompetant manager of Superior Music didn't check the guitar over, or adjust the truss rod at all when he received it from the factory. He just tuned it and slapped it up on the rack. So over time (a couple of months) the neck started getting warped or something, and it led to a really bad buzz in the 12-14th frets on the E-G strings. The action got a little too high too. So I took it back to Superior Music, and the *new* manager fixed the frets (he had to actually replace a couple; I'm not sure if that was Epiphone's fault or not) and did a truss rod adjustment, and it's played beautifully ever since. Also, there are a lot of pits and cosmetic cracks (not structural ones) in the plastic moulding along the neck. I decided not to send it back to epiphone to get it repaired because it sounds great anyway, and the problems aren't going to affect how long the guitar lasts. Also, the pick guard had this little epiphone E thing on it that I removed, and it left some glue behind, causing a little ridge bump thing to remain. But I don't overly care about that either. The finish is subject to decomposing and other problems if it is left in contact with rubber or vinyl for any length of time (so don't clamp those spring operated capos on the head for any extended amount of time.)
So I rate it a 7, (barely) because it looks really good from a distance but does have all those little cosmetic problems. Most of the action problems were due to the piss-poor previous management of Superior though, and not Epiphone's fault, so I didn't take those into account in the score.

As I've never owned another acoustic guitar before, I'm not sure. But it's already received a few good whacks (mostly from my general incompetance) and there has been no damage to anything. It's pretty solid. The finish seems pretty thick too. I'm giving it an 8, but again, I don't have any experience with this kind of thing. But it doesn't feel flimsy at *all*.

I've never had to deal with Epiphone's customer support. It does have a limited lifetime warranty, however.

Again, I haven't been playing for long (4 months) so take that into consideration when looking at this review. This is an excellent beginners guitar -- it has a beautiful sound, and looks good (despite the above mentioned cosmetic flaws.) I compared it to another Epiphone there at the store (sorry, I don't know the model number, but it was 50 bucks less and all black) and I chose this one because I liked how it sounded. I dragged a friend along who knew something about guitars and had him play them for me, although I did some fiddling and I liked the playability of it as well. I thought it sounded better than a couple of 5-600 dollar Takamini's (sp?) that they had there.
If I had to do it over again, I'd go with this guitar in a heartbeat. Sound is the most important thing for me, and this AJ-18 delivers, delivers, delivers. The only way I'd get another guitar is if it sounded better (I didn't think it was possible for a guitar to sound better than this, until I got a chance to play a friend's 1,200 dollar Taylor -- WOW!) The only way it could be better is if it had a cutaway body on it.
If you are fairly experienced when it comes to guitars, then you'll know how much you'll like it when you pick it up, but if you are just starting out, save a little extra money and get this Epiphone! The sound will help keep you motivated to continue to learn, and continue to get better.
I'm giving it a nine, because it's certainly not perfect. It's a ten though, if you are looking for a good price/performance ratio in a beginner's guitar.