Epiphone '61 Reissue SG

Gibson. We all know they are far too expensive and over rated. They weigh to much too. Plus what is with those tree trunkes of a neck. So thankyou epiphone. My guitar came with a maestro bridge and grover tuners. This guitar can keep in tune for weeks at a time. The trem is good for shimmers in standard tunnin but when tuned down low it makes crazy divebombs and great harmonic shifts. That neck is fab too but still a bit to big for my liking but you adjust to it (smaller than Gibson one's though).

This guitar has a great thick sound to it but still finds its way to cut through the mix. The only problem though is when you have you amp up loud. Natural distortion with the neck pick tsk tsk. This is a lot quiter than my strat copy not quieter quieter but less feedback and all that shizle. love thing.

Well when i bought this it came with three high frets and with 9s for strings. Three days later i took it to be setup and now i get a strange rattle from the tune-o-matic.the finish doesn't dint easy and i only have one hurray. I tried this guitar against an Ibanez RG370DX a cheaper guitar but the neck won hands down but it was that floyd rose. Too fidly!

I haven't played live with this guitar yet but i think it could do it. I've only used it at band practise and at home so far but its doing great so far.

not tried yet.

Its a great guitar but its not worth the money. It looks great but buy the Ibanez and do your self a favour. BUt if you don't like a floyd rose like me buy this it rocks!!!

I have no idea where it was made but the quality for what you pay for is outstanding, I personally think after playing many Gibson before in my life that they are just a wee bit over rated for what you get and they have a unpleasant weight to them, but this Epiphone is just as good and it wont throw your back out flying around like I do at my shows. One only bad thing is that it goes out of tune REAL fast with my Ernie Ball Slinkys on there but it is a great begginer guitar if your just thrashing in your basement.

The Rythym channel on this guitar is kinda shitty but the treble is great, Its just perfect with some light distortion, I love using my Boss DS-1 on this guitar for blues and classic rock type stuff.

Like I said you need to tune it often if you play alot of solos it just cant possibly stay in tune.

I'm gonna do a review of my old sg (im buying a new today actually!) which i bought in may last year, this one is a dark cherry-colored beauty which was made in japan before epiphone moved their factory to checkoslovakia, it has 22 frets, mahogny body, neck-thru which makes it more playable, rosewood fretboard, tune-o-matic bridge and some shitty epiphone standard pickups. The features are good except for the pickups - they suck for the kind of music i play (metal), the cool thing about the newest sg's are that all the pick ups are usa built gibson standard humbuckers, and they soud alot better, especially for blues and jazz, but also for some heavy rythms - gotta love it....

THe sound is overall above the expectations, a guitar for this kind of money produces rich and full tone??? thats right, mister. The downside is the low gain pickups which not really qualifies for some heavy machine head thrashing, if your into metal, pop some emg's or post-2000 seymores into it and youll have a metal guitar worth playing with a signed dimebag pick(i know i do).... The only thing that drags the sound rating down are the pick ups, remember that!!

Well, heres the thing... epiphone doesnt tighten the tone pots so they will fall of when you use them alot, ive bought new ones which stays in place, but the new sg's seem to have different pots, you know, those flat cylinder type of pots, they are muuuuch better. When it comes to finish NOONE beats epiphone and gibson, these guitars are beautiful and the color finish is stunning, i also love those inlays, great value man....

As with any guitar with a non locking system, you should always have a backup, ive played some gigs without it and believe you me, its a nail biter, if a string pops or goes compleatly out of its a poor gig, of course i depend on it but im buying another sg today just to be shure, that just proves how much i love this guitar... overall reliability is great, just keep it in shape and it will treat you good...

I have som real cool local dealers who helps me out anything is fucked so i have never actually talked to epiphone...

What can i say, i play badass tuned down heavy metal, something like machine head, slipknot, pantera and for this type of music, this is the ultimate guitar (for the prize) of course the gibson sg standard is my favourite guitar but for lousy 400 bucks you cant get a better guitar, anyone who dont believe me go to your local store and try it and, it kicks ibanez's ass in sound and feel, the same with those jacksons, the only guitar brand id ever consider except for gibson is ESP, those guitars have som great tone.But as long as their is a SG - im happy - I LOVE THIS GUITAR!

My name is Kris and i am a HUGE SG fan. My Epi SG has 22 frets, and it plays really nicely. The color is gorgeous, the cherry red is really flashy. The chrome pickups stand out and make the guitar look real sharp. The neck is thicker than Gibson SG necks. I love the look of the double cut-away, it makes the guitar look like it has horns :)It is made of Mahogany, which is a soft wood, which can be annoying sometimes. One day i was playing and walked into my dresser and dented the body under the bridge....luckily, i was planning on buying a tremelo for it, and it covered it right up.

I ove the sound, it has a thick strong kind of sound. When you play an A, you can hear the muscular sound. I play it on a Marshall amp. I have it so the treble is high, and bass very low. It has really nice feedback to.

For me, I like the action a little lower, and it was set perfectly. The pickup closest to the neck is nice and low so you don't scratch it, and the one on the bottom is higher, which gives it a brighter sound. The one problem that has been pissing me off lately, I have my three way selector on treble, and for that selector, i have the volume turned way up, and same with the tone. So when i flip the three way selector so the guitar stops making sound, i get a crackly sound and sometimes it won't even turn offthat humbucker. It doesnt do it all the time, but just enough to piss me off.

I have played live with this guitar and it did very well. The guitar is made well, and the hardwell is made rock solid, it WILL last.The finish is dependable, I think it will last. The strap butoons are solid, and haven't loosened, so they are also dependable. When I play live, I usually use 8 or 9 guiars, all SG's, but this one is my only epiphone SG, but if I was playing with juat that guiatr, I know it would withstand my crazy playing :)

The customer support was alright, but not super. When i had a dent in my humbucker, they fixed it right away, but when i went to get he tremelo peice on, it was in the shop for 3 weeks, which pissed me right off. The Epi SG has a 1 year warranty, which sucks...it should be longer.

I have been playing for 7 years, and I own 21 other SG's all Gibson except for this Epi. One thing to do, is to very carefully examine the guiatr before you buy it, look for scratches and dents! If it was stolen or lost, I wouldnt buy it again, if was Gibson, I would. I love all my SG's, but I love my Gibson ones more. And I HATE Fender. I love the looks, sound, and durability of it. The electronics are questionable though. I copare this guitar a lot to its Gibson brothers, the headstock has a dumb shape, the Gibson shape is better, the trapezoid inlay is nice, but Gibson is flashier. The pickguards are even different...look closely at Gibson's and Epi's, and you will see. The necks are different to, again, Gibson's is better. I chose the SG cause it is my fav guitar, I recommend it for guitar players, but I recommend Gibson SG more, but its a lot more pricey!

Normal SG hardware - nice neck, chrome pickups (mine are gibsons so I don't know what the originals are like) 3 way selector which is annoyingly easy to knock when strumming, nice cheery red finish. Got it with strap, gig bag and stand for a ridiculously low amount of money.

I play a whole host of different styles and along with a Korg AXG1 it suits every one of them. Great tone and no noise whatsoever. Gibson humbucks on it are brilliant.

Got it second hand from a guitar tutor so don't know about factory settings. Easy enough to adjust by the looks of it but it was already set up perfectly. Finish is nice, only a few scratches on the pick guard but nothing major. The neck is REALLY nice, just fat enough and access to all 22 frets is a change from only being able to get at 12 on my accoustic. The tuners are a bit cheep and nasty and I will replace them soon methinks

This thing is as solid as a rock. The finish has withstood the odd bash without even a scratch. It should withstand live playing but I'm not too keen on not having a backup. Strap locks are essential however.

Dunno. No problems and if I did I'll see the guy I bought it from.

I love this guitar. After owing a cheep n cheerful Fender accoustic this was a breath of fresh air. Playable, just the right weight and a great sound. The price tag was a major factor as well - #150 as new with strap, stand, bag, and I got a great deal on a Korg effects box as well. Possibly the guitar bargain of the year.

Replica of Gibson's '61 SG. Mahogany body w/ set mahogany neck. 22 frets, double cutaway body, two Gibson-style humbuckers. Mine came in an attractive cherry finish which shows off the wood grain nicely. It came with a gig bag.

I play Christian contemporary, gospel, R&B and occasionally rock and metal. This axe is not bad tone for an import. I use it only for rock and heavier metal playing. My main axe is a home made strat which I use for 95% of my playing. The pickups are okay, but they do squeal a bit at high volume. I'll probably replace them with DiMarzios or Duncans. The pickups put out good AC/DC chunk, but are a little thin sounding for metal. Clean tones are blatty and unattractive.

Fit and finish is excellent, which only further angers me about the flippant way Gibson marks up their high end models when most are not built anywhere near as well as the Korean made Epiphones. This SG has excellent fretwork, fitting and a well applied finish. The wood quality is quite good. However, this one was one of four in the store and was defintely the best of the bunch. I made the mistake once of ordering a guitar by mail and recieved a monstrosity for my effort. Be sure to take your magnifying lense and try out a bunch before you settle on one. My experience with import guitars is that the quality varies -- even between guitars of the same model.
The hardware is just above tolerable in quality. I'm going to replace the pots with some good 1 meg Mousers from Torres Engineering. As for the tuners and bridge, I won't replace them until necessary.

I've had no problems with this guitar. It stays in tune well and except for the cheesy hardware should be serviceable. I enjoy tinkering with guitars, and the Epiphones are excellent platforms for upgrading to one's heart's delight.

I mostly play this guitar at home and only occasionally at church. To be honest I wanted a Gibson SG, but was incensed when I saw the price for one. This should be a great "fun" guitar once I put some good pickups and parts in it. For beginners it would be a great first electric. I've gotten alot of compliments on it (it sits next to my T.V.). For the money it is a great reproduction of the SGs that Clapton and Duane Allman (two of my fave slingers) used, so for me its a cool nostalgia trip. When I get through upgrading it it should be as good as any guitar out there, save a PRS Santana (my fantasy).

Sams posting pretty much says it all.

I use this with different Marshall valvestate amps, no effects addded. It gives just the right AC/DC:ish sound, with nice warm lows and scremaing highs if you let go a little harder on the strings. The humbuckers are close to silent at moderate levels. However it lacks some absolute bottom end compared to the Gibson '61. It also lacks some sustain compared to the Gibson models.

My guitar had very bad intonation from the factory. However, half an hours work with a small scredriver and some nailpolish took care of this. The action was nice and low and the overall finish was good.

Everything seems solid on this one. The only quirks are the tuners (wouldn't wanna hit something with 'em).

No contact with Epiphone

I've been playing on and off for some years now. I think that this is a great guitar for all you bed room Angus Youngs who find the Gibson '61 somewhat expensive

At first, I thought that the "'61 Reissue" tagline was a bit much -- after all, it was just a G-400 with a little dress-up, right? In fact, it really is a worthy reissue. When I picked up a 60's Gibson SG shortly afterward, I compared them, and found very little actual difference. The pickguard was different (half-body, as opposed to wrapping around the pickups), the headstock of course was shaped differently, and that was really about it.
Twenty-two frets, classic "SG-style" little-thicker-than-a-Les-Paul neck, two volume two tone knobs, three-way switch, two standard Epiphone chrome-covered humbuckers. Black finish, pearloid pickguard. Trapezoidal fretboard inlays that unfortunately look a bit too much like plain grey plastic. Stopbar tailpiece, tune-o-matic bridge, vintage-style tuners.
A three-ply black-white-black pickguard, as opposed to the pearloid one, would've really made me happy, but the pearloid one's not bad. One very nice touch was that they included Gibson strings on it, which really felt nice to play -- a little touch that really impressed me. Epiphone, THANK YOU. Those strings really felt nice, and though it's a little touch, they contributed to how impressed I was with the guitar at first play.

This one has a nice sound for Sabbath and similar Seventies hard rock -- dark and moody and heavy. Not quite as much so as the Epiphone Flying V, this one has a hotter dark sound, sort of like fresh bacon sizzling in a Teflon pan. The treble pickup does screech a little, but it's a good, harmonic kind of screech -- I actually like the effect. This guitar goes well with the Boss Metal Zone MT-2, with the Zoom Fire's "BIG" and "Solo" presets, and with everything on the Kord Pandora PX-2.
Its clean tones aren't very clean, though -- they come across as thick and watery-syrupy, generally unconvincing. However, put on a little chorus you've got that Cobain "I'm drowning" sound.
Its rhythm setting cleans up nicely for chords even through heavy distortion, and its middle setting balances the two pickups well. This isn't a guitar you'd pick out for acoustic-type runs or classical pieces, but then again, you probably wouldn't be looking at an SG at all if you were.
For metal/hard rock, this guitar has a very nice modern-heavy sound. With a little fuzz and compression it does classic SG sounds nicely, and with newer equipment it handles well too.

No major complaints here. The action's low and smooth, frets nicely surfaced, switch quiet, pots smooth. One fret jutted out a little at the right side of the neck, catching my high E on some wild bends -- I'll file it carefully, no biggie.
I think quality control on these was stricter than on the usual Epiphones -- I tried four of them, and all were quite good.

This guitar's everything it should be. The finish seems sturdy, the strap buttons are as secure as I need them to be. (The SG placement is also more secure than the on-the-rim Les Paul/Fender placement, on a whole, IMHO.) I presently use it as one of two main guitars (the other being an Epiphone LP Standard), and feel quite confident in it. Heck, I'm more confident in it than in my Gibson SG -- the Gibson is an antique and it's a little quirky sometimes, but the Epiphone's solid and steady through and through.

Gibson's always been good to me. No complaints here.

I've been playing this one for a few months now religiously, and I think I've found the SG for me in it. It's beautiful, it sounds great, and it's steady as a -- well, as an SG. ;) If it were stolen or lost, I'd definitely replace it with another, if Sam Ash still had 'em.
I really think this guitar's an improvement over the G-400, which is supposed to be identical. I can't put my finger on why -- maybe just a little more attention in the setup and those nice Gibson strings did the trick. I really feel as if I've bought an investment-quality instrument here, and I actually prefer it to my Gibson SG.
If you want to buy an SG, check this one out if possible. I think you may be pleasantly surprised by just how good it is.