Product: Epiphone C-5
Price Paid: US $50
Submitted
04/20/2004
at
04:45pm
by
Anonymous
Features
:
6
This is a small, 3/4 size classical (nylon string) spruce-top guitar made in China by (or for)Epiphone. The best part about it is its quality:price ratio; it seems well made and sounds good, and it was only $50 from a large on-line seller of musical instruments.
It's a pretty basic model but fine for its intended purpose: an inexpensive travel guitar. It came with a gig bag that's nicely padded but a bit too large for the guitar, but it fits into an aftermarket chipboard case just fine. Needless to say, it's got no-name tuners and no particular features to note, except that it looks and sounds good, especially for the price.
Sound
:
7
This guitar sounds good. Not like a nice full-size Spanish guitr that's the main classical guitar in the house, but just fine for what it is. It fits well into airline overhead cabinets. The only down side is that the original strings on it weren't very good, but that was easily solved.
Its sound now is pretty rich given the small body size and is a good road substitute for a full-size classical guitar--without the worries of losing or damaging the better instrument when traveling.
Action, Fit, & Finish
:
8
I was surprised at how nicely this guitar was made, but I guess the Chinese are getting much better at all sorts of manufacturing and assembly these days. No flaws; works well and sounds good.
Reliability/Durability
:
6
Like you'd gig with this thing. It's good as a travel guitar and seems well made for an inexpensive guitar, and would likely be a good instrument for a younger person getting started. It's everything I'd want in a $50 guitar.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
No contact with Epiphone, but I've had other Epis and they're well-made, good-sounding, and reliable.
Overall Rating
:
9
If something bad happened to this guitar, I'd feel glad it was this one and not a more expensive or treasured instrument. Once again, this instrument serves as a good classical travel guitar that's not that much larger than a Martin travel guitar but has much richer sound and is MUCH less expensive. It's also fun and sounds good enough that I pick it up at home sometimes to play even with other choices around...which says a lot for a $50 guitar! So, the high rating here reflects a pretty good guitar for a great price...but I'm also not saying it's a Juan Hernandez!
