Epiphone 1966 G-400 Limited Edition Reissue

Made in 2008, features already covered.

It sounds nice for a guitar at this price range. It drives my VOX AC-15 with a lot less piercing highs than my Stratocaster did. It handles overdrives and distortions very well with the stock pickups. though I have to say that the stock pickups are lacking in depth in the clean sounds. Cleans tend to fade away quickly without sustain.

It should be able to cover a very wide range of music with little trouble. Much more versatile than a Stratocaster.

the pickups are good at this price range, but I was planning on keeping it, I would drop in a few Seymour Duncans.

My biggest peeve is the lack of sustain and weak cleans.

The finish is very nice, very pretty. You can see the wood grain well.

The action is plenty low, but I had to adjust the pickups.

No flaws that I could see.

I wouldn't trust this guitar as a live instrument. It's very fragile and too light weight. I'm afraid the neck will break off if I'm too rough with it. I wouldn't recommend this as a live instrument. It's great to hang on your wall and play in your private studio, but its rail thin with a non-existent neck heel which doesn't add any tensile strength in the transition between the body and the neck.

haven't dealt with them. Warranty is limited life time.

There is one major flaw that makes this guitar completely unplayable: it's neck to body balance is completely off. Since they skimped off on the heel of the neck, they stuck the neck-side strap button too far in, so if I take my left hand off the neck, the neck falls right to the floor every time. There is no way to keep the guitar level.

Anyone that plays live knows that its hard enough as it is without working too hard to keep the neck in the air as opposed to pointing at the ground. the minute you take your hand off, the neck falls down, which means that while you're playing, you have to press the body of the guitar against your own body in order to keep it stable.

then, if you want to strum with your full arm, and play a lot of barre chords which means you have slide your hand up and down the neck,then forget it.

You always have to put more effort into keeping it steady than playing it, which, to me, means its a completely useless guitar.

Like I said above, its a beautiful guitar, sounds nice, but its more of an "ornamental" guitar. Completely impractical.

If you really want an SG, save your money and get a Gibson Standard. They put the strap button further up, and the body is heavier making it more balanced.

I returned it and exchanged it for an Epiphone Les Paul Studio. They have similar features, but are better balanced.

The finish stands out as nicely done. No flaws on mine. No dings no scratches. Grover tuning machines...was set up correctly from the factory. I like that the "made in Korea:" sticker is an easy peel off decal on the back of the headstock. Says "Epiphone custom shop" on the back of the headstock. Well done Epiphone, great features. Ideally a lead guitarist's guitar.

Frankly, I was blown away, and I am picky about my equipment.

With the stock pick ups it does one thing for me very well. A loud clean channel with just a touch of distortion where it is just breaking up. It needs an upgrade to the bridge pickup. I am planning on putting in a Gibson '57 plus humbucker...with that it will no doubt get a 10. As is: a 7.

I use a Mesa Boogie tube amp. I use a line 6 distortion as my only effect.

Near perfect set up. Pick ups were a touch low for me. Everything appears really well done with an unexpected attention to detail, I feel like I stole this guitar for what I paid for it. Plays smooth and bends easily. Stays in tune. I like to look at it on it's guitar stand then suddenly I am playing it. All the time... Wow!

Seems to be solid and very well made.

Never had to deal with them but they sent some cool goodies with the guitar.

25 years experience. I play in a gigging band.

For the money? When I replace the pickup in the bridge this might just replace my USA Les Paul as my number one guitar. There seem to be some Epiphone haters out there. Given my experience with this one, I do not understand why. These are great guitars for the (working) musician on a budget. I owned a USA SG for several years. I like this guitar better.

This is essentially a close copy of the Gibson SG Standard at about one-fifth of the cost. All the expected features of an SG style guitar. Full features can be found at MusiciansFriend.com. No need to repeat here.

The stock pickups are quite good. Neck and bridge pickups sound like they are supposed to sound for their given positions. Clean, no hum sound. They can be dialed in on your amp for everything from clean to crunch.

Factory set-up was adequate for the included set of gauge 9 stings. I changed to 10s (for better intonation) and adjusted the action myself. This is so easy to do with the Tune-O-Matic bridge (follow the instruction manual). Now it plays like butter with no buzzing. Intonation is spot on. Fast, slim neck feels nice under the hand. It feels a bit slimmer than the neck on a Gibson SG Standard. No flaws in fit or finish. Heritage Cherry finish is nicer than on the Gibson SG Standard (nicer color).

All parts seem to be well made and assembled. I have always stayed away from Epiphone products in the past due to their many reported quality control issues. This guitar is so nice, I took the plunge and bought it. We'll have to see how it performs over time, but I'm willing to give this one a chance. Grover tuners work very well: smooth operation and stay in tune.

Comes with Epiphone's Limited Lifetime Warrenty. Details at the Epiphone website.

I play both acoustic and electric. My electrics have been Fender Strats. I wanted to add an SG to my collection, but the Gibson SG Standard is so pricey. The Epiphone 1966 Ltd. Ed. G-400 looked to be (and is) a great copy of the Gibson. I played it side by side with the Gibson and the only outward difference is the name on the headstock. It plays and sounds great for about one-fifth the cost of the Gibson. Some people are critical of the stock pickups but I think they sound just fine. This guitar is a terrific value. I got mine during a special sale at Guitar Center so I got a great deal.

Plenty of features if u know how to blend the pickups rite. 2 tone and 2 Vol. and an all metal toggle switch what else do u need??? U can make a wah-wah effect just by turning the tone on 1 pickup off. Beautiful finsh, fast neck, mother of pearl inlays, tune-O-matic bridge and stopbar. The pickups are amazing "i dont care what u say u damn idiots on GC.com they dont suck" it sounds perfect for blues and stones and beatles on the neck pickup, but it sounds good for metal and hard rock and AC/DC on the bridge. the only reason i give it a nine is because one of my knobs got stuck and i had to destroy to get it off.

But still its the best buy it the world for $300 get one before they go up.

Perfect sound no hum, great for metal.
If u have a decent crunch on your amp turn down the vol. on the R. PU and you will get a great clean sound and then switch it to T. PU and u get a perfect sound great for Skynyrd.
Turn it on your clean ch. and you will get a perfect sound for classic brit bands.
On your OD ch. you will get the perfect sound for metal and hard rock.
I use an AD15VT Vox theres no effects need to make this guitar sound better its good enuff. I've save the effects for my backup guitar(strat) ugh.

The action was great i had to adjust the pickups so it would get more gain and i had to adjust the bridge but other than that its perfect. The finish is so great i feel like i'm ripping off Epiphone. The neck inlays are gorgeous the angle headstock helps keep it in tune better. The only flaws are caused by me, when i was getting the stuck knob off i sorta scratched the finish.
Great finish get one before they jack up their prices.

I only want to gig with this guitar and no other guitar.
The hardware is durable enuff to survive a holocast.
This finish has no problems and will have no problems if you take care of it.
I would use this without a backup if i had a second one because i mite break a string.

Can't say i've hap no probs.

I've been playing for three years i own a stagg strat and a vox valvetronix ad15vt.
I would not have asked anything.
If was lost of stolen i would buy another one.
I love everything but one thing: the chrome on the pickups are starting to tarnish. my fav. feat. is the finish.
Yes i compare it to the gibson sg stand. because it looks the same.

Bought from musicians friend on clearance... $350, $50 off because I got the gray burst finish instead of cherry. Fine with me! 2 volume, 2 tones, but it is wired in that annoying way where taking the down the volume all the way on one of the pickups kills the entire output. I'll probably go in and change this someday, but it does knock it down to an 8.

Knowing epi, I knew it'd be built well, but I figured I'd need to replace the pickups and maybe the tuners. Boy was I wrong! I play a weird combo of a Line6 into a tube power amp, this thing brings its character and sound through very very well. It has a very full, rich sound, and unless I run into some free money, I'll keep the pickups. Tuners stay in tune.

Action was pretty nice out of the box, considering the abuse it probably took in shipping. I replaced the strings and adjusted the intonation. Tends to lose its intonation a little with string changes or weather changes.. eh, it happens, and I may be a little obsessive about it. For the action I like, it IS a little buzzy when played without an amp. I've never heard the buzz be noticeable through the amp, but it is there a tad.

It's a rock. My friend got a $1500 brand new Tele, and it's had wiring problems from day one. This is solid as you could expect. It's unbalanced, like all SGs, but that comes with the territory. I'd gig without a backup, if I had to.

never dealt with.

Overall, this is a STEAL for $350, or ever $400. It's really not that far from a Gibson... at least not $500 difference.

Awesome mahogany and neck. Great stock pickups, chrome covered humbuckers with outstanding tone. The 1966 model with the full pickguard with the pickups mounted on it like the single coils are on the strat guard, looks great. The pickups sounded way better than several other G-400s I played at GC the day I bought it. Must be different pups or something is different to give such an awesome tone. Says SG on the truss rod cover, not G-400. All the controls work well.

I play rock and blues with some train type rythyms now and then, countryish I guess. It chimes and rocks thru my Crate V50 new style amp, played straight in, just guitar sound and amp sound and it is beautiful, complex, note separation in chords, nice power chord sound, great lead tones, great blues tones. Very comfortable neck and fingerboard. Lots of variety of sound just turning up the guitar tone and amp eq and drive channel. Overdrives really smoothly and sounds awesome if you like a smooth overdrive with lots of sustain and even some chime. Very special guitar to me. The tone is outstanding and complex. A joy to play and listen to.

It is a guitar I really love. I have no dislikes for this guitar. It is an outstanding, hand picked guitar that has stood up to the test of time. It is an '07 model I've had for approx. one year.

Action was right on at the store. Minor tweaking made it perfect. Zero buzzing or other unpleasant sounds. The cherry stained mahogany body shines through the varnished top, or poly or whatever, in a very beautiful way. I adjusted the pickup height to my preference. Zero flaws to finish or hardware. Looks, feels, and plays better than excellently. It is an outstanding guitar for 299 or whatever I paid at GC. 299 I believe. Sounded way better than the more expensive models and was set up better, low action, etc. Says Epiphone Custom Shop on the back of the headstock which must mean something, maybe has to do with the excellent set up and quality control obvious in this guitar.

I would play all night long with this guitar but would have a back up just for the fun of playing two guitars and if a string were to break. Build quality inspires extreme confidence.

Talked to them several times. Very responsive and knowledgeable and reachable.

Overall it is one of my best guitars. This is evidence that price is not the absolute indicator of an excellent guitar, as many of us know; this guitar is the dynamic combination of a lot of things going right and the result is an outstanding guitar to be enjoyed.

I would unhesitatingly buy the ebony glossy black version of this guitar.

For the $300 price, the features are very good. The neck-thru mahogany body makes for a solid yet light sound. The 22-fret neck feels just right in your hand. The body style is the classic double cutaway SG. The tuners, while being grovers, aren't the most stable things in the world, but they work. The two humbucking Alnico pickups are very good, especially considering the price. The bridge is a standard tune-o-matic. The finish collects fingerprints and other marks at a crazy rate, though. The features are above average, and the low price makes them all the sweeter.

The alnico pickups are some of the best around. The neck pickup provides a full, chunky, yet clear sound. It is full and aggressive enough for heavy metal bass runs and clear enough for vocal accompniment. The neck pickup SCREAMS with a vengance with a "twang" universally great for any style of solo or any style of music you need some serious twnag for. The intense treble can get annoying at times, though. I never really use the in-between setting, not because I don't like the sound of it, just because the pickups alone have such a good sound.

Right out of the box, the action needs to be raised just a touch. On my guitar the tuner on the G string was loose. Everything else, though, is good.

My only complaint is that the input jack is fairly weak. Mine broke off and had to be fixed, but that was my fault entirly for not looping my cable around my strap. Make sure to loop your cable if you have this guitar

Haven't dealt with Epiphone.

All in all, this is one heck of a guitar. The pickups are just a hair off of Gibson quality, and the thing is light. For $300, you just can't go wrong with this thing. Unless all you play is thrash metal or death metal, this is great for all musical styles. If you want a great-looking great-sounding SG, but can't afford a Gibson, let there be no question in your mind, this is the guitar for you!