Epiphone BB King Lucille

2000 Korean (what's made in the usa anymore?)
22 fret maple neck
lam maple body ebony finish
2 humbuckers w variatone switch

I think...plese read any guitar manufacturers website disclaimer. the one that says we reservr the right to subtitute material without notice to the consumer...Hmmm not good if i'm buying a high end guitar

I play blues and jazz. BB king, T-Bone Walker, Albert King...
I use a Peavy Delta Blues 210 Tube amp. I don't use efects as they are not gonna make my playing sound any better.Lucille has a variaty of tones available with the variatone switch. I feel effect pedals are a way for manufaturers to get more money out of you. you wanna sound better here's a revalation... Practice!

I had Lucille setup by a pro at the local guitar shop. Setup it a matter of objectivity by each individual player. I have mine setup to my needs. yours should be setup to your needs. ( string gauge and action ect.)

I have not gigged with Lucille but would be proud to as she is real pretty and sounds great. The hardware on any guitar should last as long as it is well cared for. ( I had a gibson les paul for years and the metal pitted as any metal would after so long)

I've been playing the blues for over 20 years Lucille is my only guitar. She's a classy looking guitar that's why I chose her. I enjoy playing her. I don't play real fast. I'm no guitar whiz and never will be, but when your out playing and bring a smile to someones face thats a great feeling. I pick up Lucille and play her alot and she never let's me down.

This is an update to my original review of 11/26/2001

1999 Korean-made
22 frets
Laminated maple top
2-volume
2-tone
6-position Varitone
3-way PU selector
2-Humbucking Epiphone PUs
Rosewood fingerboard with block inlays
Super-glossy finish, blacker than black
ES-355 style guitar minus f-holes
ABR-1 bridge, TP-6 tailpiece with fine tuners
No idea what brand of tuners they are, they work OK
Gibson scale-length
No case included, I bought that separately

The Lucille admirably suited my music style, but I didn't like playing it seated. It is a very heavy guitar. Really heavy for a semi-hollow. I play through a Mesa/Boogie Studio Caliber DC-2

It can produce a huge variety of tones. Unlike Les Paul-type guitars, the volume controls act independantly with the PU selector in the middle position.

Bear in mind that the one I first took home, the rosewood fingerboard had parted company with the neck. I took it back to the shop and it was repaired. They had a second one and I was allowed to choose between the two.

It was set-up well when I took the second one home. I never adjusted the PUs. There were no flaws on the second guitar.

I would never recommend using this live. It's far too fragile to throw around. I would hate to have to repair the instrument.

The gold has worn quite badly from the tuners. I didn't ever put a strap on it - I only ever played it seated, those strat buttons look untrustworthy to me.

It was repaired under warranty - but not by Epiphone, by the jokers at the shop where I bought it

I got hold of my long-sought after Ibanez AR305AV Artist. After that, the Lucille was barely played. I recently did a comparison between the two guitars and I found that the Lucille had a much nicer neck than the Artist - BUT the Ibanez has more useful features than the Lucille and is a lot easier to play seated. Why do I play seated? I record a lot of my music on my PC.

The burning question I should have asked is "Do Epiphones hold their value?" The answer is, no they don't. Try selling one for its true worth. I recently decided to trade my Lucille for a new Fender American DeLuxe Strat. Not the G&L Legacy I originally wanted, but the Strat with S1 switching.

Let me state here that the Lucille is a lovely guitar, if you buy one you will not be disappointed (like I was with my first one). If you change the PUs and attach a decent bridge and tailpiece, put on some decent tuners, you will keep it for life. Just don't play it seated, your arm will ache after hanging over that big body of the Lucille. the only reason I can't go higher with my rating is that Korean-made Epiphones don't hold their value.

My epiphone is a 2002 B.B King Epiphone Lucille semi-hollowbody. This guitar was made in Korea.
Specs:
Frets: 22
Body: laminated maple back and sides
Neck: Mahagony
controls: 2 tone, 2 volume, varitone, pickup selector.
pickups: 2 epi humbuckers
hardware: gold everything
finish: ebony (awesome finish!) flawless.
Body style: gibson 345 style or 355 with no "f holes"

I would of liked to see multiple binding on the neck as well.
The first day I got this guitar i couldn't stop looking at it! it is a beautiful all around guitar.
I like the "lucille" inlay on the headstock and the gold plated truss rod cover with "b.b king" engraved on it.

I researched this guitar, not much info out there on this guitar, hence, this is why I decided to write a review. I play mostly blues/jazz. I own a Washburn J-6 montgomery jazz guitar. I wanted a second guitar that is a little more versatile for all round if i wanted to play more than just jazz.
As far as sound goes, This guitar really impressed me. I've had it for a week now and i'm still findind new guitar tones and sweet spots. I read the reviews on the pickups that others had to say about them. I think the pickups are quite good for my liking,not crappy by no means. No doubt, the seymour duncan's may be nicer, never tried them. I believe most of the tone will come from your finger tips. When others play my guitar, it sounds different. so go figure. I bought this guitar in hopes of getting a b.b king kind of sound. i've played strats for years, and was a die hard strat man. I've become bored with the sound of a strat, everyone plays them nowdays. So, i decided to buy a hollow body, The " J-6 washburn", what a guitar. And now the B.B king epiphone. Another nice guitar.
I'm a sucker for vintage looking instruments as well, so initially this guitar was appealing to me. After hearing it plugged in to a fender amp with no effects, I was won over by its various tones. This guitar will keep you busy exploring all the beautiful tones it has to offer. I've come close enough to emulating that "king sound".
Not to hard to come close with this guitar and the right amp.
5 years ago, i probably wouldn't of liked this guitar sound, but my ideal tone has matured these days. Owning a hollowbody jazz guitar such as the J-6 washburn has changed my view of tone. This guitar with the right amp will turn heads for blues styles. I'm a stevie ray vaughan fan as well for years now, and although it's not a strat sounding guitar, when i play stevie stuff on it , it sounds so interesting and different for a change. I've noticed that this guitar will make you want to play different styles of music. By saying this i mean, Every time I changed a tone setting I start playing things fron SRv to chet atkins, kenny burrell, even b.b king now!, for goodness sake its been that long since i've had the bridge pickup on, i even played "crazy train" by ozzy ozbourne..hehehehehe and I havn't played that song since i started playing guitar 15 years ago. But what i'm getting at is, songs that you'd tend to steer away from because you don't have that "tone or sound on your guitar" you may love playing it on the b.b king epiphone. This was the case with me.
I'm not picky about sound issues, if it sounds good to me , then its good enough. its all in the finger tips mostly, unless your playing a "Sears catalog" cheap guitar for $99.99
Come on face it! I've played gibsons, 335's b.b gibson, the difference to me is not worth paying thousands more for!!
My Motto: If the guitar doesn't compliment my playing, i won't buy it. This guitar makes me sound great, i wouldn't call it a beginner guitar. I've done recording before and i would record with this guitar. It's a personal taste, i like this kind of sound, raw!!! no effects, just tone!! if you have to use effects to get a great sound out of a guitar, i would not buy it in the first place.

When i picked it up in the music store, i played some stevie ray vaughan licks on it...everybody just looked over at the guitar like they were impressed with the tone of it. It just broke through all the "noise" in the store and stood out.

When I picked up the guitar it was out of tune. Don't you hate that? why don't they tune their guitars at music stores more often! The strings were dead but still sounded nice enough to know that the guitar had a great tone. The guitar was set up nicely. I will change string gauge though, right now it has 9's and i will put 10's on it when i get the chance. Only had it for a week now. As far as i can see, the guitar has no real big flaws unless you look through a mafnifying glass and search for them. i'm very happy with this guitar so far! The pick-ups were adjusted quite nice as well, i did raise the neck a little to my liking. I know this guitar will be 10 times better with 10's on it!

I play at home, my gig days are over now for a while, I have a 7 month old boy now and he takes up a lot of my weekends. I only have experience gigging with strats.
I like the gold against black finish. very expensive looking.
The fine tuning tailpiece hasn't caused me any problems, I don't even notice it until I actually look at it. it look real nice though.
I'm sad to hear that the gold will wear off with time. Oh well.
Strap buttons are solid, heavy guitar though, solid block through the body and the mahogany neck i guess.
I always like to gig with a backup, but if i had no choice i wouldn't be a wimp, sure I'd gig without a backup, wouldn't miss the opportunity for a gig these days.
this guitar seems to be solid and durable.
I treat it like a baby though, it is very pretty...i can't help but treating it like a lady, hahaha

didn't have to deal with epiphone yet

I've been playing for 15 years, or since i was 12. I've come to know what good tone is by hearing and playing so many different guitars over the years. The B.B king epi is quite the guitar for getting a great tone. I play this guitar with little distortion, if you play blues, even jazz you will love the sound of this guitar for the price. Plus, if you want to upgrade the guitars electronics ,hardware etc, you have a great solid foundation to work with.
if it were lost or stolen, i will buy another eventually or look for a second hand one. I want to keep this guitar for my son Jacob. I have a feeling this guitar will be with me and ny family for years to come.
If you own a strat or some other guitar and are looking for a different guitar tone..don't hesitate to try one. I did, i no longer have a desire to play strats anymore, i'm quite partial to the sound of a hollowbody now.

Take care. if i have any problems with this guitar I will be sure to write and update.

This is a 2000ish BBKing Lucille, made in Korea. It has 22 frets, laminated maple top back and sides. 2 tone, 2 volume, pu selector, varitone and 2 humbuckers. Mahogany neck. Beautiful finish, flawlessly done. Just don't get any dings on it, because it is impossible to repair, you will never match the finish, which is the trouble with these finishes. anyway...It has cheesy gold plated everything. The bridge is quite cheap, the tailpiece is unfortunetly equipped with fine tuners, not that there anything "fine" about them!! The tuners are smooth, but the gold plate disappears if you breathe on it!
The neck has a beefy feel to it, which i like. The inlay on the fretboard is quite tasty and the fret work is first class. The QC on this guitar is top notch. The value and bang for the buck are very high, regardless of some components being a little cheesy, it is a relatively inexpensive guitar. THe case is very nice and sturdy.

Well, i did not like those humbuckers at all, so i changed them. When they were removed, my technician showed them to me. These things are covered in glue!!!! No wonder they sound like crap, they are covered in the stuff!! I put a Seymour Duncan Jazz in the neck and a '59 in the bridge. AHHHH! Sounds soooooo good.
I play a kinds of stuff with this guitar. I find the varitone very versatile, i can go get all kinds of sounds with it. It's not a small guitar, and it is a little on the heavy side, but it is fun to play, I really like it. I got rid of the stoptail and put a gold Bigsby on it and presto, a classy hot rod!! I removed the black round tone and volume controls and put smaller cap-like gold ones and lowered the pot stems a bit to accomodate the smaller height of these new controls. The guitar looks amazing with the gold controls and Bigsby.
I removed the tuners and put on a set of tulip gold ones i had from another guitar, and i changed the tune-o-matic for a german one, much better! I also put in a better rhythm switch, that was a chore due to the wiring, but worth it. All these changes cost me money, but i bought the guitar used for $600.00CDN, so it still ended up costing less than a new one, and it blows them all away. Heck, this baby blows some Gibsons away!! At some point i will redo all the internal wiring, but that is a later rainy day project. I give it a 6 rating because i did have to change those awful pick ups, didn't I?

I bought it used, albeit slightly used, it did not have a scratch on it! The guy who was selling it did not like the sound! So why did he buy it???? Why did he not do something about it???? He lost $500.00!!!I got a great guitar for $600 plus $250 in extras!!!! The best $850 guitar i have ever had!!!
The action was rough when i got it, the strings dead, but you gotta see thru all that when looking at a guitar. The fit and finish, like i said, is top notch. BB should be pleased (although i have never seen him play one!! why would he??? He's got the real mccoy!!
Noisy pick up selector, as i said, and i changed it.

It can stand up to live playing, but God forbid you ding it, like i said, these finishes are hard to match when repairing. So this one stays in the studio. The finish will last, the gold plating will not.
I have removed all of the parts with the original cheesy gold plating. The strap buttons are solid. You can depend on this guitar. I would always use a back up. Playing with one guitar all night is dull.

NOpe

Been playing a long time, own alot of guitars, buy em, sell em, trade em, keep em, what have you. If it were lost or stolen, i would wait for the opportunity to find another used one, as i feel they are too expensive in Canada new. ($999.00)
I love the look and feel of it, i got rid of what i hated. My favorite feature is the varitone, which is wicked with the Duncans
I compared this with a few used "335" ish type guitars:
A Yamaha SA 800, a Tokai something or other, and a Washburn 35, and another EPI, the Sheridan. All those were around $450 to $600. Decent guitars for the money. When i saw Lucille, all bets were off!!

2 Volume, 2 tone controls. 2 Humbuckers with 3 way selector switch. Varitone control with 6 positions although mine can only select 5 of them. 22 frets. Beautiful ebony finish, a real looker. 2 inputs, one mono, one stereo and you can use both at the same time if you wish!

I play rock/blues/soul/punk covers with a Zoom fx box to model the sound. This guitar has a very rounded bluesy tone as you'd expect and i tend to use the middle position humbucker selection. I always have the Varitone set to 1 for maximum power and tone and I have had some rave reviews from audiences. If you turn the varitone down you can get a wide variety of tones. I play through a Fender amp set to clean and use the FX box for distortion/delay etc. The biggest problem when playing live with this guitar is it's weight but i have got used to it now. The guitar needs a minimum of 10's on it and has a fatter D shaped neck than many guitars.

The action is a little higher than on my Yamaha Pac 1230s but not too high for rhythm playing which is what I do mostly. The only problem I have had is that the strings cut into the bridge and kept snapping but I gather this is a common problem with Gibson/Epiphone bridges and is easily remedied with a small file. The finish is quite superb, I have had mine for a few years and the gold still looks OK.

This has become my preferred live guitar although I would never gig without a backup. The strings have gone a couple of times because of the bridge but if you keep an eye on it you should be able to prevent that happening too often. The strap buttons are fine if you use a decent strap. I had to get the wiring sorted out once because I lost sound from one of the pickups but it was a straight forward repair for the guy who did it.

This guitar looks fantastic and sounds really good. The fact that one of the varitone settings doesn't work is of no concern because the other 5 more than cover my requirements. This guitar is fine for blues/rock/soul etc. Probably no good for heavy metal or thrash though!! To the guy who said he was too old to play live I'd point out that BB himself is no spring chicken!

Same as first post but my tone Controls work very well.

I think it sounds very nice for what I paid for it. Very Versitle!

I'm giving mine a 9 but mine was professionally setup from the place I bought it from. No blemishes out of the box but I do agree with previous posts about the gold Tuners

Typical Over-seas Epiphone. Cheap switch and pots but great other than that.

never delt with

I have 9 Guitars and this has been one of my best bang for the buck deals. For the sound quality, finish, and Features I would have paid more for the guitar.

Mine is a 1999 BB King Lucille, made in Korea. There are frets a-plenty, enough to keep me happy. (OK then, 22)

Controls; 2-volume, 2-tone, 6-position Varitone, three-position PU selector. It's fitted with two gold-plated humbuckers with black mouting plates.

The body is laminated maple finished in Ebony with gorgeous binding around the body, headstock and pickguard. The neck is bound in plain old white with black dot markers along the upper neck binding.

It has Epiphone and Lucille in pearl on the headstock, there are also large pearl block inlays on the fretboard. The neck is rosewood.

The humbuckers are Epiphone. I can't find any information or model numbers for the pickups, so I have no idea whether or not Epiphone use these same pickups for the high-end guitars or throughout the whole range.

The finish is quite stunning. No blemishes that can be seen without going into minute detail. The buffing was first rate, no swirls or obvious polishing marks. The paint has barely perceptible 'orange-peel' effect. All in all a well-finished instrument.

The body is a double cutaway, semi-hollowbody based on an ES-355 without 'f'-holes (I guess you already know the deal). It has two jack-sockets, one for mono - both pickups, and a second stereo for the bridge pickup (in which case the first socket becomes the neck pickup).

The bridge is an ABR-1 type thing with those pesky screw-retaining wires. Total pain in the nether regions. It also has a TP-6 tail-piece. Ditto regarding it's painfulness. It also falls off if you decide to remove all the strings at once. The adjustable fine tuners of the TP-6 are not for me. It just makes string changing a chore. One hand holing the string in tension, one hand turning the tuner and struggling to keep the string in the fine-tuner.

The tuners are anonymous but work well. The gold-plating wears off just by looking at them!

Ah, but the neck. Slim and thin. Just right for me.

The guitar didn't come with a case. What a story there is attached to that! Briefly, I had the guitar and what I thought a suitable case on lay-by for three months. When I made the final payment and took her home I sat down to play her. I noticed that the neck had split up by the nut. Holy Big Bummer, Batman! They'd supplied me with the wrong case for the guitar and the neck had been held bent for three-months by the case. Profuse apologies and some great luthier work later, I wound up with a replacement guitar and the right case (yes, they had two Lucilles in the shop, so I took the second after much comparing of the two.)

What I have noticed on this guitar is that it has two serial numbers. One is stamped into the back of the headstock, and another is stencilled directly over the top in white. Gibson's explanation for this: "Why you have two serial numbers on there I am honestly not sure. There was probably a mix-up at the factory (your guitar was built by Aria in Korea) and they assigned the number underneath to more than one guitar."

My music style is Blues. Electric, "turn that racket down" Blues. Give me those minor pentatonics baby and I'm in flattened-seventh heaven! I use 10-46 strings and she bends to perfection without straying too far out of tune. I'm not the best player on the planet, but she can growl and wail for me when she needs to.

My amp is a Mesa/Boogie Studio Caliber DC-2. The only pedal I have is a TU-2 tuner. Me and Lucille do the rest.

Epiphone pickups are known not to be the best. However, my Lucille sounds sweet enough to me. I don't use the Varitone very much at all, barely would I go beyond three. And the tone controls are almost useless. You can't back off the tone 'a little'. It's all or none. It may as well be a switch rather than a knob. But that's OK cause my fave sound is with both pickups selected, bridge pickup tone rolled right off.

The guitar was set up by the shop where I purchased it. However, I had to do the intonation after about 6 months. Change in weather and all that. I adjusted the string heights in accordance with Gibson's recommendations. The classic Epiphone 'noisy PU switch' was cured by careful application of appropriate electronic instrument noise eliminator. I think it was CRC or something like that. I like the smell, my wife thinks it pongs! The nut looks like it could be bone - but I don't know if it's the original Epiphone fitted nut or if the guys at Clef Music fitted it.

I have to state here that I don't play in a band. I'd love to, but I don't think anybody would be interested in a 52 year-old bald git. Even so, I'd never gig her. She's far too fragile for my liking. I wouldn't want to tarnish her gorgeous looks. So she stays at home. The gold-plating will be gone from the tuners in another couple of years. The strap buttons are ridiculously small. You'd be out of your mind to trust your guitar to those miniscule excuses for buttons.

Since I don't gig I can't answer the last point other than to say that you will bust a string. Depend on it.

Well I've only contacted Gibson regarding the serial numbers and to get some information on the correct case for a Lucille. Both times they were prompt and answered my questions to my satisfaction.

I've been rattling the fretboard for over 30 years. I have a Yamaha FG-300 acoustic (read the reviews elsewhere oh HC). Lucille was my first electric (50th birthday present). My orginal choice was for an Ibanez Artist solid body but I could not find one anywhere in Western Australia. My next choice was an Epi Casino. I phoned Clef Music in Perth and they assured me that they had one in stock that I could try. They didn't have a Casino as I found out when I got there. What they did have was a Sheraton II (it was natural finish and so tempting) and the Lucille. I spent a couple of hours playing both and finally decided to go for the Lucille.

If it was stolen I wouldn't buy another. Really I'd prefer something I could regard as being a little more robust. I'd be tempted to spend the insurance money on a G&L Legacy, black with maple neck...

I can't beleive that my review is the first for the Epiphone BB King Lucille! I spotted one recently mistakenly placed in the Gibson BB King reviews, so that makes only two of us who have put pen to paper (well, you know what I mean).

And the late-breaking news is that an Ibanez Artist is making its way to these shores any day now. An AR305AV finished in Burl Mahogany. The guitar I've wanted - no, lusted after - since 1983. And it's all thanks to a fellow Aussie and Artist owner. Paul, you know who you are. You're a diamond, mate!

I tend to post occasionally to UKMG so regulars there will know who I am.