Epiphone Coronet

O own one of the reissue models from 1997, with the batwing headstock. I got it used on EBay. The finish is a painted Metallic Gold. Metallic basically means "sparkly". The body kind-of just looks like a chubby strat. It's a little shorter and probably wider. Tune-o-matic bridge, nothing fancy there. Crappy, slippy, tuners (I plan to replace them soon). Seems like average size scale and frets. Mine came with a "suitcase" style case, and like another reviewer said, is basically made of cardboard in the spot that holds the guitar neck. It was made in '97 in Korea, and has the "batwing" headstock. 24 frets, solid body guitar (although it's multiple glued pieces and you can see the lines like another reviewer mentioned.) There is one volume, one tone, a 3-way selector, and a coil tap for the bridge pickup on the tone pot. Pickups are Humbucker in the bridge and a single coil in the neck, which makes for good variety, especially with the coil tap on the humbucker. Passive OBL pickups, that have rails. I have no idea what the body is made of, but the neck is Maple. Not too many features, but just enough.

It really fits in to my music style "as-is" and I plan on hot-rodding it out even more to make it a rock machine. I play straightforward rock, and even a little heavier stuff. Right now, I'm using it with my Marshall 50 watt combo, and they combine well. It's only really noisy on the split coil mode, and it's still just barely a hum. It tends to have a darker, rounded sound. I like to cut the mids out, and make it more bright and crunchy. I haven't experimented with much variety, so I can't comment there. I love how powerful and loud the low power chords can be, but it doesn't sound very great with distortion in the upper register.

I bought it used, so I don't know what the factory set it up as, but I had to tweak the action and intonation. The pickups are fine, basically where they need to be. HA, bookmatched top.... more like, random pieces of wood glued at random intervals. It looks like all of the parts were made just the way they were supposed to be. I haven't noticed any flaws, and I've got real up close with it, so there probably isn't anything too bad about it. Of course, except the lines you can see from the wood in the body, but it's barely noticeable, and only at specific angles.

I'm sure it would do fine playing live, it seems like a little brick. The hardware probably would last, but I plan on swapping out most of it. The finish is great, I don't see a scratch in it at all, and I baby my instruments, so I don't think it's going anywhere. Strap buttons are fine, just average buttons. I don't see a reason why I couldn't "depend" on it, or play without a backup.

No repairs, and I don't know about warranty, but I did contact them with questions about the instrument. Epiphone just routs you to Gibson's customer service when you are on their site, so I asked Gibson about it, and they really didn't have much to say about it, even after I emailed twice. They told me the basic things about it, like where it was made, and what year it was, but never really answered what it was made out of, and some other questions I had... I assume they just don't have much information on it.

I have been playing for about 6 years now, and don't play in a band, but have in the past, and prefer to write music at home with friends. I also own a Epiphone Les Paul Custom in Alpine White. If it were stolen or lost, I would be upset, but not too upset, since I got it as a guitar to mess around with, but if I invest a lot in gear on it, I'd be sad if it were stolen or lost. I love the finish and shape of it, very retro and unique. I don't really hate anything, but I strongly dislike the cheap stock tuners... those will be the first to go. I guess my favorite thing is the coil tap, and that it has a humbucker and single coil. I wasn't really comparing guitars when I decided to buy this, I just liked it and bought it. I wish it had a set neck, but it shouldn't be an issue with the bolt-on. Mainly, I like it because it's unique and different. Not too many people would find it attractive, but the few of us who do like it because of that.

# What year was it made? Where was is made? (Japan, Mexico, USA, etc...)THE GUY SAID 1998! IT'S MADE IN KOREA!
THIS IS THE LATEST VERSION WHICH WAS MADE IN KOREA! LATE 90'S-EARLY 2000!

THEY WERE ORIGINALLY MADE IN THE USA IN THE LATE '50'S AND 60'S.

THEY WERE REISSUED IN THE 70'S IN JAPAN.

AND I THINK THEY REISSUED THEM IN THE 80'S IN THE USA?!?

I BOUGHT THIS BECAUSE I CAN'T AFFORD THE REAL GUITAR I REALLY WANT, AN EPIPHONE CRESTWOOD CUSTOM DELUXE IN WHITE FINISH!

# Which controls are given (volume, tone, 5-way selector, 3-way, tap, etc...)? ONE VOLUME, ONE TONE(PUSH-PULL) AND ONE TOGGLE

# Pickup configuration? (S/S/H, H/H, S/H, Piezo, etc...) I REPLACE THE SPLIT COIL HUMBUCKER IN THE BRIDGE WITH A SEYMOUR DUNCAN PHAT CAT (HUMBUCKER-SIZED P-90) IT SOUNDS ALOT BETTER!

# Make and model of pickups?SUCKT!

# Body and neck woods? (Maple, Mahogany, Alder, Ash, Basswood, Koa, Plywood, etc...)THE NECK IS COOL WITH BLOCK INLAYS!

# Finish (Satin, transparent, quilted top, flamed top, etc...)CANDY APPLE RED! IT WOULD BE COOL IF IT WAS WHITE!

# Bridge style (Tune-O-Matic, Floyd Rose, Wilkinson, Tele-style, String-thru body,
stop tailpiece, etc...) BIGSBY TREMOLO

# Tuners (Locking? Non-locking? brand of tuners - Sperzel, Gotoh, Grover, Schaller, etc...)CHEAP 6-IN LINE TUNERS!

# Neck/Scale (Fat, Thin, Jumbo Frets, Rosewood, Maple, etc...)
KINDA FAT, BUT FLAT UNLIKE A 59' LES PAUL BASEBALL BAT NECK!

# Any included accessories? (Case, gig bag, strap, cable, tools, humidifier, etc...)I GOT THIS WITH A CHEAP GIG BAG!

# How does it suit your music style (and what is that style)? IT WILL!

# Rich/Full sound? Bright sound?NOW IT DOES WITH THE PHAT CATS!

# Likes and dislikes? I DIDN'T LIKE THE SPLIT COIL HUMBUCKER! AND THE FINISH!

I HAD TO GET THE NUT REPLACED!

THE TREMOLO IS ALRIGHT!

IT PLAYS BETTER NOW! $275 DOLLARS LATER!

THIS GUITAR SHOULD WITHSTAND LIVE PLAYING!

I CHANGED THE STRAP BUTTONS TO STRAPLOCKS!

I CAN DEPEND ON THIS!

GOT THE GUITAR SET UP!
CHANGED THE NUT!
INSTALLED PHAT CAT!

# If it were stolen or lost, would you buy it again or get something else? I WOULD PROBABLY BUY ANOTHER ONE JUST LIKE IT!

# What do you love about it?IT'S THE POORMAN'S VERSION OF A REAL CORONET OR WANNA-BE CRESTWOOD!

What is your favorite feature?THE NEWLY INSTALLED PHAT CAT!

# Did you compare it to other guitars?SOUNDS BETTER THAN THE 70'S CORONETS I'VE OWNED IN THE PAST!

Why did you choose this one? $275 WAS A STEAL!

# Anything you wish it had? P-90 PICKUPS!

Late 1990s reissue. Two OBL pickups, single coil in the neck, humbucker in the bridge. Three-way LP-style selector. Tone knob pulls out to tap the humbucker. Tune-o-matic bridge with hard stop tail. I don't know how to score this, because it's not riddled with features, but not every guitar is supposed to be a complex machine. There is a certain grace that comes along with simplicity. In fact, thats why I chose this guitar, to get away from 5-way selectors, knbos out the wazoo and crzy floating bridges. I give it an 8.

Bought for blues, but I find it suits rock very well. The OBL pickups are known to be bad, but they seem OK to me. I'm going to replace them some day, just to see what a difference it makes.

The single coil is very bright and jangly. A little bit on the thin side, but not bad for some things. The humbucker is a much fuller sound. Tapping the humbucker thins it out quite a bit. Maybe this is what people complain about with the pickups.

The sustain is remarkable for me. When I crank the overdrive, the sustain is great. It really sings. I'm impressed.

The action is ultra low and slick. Fretting chords is so easy. Running scales is very easy also. Though, probably because I'm used to Floyd Rose bridges, bends are a little bit more difficult. It seems a little bit stiff when bending. Nothing you can't adjust for though, I'm just used to floating bridges.

Handles rock and blues well. Thats all I've really played with it.

I bought it used so I don't know what it was like from the factory, but the setup I got with it was great. I haven't adjusted anything on it yet. There have been no flaws so far.

The finish is gorgeous. Mine is the 90s version, so the paint is opaque and metallic. Which is nice, though I really liked the old-style red stain. I saw a 1990s reissue with a metallic royal blue paintjob once that made my jaw drop. Quite beautiful.

You can get them with angled batwing 6-on-a-side headstocks, or the Gibson style 3-on-a-side. Either one is nice.

The control cavity is jam-packed with wires. I wish they'd spread it out a little bit better. Maybe put some stuff under the pickguard. Instead all of the wiring is in a cavity about 6" x 1".

Everything seems very solid. Others, with more experience than I have, say the pickups should be swapped asap. I don't see any obvious reasons why though.

I've never played big shows before, but if I had one to play tonight, I'd take this guitar with me. I really like it.

They stopped making these about six or seven years ago. So customer support is not really an issue.

Been playing off and on for about 10 or 11 years now. Never serious, just as a hobby.

I have no regrets with this guitar. I like it a lot.

MY coroet is a mid 70's model. I'm clueless as to where it was made, but I suppose Korea or Japan.
THe top is solid, this is jsut a thin slab of wood (thinner than my sg!!).
It has two volume and two tone knobs along with the pickup selector. dual humbuckers on this model.
The whole guitar looks like maple. the neck and body both The neck is bolt on and very skinny. feels flimsy sometimes under pressure. THe head-stock is a larger Gibson shaped headstock.
Tun-o-matic style bridge (gold hardware all over, even tuners).this guitar has so much character. I went to the store looking for a new fender mustang reissue and walked out with this one. hands down, lots cooler.
THe finish is natural with a thin gloss over the top.

this guitar is great. It is light, rad, and very retro. I've never seen anyone else play these live. had never heard of the coronet model before I picked this one up.
I use an old 50 watt sovtek mig-50 tube head and a fender 4x12 cab with silver grill clothe and celestion speakers.
The bridge pickup can get a bit twangy, so I roll back on the tone some to even things out. Te High E and B strings are very twangy at full volume.
I love the sound, not a hollow sound, but not a les paul sound. NOt an sg sound either which is what this most closely ressembles. Feels like a tele except this neck feels better.
I like everything about this guitar. sweet vibe, slim easy neck, rad finish, unique style. I am weary of the neck though.This guitar is not perfect, but I like it that way. who sas guitars have to be perfect? I like to work for the sound.

Action is perfect. Like I said, the high e and b strings really chime.

well, this thing is trucking on 30 years. It's held together thins long. The hardware is tarnished a little, but that adds to the vibe of this guitar.THe finish is still there..everywhere, no rough spots. neck is smooth. This s my main guitar, I do have a backup. It's a newer epiphone sg korina. wood looks the same, white pickguard , gold hardware, everything is the same except the body style.

never called. they don't make these anymore. I don't like the older ones or the newer ones, but the 70's models are great.

THis guitar is my number 1! Not perfect, but such a unique guitar. great feel, easy to play. I have an epiphone casino (natural finish gold hardware, like the others) on the way, so it may have some competition for my hands.
For some reason, the collectability on these is low. THey are geat guitars, not a strat, tele, sg, or les paul shape. notraditional, but a classic in it's own light. Pick one up now beofre the demand grows. THese things are great.

1965 Coronet made at the Kalamazoo factory in Michigan. It is the second version of this guitar that was made, and it is distinguished from the earlier one by the longer horn on the bass side, and by the six a side "batwing" headstock. It is made from mahogany, I believe, with a set neck, and it is pure simplicity. It features one p-90 single coil pickup, volume, tone-and that's it.

It has a really nice sound, provided you don't ask for any sort of variety. When I first played it, it occured to me that it was the sort of sound you'd expect if Gibson built a Telecaster. It is quite twangy, and it has a really nice ring to it. If it's played at high volume, it has the nice quality that you can hit a major chord at the nut and it sounds clear, even with a reasonable amount of distortion. The vintage p-90 is really, really hot; in fact, it is much too noisy. It buzzes like crazy, and it would probably be a nightmare in the studio, but as long as you're playing, it's really nice and distinct, and you don't really notice the buzz.

It has one of those tailpiece/bridge combination items, and as such, the intonation is inevitably sketchy. Having said that, it does stay in tune remarkably well despite the compromises that the bridge/tailpiece arrangement entails. The neck is really nice-for rythm playing. It is much, much too slow for modern lead playing, but it does work passably well for Chuck Berry-ish standard leads, if you know what I mean. The finish itself, for being almost 40 years old, is beautiful. The wood has aged nicely, and the paint on the headstock has cracked but not flaked, leaving a nice vintage effect.

This guitar is incredibly compact and light, and if truth be told, it feels ever so slightly flimsy. This is borne out by the fact that you can achieve a Stratocaster vibrato effect by shaking the neck. It's not nearly so bad as on my 70's-Japanese-Bolt neck-Epiphone ET-290 Crestwood copy, but it's still not nearly so solid as other Gibsons-such as SG's or Les Pauls that I've played. It hasn't ever broken down on me, and I don't think it will, but it will never feel like a really solid, meaty piece of timber. This may or may not be a good thing.

Overall, I'm really happy with it. It has a nice cutting sound, and is really good for bluesy rythm guitar playing. It is really nice, I feel like I can chuck it around, but it's still solid enough that I never really feel like I have to baby it too much. In the same vein, it's vintage without feeling like it belongs in a vault. Its main drawback is its lack of versatility-it has one p-90 and therefore, really, it only has one sound. As long as I remain unambitious musicially, though, it will remain my number one rythm guitar.

Korean made, bought in 1997 so made sometime before then. H/S passives. OBLs? Tone has a coil tap for thte humbucker, which I never used. Pretty ordinary tuners and bridge (tune-o-matic). No idea what woods but well finished. Looked very cool- it made you want to pick it up. 'So ugly it's beautiful' my lead guitarist said.

I could never get decent sound out of this and it never occurred to me to put new p/ups in it. I just sold it. It frustrated. Everything just sounded so muddy, especially the neck p/up.

For a cheapy, it was great. Well finished, setup. There was a scratch in the paint when I got it but I got $50 off for that!!! Didn't detect any problems at all.

Gigged for 2 years with it, sometimes without backup. I was playing harmonica for this blues baand once and the guitarist saw it and asked if he could user it that night. After 1 song he handed it back. Later he said, 'Shit, I could feel it sliding out of tune as I was playing.' So maybe it needed new machine heads...

No contact, no problems

It was fine. Now I own 2 Ibanez CT strats, fender tele, custom tele, yamaha apx, boss os-2, boss me-30, ibanez dml-10, 1969 JEN CryBaby, Peavey studio pro. I actually saw it the other day (my exact one- I knew it by that scratch) and I actually did contemplate buying it again. Obviously the guy who bought it off me wasn't impressed with the souind either. I'm just sorry it didn't work out...

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This submission is in response to a previous review that stated that Bill Lawrence was affiliated with the production of the "OBL" pickups used in the Epiphone Coronet in the 1990's. This is not true. He was not involved in the design and production of these pickups, and he is not happy about this use of the "OBL" name. He has an entire page dedicated this topic at his website (http://www.billlawrence.com/).

The following is a link that page that you can copy and paste onto your browser:

http://www.billlawrence.com/Pages/About_Bill/BL_obl.htm

This is a Korean-made Epiphone re-issue of a Coronet, from '95 or '96. This model has the 3 on a side headstock. I think they only did these re-iss's for a year before they came out with the bat wing head stock. Another difference with the 3-on-a-side model is the neck is painted, versus the natural finish on the bat wing model. Both versions have bolt-on necks. The 3 piece body has an attractive, double-cutaway with assymetric horns. The sides are completely beveled in a round fashion, which makes the guitar very comfortable, and quite cool-looking. I don't know what woods were used, but they are relatively light, but not nearly as light as korina. I'd say the guitar weighs about as much as an SG. The pickguard is a cool retro-looking pearloid piece of plastic that is symmetric and sorta bat-shaped. It takes up about a third of the guitar. The scale feels about standard. The bound fingerboard is rosewood with block inlays. I had the original tuners replaced with Grovers. Original bridge, original Bill Lawrence pickups (that's what the OBL stands for, too). The neck pickup is a railed single-coil. The bridge pickup is a coil-tapping humbucker (with rails). It's got a master volume, master tone, with a 3-way p.u. selector switch. Pulling on the tone knob taps the humbucker. Rosewood fingerboard with block inlays. Cheap-feeling tune-a-matic bridge and stop tailpiece. I guess the only feature I could crave for would be individual volume controls for each pickup. I'm pretty happy on the switch.

The band I've been with for the past 6+ years is very edgy original rock and roll. We're loud, so we use big amps. I run through a 100 watt Marshall super-plexi re-iss on a slanted 4x12 loaded with 75-w celestions. I have my ProCo Rat pedal (the vintage kind) on at all times. When I first got this guitar, I ran through a Boss Blues-Driver going into some piece-of-crap Sunn beta lead. The guitar sold me through both rigs. I was normally playing a Fender tele when I first saw this guitar, and was intrigued by the coil tap, since I was looking for a tele with a humbucker (maybe a deluxe, or something to that ilk). Honestly though, the looks are what caught my eye.

The single coil is a bit noisy, as is the humbucker when it's tapped, but the noisyness pales in comparison to any DeArmond single-coil pickup. But the single-coil sound has a lot of character. It doesn't sound like a tele, but it does possess some body. It's a very alterna-sound on both single-coils, and I like that kinda sound, although I'm mostly into bigger sounds these days. In humbucking mode, the guitar flat out rocks. I get plenty of sustain through my Marshall, although this little guy feeds back more heavily than most of my other guitars (another reason to have 2 volume controls, so you can easily kill the pickup). I'm glad Bill Lawrence is probably not reading these reviews, because it sure sounds like popular opinion is that his pickups are anemic (go read some reviews on the Marauder, the S-1, the L6, et al). I like my OBL's. Not as much character as a P-100 or a classic '57 mind you, but pretty good for a cheap guitar. Most of the time, I play a Les Paul Special or an RD Custom live these days, but when I'm writing at home, I usually pick up the Coronet. The tonal variety it is capable of can be inspiring to just about any kind of rock.

The guitar store I bought it from is pretty good about setting up their guitars, so the action was pretty good the day I bought it. I had the intonation re-set, and got some grovers on it, since the tuners it came with felt pretty cheap and slippy. The pickups were in good position, but the single-coil occasionally needs to be raised, because it starts to slip into the body. Don't panic, this is a once a month kinda activity.

The action is really nice on this guitar. In my opinion, it plays itself, which is another reason I like to play it home. It's easier to write if you don't have to fight your guitar. My strings run 10-46, and they feel downright slinky on this guitar.

The color was a knockout. It's baby-poop yellow, or what some folks would call "gold". The "gold" paint has some flecks in it. I've never seen a color quite like this before. Therefore, I had to pick it up.

You can see the joints in the 3-piece body through the paint, but it's not ridiculously noticable.

Since it's an Epiphone, the guitar is sealed with a generous slab of polyurethane, rather than lacquer. Honestly, I don't have a problem with polyurethane, because I end up having to take steel wool to necks that are finished with lacquer anyway (re Gibson). Since my neck is painted, I'm not real sure how the bat-wing's natural neck feels.

The guitar seems to stay in tune pretty well, which is saying something, because I bend the crap outta my strings.

This guitar is not the battle-axe like my Special or RD, but it feels pretty staunch. I've probably played shows with this guitar for 2 years or so before I switched to the Paul. I think it would hold up similarly to an SG, with one exception: This guitar did fall of the stand one time and it smacked against a hard wood floor. A big chip came out of the plastic nut, and the binding separated a bit from the fingerboard, but NO SNAPPED HEADSTOCK. Ha! The binding was re-glued and I replaced the nut with a bone one, and it's better than ever.

The pickguard did warp a bit when I left it in my car all day one June. I won't do that again. But now I have a place for my picks.

I know we're rating the guitar here, and not the case, but the hardshell cases Epiphone put out for these things don't hold up all that well. The look like cheap fender "suitcase" cases, so you have lots of accessory room, but the stock that holds the guitar neck must be made of some material that disentegrates, because my guitar flails about in the case. I'm not sure what 3rd party cases would fit this guitar.

Never dealt with Epiphone, or Gibson about Epiphones.

I've been playing for about 22 years. I guess my playing peaked 15 years ago, but I still love to play. My style is very straight-ahead rock, with a big punk influence. My philosphy is that if it can't be done with two fingers, then you shouldn't bother.

I am guitar crazy, so I have quite a few of them. My faves are my Special, my RD Custom, and my Coronet in that order. The Coronet outranks my Les Paul Catalina, which is saying something. In fact, I liked the Coronet so much, I bought the exact same model as a backup (the second one was dark purple, which I wasn't as fond of, but it does have a classy "tuxedo" look with the pearloid pickgaurd). Red and black ones are available too (very cool), if you can find 'em.

I think think this is the best $200 guitar around. Of course, if you wanna upgrade tuners and get a case, you may be looking at $275, but I don't think Epiphone puts these out anymore.

If you can find a used one for under $200, I would snag it in a heartbeat. It looks cool, it sounds pretty damn good, and it's a rather odd reissue of an original Epiphone. punk-points all around.

Pickups: 1 Epiphone OBL Single Coil at Neck
1 Epiphone OBL Humbucker at Bridge w/coil tap
Hardware: Chrome w/Bigsby
Scale Length: 24.75"
Nut Width: 1.68"
Neck Joint: Bolt
Neck Material: Maple
Fingerboard: Rosewood
Inlay: Block
Body Material: Maple
No Binding

I bought one of these (with factory Bigsby) for $200.00. I intended to change the pickups from the start, which cost $140.00. I also installed a better bridge for $35.00. Therefore, the total invested was $375.00.

The features I like on this guitar are the Bigsby, the coil tap, and the Gotoh sealed tuners, that are very smooth.

For the record, I play this guitar through a Crate Vintage Club series 6112 all-tube amplifier.

I purchased this guitar because I was looking for a Telecasteresque sound with a Bigsby vibrato. I didn't want to drop thousands of dollars into a vintage Tele with a Bigsby (I'd end up changing the pickups anyway), and I'm not interested in mutilating a newer, cheaper tele by slapping a Bigsby on it. When I first played one of these Coronets in a store, I thought it was close to what I wanted. The guitar unplugged had a great, dark vintage twang that I loved. The problem was the crappy OBL pickups that sounded very compressed, with virtually no harmonic definition at all. They gave the "twang" of the guitar a very "rubbery" sound (boing!). When the bridge humbucker was tapped to a single coil, however, I could hear the possibillity for the sound that I wanted. It needed better pickups.

I installed a Rio Grande Muy Grande single coil at the neck, and a Rio Grande Tallboy humbucker at the bridge. WHAT A DIFFERENCE!!!! The high-output Muy Grande at the neck gives an incredibly warm blues sound, and the bridge pickup, in humbucker mode, gives me the high-output sound needed for distortion-based classic rock. In tapped, single coil mode, I get the Telecasteresque sound that was my origional reason for buying this guitar. With both single coils on, I get a "quack" similar to a Strat. With all coils on, the single coil and humbucker combination produces a "wall of sound" that is much clearer and defined than with two humbuckers (like on a Les Paul), with no hum.

I believe that the solid maple body of this guitar is primarily responsible for it's "dark twang." The new pickups allowed that to come through clearly and uncompressed. When a string is plucked, it has a "high inpact" quality that reminds me of striking a piano key.

On the negative side, the guitar really doesn't have an exceptional amount of sustain, but twangy guitars tend not to. This is not a guitar for playing metal. It's more for blues, country, jazz and rockabilly. If you need a lot sustain out of it, you will need a compressor pedal.

The "5" rating on sound was for the stock guitar with the origional OBL pickups. With the Rio Grande pickups, it's a "9."

I love the look of this guitar. It has a cool retro look that I prefer to the standard Strat and Tele solid-body styles. The metalic blue finish has a automobile-like sheen. The headstock has the classic Epiphone "batwing" headstock that was borrowed from their 60's Crestwood Custom model, it which resembles more than the classic Coronet.

The neck is natural in color, and slim. The fingerboard is very smooth, with low, well filed frets that allow me to move up and down the fingerbourd without tripping up. It's narrow width at the base took me some getting used to.

The open low E and A strings buzzed badly when I first got it, because the factory set-up was horrible. I've looked at a number of these in stores, and they've all done this. After I set up the guitar, the open string buzzing was eliminated, but minor buzzing persisted beyond the third fret on both string. It is impossible to completely eliminate this minor buzzing without some major re-working of the guitar (which I'm not going to waste my time with). The action is fast and tight, but can never be set very, very low, or the buzzing will become intolerable. I don't mind this because I prefer medium string height. If you like low action, this isn't the guitar for you. (FYI - my strings are .010's)

This guitar comes with one of those cheap-ass tune-o-matic bridges with the retaining wire holding the saddle screws in place. As soon as I adjusted the intonation it began rattling. I replaced it with a more Bigsby-friendly Schaller roller bridge that works beautifully.

And now a word about Schaller roller bridges. Some people will tell you that the intonation of your guitar will be off if you use this bridge, because the string saddles cannot be filed to match the neck radius of your guitar. Apparently, it doesn't occur to them that all you need to do to set the intonation is adjust the position of the string saddles. DUH!

Well, it's 2 years old, and it's worked every time I've needed to use it. I saw one of these from the early 90's in a used equipment store, and the wood in it's body was starting to separate. Not a good sign. But I guess you can't expect much for $200.

I don't gig, but if I did, I think that it would be tough enough to take it. It is very solidly built, with quality components throughout.

I have not needed to contact them.

Between all the fret buzzing and bridge rattling, I thought for a while there that I had mistakenly purchased a maraca, but all of these issues have been resolved, and I now enjoy playing this guitar. I expect these kind of problems with cheap equipment. That's why it's cheap. If it were lost or stolen, I would only replace it if I found one for even less money than this one. They are of higher quality than a lot of guitars you will find for less than $200, but not all. You can find them for cheaper than that on Ebay all the time. Be prepared to set up the guitar, and change the pickups and bridge, though. For the $375. that I invested in this guitar, you could find a DeArmond M75T, M77T or a Starfire Special, if you looked. A Yamaha AES800B would also fit the bill. I would consider replacing it with any one of these guitars perhaps, if I needed to.

I own three electric guitars, and I DO enjoy owning and playing this one. I enjoy playing twangy licks, and this one does that very well.

Mid 60s, USA/Kalamazoo (Gibson), Set neck, six a-side machines, Batwing headstock, One P-90 at the bridge, prob mahogany (cherry finish), rosewood boards, stock stop-tailpieces removed and roller bridge and Bigsby assembly added.

Large single coil P90 is fairly noisy, esp when used with a Tube Driver and Echoplex into a Vox or Bassman. Bluesy rock tone, at times in the Crazy Horse range or Stooges/MC5. I generally string them up with 11s or 12s and the necks have not moved. Bigsby def adds to the mix and they stay in tune pretty well. Not much variety, then again, this is the tone I'm after.

I've owned a number of these and all are very soild, (especially the main pair.) No second thoughts at all about playing rough, they respond well. I moved the strap buttons to the back from the top horn, personal preference. The roller bridges help with the Bigsby wiggle. May be a bit of a challenge to pick up and play, depending on what you are used to. It does not play itself, but when you get used to it, the dance it's worth it.

Unlike other gtrs, I have never worried about these things onstage. Recording, they may be a bit noisy but that is part of the overall character. I'm used to it.

Legend has it Gibson/Epiphone aged the wood for 20 years (back then) before they even assembled these damn things. And they were 20+ years old when I bought them. Who needs a warranty? Minor repairs and
oil changes is about it.

This was the second "real gtr" I've owned and I still play it/them regularly. I have owned 5 of them over the years and if I ever started from scratch and the opportunity arose I wouldn't hesitate to buy another.
They compare favorably to their kin, the SG Juniors and Melody Makers of the same era, but without the inflated price tag.

I have no idea when or where my Coronet was mad but I do no that it is a pretty damn decent guitar.I really enjoy having a single coil pick up and the humbnucker for the lead/crunch.As ststed in another review here,the Coronet doesn't have the best metal sound,however the heavy distortion oaked sound it does get is alright with me.I play alot of heavy Black Sabbath type stuff and the Coronet definetly gets a 10 there for me.now as far as that single coil goes,I also play alot of funky clean stuff too and that single coil pick up has one of the warmest/cleanest sounds I have heard.I usually don't find much reason for positioning the toggle on both pick up's, the mixure of the two is no better than them singularly.

I think I covered this in the last section.

The factory set up was pretty decent , no complaints except for the fact that sometimes when I put the toggle switch back on the humbucker it wont stick,I will flip to the middle position.I am sure i could fix it I am just lazy.

This guitar is very very durable,I dropped it on it's face about a month ago on hars linoleum floor,I was moving into a new place and was carrying to much stuff,I know "IDIOT".Anyway,the only thing that happened was two of the tuners got pushed out through the back,but as far as the body,neck,head etc.,not a scratch.

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I have been playing for 10 years now and have owned at least 15 guitars and this is definetly in the top 3.I had never seen nor heard of this guitar until I saw it and thought it was one of the coolest guitars I had ever seen and I had to buy it.It has a great look and sounds good too and everybody I know seems to like it also.I would say pick one up if you ever see one because chances are you won't see anothwer after that,I haven't

I have no idea when or where my Coronet was mad but I do no that it is a pretty damn decent guitar.I really enjoy having a single coil pick up and the humbnucker for the lead/crunch.As ststed in another review here,the Coronet doesn't have the best metal sound,however the heavy distortion oaked sound it does get is alright with me.I play alot of heavy Black Sabbath type stuff and the Coronet definetly gets a 10 there for me.now as far as that single coil goes,I also play alot of funky clean stuff too and that single coil pick up has one of the warmest/cleanest sounds I have heard.I usually don't find much reason for positioning the toggle on both pick up's, the mixure of the two is no better than them singularly.

I think I covered this in the last section.

The factory set up was pretty decent , no complaints except for the fact that sometimes when I put the toggle switch back on the humbucker it wont stick,I will flip to the middle position.I am sure i could fix it I am just lazy.

This guitar is very very durable,I dropped it on it's face about a month ago on hars linoleum floor,I was moving into a new place and was carrying to much stuff,I know "IDIOT".Anyway,the only thing that happened was two of the tuners got pushed out through the back,but as far as the body,neck,head etc.,not a scratch.

N/A

I have been playing for 10 years now and have owned at least 15 guitars and this is definetly in the top 3.I had never seen nor heard of this guitar until I saw it and thought it was one of the coolest guitars I had ever seen and I had to buy it.It has a great look and sounds good too and everybody I know seems to like it also.I would say pick one up if you ever see one because chances are you won't see anothwer after that,I haven't

It's like a late 70's early 80's coronet body style bass. I've never seen another like it, so I guess it's rare. It's got 2 humbucking style pickups, and 2 volume, 2 tone, configuration with 1 switch. It's like a neck through body bass. It has kind of a fat neck. I got it at a pawn shop. I was very early in my guitar playing career, so I feel that I was ripped off, unless it was like a one of a kind type of thing. It was held up pretty good when I got it. I haven't taken very good care of it. The finish was cracked a little, but I covered it in stickers. It WAS woodgrain.

I LOVE the sound. It's a really fat sounding beast. I usually play it through a CRATE BX- 2115 combo with a BXE- 15 cab. It sounds awesome. It's really punchy sounding and does good either with a pick or slapping technique. I played it on my bands demo CD and it did awesome, but I do like it better live. I would liked to use a more professional sounding bass on the CD, but hey, you use what you can when your broke.

The action on this thing was just perfect when I got it. But the neck pickup was screwed up pretty bad. OK it doesn't even work. I just now got around to sending it off to have the pickup replaced, and I've had it for about 3 years. As far as how it has held up it has been awesome. I play in a Christain speed metal/thrash core band, and at one show I tried to shatter it, but it didn't even get a scratch. It almost stayed in tune too. But it was very embarassing trying to smash a guitar that would just bounce back at you. I give it a 10.

The only thing that sucked about the bass was the strap buttons, but some good old duct tape was just perfect. I don't think I would use it without a backup. I'm 100% sure I could and have no problem, but it's just a pet peeve of mine. I don't like to. I've never seen anything like this thing as far as durability goes. I bet it lasts another 30 years before any other part has to be replaced.

I've never had to deal with the company, but I don't think I would have to. The pickup and switch were screwed up when I got it, but It wasn't under warranty, so I had to pay out of my pocket.

It's just a rock solid bass. That's about all there is to say... but I DO think I paid too much for it.

1976 Japanese revisitation of original late 50's Coronet. Double cut-away with offset horn, somewhat similar to a strat, but not. Dark blond sunburst and a globular white pickguard with the cut C between the p/u's. I have no idea what the words are, but this is one heavy guitar (think older LP) Remember, this was back when Epiphone made it's own style of guitars, not Gibson (and Fender) copies. 22 frets, dual humbuckers with covers (P90's or something derived thereof), and the scale seems short. After playing my SG, I have to think about my hand for placement for about the first 5 minutes. 2 volume, 2 tone, 3 way toggle pu selector. The bridge is a tremalo model, with rollers and a stop piece, with a handy cover for resting your hand for muting. No bar came with it, and I can't find one to replace it, and really don't care to. These are pretty much standard features for a guitar, but I'm giving a 10 because of it's uniqueness.

I tend towards a more classic sound, i.e. Iggy and the Stooges, Mick Ronson, Ziggy, the Dead Boys, and this guitar is good for that. Sounds very LP/SG like. Its much heavier/bassy sounding than my SG, but I think that's mostly due to the proximity of the pickups to the strings. Also, I'm using 10's but apparently this is better suited to 9's. To think, I one strung it with 11's. The upper strings voice very nicely, but the top 2 sometimes sound to clunky, especially with brand new strings. I play through a Vox Valvetone Pedal (my brother ruined my TS9) and it's great through my little Princeton 112+. I have yet to try it with my new Tremoverb, but how can you go wrong with that?

When I got it, the guitar was a mess. Couldn't hold tune for more than 4 bars of a song. After taking it to a tech to have it set up, stays in tune for days. Usually I only have to tune it if I carelessly leave it propped against some piece of furniture (I have too many guitars!) Sustain is incredible, and for a 20+ year old guitar, no electrical problems.

This guitar is heavy. I moved the strap button from the horn to the back of the neck (which might have been the original position since there was already a hole there) which adjusts the weight better. You get used to the weight after a while. There are a few nicks on the finish, but its 24 years old, what do you expect? Very light nicks though. It's dependable, and built like a brick. It makes me wonder how Japanese made instruments got such a bad rap. (Then I pick up an Ibanez, I take that back) This one is more solid than some American stuff I've seen and played over the years (i.e. Fender).

What support? They probably don't even remember this thing.

I honestly don't know how I got such a great deal on this. It was the second guitar I ever bought. I've been playing for around 4.5 years, but I'm mostly a bassist (11 years). I have 2 other guitars, a 91 SG Special, and a 95 Ibanez Talman 630 which I play through a Princeton 112+ (with a Vox Valvetone) and a Mesa-Boogie Tremoverb. I love them all for their individual merits, but this one is special. It's different, cool looking and cool sounding. Considering I picked it up on a lark, I got a lot more than I paid for. If it were lost or stolen, I could probably never find one again. The only other one I've ever seen belongs to the Fastbacks' guitarist. So I would be very, very sad and disenchanted. The only reason I posted this here was because when I saw the category, I became excited that there were others like mine in existance. But all there was were people with their new Epi Strat copies. It's sad to see that Epiphone, which was once an innovative company with killer guitars and basses, has become Gibson's Squier.

Korean built, 24 fret with a narrow and moderately thick neck the Coronet is a decent inexpensive guitar. The wood seems fairly solid although it's probably made of many parts, trim consists of a tune-o-matic style bridge and tailpiece, noise canceling single coil at the neck and humbucker at the bridge. Build quality is ok, the bolt on neck seems stable with inexpensive tuners that have a similar feel to Grovers. Everything about the trim is similar to but not quite professional. At it's price point you can't expect a lot more. One downside, the neck needs to be wiped down as whatever they treated the fretboard with stains my fingers. This is a probem I've had with other inexpensive guitars.

Compared to a Carvin 127-T (Wilkenson) I find the Coronet to be darker in all aspects. Unlike many inexpensive guitars sound quality is surprisingly good. The prior reviewer used mid-gauge strings, I'm using light scale strings, 008, 010, 014.... and find the neck to be fast but effective to work around. A lot of new guitar designs have wide, flat necks that are incredibly fast but tiring for my tastes. The overall sound does not distinguish itself to any degree but it is capable of useful timbres and unlike the prior reviewer it works well with distortion and effects. You won't get as much sustain but you get a nice bite due to the pickups. When distored the Coronet his nicely articulated. I'm using a DigiTech Valve FX for processing and have found few guitars that can't be effectively processed. Again, good for an inexpensive guitar but certainly not competition to $500+ guitars.

The fit and finish are actually quite good. Heavy knobs, a pickup selector that is stable and smooth bridge and nut parts, the bane of most inexpensive guitars. The bridge bothers me to some extent as it seems less refined and of poorer quality than a Gibson tune-o-matic. The finish is good, the fretboard has that problem with staining but that's something that will go away. The tuners are smooth and a pleasant surprise for a guitar in this price range. I'm not sure what kind of wood is used in the body but I suspect it's nothing terribly exciting.

I plan on using this guitar as a backup but might promote it to part time use. On clean cuts it has a more Fender style sound, less twang but not as dark as Gibsons. It will be used at gigs. How it holds up will be a good question. I'm impressed with this guitar especially for the price. It's not the greatest thing out there and I do agree, metal fans won't like it, the neck's all wrong and it won't shred, or at least I haven't figured a way to make it do so. Let me reiterate, for an inexpensive guitar it has a very articulate sound.

I've never dealt with Epiphone except trying to track down a Chet Atkins (no luck at the time), they were pleasant enough. In general I don't expect much from inexpensive instruments beyond staying in tune and having decent tone when processed. The warranty is limited lifetime, whatever that means.

The Coronet was the first decent guitar I ever owned, it was a late sixties model with single coil Melody Maker style pickups. The body was similar to this current model although it was a better quality guitar. The new configuration is good for what the guitar is. I used to see it selling for around $300-350 and it's a good deal at that price. I was very lucky to get mine for $100 and have not judged it's features at that price. I'd have to go 9 - 10 for a $100 guitar. I've been playing for 30 years, 25 in a professional capacity. I have a few gigs coming up this month and look forward to using the Coronet for certain songs. If my Carvin popped a string I'd have no problem using this guitar for the rest of the set with minimal adustments.

The newest Epiphone Coronet's feature one humbucker and a single coil. The neck is very friendly. The pickups are OBL - never heard of 'em. The Coronet is one of Epiphones older lines, but they still make new ones...they are just VERY hard to find. But they are REALLY nice looking guitars with decent sound...not great sound by any means.

One cool thing is that you can switch the Coronet's humbucker to single coil mode to get some Strat-like sounds, but not quite. The low ends are kind of clunky, but the highs are crisp. I put .11 or .12 gauge stings on which sound much better than lighter gauges. The Coronet can sound very thin sometimes. The tone nob works fine.

I don't know much about proper set up, but I thought the action was good - I recently lowered it a bit though. And after doing that I had to lower the pickups as well. The bridge never gave me any trouble, but if you put heavy gauge strings one one of these, you have to lower the action or the strings will get severed at the bridge. I didn't see any flaws at first, but if you look across the body, you can see lines in the wood that run up and down the body. The colors that Coronets come in are very nice and the bat-wing style head is pretty cool.

First of all, I would never play any gig without a backup and this guitar is no exception. Epiphones are also known to have crappy elecronics so I had mine completely replaced. It helped! Everything indicates that this guitar will last, but the lines running up and down the body (although you can only see them from certain angles) concern me.

Epiphone helpd me out when some crappy guitar store in Jersey said my guitar was on back order for months and months. This wasn't the case. The store owed Epiphone money and they were kind enough to "imply" that this might be the case. So I ordered the guitar thorugh another store and got it pretty fast. But I've never seen a new Coronet in-stock at any store. I saw an ad for it about 3 years ago and decided I wanted to try it out. If I didn't like it I was going to sell it -- I still own it.

I've been playing guitar about 10 years and although it's a pain in the ass to get information on the equipment used by guitarists that I like, this is a good versatile guitar if you like to play alternative-pop or Brit-pop...this NOT a metal guitar. I play it through a Laney HC50 and they go well together. The Coronet sounds most like a low-end Fender Telecaster, but has a bit more range. I use very few effects (chorus, reverb, light distortion) and this guitar goes well with that, but crank it up with a lot of distortion and you'll be dissapointed because the pickups aren't doing enough for you.