Epiphone Masterbilt AJ-500RE

Satin finish, Advance Jumbo, mahogony neck, solid rosewood Back and sides, solid spruce top, with Esonic 2 preamp system.
Onboard tuner. Made in China. Open back tuners seem solid and look nice.

For the Beatles, Eagles, Doobie's, etc..., it's really great. Full sound, no give ups on the bass or mid at all. The highs are ok, but not as pronounced. Acoustically, it's really pretty loud. You don't have to beat on it to get to volume. I had this puppy plugged into my Roland 60 acoustic amp and was playing it for a couple of hours when I noticed the vo. knob was down to 2. I didn't realize it because the volume was there. It's a very interesting guitar because the neck is thicker, (baseball bat type), but once you adjust and get use to it, the feel is very comfortable.

The setup was average. Frets were fine, bracing good. I bought it at GC, brand new, and it looked as if no one did any set up work on it(no surprize). I set it up, dropped the saddle about an 1/8th and does this baby sing. The action is low with no buzz, and fingerpicking is easy and a pleasure. I like my necks straight with a whisper of relief.
The finish was really surprizingly good -no nicks, glue spots, or anything that would turn you off. Intonation is spot on after the setup, and I forsee the sound maturing nicely as the guitar opens up.

I practice daily for at least 2-4 hours play out 3-4 times a month(not a lot),but I use this instead of my Taylor 710, or my Tak AN16.
It has a better sound thru amplification and I won't be too upset if it gets dinged up. Not only that, but the more it's played over time, the better it sounds, so it's a no brainer to use this.
I don't need a backup with this guitar. Acoustically and amped, it has that nice full sound and will hold it's own with much better units.

not an issue

I've been playing for 35 years, and semi-professionally for about 30 of those. I would have hoped it would come with a case, but Epiphone doesn't do that anymore. At least that's what I've been told. The lost or stolen thing, yeah, I'd replace it in a heartbeat. I love the look and sound of the slope shouldered dred, and my favorite feature is tne neck. I've got big hands and the "bat", as I call it, fits my left hand nicely. I own and have owned Martin, Taylor, Larrivee, Takamine, Epi's, and others. Comparison-wise to me, this one is close to my Larrivee DO3 Rosewood in sound. Sound-wise my Tak's are clear and well balanced, but not enough volume, my Taylor's are clean and middy, and my Martin D-35 has it all,(but that's for recording and not to take out.) This guitar, thanks to the preamp, has a variety of sounds and can cover just about anything. To me, it's well worth the price.

Solid woods. Spruce top, rosewood back&sides. Satin finish. Round shoulders j45 style body. 25.5" scale. L.R.Baggs piezo pickup. Volume control. Handmade in China, inspected & setup in USA. Has all the features any real musician needs.

I am a singer/songwriter playing with a rock band. Most of our stuff can be classified as acoustic rock. This guitar delivers just that, strummed or finger-picked. The sound is full, covering all the spectrum. Sounds nice solo or in the band. I was sold on the unplugged sound - rich and balanced, very dynamic. Plugged-in this guitar has no problem cutting through the band. Properly setup it will do wonders for you.

Factory setup was fine. I wanted an j45-like acoustic guitar with a satin finish, so this one was perfect. Very friendly to the player.

Certainly road/gig-worthy.

Did not have to deal with them.

Had it for 2 years now. Played it through various acoustic amps including Marshall AD-50, Roland AC-60, Carvin AG-100, and straight to the board via various DIs. Never was disapointed. The instrument has all the essentials for a gigging/recording musician. True, a J-45 sounds better, but it costs 3-4 times as much.

The guitar has a satin finish, solid Rosewood back and sides and a solid Spruce top. The Neck is Mahogany and fretboard is rosewood. Not sure of the material of the nut and bridge. The fretboard at the first fret is a bit small for my liking (I dont know what the nut width is) but as you move to the second and rest of the frets, everything is great.

There is an under the saddle pickup. There is no preamp or EQ. There is only a small volume "wheel" inside the guitar at the top of the sound hole.

I like both strumming and fingerpicking stuff. I like stuff from Neil Young to Monte Montgomery.

Unplugged, this guitar is LOUD. It has plenty of low end punch and midrange is voiced well too. However, to my ear, the highs are lacking. Overall I dont like the balance. (I'm returning this for the AJ500ME).

Plugged in, this guitar sounds very nice. The element under the bridge seems to pick up each string equally Again, there is no EQ so all you can control is the volume. Again, the guitar sounds great plugged in.

I bought this from GC. It had been on the floor for awhile. The strings were corroded and the B string broke as I tried to bring it into tune, so I asked them to restring the guitar. They did and the action seemed to be good to be ok. It could use a neck adjustment and hopefully that would take care of some fret buzz (I'm not going to mess with it since I'm returnning it).

The frets seem to be dressed well (smooth edges) and the bridge and nut appear to be positioned right.

The tuners are gold colored open back style. They seem to be holding up well. The guitar stays in tune while I'm playing and only needs a very slight adjustment when I first pick the guitar up.

I dont play out, but I dont see any reason that this guitar wouldn't withstand gigging.

The hardware seems like it would last.

The finish is a thin satin finish. This lends to the guitars appearance of being much older that it really is.

So far I've not had a reason to contact Epiphone.

Been playing on and off for 12 or so years. I own a Mexican strat, and a 90's Kramer Focus.

I really regret buying this guitar and should have ordered the AJ 500ME the night I bought this. However, I drove 1.5 hours to get to Guitar Center and spent about an hour trying several guitars. This was the best sounding acoustic electric they had in my price range. Plus, I didnt want to leave empty handed. Now I'll be driving back to get the other guitar.

Dont get me wrong, this guitar sounds good, but to my ear, it isnt voiced right for my preference. I like the highs to be just as pronounced as the lows and mids.

Finish: Satin, Body wood and style: Advanced Jumbo (actually it's like Dreadnaught / Solid Sitka Spruce, Side, Fingerboard and back with solid Rosewood, Built-in Electronics: Shadow (Germany) Dual Nanomag and Nanoflex pickup system with digital tuner. Grover Vintage Tuning machine. Unfortunately, no cases with the new 2007 AJ500s (email received from Gibson) Year of Make: Sept. 2007. Handcrafted in China, setup done in Nashville, US. Very confusing vendors and Maker (Yes Epiphone doesn't know the type of pick ups being used in current products...all the answers were, "I guess so", "I don't know, let me look", "my system shows LR Braggs, but I am surprised to see Shadow" etc.)

I play in Church Band (acoustic/electric praise and worship), soft rock etc. and YES, some Indian music which requires rich acoustic rhythm. The sound is SIMPLY AWESOME (The premium word that I could use). I checked out other guitars (in GC, NY) such as Taylor 214e, Takamines, Fender, Ovation. This captured my heart with it's tone (especially the sustain and the round tone) You could see the sound being carried and sustained by the wood. Plugged or unplugged, there's no big difference in sound. Both are sweet. I was bit disappointed when I saw the electronics was not L R Braggs, but, when I connected it to Roland acoustic, WOW, it robbed by heart!

Action is upto the player, I liked the current setup (Just out of the box, it was soft, easy, no buzz, not too high or low). Bride setup was fine. I am planning to change the strings to my usual Elixer Nano. Don't know what string it comes with. Tuning is bit hard (I guess it's brand new). Overall, a product with fine finish. well)

I bought it a week ago (Dec. 3, 07), it lived up to the expectation so far. But I am very sure that the guitar would live it's life (given the tight and flawless finish). Let's hope and see. I would surely use this gig without a backup.

Contacted Epiphone, sent an email. Received response within 2 days. Cool. Only problem was with so many different configurations (which I have learned), the techs, customer support folks at Gibson seems bit outdated in the knowledge of current specs. No worry.

I've been playing guitar over 20 years. Served in various church bands with different taste of music. Have about 5 guitars. If stolen, I would surely go back to Epi Mb products. The best part of this guitar is the tone...simply a smooth flowing stream. I LOVE IT. The bad, yet to see! I compared it with Tak, Taylor 214e (which is good and smooth too), but for the buck, this gig made a big bang. I am not a person favoring just brand...I tested it well, and surely I could recommend it for anyone who's looking for a good guitar at a reasonable price.