Epiphone Dot

I purchased a 2001 DOT and "love it". It is very versatile and the action is very low. I play it through a Line 6 Spider 210 and shreds. I was going to purchase a ES 335 but y Vaughn. The guitar I found to be the best was the Epiphone Dot, to play better for some reason. I asked the sales person to hand me guitars (hollow bodys) and I did not look at the price or manufacturer. I picked out the DOT and I only payed $ 399.00 for it. My music ranges from Rush to Nugent to Stevie Ray Vaughn and so on.

This beaut was made in 01, and everything else you already can discern from previous reviews.
However...the pups are designed by Gibson, which I hear are a great improvement over the Samsung' which came standard on prior models.
Oh, by the way, it is a cherry finish.

Blues and rock are a mainstay for me, and this axe delivers nicely.
The chords really made a great impression on me. Distorted or clean.
This was unexpected as I thought that being a semi hollow-bodied instrument, it might take some tone tweaking to get a shimmer out of the treble strings. Not so. A very nice suprise.
This is a very well balanced sounding guitar.
The tone controls are around 300K, and have been switched to 500K, as well as the volume pots.
This gives the guitar a bit more sweep on both the volume and tone.
The knobs have also been replaced with the much easier to read black speed knobs.
The white on gold knobs that are standard were just too hard for me to read.

The frets will have to be leveled and shaped to my liking. Too many filing marks on the frets on this one too. Oh well, it is a small matter after all.
The nut seems to be well slotted, but it also will be replaced with a bone nut, as bone nuts are the only type that I prefer.
Otherwise after some tweaking (which is performed on any guitar to get it where you like it) this guitar is a very welcome edition to my arsenal.
Really a great product for the price.

We'll just have to see.
It does come with a limited lifetime warranty tho.

Don't know.
But if they read any of these reviews...
Your Q.C. Dept. is getting better all the time.
Just have them check and recheck the fret leveling and filing marks.

It is everything I had expected from Epiphone.
I happen to like thier bang for the buck ratio, and will consider purchasing more from them as time goes by.
I am not a guitar snob. If it sounds good...it is good.
I've been playing way too long to be taken in by thinking you haven't truly got a great axe unless there is a big brand name on the headstock.

Everyone else has explained the set up really nothing I can add.

I play all types of music it sounds an plays great
I have a Vox Cambridge and a Peavey MarkIII head with two twelves
Mine sounds great read on.

I have 5 Epiphones none of them have been set up good I've had to tune them all up my self, but when you do there as good as a Gibson
for a lot less! The fit & finish were fine

Well hear is where I differ the pickup switch went out in mine in about a month I had it changed, and used a gibson switch.Then One of the Tone Pots went out about 2 years later, but I will say the guitar
got wet playing outside in a pouring rain storm,anyway, the piont is I change all the pots to 500k's replaced the resistors with .2k mylar film capacitors Which is what they used in the old Gibson 335's nowdays they use 300k pots and this baby sounds as good as any real 335 you ever heard, I don't think the tone in them has any thing to do with the pick-ups. You can buy the whole kit from setward mcdonald for 30 bucks.
The body and neck are great on mine, and with the new pots and switch it will last longer than i will,but you can't use it for a club. And as far as the tuners they have adjustments so they don't slip unless you just want new ones!

Life time warranty people at Gibson have always been helpfull& nice to me.

I've been Playing 30+ years I just went to WB&BW and played a $4300
Chet Atkins Tennasean WHAT A DISAPOINTMENT!!!! Everyone in this review almost, says chane the pick-ups, well there was an Epiphone Alley cat there And 3 other pertty good players there agree the Epi sounded and played better than the Chet Gibson but if everyone wants to pay 200 bucks for pick-ups who am I to say.If mine were lost or stolen I'd sure buy another one And just change the pots and switchs

I have owned this guitar for a little over a year now, and have decided that it was time for a review. It was purchased from Musicians-Whore (Friend, to some), via mail order for $469.00, which was before they lowered the price to $399.

I am not going to sit here and constantly compare
this to a genuine ES-335, because that would be silly.

Where does everyone think all of that extra money goes on the real Gibson anyway? What do you think, that at night, at the Gibson factory, they close all of the doors and roll around naked in all of the money they are making?

Real Gibsons come with better wood, better electronics, better finish and they are made by our brothers and sisters that have to be paid well for their skills.

This is the authorized Gibson ES 335 semi-Hollow body copy, with two humbuckers and a three way togggle switch. Mine came equipped with the "el-cheapo" Sam-Sung humbuckers, that like the guitar, were made over-seas (The pick-ups were changed at a later date, read on).

The ratings for "features" I guess should be a 10. I mean it is a copy of a guitar that was designed about 35 years ago, right? So it has the same features that it had back then, which were pretty high tech for that time.

I use this guitar for Rock type music. Before I purchased it, I read all of the reviews on Harmony Central and decided that I should give it a try. Everyone had said that the pick-ups had to go, so I was already expecting some form of poor sound quality when I first plugged it in. Much to my surprise, the guitar sounded pretty good, probably good enough for anyone buying a mass produced guitar.

After playing it for a month or two, I decided to try different pick-ups just as an experiment. After some research, I decided that I wanted to try a true vintage sounding humbucker in it. I wound up purchasing a set of Seymour Duncan "Seth Lover" model Humbuckers because they are supposed to be one of the most accurate replicas of the early style humbucker(right down to the non-wax potted, real nickel covers). These pick ups were expensive, but I figured that if they were not worth it, I would trade them in or perhaps sell them on EBAY.

The new pick-ups, compared to the Sam-Sungs, were incredible. It really sounded like a different guitar. With an over-drive pedal on, the guitar took on a raw classic rock sound, very similar to some of the famous rock records of the sixties/seventies. Keep in mind, I am using a thirty year old all tube amplifier, which really helps a lot.

Overall, the gutiar has a well balanced sound. It can be very bright, or you can warm it up by rolling back the tone-pots a little. I guess for sound quality I would have to give it an 8-9. This rating is very subjective, because we all hear things a bit differently.

When I received it from the "Whore" via UPS, it was in perfect condition. I think it had 11's on it, the action/set-up was fine, and it was still in tune! The ebony finish on it was remarkable for such an inexpensive guitar. The only problem that I had was that the nut needed a little bit of lubrication.

Now lets get to the tuners....yes, they are cheap. I can not understand how they can put such cheesy tuners on these things. They should just "jack" the price of the guitar up $30, and put high quality tuners on it, which would make such a difference on first impressions. The tuners do work, and they do their job, they just have a crappy feel to them.

Now to the Nut, which is made of some type of plastic. I have spoken to a hand-full of luthiers on the subject of replacing it with bone (about a $60 job) and they all pretty much had the same answer, which was to leave it alone. When I tried to rebutal them, they did not seem to think it was even worth the argument. Go figure.

The toggle switch feels a little cheap, but works fine and has never failed in a year. The tone pots seem to work fine as well, but I am doing research to see if replacing them with higher quality pots will effect the sound of the guitar.

I play this guitar on average for a couple of hours a day and it seems to be doing fine. The hardware is chrome plated and has a decent finish to it, however, time will be the only thing that will determine how well it will hold up. As far as the strap buttons are concerned, I replaced them with a strap lock system, like I do on every guitar that I have owned.

One "beef" that I had was with where the guitar cord plugged into the guitar. It was just a 1/4 inch jack, seated right into the wood of the guitar, sticking right out the front (I think this is the way gibsons come too though?). It worked fine, but it was one of those things that really got on my nerves. The solution was to install a recessed, angled strat type jack plate. Yes, a hole had to be routed in the front of the body, but who cares. Its not like Korean Epiphones are known for their collectability or resale value.

Lifetime warranty...never had to deal with them.

Overall, I give the Epiphone DOT a 9. Keep in mind that all of my ratings are for a Korean made, $400 dollar imported guitar. They are not for a $3000 hand made Gibson ES-335. I know that I have invested some money into the (a new) guitar, but the total cost is still below any new Yamaha or who ever else makes a clone. Plus, its a lot cheaper than buying a beat-up used Gibson ES 335 for $800-$1000 bucks with a broken neck that has been repaired etc etc.

For the money, this guitar is a pretty good value. You have to stop and think that if you are paying $399 (the new price), the mail order house or local music store is probably only paying $275, and it probably only costs the factory over-seas a $100 bucks to make the darn thing!

I think that for average player, the Epiphone DOT is well worth the money and will provide years worth of enjoyment. For anyone who thinks the DOT is too cheap or the Real Gibson too expensive, I have one piece of advice. Sit down and build one yourself, then see how it comes out and how much it cost.

2000 model, Korean made, two humbuckers, hollow body, passive electronics (very passive to the point of being dead - more on that later) laminated woods, natural finish. ES-335 style body. The body appears to be maple, as does the neck, which has a rosewood fretboard. The tuners are the usual total garbage that Epiphone puts on their guitars. Surely there's a Korean tuner manufacturer that can do a better job than whoever they buy these "Instant-Slip" units from. There are times when I think open-gear Waverlys would have been a terrific improvement. The neck has medium-large frets. I ordered this from Musicians' Friend and the first one they sent me had a badly warped neck. I sent it back. The second one wasn't warped, but you definitely can't get the action as low as you can on a Gibson ES-335. You are always going to be doing some wrestling with this guitar. The natural maple finish is nice, and it's one of the good things about this guitar.

The new Epiphone "Designed By Gibson" pickups are a big improvement over the old ones. They lack a little finesse, but you have to have a really good ear hear it. In most applications you'd need humbuckers for, they'll come through fine. The guitar is noise-free. It has a very full, well-rounded sound, and sounds good whether I'm playing it through the Vox solid-state Pathfinder or the tube Ampeg Jet II. The pickups and the sound are by far the best things about this guitar.

This is where it gets dodgy. The guitar showed up from Musician's Friend and it wouldn't stop buzzing no matter how I adjusted it. It turned out the neck was twisted. I sent it back and to their credit I got a new one. The pickup switch went out the second day I had it, but fortunately contact cleaner made it work again. However, this has spooked me; how long is it going to work before it goes out for good? I don't have time or patience enough to worry with a guitar that's going to keep breaking down, and I am strongly inclined just to send it back to Musician's Friend and get my money back. For the record, after setup, the action is OK. Not great, just OK. I have several other guitars that play much better than this one. The overall finishing work on the second guitar that I recieved was better than on the first one, which had poorly painted soundhole edges that bled on to the body. The hardware is very shiny, but a close look reveals that it's not the best quality. It'll be Oxidation City in a couple of years. The wiring, pots, and switches are, to be kind, junk. The nut is plastic, which isn't too cool. I mean, come on, bone is NOT expensive, nor are the better plastics like Corian, and they're not hard to tool. I don't know why Epiphone refuses to make this little change, which would improve their guitars a great deal. Put a decent nut on the damn things!

This guitar is solid, or at least as solid as semihollowbodies can be. It will probably hold up under about five or six years of playing, but I can guarantee you that it'll have to have the pickup switch replaced, and maybe the pots too, within a couple of years. You'll have to replace the hardware within a year or two, as well; maybe sooner if you have sweaty hands. The tuners are so awful that it would almost be better if they sold the guitar without tuners, so you wouldn't have to go to the trouble of taking those buggers off and replacing them with Grovers or Schallers. A

At this point I'd have to say I wouldn't use it without a backup. The pickup switch has already gone out, and the previous guitar that I sent back had a badly twisted neck. I'm frankly doubtful about its reliability overall. I'd say this is a fine guitar for someone on a budget who wants the ES-335 sound, but it's definitely something that's going to wear out, bit by bit. It's just not all that great a guitar, in spite of the reviews you read elsewhere. Certainly not a professional-level axe. There are too many flaws and cut corners for that to be the case.

I called up Gibson; they were actually quite helpful in helping me figure out the problem with the neck. Nice people.

I've been playing for well over 25 years and have a lot of gear. Overall, I was very disappointed with this guitar. I read all the other reviews on here, and expected a lot more than I got. The first Dot I got was defective, so I figured I'd cut Epiphone some slack. The second one is still unimpressive.

This is NOT the same as owning a Gibson ES-335, and anybody who tells you so is either lying or still in the "honeymoon" phase that everyone goes through after buying a new guitar. This is a very average Korean copy of an ES-335, and it's no better than the Washburn or DeArmond 335 copies.

You can get it to play pretty well, and it sounds all right, but this is definitely a $400 guitar. And at that it might be overpriced, considering the cheapness of the switch, the bad machine heads, and the ridiculously awful nut. I have a Mexican-made Tele, and in some ways the build quality is better, which is a sad commentary to make.

I am very seriously thinking about sending this guitar back to Musician's Friend and getting my money back. I have many other guitars, including a Rickenbacker 330 and a Fender Jazzmaster. Both of these guitars play much more easily than the Dot. Quite honestly the Dot has a blocky, chunky, clumsy feel overall, and I don't find it all that enjoyable to play. It does sound pretty decent, and I suppose that if I were a beginning or intermediate player, and didn't have many guitars to compare it to, I might have a higher opinion. As it is I definitely don't think it's a professional-level guitar. I have been told that if I dropped a lot of money on the guitar, changed the tuning keys, put in new switching/wiring, etc. "you'd have a pretty good axe!" I think they call that "throwing good money after bad," and I don't see the point.

I want to emphasize that in spite of the glowing reviews on here and elsewhere, this is only a SUBSTITUTE for an ES-335. It's not really even close to the real thing. Even considered on its own merits as a $400 guitar, I think you could do better in this price range with another manufacturer. After this experience I honestly don't think I'll be buying any more Epiphones, and my advice to anyone considering buying one of these would be to save your money for the good stuff. Yamaha and Ibanez make some very nice 335-style guitars in the $700-$800 range, and used 335's can be found for around $1000 to $1500. Guild also makes the Starfire IV, which is a 335-styled guitar. In build quality it's equal to the Gibson 335, and it costs about $2000 less than the Gibson. The Dot might be useful as a "stopgap" axe, something to play while you're saving your money for a REAL guitar, but it'll never be anything more than that.

Saving money on guitars is overrated. I'm not a millionaire and I have to work hard to get bucks to get guitars with, but the adage "You get what you pay for," is true in many ways. Granted, I don't believe that Gibson's 335 is really worth $2000 to $3000; you're paying for the name. But even so, Yamaha, Ibanez, and Guild make 335-style guitars that run from $800 to $1700 which are just as good as the Gibson. And let's tell the truth. No $400 guitar is going to sound as good, or play as well, as a $1000 guitar. Period. The bottom line is, spend the money for the guitar you want, and don't settle for a substitute or lookalike. You'll only end up disappointed in the long run. If you've put enough time and effort into learning the guitar to where you deserve a nice guitar, then by God, save your money and GET A GOOD GUITAR. Leave these substitutes and copies to the beginners and the weekend noodlers.

This is an 2000 Epiphone Dot. Made in Korea, cherry red with chrome hardware. There are enough other reviews on here to know the rest of the specs. Came with the standard Epiphone Dot hardshell case. Fit and finish right out of the box were pretty decent although it needed a setup, but most guitars do, right?

This guitar plays really nicely. I played a few Gibson 335s, both new and vintage. The Gibsons are much nicer but for eight to twenty times the price of this Epiphone? No contest, the Epiphone is a much superior value, unless you are a working pro.

This guitar is mostly played direct into a mixer in our recording studio through a Korg PX-3. Through this little $200.00 box, the Epiphone sounds really nice, great for recording. I saw John Herrington play this past summer with Steely Dan and with this setup, I can emulate a lot of the tones I heard. Nails the Larry Carlton tone as well but can also get into other tones from open tunings ala Joni Mitchell to Foo Fighters. Everything from fat, warm, woody jazzy tone to very nice, ballsy, thick Les Paul tones are possible. The only tones that seem to be elusive are the twang and glassiness of either a Strat or Tele but since this guitar is the opposite end of the spectrum (dual HB, arch top, semi-hollow body) that is forgiven. The guitar is very quiet even though the Samsung made humbuckers are slightly microphonic. At some point, I will probably replace them with Gibson classic PAFs as I like the sound better but for stock, these pickups aren't bad. The guitar has a rich, woody tone and intonates perfectly.

The guitar was supposedly already setup in the USA by Epiphone after it got off of the boat but it still needed some work. Came with a .10-46 set but I will probably switch to an .11-48 set as I like the sound and intonation when chording better than the lighter strings. The pickup height came adjusted correctly, but the nut sucked. The guitar would not stay in tune out of the box but a trip to my local guitar tech took care of that. I had him replace the cheap plastic nut with a Corian one and it now sounds and plays much better as well as stays in tune really nicely now.

No flaws in fit or finish. Not Gibson level, but pretty good for the price.

Like any hollowbody, this guitar isn't designed to withstand abuse like a Tele or Les Paul. The guitar would be OK for gigs if it was babied but any abuse would be bad news for this or any other hollowbody. The hardware seems decent although the pickup selector is a little flimsy. The finish so far seems to be pretty decent although I am pretty easy on guitars as I like for them to last a long time. The strap buttons are decent but I will probably replace with something beefier soon. Can I depend on it? Hmm...for my needs, yes. For a working pro musician, I would buy two to have a spare. Heck at $369.00, most people could afford one in each color. Once again, you get what you pay for to an extent. For that price, it's built well. Compared to a Gibson, it's not built in the same league.

Have never dealt with Epiphone, but the lifetime warranty is nice. On the other hand, since I have replaced the nut and will replace the pickups, the warranty is void anyhow. If I encounter any problems, I have an excellent guitar tech so I'm not concerned.

I have been playing (non-professionally) for 24 years. I also have a Roland GR-303 Guitar Synthesizer, Fender Fat Telecaster and a Washburn D-21 Acoustic. So far (I have had this guitar for four months) I have no regrets.

It's been a decade since I last bought a guitar and I am amazed at just how good this guitar is for the money. When I last bought a guitar, almost anything under $1,000.00 seeemed to be pretty junky, yet now, for under $400.00, this guitar is awesome. The advent of standardized manufacturing processes and CNC routers has resulted in a lot of Asian made guitars that are pretty damned great for very little money. I also have a friend who owns a Chinese made Squier Fat Strat which he bought from Guitar Center for $79.00 on an ad mis-print. It is also a great little guitar and is much superior to a real CBS era Strat that I recently played.

Kids playing guitar today have no idea how great they have it compared to their dads and uncles who played 20 years ago. For the price of a Gibson ES-335, you could now buy an Epiphone Dot, a decent amp, A PC and software to act as an entire recording studio. What a great time to be a musician!

Everyone else has already given all this info........a well made guitar with the exception of the pickups. More said later........
Neck is especially nice. Very playable.
Get you some Classic 57 pickups or the like and you're good to go.....

I'm sure you know what a 335 should sound like. I'm a BLUES player. Great guitar if you change the pickups.
I play thru a Boogie MK 4 head with a Peavey 4x10 cabinet and sometimes my little Fender Pro Junior (thru which it sounds EXTREMELY good now that the new pickups are installed and tweaked).
So here's the deal-----as has been said by others--CHANGE THE PICKUPS!!!! You'll be very very glad you did!
I just had some Gibson Classic 57's installed and it now sounds GREAT!
They did need tweaking, however to achieve optimum balance between neck and bridge and, of course, just to sound like I personally like them........starting out the bridge was too trebly and the neck was too warm (muddy) ----if I adjusted the amp tone knobs for the bridge the neck got muddier etc. understand? Adjusting the pickup height, angle (treble side to bass string side) and POLE PIECES made a HUGE DIFFERENCE. But once I messed with 'em a bit it just really GROWLS, nice.
A word about the old/stock pickups_---the neck stayed muddy, kinda like "woman tone" all the time--as if the tone knob was rolled down all the time. It sounded kind of cool but that's all it did, you couldn't lose it. The bridge sounded pretty good really but no where near as good as the Classic 57's.
IF ANYONE HAS ANY ADVICE ON POT VALUES--VOLUME OR TONE---PLEASE E-MAIL ME. I'd like to take it a step further and this is an area I don't yet know much about. I've heard a bit about changing 25o's to 500k's etc. Need to know more.........
Anyway, with new pickups I give this guitar a 10. With old pickups---oh, how 'bout a 7?

Factory set up was very acceptable. I always mess with it to taste.
The bridge saddles did require buffing to stop breaking the high E string after about 2 sets on a gig (every time)! and sometimes the B too.
I play 10-52 hybrid sets. A 10 on top is about as thick as I can bend on for long with my tendonitis!
The nut slots are a little bit tight--they probably need filing but it's not really causing a problem so I'll leave 'em alone at least for now.

With the pickup change and saddles buffed I now can definately play this with confidence. I've waited about 6 months to post this review just to make sure about my opinions after gigging with it a bit.
A word about strap buttons---their fine, just keep a nice new strap on it--in other words, one with the plastic or leather still stiff on the ends and it stays on fine. My cheap five dollar strap works great, nice and stiff--a little tough to get on the buttons that's what you want--once it's on no worries about it coming off! Really a cheap plastic ended strap works just great.

no experience here yet...........

Once you change the pickups, you've got a really nice looking/playing 335 for about a bazillion less than a Gibson. I'm really very pleased and get many comments and compliments on both the tone and looks of this instrument (mine's black).
Very nice. I've been playing a long time and have been gigging with my Epi 2-4 nights a month for about 6 months now. I would definately buy it again if it were stolen (but boy I'd be pissed after all the hours I've spent dialing it in and setting it all up just right for me......) I don't even like taking it to a tech 'cause they inevitably change something I didn't want them too! Ha ha ha ha
AGAIN------ E-mail me if you can offer advice on pot value changes or maybe wiring changes like how to wire it for just one master volume and tone and leave the others just there for looks. As a blues player, I ride the knobs and I'd rather have just one volume, one tone personally.............

Just like a Gibson 335. Classic configuration of two humbuckers, two volumes, and two tones. Three-way switchcraft selecter switch. 22 frets. Comes with gibson strings (.11's I think?) Tunomatic bridge copy (slightly wider than a Gibson.

I play all kinds of music. My main guitar for hard and metal is an Ibanez 7-string with Dimarzio's. I needed something warmer because I also play alot of blues, and I play in my High School Jazz Band. My main amp is a 1975 Marshall 50-watt Master Volume head with a 70's 4x12 cab. I also occasionaly use a Dunlop Crybaby. I will tell you right now, Epi stock pickups suck. Epiphone should sell their guitars without pickups. The Epiphone pickups are quite bland. They might work for a novice, but if you have played the real thing you know it sounds better. I replaced the pickups with Gibson Classic '57 Humbuckers, and they make this guitar an 10. the Gibson are warm and full, and make it sound like a real vintage 335. I totally recommend you make this change. So I give a 6 out of the box.

The guitar was set up O.K. I had to have it set up at the shop. The nut needed filig. The guiatr itself had a flawless finish. Ny only qualm was that one of the tone knobs came cracked.

This guitar has worked fine so far. I always use a backup guitar,

Overall this a great guitar for anyone trying to cop a 335 tone, Gibson's are way to expensive for a high schooler. I also recommend cahnging the tuners which I did to Sperzel trim-Lok tuners.

It's basically a copy of the Gibson 335. Two humbuckers, semi-hollow body, etc. You know the rest.

It sounds pretty good, especialy for the price. Makes me wonder how Gibson justifies almost #2k or more for their 335 Dot Re-issues. The don't sound *that* much better mates.

Workmanship is good and has gotten better since my bandmate got his two years ago. Cherry finish is top, the neck is perfect and the pickups are improved. Nut stinks so replace it with a bone nut. The bridge is way better too. The older ones have a real shite bridge that doesn't intonate well and drifts all over the county. The newer ones that I have seen in stores (like mine) have an ABR-1 style bridge that intonates perfectly and stays intonated. Not nickel however. The older ones are crap, and it's major aggro to replace them with an ABR-1 because the anchor holes are huge and have to be doweled up, and the paint then needs a touch up. I know someone that went through that and it was a major deal. Not a DIY project mate. There's still a lot of those Dots left out there too. Avoid them!

Guitar is definatey reliable, just don't throw it around like Pete Townshend. I never gig without a backup. Too risky with any guitar.

Never dealt with them.

For the money it's an excellent value. Just replace that nut and watch out for the older ones with the shite bridge.

Two humbuckers, nice finish, crappy tuners. The tuners look nice enough but the thing always goes out of tune. You will replace them for sure.


Someone diss'ed the pickups. I find them to be just fine. A lot of that has to do with what you are playing through. You could play a custom shot Strat through a crappy amp and--surprise!--it'll sound, well, crappy.

I run my Dot (my other stage guitar is an American Standard Strat) through a vintage 64 black face Bandmaster and it kicks A**! But if I ran it through some solid-state clunker....you get the idea..

Excellent sound. Deep bass, glass shattering treble and all points in between. Decent sustain too.

No flaws to speak of. I replaced the tail strap piece with a locking one--my choice. Not really necessary. Nice factory setup.

I have kicked this guitar's butt and it keeps right on ticking. I NEVER play a gig without a backup guitar and amp. Plan for the worst....

Have had no problems/dealings

I have played for over thirty years. We do a lot of Beatle covers and such. When we play that genre, I play this guitar. I use my Am Standard Strat on noisier stuff....

I bought this for about $400 with a great lined hard-shell case from Victor Litz (on line). It was a steal!!!! Only problem is cheap die-cast tuners...Throw on a set of Grovers and you are in business!

2000 model made in Korea. ES-335 copy. Has the new Gibson designed passive humbucker pickups, which sound 1000 times better than old Samsung, microphonic, Epiphone mud-tone specials. Other standard features covered by other reviewers, so I won't repeat. Features are very functional and do the job. Mine is in cherry finish and came with new case and guitar cable.

The new Gibson designed pickups sound very good. I had purchased some Gibson 57 Classic pickups six months ago specifically to install them in either a Dot or a Sheraton II (See my 3/28/00 review of Sheraton II). But when I brought this guitar home and hooked it up to my favorite amp, I could not believe how good it sounded with the stock pickups. I remembered how bad my Sheraton II sounded with stock pickups. I was impressed...no, more like amazed! I even considered sticking with the stock pickups and not installing the 57 Classics, but I went ahead with the modification.

I really enjoy playing 60s covers, power pop and stuff that is guitar-hook driven. I look for a guitar set up that delivers good tone. When checking out hollow body guitars, always hear how one sounds without the amp - acoustically. If you feel the wood resonate well and there is good sustain, you've got a keeper.

I checked out 10 other hollow bodies the day I bought this one... many others before. This one had the best "unplugged" tonal characteristics. It turned out to be a FACTORY SECOND because of some minor finish flaw, so I got it with the case for a steal. It really does pay to invest the time to play every guitar on the shelf and find the one that SOUNDS best.

I had it set up. I did my usual routine of going with Ernie Ball .11/.48s. I love the way this instrument sounds...absolutely beautiful. The '57 Classic in the bridge position gives the warmest, fullest, most beautiful sounds I have ever heard out of an electric guitar: amazingly good, full tones - just like a hollow body is supposed to. I am still in awe. How can this sound so good for so modest an investment?

Factory set up was actually quite good. Neck tension needed to be adjusted for my heavier gauge strings. Guitar was well constructed with all hardware set up as it should be. Stays in tune perfectly. (I have heard people complain over and over about Epiphone guitars going easily out of tune. I have four of them - Dot, Sheraton II, Les Paul Standard and Korina Flying V - and have not had that problem with any of mine.)

Despite improved pickups, pickup selector switch appears to be of the same poor quality as all the others on Epiphone guitars. As noted, I bought this one new as second. You would never know unless you looked carefully. Nut needed a little filing done, but O.K. All in all, a good rating for this category.

Only had it a month, but have been playing it almost daily. I will be playing it live on occasion and have no concerns about that. I always gig with a backup no matter what guitar I am using. Hardware seems solid, in good working order and gives no clue of anything other than that is ready to play.

I have had mixed experiences with Epiphone. They have been very responsive on some warranty repairs I needed done on one of my other Epiphone guitars. They ignored me completely on one occasion. I have not needed warranty work on this guitar. Warranty is Epiphone's Limited Lifetime, but I think their representation is misleading. The warranty is only 1 year on electronics and is voided when you replace inferior Epiphone parts with good stuff. They should not punish their consumers for investing in quality improvements.

Playing something like 22 years. Other Gear: Gibson SG Standard; Gibson SG Deluxes - (2) of them; Gibson '67 Reissue Flying V; Gibson Nighthawk Standard; Rickenbacker 325; Rickenbacker 330; Fender American Standard Telecaster; Fender Squier Stratocaster; Parker Nite Fly IV and the 4 Epiphones mentioned above. I could not be happier with this guitar. The sound - as modified and set up - is heavenly.

I decided a while ago to stick Gibson P-94s in a Sheraton II I have. It sounds absolutely fantastic - especially when the two pickups are played in tandem. I decided back then that I would pick up a second reasonable priced hollow body and stick '57 Classics in it to compliment my P-94 equipped Sheraton II. I now have two hollow body guitars; both sound wonderful; and my total outlay is still several hundred dollars less than what you would have to spend just to buy one ES-335. In other words, I have a wider tonal spectrum covered and I have spend less.

I love the ES-335s. And I am fortunate enough that I can afford one. In fact, I could afford several of them, but ruled them out right off the bat due to their outrageous cost. I am not giving my hard earned money away, but do not mind spending it where justified.
The sound quality I am able to get out of my Dot just does not justify my spending the extra money for a real ES-335. I also have looked extensively at Washburn HBs, Guild Starfire III and IVs, etc. This particular guitar gave me the best acoustic, unplugged sound, and that was the #1 consideration. (An Ibanez AS80 was a close 2nd.) My DOT sounded best, and the best sound - not the steepest cost - is what it is all about. And I knew I was going to have a winner with upgraded pickups. My set up is far more reasonable cost-wise and simply sounds better than the competitors I checked out.

epiphone dot limited edition pid 449.00 included hardshell case

my music style is blues and classic rock. This guitar has a full rich tone and when overdriven on my crate vcs amp it wil really scream!

I had the guitar professionally set up to factory specs and set for intonation

this guitar is used weekly for live playing. The hollow body can create some very intresting feedback loops that are controlable.

Manufactured in Korea. Made in September 1999?. Bought in June 2000. Model No.: Dot (ES-Dot: Gibson ES-335 Dot copy). Electric, Arch Top, Thin Semi Hollow Body, Semi Acoustic. <http://www.epiphone.com/inst/Archtop/ETDT.html>
Pickups: 2 Humbuckers
Controls: 2 Volume, 2 Tone, 3-Way Pickup Selector
Tuners: ? Sealed
Hardware: Chrome
Scale: 24.75" (22 Frets)
Nut Width: 1.68"
Neck Joint: Set
Neck Material: Maple
Fingerboard/Inlay: Rosewood/Dot (Mother of Pearl)
Headstock Inlay: Abalone
Binding: Body (White)
Body Material: Laminated Maple
Top: Laminated Maple
Finishes: Cherry, Ebony, Natural, Vintage Sunburst. Mine is a rare Natural. I have also seen Heritage Cherry Sunburst's second hand.

Mine came with black Gibson knobs, and a black pickguard with white edging but without the E.

Came with SKB SKB-335 hardshell case <http://www.skbcases.com/cases/guitars/jg.html>.

I like its sounds - it fulfils my desire for a flexible guitar for playing my eclectic musical tastes. I'd say it fits the bill for everything except metal, hard rock, and classical. The neck/rhythm humbucker gives warm tones, while the bridge/treble humbucker gives bright tones. The sustain is singing. I have a Roland GC-405X stack amplifier, and a Zoom GFX-707 multi-effects console. It sounds great direct through either the clean or lead channels. It can give feedback on lead channel if not careful, but this is not unexpected on semi-hollow bodies. When I bought it I had a Samick LA30R amp. It didn't give feedback on that amp, but distortion wasn't noticeable on that amp until set to about 9! The Roland is an excellent amp with Roland's TubeLogic HOT Technology. The guitar isn't noisy at all.

I do intend to replace the humbuckers at some stage, as per the advice of many other reviewers, but I must admit I like the way it sounds right now. I just understand it can sound even better! For what it's worth, I'll throw in the humbucker replacement options I've come up with:
Option 1: 2 Gibson '57 Classic HBs - as per the Gibson 335.
Option 2: A '57 Classic in the neck and a '57 Classic Plus (higher output) in the bridge.
Option 3: A 490R in the neck and a 490T in the bridge - as per B.B. King's Gibson Lucille.
Option 4: 2 P-94's should make it sound like a Casino.
Option 5: A '57 Classic in the neck and a P-94 in the bridge. I want to explore this particular option further myself, as I expect this would provide for the greatest tonal variety, while retaining the warm tones the 335 is famous for, and hopefully adding the sounds of the Casino.

All the controls work as expected. Action is setup low, and I like it like that. There does seem to be a slight tendency for fret buzz on the low E, but only if you pick it hard - it could me just my bad playing though. Everthing seems well setup, but I am going to get the guitar professionally setup at some stage, but I think the setup as purchased is pretty good. I have just found an article on how to check and adjust the intonation, so I will give that a go by myself. The overall quality of finish and manufacture is excellent. Nothing was loose. The natural finish of this guitar is excellent. The wood is nice! The only flaw is on the fretboard, where a small area is lighter than the rest, but it doesn't really detract from the guitar. I guess this could be from the guitar having been on demo in the store where I bought it. The plastic on the truss rod cover is a bit "stressed" also, but you can only see this if you really look close.

Seems solid and well finished enough to me. I expect to gig with it at some stage. I think you should always gig with a backup, but I see no reason why less cautious types would not gig without a backup for this guitar. The strap buttons seemed fine, but I have changed them for Straplok buttons. I may well change them back though, as I installed the Straplok buttons with the original thinner screws to keep my options open, and have since purchased locking straps. I think (and certainly hope) I can depend on this guitar. It looks and feels like a million bucks. It seems sturdy and well manufactured. It sounds good, and I expect it will sound even better when I upgrade the humbuckers.

The only comment I would make is that the tuners seem very easily knocked out of tune. They're very easy to adjust, but obviously that makes them just as easy to accidently knock out of tune.

Haven't had to deal with them.

The warranty through the local importer is only 2 years limited, but the Epiphone international? warranty is of the Limited Lifetime variety.

All I can say here is: with all the "outs" in these "limited" warranties, they're not really much good. There's absolutely no warranty on the finish, and if you install Straplok buttons, you've invalidated the warranty.

I'm basically a beginner.

My main gear consists of: a natural Epiphone Dot (ES-Dot: Gibson ES-335 Dot copy); a red Ibanez Talman Inter City (TCY10) acoustic-electric; a Roland GC-405X stack amplifier, and a Zoom GFX-707 multi-effects console.

I would buy again in an instant. I love this guitar! - its look, its feel, its sound. It's a 335 - what more can I say! Price/features/performance wise it's great value. It's just great!

The Gibson version is now over NZ$7000 in New Zealand - seven times what I paid for my Epiphone. I can't see how that can be justified. Once I've changed the pickups for about NZ$500, it'll sound like the real thing. You could replace the chrome hardware with nickel fairly reasonably too. I can't see why you'd pay so much extra for the Gibson. I might buy a Gibson new or 2nd hand from the US, but not in New Zealand - no way.

As I said earlier. I'd like to explore the '57 Classic/P-94 pickup combo. Stereo Varitone sounds useful, like on B.B. King's Gibson Lucille, the Epiphone B.B. King Lucille, Gibson BluesHawk, and Gibson Little Lucille. Not sure whether I'd like the VibroTone - it depends whether it stays in tune or not, and I've heard it doesn't. So I guess I'd like VibroTone with a double-locking Floyd Rose (or equivalent).

Cherry DOT with OHSC. Made in Korea. 2 Humbuckers, 2 tone, 2 volume, 3-way switch, rosewood fingerboard, 22 frets, stop tailpiece.

This guitar sounds absolutely wonderful for blues, 60s soul and 60s rock. I play it through a vintage '71 Fender Bandmaster reverb amp and twin 2x12 cabinets. I also use a vintage '66 Fender Bassman amp and 2x15 cabinet. Playing it through either amp gives that 60s rock sound and rich/full bodied blues sound.

I got this new through the net from a music store in New York state. The set up was good, not great, but no where near as bad as some I have seen. I have yet to find anything wrong with the guitar. It stays in tune better than the Les Paul and SG I also own.

This is the one I play the most, using the Les Paul and SG as backups, but would gig without a backup. About the only thing I would change might be the pickups. They are standard Samsung issue. A set of true Gibson humbuckers would add that final touch to make this a world class guitar. Considering the price of an Epiphone vs. Gibson, this is the only guitar to own.

Have not had to deal with Epiphone and hopefully never will.

I have been playing on and off for 30+ years. I now mostly collect guitars and vintage amps. I own a Les Paul, Les Paul 12-sting, Les Paul Special, two SGs, vintage EB2 bass, SG bass and Fender P-bass. Of the guitars, the DOT is my favorite. If it were lost or stolen would I replace it............YOU BET, in a heartbeat.

Double cutaway hollow body guitar. Looks just like an old Gibson 335. Mine is red. Tune-O-Matic bridge, non-locking tuners. The neck is very comfortable in my opinion. No accessories were included with the guitar.

I couldn't ask for a nicer guitar. The fact that the cost is so reasonable only adds to my appreciation of this guitar. I am completely in awe of how nice this instrument sounds. I originally set out to find a guitar that could not only get a sweet clean tone but could also give me a heavy distortion when I needed it. This guitar is all I need. I have been thinking about upgrading the pickups sooner or later but it isn't really something I'm too worried about. Worth every penny.

The guitar wasn't set up perfectly when I got it. I don't blame Epiphone for this though. I bought the guitar from Guitar Center. Those guys don't take care of any of the merchandise on the floor. It was obvious that this thing had been sitting around collecting dust for quite a while. It also had been tuned down a couple octaves by some numb nuts shredder that probably wondered in and decided to play it through a dual rectifier or something. I have had the guitar for over a year and I have only gotten it set up once!
The only complaint about the guitar is that I had a little problem with the toggle switch. I think that this was my fault though. I replaced the yellow knobs on the guitar with black knobs to make it appear more like a 335. I must have messed the wires up a little because I have been experiencing some static when I use the switch. Other than that I have had no problem.

I have used it quite a bit since I got it and I can't forsee any problems with it. It is a very sturdy hollow body. If anything happened to it I would buy another just like it.

Epiphone is a good company. I have never had a problem with this guitar but if I did I'm sure they would be helpful.

I don't give 10's away easy. This guitar is worth every penny. A great value in my opinion. I wouldn't mind having a bigsby on it, but it's not necessary. I play this guitar through a 1972 Fender Twin Reverb. I get such a spacey sound with this combination. It's magic.
I had about a thousand dollars to buy a new guitar about a year ago. Being an ex hardcore kid I have always admired the old Gibson SG's. But after seeing the prices they are going for these days, I reassesed. I wondered into Guitar Center one day and picked this thing up with no intent on buying it. I really liked the way it felt and kind of laughed at the thought of owning a hollow body. I plugged it in and realized that this was a really good guitar at a really great price. I bought it. I don't regret it at all. I have learned quite a bit about gear since then and I still feel that I made a good decision.

You know the features

The sound is great overall. The pickups feed back very easily and I am considering replacing them

The action was horrible from the factory. Go to a Luthiar and spend $50 to get just the action you want.

Good reliability accept for the pickups

No customer support needed yet. It does have a limited life time warranty.

I would buy it again but get the pickups changed out right away.

Gibson ES-335 Corean copy, made in 1998, 22 frets, laminated maple top, 2 volume pots and 2 tone pots, 3 way toggle, 2 chrome covered Samsung passive humbucker PUs, glued two piece neck (maple), rosewood fingerboard, dots, medium frets, big Epiphone headstock, no name sealed tuners, Gibson copy stop tailpiece and tune-o-matic lookalike bridge (not quite like the original), thick "orange to redburst" finish, no case of any sort provided.

I've changed the PUs recently so please read my own review of the new PUs for more info (DiMarzio PAF Humbucker & HD Z-90 single coil).

Originally it sounded like this:

- Neck unit: The worst of the two. It sounded cluttered and muddy. Plenty of mid-range but loose and "funny", bass was booming and mean and highs simply weren't there much.

- Bridge unit: Slightly better than its sister. Still it lacked personality and that pro sheen found in more expensive PUs was absent. Rather un-hot but in the end it was a good thing because the woody character of the semihollow body of the Epi really could be heard through a good amp. Good for Glam Rock impressions or o.t.t. Noel's nonsense but not quite good for discerning ears.

- Both: Some hollowness became apparent and it was a good addition to the already "almost-decent" sounds. Good for strumming or Britpop jangly rhythms.

Summing up, The Epi sounds A LOT BETTER now I've changed the stock PUs. Stocks are fine but they are slightly below the overall quality of the guitar and I'd do it again. Get a two good PUs, a soldering iron and plenty of patience (changing pickups in a ES-335 is not an easy task, no Strat's scratchplate here I'm afraid...)

Some PUs I know would work great for the Epi would be:

Neck:
- DiMarzio PAF (the one I've got): plenty of sweet but punchy tone.
- Seymour Duncan Seth Lover: Great vintage tones. Feedback could be annoying, though (no potting techs). Try a SD'59 if on a budget(same character but without the final touch).
- Gibson Classic: Roughly the real thing (more or less)
- HD Z-90: Great HiFi-like tone. It's a single coil though. Unique and lovely. Not for everyone. Loud and mean.
- Seymour Duncan The Jazz: Middy and rich. Not just for Jazzers.

Bridge:

- HD Z-90 (the one I've got): raw, wild, open, fat single coil. Like a Strat on steroids. VERY, VERY sensitive to pick attack. Loud. Luvit!
- Any of the above would be excellent choices.

The guitar was alright straight from the box although a few things could be improved:

I used to get some pings and creaks when bending the strings so I recut the nut and now those alien noises are gone. Still the plastic nut eats frecuencies like mad. I'm going to change it for a bone made one a.s.a.I.c.

The tuners are fine but not top-notch at all.

Electronics are cheap but work efficiently.

Finish is flawless, nevertheless the F-holes are an awful piece of work. They look tacky and cheap. I rather not look at them much. Most Coreans guiatr makers are still a bit naff in things like this.

Nevertheless everything worked perfectly from day one. Not the best Oriental guitar I've seen but adequate enough.

Semihollow guitars are the dream of a certain Mr. Townsend (ie you can smash them really easily!!)and this one fits the bill perfectly. If you care for it it'll last for many, many years, though. Still, buy the BEST hard case you can afford for it.
This guitar would take plenty of road punishment if properly used but it's not a Strat or a Tele by any means!!

Only made a question (via E-mail) and Gibson/Epiphone people answered it in a rather polite and useful manner. Good for them!!

I wanted a good no frills semihollow guitar for not much money. also I wanted something worth upgrading. And I've got it.

The Epi hasn't got the glamour of the Gibson and some people would be put off by the average hardware, the lack of case, the cheap PUs or the laminated neck. But if I'm honest, I don't think any of those aspects are that important. Especially when you can improve most of them. ES-335 are lovely guitars but are too expensive (at least in Europe) for what you get.
My Epi is decent guitar which cries for attention and time.

Rating: If stock 8 / 10. If upgraded 10/10.

If anybody is interested I'm going to record some samples using my Epi and a borrowed P.O.D. E-mail me if you are interested.

Originally a stock 335 copy, but I got it to customize it: It now has a Schaller roller bridge and fine tune stop tail piece, Grover super roto-matic tuners, Tom Holmes humbuckers, Buzz Feiten tuning system, tung oiled neck, Dunlop strap locks, bone nut, audio taper 500 K Ohm pots with .050 mF capacitors, a strat style input cable jack mounted 90 degrees aft of normal so that the cable comes in through the strap and directly into the jack with no weird looping. The only thing stock anymore is the wood and the frets

I use this as a jazz/blues instrumetn and it sounds great. I play it through a Roland JC90 into a modified VOX V847 wah, a Full-Drive 2 overdrive box with Evidence Audio cables (the best, you gotta hear 'em to believe 'em)

When I originally got this guitar ir was playable and actually sounded decent, but as I said I bought it to cusstomize.

I've been plaaying it for almost 2 years now and it still is solid. Looks and feels as good as new.

They wouldn't even talk to me after all I've done to the poor thing!

I've been playing for 30 years in many different levels and styles. Currently I play mostly jazz and jazz flavored blues and am getting ready to start playing out again. I also have a heavily customized mid 80's Jap Strat, an Alvarez acoustic and a 70's Fender Palomino acoustic (a dreadnought with a bolt on neck...it's too cool!). I also have an Epi EB-0 bass for just messing around with and recording

1998 Epi Dot used. Semi-hollow body thinline. Natural finish, 2 Gibson Classic '57 pickupus, maple neck, laminated maple body w/center block, etc. See above for more details.

This guitar kicks ass! I was originally looking for a Gibson Dot 335 when the salesman pulled out this baby. The previous owner had the Classic '57s installed, replaced nut and put in switchcraft switch. It sounded EXACTLY the same as the Gibson Dot I tried out. Nice fat warm 335 sound. I play mostly Beatles, Oasis, Weller, OCS, and other Brit-pop stuff. There's nothing to dislike about this guitar, especially when it costs 1/4 the price of the 335.

The guitar had been worked over and set up well by previous owner so I really can't say much about Epi here.

I treat guitars with care and this one is built well so I don't expect any problems. I don't gig without a backup but I would fully depend on this guitar-it's solid and the finish is flawless.

Never dealt with Epi.

Excellent used Dot with some nice upgrades and setup done by previous owner. I was really set on buying a Gibson 335 until I played this baby. I've been playing about 15 years and I also own a Gibson Historic Les Paul C.S. This guitar sounds as good except with a little more top end. With the money I saved I was able to buy an amp and a bunch of pedals! And I still stayed under my 2k budget. I would replace this guitar in a heartbeat with another Epi Dot if it were stolen. FYI: I tried a stock Epi Dot and was impressed with that one too.

The Dot is a semi-acoustic with two humbuckers. It has a rosewood fingerboard with 22 frets. It's worth to mention that it was very well set up right from the start and the frets were in excellent condition. This saves you money, and it would be great if every guitar you buy was in the same good condition as this one. In some shops they can fix this, but in most cases they'll charge you extra for it. No need for that here though.

This guitar has a great overall sound. I play mainly pop/rock when using the Dot. It's pretty obvious that you don't use this kind of guitar for grindcore or death metal, but for most styles of rock or pop it'll do a great job. I've found the pickups to be a bit microphonic but if you (I'm not saying you need to...) replace them with some quality PAF:s the Dot will eat almost any semi-acoustic for breakfast. No joke. It is also quite sensitive to feedback, but that goes for all semi-acoustics and is something one should be prepared for when purchasing a guitar like this. Better pickups would probably remedy this to some extent.

Mine has a beautiful maple body and neck with a smooth rosewood board. The finish is very good - way above the standards of other guitars I've seen for this kind of money. As I mentioned earlier the guitar was very well set up from the start with medium action. Very comfortable to play. I mainly play Ibanez guitars so I'm used to playing with a low action but this guitar is almost as easy to play as my Ibanez. This may or may not be a good thing since the Dot is not made for lightning-fast leads. It's more likely to be used for meaty riffs and chord-work and in that case you'll probably want a higher action and heavier strings to improve the overall sound. However, such adjustments are fairly easy to make. I really couldn't find anything wrong with this guitar. Maybe I'm just lucky, but I shit you not - it's one of the best investments I've made this far.

First of all: you NEVER go onstage without a backup guitar. NEVER! I feel very confident with this guitar and I haven't experienced any problems with it to this day. I trust this guitar not to let me down. The finish still looks fine, but I take good care of my guitar so I really can't say that much about the finish. It appears to be a very solid instrument.

I haven't dealt with them - and hope it stays that way!

I've been playing for fifteen years and I have tried a lot of different guitars - Ibanez, Anderson, Fender, Jackson, Westone etc. The Dot is a very good guitar, and has the potential of becoming an excellent guitar if you simply replace the pickups. They don't suck, but a set of Gibson (or other...) PAF:s would probably make it sing. You shouldn't worry too much though, I haven't replaced them myself yet, but I will in the near future. It works just fine as it is, but a quality pickup can make a HUGE difference to your sound and could in many cases be just what you need to get "that little extra" that you didn't even know you were missing in the first place. I play it through my Laney VC-50 2x12 combo with Zoom and Digitech effects and get a lot of good sounds. If you're into Brit-pop or similar this could very well be just the right guitar for you, but of course it's not limited to that style of music. Just keep away from the Pantera and Korn stuff and you'll be fine (as if you haven't figured that out yourself...) It's also nice that you don't need to buy a Gibson 335 to get the kind of sounds you find with the Dot. A true Gibson may be a better instrument in terms of build quality etc. but you get what you pay for and sound-wise the Dot is second to none. Just think of the cash you save. Spend it on a good tube-amp instead and you'll be happy as a pig in mud. This guitar is excellent value for money.

It's is a '98 model, and it's bougth strait from the factory, in Nasville, Tenneessee, USA. And it has 22 frets. It is a semi-aqcoustic guitar. It has four pots, two volume, and two tones, like any decent guitar should have! Pickup configuration is H/H, stock pickups, which are passive. The body and the neck are maple all the way with a rosewood fretboard (beautiful).
It's a thinline model, with tune-o-matic bridge, and non-locking tuners.
The scale of the neck is 24,75 inches, with jumbo-frets.
I've changed the stock strap-buttons with a Dunlop-strap locking system.

It's a very nice guitar if you are into brit-rock like Oasis. It suits me very good!! Excellent!! I'm using a sucky Epiphone Ep-800 amp with the Boss SD-2 pedal. That makes it sound much more nicer!
It provides a great feedback like any humbucker-guitar. The rythme HB has a rich and reverbish tone. The lead HB is a great solo HB!!
I like this guitar a lot!! It's just what I need for my kind of music.

I had no problems what so ever with the guitar.

It dosen't take as lot of beating like an solid body guitar of course, but when you have a great guitar why do you want to beat it up!?!?
Since my guitar dosen't have a "color"(just a natural apperance) I wouldn't know but the lacquer seems very solid! Build to last!!
The stock strap buttons seemed solid, but I wanted something more reliable!!
This guitar could definitely last the whole gig through!

Never dealt with them.

I simply love this guitar!! I've been playing for 3 years. I also own a Epiphone-amp and a Boss-pedal.
If it very stolen or lost I wouldn't buy anything but an Epiphone!

Mine is a 1997 model, cherry red, made in Korea. The features have been described often enough, but here's another rundown: semi-hollow body, double cutaway, with laminated maple top, back and sides, maple center block, maple neck, rosewood fingerboard; two samsung humbuckers; three-way selector; two volume and two tone controls; stop tail-piece and adjustable tune-o-matic style bridge; horrible black plastic nut; enclosed tuners; 22 frets; black plastic scratchplate with epiphone 'e' embossed logo ; black plastic truss-rod cover with 'gibson' printed on it; 335 style ornamental inlay on headstock; all hardware is chrome. It's pretty well made, with everything neat and tidy. Lot of glue overspill around the center block if you look inside the f-holes. The knobs and swithes operate smoothly. I had one badly fitting string post, loose as hell, which I didn't discover until I changed strings. There's no obvious way of tightening it, so it's still loose, but the string tension keeps it stable. No case or gig bag included.

I bought this guitar in order to get a Freddie King sound - later Freddie King that is. It is a complex sound that is hard to describe, but you need a semi to even get close. I get close with the epiphone, or let's say I'm in the right ball park. (Solid body mahogany guitars give too dense a center to your tone for that bluesy sound. A semi lets in just the right amount of air.) A 40 or 60 watt blackface Fender would be the ideal amp, but my Boogie Mark III combo switched to the clean channel but cranked gives a good rendition of that Freddie growl. Set the selector for both pickups and open the volume and tone knobs to about 7 - that's the way Freddie set his guitar, as does B.B. Your amp must be cranked for the warmth and the overdrive.
Gibson 335's are known for their versatility. This 335 copy has a similar range to its parent. 'Chocolate' is the word that best charaterizes the overall sound. There is no nasty harshness. On the neck pickup, with the top rolled off, you can get a passable jazz sound, but you won't fool Wes Montgomery nuts. In the bridge or bridge/neck position you can get an excellent Britpop jangle or Beatlesque 60s pop sound.
It's easy to get feedback from semis, some would say too easy. But I've never known it to get out of control on the Epi Dot. It swells and sings, depending on where you stand, and how your volumes are set, but it doesn't tend to screech microphonically. Used well, feedback is a beautiful effect.

This is a hefty beast. It's easily as heavy as my 70s strat - the ones made of swamp ash. But it's nicely balanced and isn't awkward. You'll get used to it, and won't get a Les Paul back. I played about six of these in various stores before settling on this one. It felt better than the others, and was finished in cherry red. The sunburst ones didn't look as good, and were a million miles from the brilliant sunburst on Gibsons. I've recently played a sunburst epi dot which felt better than mine. If it had been around when I was buying I would have had a tough decision to make. The finish on this guitar is okay, definitely not as rich or luminous as on a cherry Gibson. It comes to life under stage lights and in the sun. I'm hoping it will improve with age and sunlight. There is no such hope for the chrome hardware, it is tacky and shiny. Beside the beautiful nickel on Gibsons it looks like a cheap tart. The action was too high when I bought it. Now it's a shade low with a slight buzz on the 6th and 5th strings in a few positions. The nut is dreadful and is cut too high. When I have it changed - soon - I will have a professional set up. On the whole, though, these guitars are playable out of the box. The profile of the neck is modern. It is wide, slim and flattish. If you are used to something more clubby and vintage it takes a bit of getting used to. The frets are jumbo and seem well set and finished. There is a slight sharpness at the edges which neck binding would have eliminated, but hey, this is a budget guitar. I've heard some complain that epiphone's from Korea use soft fretwire. I can't tell, there is some wear after a year, but nothing to worry about yet.

A good guitarist playing a cheap guitar is still a good guitarist. I've seen too many excellent live club players with Squiers and Ibanez replicas to be worried about the reliability or efficiency of imports from the East. Having said that, an average or an above average player, like me, likes the extra assurance of having top quality, named gear when he goes on stage. The epiphone dot doesn't do this. I have used it, and will continue to use it, but want to upgrade to a Gibson one day.

Can't imagine calling Korea to inquire about replacement string posts. I deal with the store. Nothing has gone wrong with this guitar to warrant complaint. It doesn't come with a case, so I bought a hard case from the store as part of the overall deal. This isn't a bad strategy as it gives you extra negotiating power on price. Use it.

If you want to know if you can get on with a Gibson 335 but don't want to risk serious bread to find out, the epi 335 dot is a VERY good place to start. I have two problems with this guitar: the first is that it doesn't FEEL like a 335. The shape of the neck is too modern. It looks good and it sounds pretty good. My second problem is that I don't think I could ever LOVE this guitar. It may deteriorate with age rather than improve and flower. I could be wrong, but I don't see it becoming an old friend. For these reasons I would not bother splashing out on replacement pickups or expensive tuners. I'd rather make it serviceable, and save up for a nice used Gibson.

N/A Look it up on www.epiphone.com

Great!!!! I play alot of Beatles,U2, and Weezer, it sounds great for all those, its right on the money for Weezer songs you will be shocked!

I don't really like the Ebony finish that I got, but thats the only thing I hate about it. It needed setting up badly but it sounded good even when it was not set up, it just alittle out of tune. The pick-up are great, I loved the tuners, very smoothe, I was impressed.

I think you could use this guitar to beat livestock for hours and nothing would happen to it. Oh! the switch sucks, it makes alot of noise when it switchs.

I've bein playing for about 4 years now and this so far is the best guitar I've owned, It was my first adventure into Archtop land and it was a lovely trip. If it was stole I think I would cry and then go break something. But I really hate the Ebony finish so I would get over it quickly. If you like clean tones and cool rhythms buy this guitar.

This is an ebony Dot made recently in Korea. It had two standard Epiphone humbuckers originally. Fit and finish are good. The action was set a bit high for my tastes as it came from the factory. Other features have already been described.

I am interested in jazz guitar currently, listening to anything from Montgomery, to Burrell to Ritenour. I purchased the Dot as a 'project guitar', with certain modifications in mind before purchasing it. The original pickups weren't all that bad. I replaced both of them with Gibson '57 humbuckers and the sound is what you would expect, that of a real Gibson ES-335. I am using an adequate Epiphone SC-210 solid state amp with a Boss Blues Driver for a little boost. This actually helps the guitar sound quite nice. I've also played it through an old Peavey Classic tube amp, and it sounded very warm. I am awaiting delivery of a DOD FX84 Milk Box to help round out the sound. The guitar sounds great straight as well. This rating is for the Gibson humbuckers, it would have been a 7 with the originals.

The action was high for me when the guitar arrived. The nut was also too tight and the tension rod needed an adjustment. I had a qualified tech attend to all of these things along with dressing the frets. I replaced the nut with one custom made from Corian, made for Markley medium gauge strings, 11-52's. The new nut is perfectly fit for this set. The action was lowered considerably. It now plays effortlessly, as though it's playing itself at times. I've had and have played many nice guitars, this now plays as well or better than any I've played before. Don't be afraid to customize and fix this guitar up as time and money allow. It can be a terrific guitar. It's not bad as is, either. The rating is for the way the guitar is now, otherwise it would be a 6.

This guitar seems solid enough. I do treat my guitars very carefully and respectfully. Someone suggested replacing the tuning gears, but these seem to be doing the job very well. I expect this guitar to last a very long while, solely in my ownership. This rating is a guess, as time will tell.

As mentioned, there were some small problems relating to the neck and nut. I also found a private sale at a lower price. I brought this to the attention of zZounds, whom I bought the guitar from, and they treated me very well. Customer support from them was as it should be, they behaved commendably. They matched the other price and added an allowance for some of the guitar techs' work. What more could an on-line customer ask for?

I've played off and on for years. This guitar is being used for jazz musings and muddling primarily. You can also do a pretty good B.B. King imitation and it can also rock. This guitar is quite versatile and a complete pleasure to play. I really must find a decent tube amp that doesn't cost an arm and leg to do the guitar justice. The only difference between this modified Dot and a real Gibson ES-335 is in the cost. I have no plans to sell this, ever. Rating includes mod's.

1999 - Korean made-semi-hollow body-ect..

I'm just an old accoustic diehard from way back but decided to try an electric again just for shits and giggles. I can get an awful lot of nice sounds out of this guitar--especially for the money involved. Bought it with a new Dyna Touch series Fender Princeton 65 amp. Didn't want to spend a whole bunch of money until I decided how much I would enjoy playing electric again. Very nice clean sound I think. More than enough distortion for and old guy like me when I feel in the mood.

Nicely set up I thought - no obvious flaws other than the El Cheapo knobs and toggle switch. Eveything else seems nice and tight.

I don't beat on my guitars much and I only play for my own pleasure so I don't see any big problems for awile. Everything needs to be replaced eventually.

No experience with Epiphone-limited lifetime warranty for manufacturers defects.

Have been playing on and off for about 30 years. Have old acoustic stuff mostly, old Gretch copy six string, old cheapo 12 string, and a couple of banjos. I've realley enjoyed playing this guitar-stays in tune nicely all the way up to the 20th fret and I don't hang around on the top two frets much anyway. I had pretty well researched this guitar on the Internet before I bought it and more or less just crossed my fingers and hoped I didn't get a dog so I wouldn't have to go to the trouble of sending it back. Very well satisfied for the money..pleasantly surprised with the sensitivity of the amp and guitar combination. If someone stole this guitar I would probably tell my insurance agent that some sumbitch ran off with my rare $8500 Gibson ES 335 guitar and my wife. Than I would tell him I'd let them keep the wife but I'd like to replace the guitar.