Epiphone Dot

Standard Korean made Epi 2 tone 2 volume and a 3 way slector... pretty much identical to a gibson 335 for a fraction of the price wonderful guitar...

I play alot of blues and this guitar fits it perfact. hell it can fit into any styles includeing metal witch is weird haha. i play it through a Vox amp. I bought the guitar used and i got it for a steal of 300 bucks and the pickups and severl other of the crappy cheap products were replaced and my pickups were swaped with some Gibson pickups and it sounds sweet much better than the other ones ive played at stores makes a world of differance the tone is amazing!

The action of the guitar was flawless i love it so sweet and smooth

Ive played this guitar live before and it sounded great so if you are wondering if they hold up trust me it sounds fantastic... alot of the factory hardware was replaced on my dot before i bought it including the tuners,pickups,pickguard,and the bridge and it really makes the world of difference in the guitar with the changes its a completly reible guitar but since ive olny ever played a factory one just for a bit i cant really tell

Never had to deal with Epiphone

Ive been playing for 4 years and this is my main guitar i love the tones you can get out of it i love every bit of it...if it was lost or stolen i would cry my heart out cause id have to spend a fourtone to get a new one and get it upgraded... this guitar sounds feels and looks like a gibby 335 or even a little better in my own mind if u change some things...one word of advise to anyone looking to buy this guitar is use some thicker strings ur sustain and tone will sound great and another thing is to do the "texas stringing method" witch is where you String the string backwards and wrap it around the tail peice instead of stringing it through stright makes any guitar with a tailpeice sound a world better sustain is great and it hardly goes out of tune this way just a bit of advise

My wife got me this Dot for my birthday - source was Musician's Friend. Not sure what the price was. Black finish with rosewood fingerboard. Looks drop-dead gorgeous out of the box, but was a little surprised at the uneven coloring of the rosewood. It was pretty severe, but did not impact playability one bit, so I overlooked it pretty quickly.

Otherwise, nothing too special about the features.

As good as this guitar looked was as bad as it sounded when I plugged it in to my little Fender Champ. Pickups sounded muddy. Having read a few reviews about it, I wasn't entirely surprised. I eventually brought the Dot to my local guitar tech and had him drop in two Seymour Duncans, an Alnico in the neck position and a Pearly Gates in the bridge. I also noted that the pots and pickup selector felt cheap (I was already starting to get noise from the selector), so I had replacements thrown in there while I was at it.

Voila!

Great sounding guitar. Yes, it was a fairly large investment for an inexpensive guitar, but in my case I thought it was worth it. The thing positively sings now. The rating reflects significant upgrades. Without them, I'd give it a 6 at best.

The guitar was very playable out of the box. The action was a bit high for my taste, so I had it lowered. New strings are a must. The finish was flawless, the binding was put on perfectly and I really could not tell that I was handling a very reasonably priced guitar.

I've had the guitar almost a year and have had it out of the house only on a few occassions. Otherwise, its in my office hanging next to the amp for daily sessions. So far, so good. It hasn't developed any buzzing or electronic problems, but its pretty much been handled with care.

Never had a problem that I had to call Epi on. That always beats the alternative no matter how helpful the customer support folks are.

If you want a guitar that you can customize without alot of guilt, this is one you should definitely consider. If you think about what a "real" 335 costs, even with the costs of new pick-ups, pots and selector (and virtually anything else you please), you're still MILES ahead of the game. And once you've set it up the way you like, this truly becomes YOUR guitar.

Late Chinese made Dot (Epi??s "335") , 2008 , Natural finish , pretty thick poly (searched long time to get a natural finished one !). Bought it from England in january-february ??09. Body is maple laminate (with maple center block), neck seems to be something like mahagony?... Poor man??s gibson ES-335, nice playable (and affordable) instrument :-)

Well, here??s a small story. I kind of liked the sound of original pickups, but hated the muddiness (you know - when you roll down the volume pot which has no treble bleed). Tone pots were pointless - from " mud" to " more mud" ( sorry - I am regularly a fender guy :-), its my one and only HB instrument). So I firstly planned to change out the pickups for better ones, got a set of Seth Lovers ( SH-55 - the replica of the HB Grandpa). While tearing the wiring out of it, I discovered a very weird wiring, which was not a Gibson-like at all to my eyes. Made a proper 50-s style wiring with 4x 500k audio pots , 2x 0.022 tone caps , and added later also the treble bleeds. Well - believe it or not - the original pickups came to alive , sounded now better than the SH55 , with a proper wiring! So, I left on the originals (if i remember the neck one was around 8.9k, nice creamy sound, and bridge one about 9.1k - pretty sharp ??snapper?? if you??d like it to be - they are kind of Epi??s interpretation on Gibson 57 classics, I would say). Btw, the treble bleed caps sounded more natural/warmer when i used 0.002 instead of the common 0.001, so its got 002-s now. Would have given 10 if it??d sound as it sounds now ??out of the box??

Sustain is very long. If you??d want you??d get that nice feedback whistle as well, which is nicely controllable (I play it through Laney VC15 and modded Peavey Classic 50 410 plus some funfactor-toys like Roland??s MC, Vox??s DA5 ...)

Sounds very nice as well unplugged.

Again - 9, not 10. Pretty good but not perfect ??out of the box??- nut??s string slots needed to get a tiny bit deeper. Btw - nut is not cheap soft plastic, if it??s even cheap, it is very hard, reminds something acrylic.

Action itsself was perfect btw ??out of the box?? and the quality of frets finish smokes the guitars twice the price.


Btw - The late Chinese Dots are know for their junky neck profile, but my Dot has got it a little thinner than for example a cherry one in my local music store - my Dot??s neck is just perfect, not thick and not thin.

Absolutely flawless finish. Mine is worth at least a nine on that ! would have got 10 if the nut would have been perfect and the neednt to be attached better :-)

Nine again - that is mostly because of the legendary design weakness - the glued-on headstock with 14 degree angle - one careless drop/ fall-over and we??re done ...

no bad notes on hardware - even the tuners work perfectly (somebody has mentioned them to be crap, i cannot confirm it)

Absolutely usable on stage, without any problems, everything is intact, ??sound?? solid on my Dot - from strap buttons to tuners.

No deal with them so far , cannot assess

Solid 9 , no doubt.

I am more an hobby player but played 25 years .

If stolen I??d cry, probably buy the same again ( although there is a risk related to the Epi Dot??s variable quality - so better to not buy online, which I still did and got lucky :-))

My favorite guitar is Fender Telecaster. But I wanted an HB instrument to ??balance??. I am not in the masses of liking LesPaul. I looked more towards either the " 335" or the "SG". My Dot makes me happy when i just sit on the sofa and have it on my knee :-)

Current Chinese-made Epi Dot, all laminate, basic ES-335 feature set. Horrible tuners, horrible pickups, horrible nut, hardware.... you get the idea. Basic Epiphone.
You buy this guitar for the neck & body, and should eventually replace everything else.
Mine's black with a polyester finish. It's a big fat neck, different than the Korean-made dots. It's rounder whereas the Koreans were flatter.
I gave it a 9 for features because it has all you need- 2 pickups, a 3-way selector switch, 2 volumes, 2 tones, and an adjustable bridge with a stop tailpiece. Anything more than that deducts points. Less adds. Less is more!
These guitars are totally worth tricking out.They should just sell these guitars blank with no parts and let you fill in the rest.

Once you upgrade the electronics, pickups, and hardware these guitars sound great! The stock pickups are shrill and bright, the stock hardware is cheap pot metal that absorbs tone. Same with the plastic nut that's incorrectly spaced. Oh, and same with the cheap pots and tone cap.
I play this guitar through a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe and a pile of pedals. Sounds killer with a Gibson '57 Classic in the neck and '57 Classic Plus in the bridge. That plus a bone nut, new Gibson keystone tuners, Tonepros bridge, new lightweight Allparts tailpiece, new CTS pots, Orange Drop caps, and braided wire.

Sounds thick, rich, but still jangly and totally alive and very responsive! Great controllable feedback if you leave your effects on!
I play atmospheric rock stuff like Radiohead, Doves...
Rated 8 with upgrades.

I bought it used so I can't comment on the factory setup. Usually the Epi's come virtually unplayable with tiny strings and super high action or a totally backbowed neck. Any decent brick n' mortar shop will probably make a few adjustments before they hang it up or set it up for you when you buy it. The nuts are just generic and don't fit the neck width or saddle spacing.

The finish is usually inconsistent with paint over the binding and weird blobs n' globs. Who cares? Play it, beat it up!

The frets are usually unlevel and need a good fret dressing. The black neck binding is lame and hidden under the paint. Why not just make it white like the rest of the guitar? It would look 100 times better.

Again, very reliable once you ditch the crappy electronics and tuners.
The finish will probably survive a nuclear attack, unfortunately. They should use half as much finish, it will improve the tone twice as much!
I always change out the strap buttons for Schaller Strap Locks.
The hardware will last, but the chrome plating will eventually flake off. If you're a heavy strummer than plan on some serious string breakage with the stock bridge since the strings will cut nasty sharp grooves in the saddles. Swap out the bridge for a Tone Pros, they make a Nashville style bridge that fits the import specs. Maybe even put some Graph Tech saddles in there too if you're prone to string breakage.
So 2 for stock components, 9 for upgraded.

Bought used. I'm sure it sucks.

Been playing for 17 years, gig once or twice a month and practice & record constantly. The Epi Dot doesn't hold a candle to my Gibson 335 but it's still a fine guitar in it's own right. It's brighter and snappier feeling due to the maple neck and poly finish.
I'd buy it again and perform the same upgrades, it's worth it- but I'm a 335 fan and I'm lucky that I can do the work myself. Getting parts at a discount helps too.
I'm not super-into the elongated headstock shape, and the body is slightly clunkier than a real 335, but overall it's a cool guitar.

Obviously if you just play casually around the house then you can leave this guitar stock and still enjoy it. The switch & volume pots will eventually crap out on you though.
If you're a gigging musician than this baby will need a little love.

You have to play a few before you'll find a keeper. Make sure the truss rod works and that the bridge isn't all the way down with high action.

Brand new Epiphone Dot, in Natural finish. Looked nice enough, but horribly Quality Control problems. The finish was a little uneven in places. It is being shipped back to the store immediately.

Never even plugged it in. It's going back to the store and they're going to have to ship me out a new one. I loved the sound of my early 2008 Dot, but that doesn't count for this review.

The Natural finish Dot arrived with the D string tuner bent at an angle, but was still solidly held into the headstock. There was no obvious damage to the exterior of the Epiphone box, so it must have left the factory this way. There was a hole drilled in the proper position, however the tuner itself appears to have been screwed in at an angle.

There was no "100% set up and inspected in the USA" sticker on the bad of the headstock, as was the case on my older (early 2008) Dot. Only thing on the back of the headstock was a "Hand Crafted in China" sticker, and an "Inspectioncard QC" sticker, with no QC inspector number.

The finish itself was a bit uneven in places, and there was a very small circle on the front of the body where the finish was matte instead of glossy. It was about the size of the head of a pin.

The truss rod cover had a light scratch across it.

All things considered, the finish and truss rod cover problems were acceptable for this price range. The tuner problem was completely unacceptable from any guitar manufacturer. I'm pretty sure even a blind person could have felt how wrong that tuner was installed.

As evidenced by the lack of the "100% setup and inspected in the USA" sticker on the back of the headstock, apparently Epiphone's QC for the Dot is no longer occurring in the USA, and it shows.

I have pictures to show just how bad the tuner was when the guitar arrived. Email me, if you'd like to see the pics. I am not nit-picking or being finicky - it was glaringly obvious something was very wrong with this guitar, and it came from the factory this way.

Arrived with a terrible tuner, so durability and reliability are irrelevant - I got a lemon.

Epiphone Customer Support will surely be hearing from me about this disappointment. No guitar manufacturer should ship guitars that look like this.

Unfortunately, this guitar gets a 1 in this category. My 2008 Dot would have gotten a 9. I loved my older one. The Natural Finish I just received is totally unacceptable.

The usual ES-335/Epi Dot features.

Grover tuners, Samsung (according to dealer) pickups.

Made in China in 2005 and bought that year.

I hope some readers here are old enough to know what I'm about to say. I play in an oldies band, and we do everything from folk to blues to melodic rock.

We wanted to get that Justin Hayward sound for songs like "Story In Your Eyes", "Rock & Roll Band", etc., and were having a tough time getting there with Strats and LPs. Rather than invest in a 335, we decided to try the Dot. Good decision. We saved a ton of money and achieved the sound we wanted. The Dot is played through a variety of amps, but most often a Peavey Classic 50 4x10.

Our lead guitarist even uses it for Stevie Ray's "Mary Had A Little Lamb" even though he has a Strat on a stand right next to him. He says he likes the blues tone of the Dot better. It's also great on Skynrd, particularly "Simple Man".

This guitar can basically sound like whatever you want...just tweak the amp settings.

My dealer set everything. I'm not sure what it was like from the factory.

It's the Cherry model, and it is stunningly beautiful.

We haven't found any fret flaws or any of the other things folks have mentioned, but again I'm not sure how much our dealer's luthier had to do.

This guitar has traveled all over the U.S. in its standard Epi case, mostly in airline baggage holds. No problems.

I always use it without a backup.

Broke the phenolic nut by placing it wrongly on a Hercules stand. When it fell, the stand grabbed the low E string and snapped the nut.

Sent it to Gibson, who called me three times to let me know the status, and they replaced the nut with a bone one for an extra 10 USD.

I've been playing for 44 years.

My background was mostly acoustic until the last ten years.

I love the Dot because it can be used as a 335 at a fraction of the cost. I'd buy another if necessary.

Basically new, but with reduced price by store because it was preowned. Recent model 2008 Epiphone Dot with a natural finish. This guitar is basically a Gibson 335 at one third the price. It features a rosewood fretboard. Pickups are a '57 in the neck position and the Epiphone "Hotbucker" in the bridge position. Silver hardware. Only real "cheapo" part was the gaudy plastic "E" on the pickguard, but that can be easily peeled off without damaging anything- which I did. Epiphone is a great value for many of their models, and even beat "Gibsons" many times. I used to completely discount Epiphones like the plague but now realize that was a major financial mistake.

Sounds like a fantastic Gibson 335 at a third of the price...the 335 lies between the Les Paul sound and a full hollowbody sound. I love it because now i don't have to keep switching guitars during my gigs unless i want to. The pickups are pretty high output- I feel no need to change then at this time. I need to gig with this guitar a little but more to know for sure about the pickups.

The finish is absolutely gorgeous- it looks much better in person than what you see in the catalogs. No complaints in that dept. and many compliments from people when they see it.

I expect many years out of the guitar. The toggle switch will probably have to be upgraded at some point, and I may decide to upgrade the bridge, but overall a great value.

Haven't needed it yet except a call to Gibson to find out what kind of pickups had been installed- the tech I talked to was extremely nice and very helpful.

Overall, I would give this guitar a solid 8.5 rating and highly recommend this model to those who play Blues, Classic Rock, Jazz and Country.

Features

I think this is an '04, from the serial number. I'm assuming it's from China or Korea It doesn't really matter if the manufacturer is using the correct materials and watching QC like hawk.

As somebody already said, we all knows the specs on this guitar, how close the important bits are to a real 335. For me, this baby knocks out the mid-70s 335 I owned years ago. I never expected the vintage prices to increase as they did, but I also never dreamed I'd be recommending an Asian-made copy.

My suggestion is to look at as many as you can until you find one with a neck that you can live with, but more importantly find the one that sings. You'll know it before you even plug it in. You'll find this guitar has a wonderful "bite" to it's tone, regardless of which pickup you are using. The stock pickups put this sound across beautifully.

The woods used on this guitar appear flawless. I'm told maple top, back, and sides -- all laminate like the originals. But mine seems to have a maple neck, doesn't look anything like mahogany, and the guitar weighs more than any 335 I remember, so it may be true. The tuners are adequate and so is the nut, there's the odd creak when bending higher strings, but the guitar always returns to correct tune, provided you stretch your strings after changing them. (!)

I think this is a guitar you should definitely ckeck out if you're learning or playing electric of nearly any style. And you'll find this is no Ephiphone Les Paul with a bolt-on neck, this is a fully playable GEM at a steal of a price. Professionals will find these to be excellent work horse guitars requiring little mods that will delivery solid, dependable performance every night.

Better than my 70s 335 that never had a very distinctive tone for lead work. The Epiphone Dot has a more distinctive biting tone, especially from the bridge pickup -- it sounds almost like a Les Paul. The neck pickup gives a much fuller tone, but still cuts through for lead work. Can't go wrong for such little money. It'll feel every so slightly (watch out for unpolished frets) cheaper than a 335, but if you're a player, you'll realize this is one of the best electric guitar deals on the market.

The feel of the guitar was terrible at first, but only because the original owner had never really played it much; hence, the frets were unpolished. Half an hour of playing and the frets were transformed. Pickups need adjustment, mechanism was smooth, gave me no problems, I was done in minutes. The action is beautiful, with no buzzing when bending the higher strings. The fingerboard is very good quality rosewood, surprising. The tuners are fine with no slipping noticed so far. The peghead is nicely inlaid, and the truss rod cover said "Gibson" -- which seems unusual, every other one I've seen has "Dot" on it. The finish remains to be seen, I suspect it is not as tough as the old Gibson finishes, but I have no intention of bashing it around.

I've no doubt this guitar can stand up to years of hard club playing, although maybe not as much as a Les Paul or Strat. I'd gig with this one, no problem. But then ALWAYS carry a spare. Hardware looks decent, but can all be placed if need be. So far so Good.

bought used -- so no warranty, but this didn't affect my purchase one iota, the way the thing played in my hands before plugging it into an amp was enough to convince me..

Been playing for 99 and one half years. I would definitely replace this guitar if it was lost -- I can't afford anything better and it does me fine for what I need it for. I wish it had a bound fingerboard, properly done, they can give you a little extra fret to work with.

I am not going to list all the features again. Made in China 2007 Epiphone Dot stock standard.
The Grover tuner are excelent on this guitar and is probably the best hardware on the whole guitar.

I play mainly blues, rock, jazz and alternative music. I am playing through a Laney VC15-119 valve amp and a little Vox Pathfinder 10 for quite home practice. The trebble was the most pronounced sound comming from the pickups, the bass and high E were the least pronounced sound. The pickups sounded uneven in voloume. In general with distorsion the pickups didn't sound to bad but on the amps clean setting jazz chords diddn't sound full like the should be.

When I first got the guitar it needed a proffessional set up because the action was to high, the fretts had a buss in many spots on the fretboard. The paint finish could have been a little bit better because clear laquer is uneven in spots. All the volume, tone controls and input jack were loose and neede to be tightened as well as the pickups needed to be ajusted wich were to far away from the strings. The toggle switch fehlt very flimsy. Some frets needed reglueing because they came loose after a few hours of playing. The saddles on the bridge are very loose when changing strings and I guess would put the intonation out after a string changes. The parts are very cheap on this guitar. I've got a Epihone Les Paul Junior which was spot on from the factory in china, the only difference it stated on the bach of the headstock Epiphone Custom Shop.
But I ended up buying this particular Dot because it was the only one in the shop with a slimm fast neck and it sounded the best unplugged out of all the other Dots in the shop.

I ended up throwing out the pickups and replaced them for a Gibson black open coil 57 classic in the neck position and a Gibson black open coil 57 classic plus in the bridge position. I used also Schaller strap locks. Then I purchased a compleate rewiring kit with cts 500k pots for volume and tone, braided wire and a switchcraft toggle switch and input jack as well as a Tonepros bridge and stop tail. I gave the lot to my guitar tech who installed the lot for me. After having spent $450 Australian dollars just for the parts and another $100 for the tech I can honestly say that that money was well spent because now I can depend on it without a backup. After this complete refit of just about all the parts the Epiphone Dot is now worthy of a 9 out of 10 in sound compared to a Gibson ES335.

I never tried Epiphone customer support however the people at the Gibson service department were great and answered my questions in regard to pickup changes and some of the issues with the loose frets and pots.

I've been playing on and off for 12 years and these days I've got my Laney VC15-110 with a Laney 210 extension speaker which has a great sound and my little Vox Pathfinder 10 which is a great little amp with a better tone than the Pathfinder 15. I have no Effects anymore and just use the overdrive or clean channels on the amps. Now that the Epiphone Dot has been transformed with all its changes I love it even more, it now sounds fantastic and I wouln't change anything else on it. I love the slimm neck and did I mention that the Tonepros bridge and stop tail made the guitar sound even louder when not plugged in, it also increased the sustain when plugged in the whole guitar feels alive now. I also love the fact than you can almost hug this guitar when playing it unlike any other other guitar I ever owned and I used to own Fender Strats, Telecasters etc. but this guitar I love best out of all for feel, sound and playability after the changes. I would buy another one any day. Therefore my rating after the changes is a 10 and without the changes a 6-1/2

I bought my Dot about 5 years ago for less than ??300 new. Only grump was that I also had to buy a custom-made hard case for it, as none of my other cases would take it. The quality of construction is first-class, my only slight criticism is the graining of the wood, which in places is rather coarse. I've played it a lot since I had it, and there are no cracks, warps or anything. It keeps very good tune. Someone once told me that the Epiphone buckers are no good, but they're good enough for me. Once in a while I have to go around it to tighten things up, but this is no big deal.

I play mostly finger-pickin blues, and it's perfect for this style. I use a Marshall AS50 amp at home, and whatever amp is available when I'm playing away. Never had a problem. It always comes across very, very full. I don't mess around with the settings too much, as I have them where I want them for my style.

The set-up was fine as delivered, and I only had to make a couple of slight adjustments to the Tune-O-Matic stuff. As I noted above, the quality of wood used in the top could be improved, but for the price who cares? No-one comes up to me with a magnifying-glass to check.

It'll last me out, that's for sure.

Never needed to find out

I've played a genuine Gibson 335 Dot, and if anyone can convince me of any massive difference between these two instruments, then I'm listening. If it caught fire, I'd call the brigade immediately.

I love it because it sounds like I want it to.

2005 black, Korean Dot, w/Grovers. By now we can all recite the Gibson/Epi specs, so let's just move along . . .

The bridge is an ABR-style bridge, with the little retaining wire, which is what you get on every Korean guitar I've seen. I hated those bridges when Gibson used them, I don't know why they're still around, but they're authentic, at least.

One thing worth noting is that the Dot and the Gibson 335 are both made with maple laminate; you're not getting a solid maple top and back with your $2000 Gibson.

For features, I have to give it a 7, not because anything is particularly bad, but because there's nothing special here, either.

I bought my Dot after trying too many of them to count, and found one I really like. I'm more of a prog/fusion player than a jazz player, so I wanted the Dot as a spare sound, rather than a main guitar; still, it has a decent unplugged sound, and a good range of electric sounds, from mellow jazz tones, to distorted Joy Division sounds. (Yes, Bernard Sumner used a 335.) No noise problems, no snap-crackle-pop from the pots, nothing; it sounds clean.

Of course, it's not a "real" 335, but there are 335's that suck, and Dots that rule; that's why I tried so many of the damned things, until I found a good one.

I'll give the Dot an 8 for sound, because it's very good, but not great.

My Dot was ready to go from the moment I picked it up. The action was comparable with any Gibson guitar, and all the hardware worked well. With a black finish, it's hard to judge the woods, but the finish was very clean. I was glad to get Grover tuners, instead of the fake Kluson-style tuners I've seen on most Epiphone guitars.

A bit of advice . . . any guitar that's been sitting out in a place like Guitar Center has probably taken a good beating. I got my Dot the day it came out on the floor, before anyone could play it, tweak it, or screw it up. Three years later, it still looks and sounds like new.

After three years, I'd say it's held up very well. I'm not sure how it would stand up to serious road abuse, but that's not what I got it for. (I have a Faded LP Special for that.) At some point, I may swap out the bridge, but it's not an issue right now. The finish seems good, but I'm one of those players who polishes his guitar every time I change the strings, so my finish gets good protection. I put Schaller strap locks on all of my electrics as soon as I bring them home, period. The Dot isn't my main guitar, by any means, so it doesn't get out much, but any semi-hollowbody is going to be more delicate than a mahogany plank. Having said that, if I were a jazz player, the Dot would probably be my back-up guitar, for places you wouldn't want to take a 335 or a D'Angelico.

I give my Dot a 10 for reliability; it's lived through three years of use without any problems.

I've called Gibson's 800 number for help and advice, and I've always gotten a good response; I've never needed any warranty service.

I've been playing since before men walked on the Moon. (Yeah, I'm old.) I have a few nice working guitars, and some seriously tweaked sound effects. I'd been looking at Dots for a long time before I bought this one, and I'm happy with my choice; I'm also glad I waited.

If something happened to my Dot, I don't know if I'd be in a hurry to replace it, but I'd keep looking. For what I paid, I got a very good guitar, but that doesn't mean another Dot would be just as good.

I love having a $400-500 guitar that only cost me $300; the ABR bridge I can do without.

I tried a few other guitars in this range, including the Hamer Echotone, and the earliest edition of the Dot Studio; this guitar felt and sounded right.

I wish it had a Schaller bridge; actually, I wish it had a bunch of things, but then it wouldn't be a $300 guitar.

I get a lot of enjoyment from my Dot, which is part of the point of any guitar; if you don't like it, why in hell would you play it? It's not a "real" jazz guitar, but it does what I want, and that's what matters. I give it an 8 for overall rating, because there are better guitars, but for $300, I got a very good guitar.

1998 Epi Dot Natural
Classic Gibson Features 2 tone 2 volume, 3 way

I play blues, punk, rock with it, I replaced the bridge pickup with Gibson 57s. The original pickups sounds OK, but it needs to be hotter. You dont see the difference as much until you play it side by side with a better pickup.

Action and was good, and the bridge setting was acceptable. Only things were little washers were loose on the knobs and input jacks.

Soldering came loose and crackly in the 3 way (as with all epi/gibson), also the soldering came loose in the input jack. everything else was good.

No preaging or anything like that

Did not deal w them

For the price it is a GREAT guitar, I love the action and the way it plays, it has nice sustain and is a fun guitar! I would buy it all over again.

I also own:
Gibson Les Paul Custom
Gibson Les Paul 56 Goldtop RI
PRS Hollowbody 2
PRS McCarty 2
Gibson SG
Gibson J-45
Taylor 414CE
Larrivee D-04
Martin D35
Gretsch Brian Setzer
Fender American J Bass
Musicman Stingray
Rickenbacker 4003

1999 korean- natural finish, you know the rest

bought mine used and the previous owner had already changed the pickups to duncan '59's and added a bone nut. the guitar is amazing. i play in a band that covers a lot of ground from a little country to nickelback, ac/dc, 3 doors down, pink floyd etc. this baby handles it all well.

had to get it set up the way i like. previous owner used it mostly for slide

other than my acoustic i don't carry a backup. no reliabilty issue so far.

dunno

been playing gigs for about 25 years now. owned one of everything. this guitar is as good as anything i've owned. if stolen i would find the thief, beat him to death with the guitar, then by another just like it.

Saein Plant, Korea/China
July 2004
Production Number: 0285
22 medium frets
2 Seymour Duncan '59s replaced the standard Epiphone '57 humbuckers
two volume and two tone controls
3-way switch
Cherry finish with ivory binding
Gibson Tune-O-Matic bridge replaced stock Epi bridge
Gotoh tuners replaced Epi tuners

With these replacements I rate it a 9. Got it used with the replacements already installed.

Sound is classic 335 humbucker sweetness. I was really surprised by this guitar. I got it in trade for a Weber Mass attenuator and by far got the better of the deal. It really sings. The '59s are sweet and full sounding. No harshness. Very full sounding. Endless sustain from the hollowbody at the right volume.

Beyond what I would expect and have heard about recent Epiphone guitars. I think this is a very well made guitar and easily worth the current prices. Not sure if the 2008s are as good as this 2004 though.

Again, this is a used guitar traded from a good guy and player, so the the setup was nice and the guitar was still in great shape. Had to re-install the pickguard because the previous owner didn't like it on there, but he had all the parts (old guard and mount, old pickups, old bridge, old tuners). Switched from the 9s that were on it to 10s and the action is perfect. Might go to 11s at some point, but for now the 10s sound and feel great. DR Pure Blues.

Only finish problem (and to me it is a minor one) was at the neck joint. Somewhat to be expected, the joint has a crack in the finish along the joint. Does not effect playability or sound that I can tell and is not even noticeable unless you inspect closely.

The cherry finish is dark and doesn't show much of the maple grain, but the maple looks pretty decent from what I can see (no knots or voids or weird grain swirls). You can tell its maple by the weight too. This thing is heavier than it looks and heavier than my Strats or Teles, but not too heavy. Not Les Paul heavy.

Hold tuning very well thanks to the upgraded tuners. Seems solidly built. I think I could depend on it for gigging. I would never go to a gig with only one guitar though.

never dealt with them. Hopefully I won't have to!

Been playing for 21 years. Play mostly alternative rock, though lately been getting into the blues pretty heavily. This Dot is perfect for both. I get a really nice blues tone out of it through my '65 Deluxe Reverb RI and '65 Tremolux. I can also get really nice effected tones when I want to. Works well all my pedals. Those SD '59s are great.

If it were lost or stolen I would replace it.

This is a really great guitar for the money and the best way to get a 335 without having to spend well over $1000.

I got several Teles, an '84 Strat, a '68 Jaguar, a '92 Jazzmaster, '49 Gibson archtop, '68 Yamaha acoustic, and more. This guitar, while not in the same class as the others collectibility-wise, is on par with them playability and tone-wise. Very surprising. The cheapest guitar in my collection is one of the best I've ever bought.

2007 Dot, just bought it a few weeks ago (today is 5/20/2008).
I don't know what the stock pickups are but, they're not very articulate, & relatively mild output. the Grover tuners it comes with aren't half bad.

I think it would be good for most styles. For lack of a better adjective, I'm playing indie rock with it, whatever that means. I'm using it through a Fender Super Champ XD, they're, the combo of the dot & the amp are actually quite good. The stock pickups (I've already replaced, I'll get to that below) are ok if you're not real serious about your tone. I didn't buy this guitar with the intention of keeping the stock pickups.

So far I've replaced the neck pick-up with a Gibson 57' classic. Holy hell, that changed everything. I know there will be some purist who will want to argue this, but I swear it sounds surprisingly close to the Gibson 335 I played it next to. The new pick up gives it the output, articulation, and tone it was missing before. I'm debating weather or not to change the bridge pickup, I kind of like having a lo-fi sound down below, but I don't know how practical it is to switch between pickups in the middle of a song, so I'll probably put a 57' Classic Plus down there & get that effect w/ an eq pedal or something.

I had to have it set up, this is almost always the case with epiphones, it's one of a long list of reasons it's so much less expensive than a Gibson. Some of the nuts that hold the knobs on and the jack nut needed to be tightened, which is a little disheartening, how hard is it to have a guy with a wrench at the end of the assembly line tightening those? Otherwise it was pretty solid.

It seems pretty durable, I don't have any real concerns that it's going to fall apart. I don't really care if the finish wears off, I like a guitar with a bit of wear on it. The strap buttons seem solid, but again, it's only a few weeks and two shows old.

no idea what customer service is like with epiphone

I've been playing for most of my life, I tour about 6 months out of the year and have to depend on my gear coming through for me at 100-150 shows. I researched this guitar for several months and played probably 20 of them at different music stores. If it were lost or stolen I would buy it again. I love, love, love, that I got this solid of a guitar, and after a few upgrades have the sound that I want for less than $1000. There really is nothing to hate about this guitar, it plays well and is easy on the eyes.

I can't emphasize enough how great this guitar sounds after some simple upgrades. Swap out the pickups and the nut and you have a professional grade guitar anyone would feel good playing.

I bought my Epidot in 1998. I'm pretty sure it was made in Korea.
22 frets. Laminated Maple top. Cherry red with white binding. Volume and tone for each pickup. 3-way toggle switch. Mine came with two Samsung Humbuckers. Maple body and neck with rosewood fretboard. Nice Cherry finish. Semi hollow ES-335 style electric guitar. Tun-O-matic style bridge with stop tailpiece. Grover style tuners. I don't they are real Grovers. I played many Epidots until I found one with a slim 60's neck. Most of the necks I played were big and uncomfortable for me. I bought the matching Epiphone HS case with this guitar.

After a few minor changes this guitar does it all. Classic rock, jazz, couontry, blues, R&B, you name it. I gig often with this guitar. I play through one of the following. Peavey Classic 50/410, Fender Deluxe Reverb or a Fender Blues JR N.O.S. The guitar is perfect with any of these amps. I've never used a solid state amp so I wouldn't know about that. My effects are few. Boss TU-2 tuner then a Boss SD-1 overdrive and then a Boss DD-3 delay. I get anything I want. I like everything about this guitar.

I don't remember the factory setup. My guitars go straight to my tech before I even get them home. I immediately took this guitar to my tech and he installed Duncan '59 pickups, a Gibson selector switch and a bone nut. We left the tuners alone. They were fine. I threw away the pickgard and took it work. I had been playing solid bodiy guitars so it took a little while to get used to the Epidot.

I've played over a thousand shows with this guitar. It's awsome.

Never called them.

I've been playing professionally for 40 years. I own many guitars including Gibson Les Paul Standard, Fender Stratocaster, Fender Telecaster, 1960 Gibson Les paul JR. With the above mentioned mods, none of my other guitars even come close to the feel, sound and playablility. This is hands down the most dependable guitar I own.

2007
22
laminated top
2 volume,2 tone controls
2 humbucking pickups
stock alnico humbuckers
laminated maple
cherry coloered
semi hollow body style
tune-o-matic bridge
grover tuners
came with a low quality guitar cable

I think it will sound good once I upgrade the electronics,or at least this is my hope

various amps,marhsall model1987 half stack,roland micro cube mainly right now

not really noisey at all

muddy sounding right now,again I believe it is due to the poor pickups it comes stock with

I am hopeful it will be fairly versitile in sounds when I am done upgrading electronics

dislike the cheap electronics
like the appearance.looks great,action seems good out of box

set up was actually ok right out of the box

pickups were down all the way

top looks great,bridge looks ok

no visible flaws whatsoever,really this thing looks sweet

I think this guitar should hold up well under care and common sense

hardware is less quality than I am used to but I right now think it will be ok

finish is outstanding

strap buttons seem solid

I think I will be able to depend on it after electronics are changed.The pickup selector switch is also junk,but thats a minor fix

I would not gig without a backup no matter what guitar was my main guitar

I emailed Gibson customwer service numerous times in the past with questions.They most of the time have always replied to me,often with a very generic answer

no warranty servicing needed so far

Been playing since 1979

I researched pretty good before buying this guitar.consensus is basically poor pickups and electronics,but other than that after these are replaced it is very good deal

I would get one again if it were stolen.I am not stupid enough to lose it

The finish is awsome,thing looks sweet.the electronics suck,muddy pickups with no character,pickup selector switch often shorts out,and I can tell the volume and tone controls are poor as well

I tried comparing this guitar to a Gibson ES-335,but reALIZED YOU REALLY CAN'T.The Gibson is just that much better,but I am going to try and make this thing work to get as close as I can

wish it had better electronics

I am hopeful this guitar will be a good deal in the end after all the electronics have been changed.Other than that ,it seems solid and no flaws or major complaints

I imported my Dot from Germany in March 2007. The rose wood neck sports 22 frets, has a maple-ply body. The translucent cherry-red paint is augmented with white binding on the guitar body.
There are tone and volume pots for each humbucker PU and a three-way selector switch. The PUs are passive '57 repro manufactured by Epiphone.
The Dot has a stop-bar bridge and Grover tuners and standard frets.
Purchase did not include a hard case as it was left-handed.

I like to play funk, rock and blues generally. I use a Cornford Harlequin(a low-wattage valve amplifier)with a Maxon OD-9 and JD Wah pedal.
I found the stock pick-ups to be dull and unresponsive with limited tonal range. I replaced them with Gibson 500T and 498 humbuckers. I little hot for some, but certainly improved the range and feel.

The action required slight tightening to the truss-rod and leveling at the 14th fret to achieve clean string bending. The intonation was fine, as were the electronics. The bridge and tuners also immaculately assembled.

Only a year old, the jack socket has required tightening from time to time, but so does the one on my LP standard. The selector switch feels a bit feeble, but no problems have arisen yet.
The instrument feels well built and should stand the test of time.

I have been playing for thirty years. I played a 70s Strat for many of those. I current have a Gibson LP Standard and Taylor acoustic.
For the money, I feel the Dot is great value in terms of playability and build. It only falls over on poor quality PUs.
I was puzzled as to the lack of hard case as these are supplied with right-paw models. There is no difference in body shape.

2 Humbuckers, tone and vlume for each, 3 way selector toggle switch. Nothing fancy, but everything practical. Just wish everything was tightened and maybe higher quality.

This guitar sounds amazing. This is my go to guitar. I hvae heard, not played, the gibson 335 and like the epi just about as much. I will eventualy upgrade the pickups to gibson '57 classic, but for now it is just a great sounding instrument, especially for its price. I tried some of the other hollow body guitars before purchasing and found the epi dot to have the deepest and most plaesant tone than the rest.

The action was good for me. My biggest issue was the loose pots and especially the input jack being loose. The finish was very good, but could be smoothed around the edges of the binding strip a littel in some spots. Otherwise it looks amazng.
Oh yeah, I didn't like the little pitchfork E on the pick gaurd so I removed it. Luckily it came off pretty easy, in fact it just about fell off. Its a good thing i didn't want it on or I may have been diasapointed.

Again the electronics issue. I feel that i should not have had to work on a brand new guitar, as far as the pots and jackgo.

I eventualy called Gibson for the warranty on the issue I was having with the electronics and they set me up with someone near by so it worked out well.

If your looking to play any kind of hollow body this is very affordable, pleasant to play, great to listen to, and nice to look at. If you are a collector with lots of extra cash, than go with a Gibson for resale value. I never plan on selling mine, so for me the name brand is no big deal when I get such wonderful tone.

Came with standard neck and bridge pickups, 3-way selector, 2 tone and 2 volume switches, etc.

for the kind of music that I like, which is pretty much classic rock, from the Beatles to Oasis, this guitar seems perfect. lots of people seem to be complaining about the stock pickups, but to me they sound just fine- can achieve pretty much any sound you want, and an infinity of combinations with the pots. i would happily put this guitar up against it's gibson counterpart. fantastic, really.

had to get the action adjusted when i bought it, but after that, perfect.

seems solid enough

absolutely love it- amazing guitar from epi.

In the very first band I was ever in, back in the mid '70s, the guitarist had an Aria copy of an ES-335 in red and I was just fasinated by the great crunch and controlled feedback he could get out of that hollow body. That same year I saw Ted Nugent live and decided I had to have a semi-hollow body!

Well, other things got in the way and it just never happened... until the Dot.

Mines the gloss cherry finish. Bought it stock brand new. Came with the guitar, a chord and a use & care guide in a cardboard box. Bought it over the net. No issues with the condition it arrived in - factory sealed. No a whole lot of features - semi-acoustic with asian made pickups and a 3 postion selector switch. It is what it is - a ES-335 like electric guitar. I didn't expect any more or any less.

This guitar does have good tone and sound when the tone knobs are set to at least 1/2 way or more in the treble range. Any less and the sound gets muddy, and all the way into the bass range gives an almost muffled sound. Could be that higher value caps on the tone pots would help. If there is a weakness with this guitar, its the pickups. Mine are marked "HOTCH(G) LP Bridge OR Neck BHC" on the back and I point this out because I've found different designations marked on other Dot pups while searching the web. Maybe Epiphone uses different suppliers, I don't know. As I said, these are capable of producing the sound that I was looking for, it's just that I would like a wider range of sounds to go along with it. I have heard other ES-335s and they don't suffer from this issue.

The toggle switch also does not work all that well as you have to "jiggle" it sometimes to get both pckups to work in the middle position. I thought maybe this was gunk in the switch and would go away with time but it hasn't

All the controls were loose when I got it but that's what you get when you buy mailorder on a product from China. No big deal as a couple minutes with a wrench had them tightened up. I thought at first that the frets were rough and a couple almost seemed marred and I chalked it up to a cheap guitar but at the first string change I cleaned the fretboard with 0000 steel wool and then some lemon oil and no more rough anything. Again, no big deal.

The fit and finish is very good for this price range - I have no really complaints there. I could not find any flaws. One small nag is that the side edges of the fretboard could have used a little more dressing on the one or two fret ends. A few seconds with a fine file fixed that. Very minor though. I have to remind myself how low cost this guitar is when I pick at such things.

The bridge was too high out of the box and a couple minutes with a steel ruler and a screwdrive easily fix that. Probably knocked out while on the water in shipping. Intonation was about spot on. The neck as it should be. Very nice actually.

A little better QC on the cleanup by Epiphone would solve all these.

This seems solidly build. Nothing loose or badly put together. If not for the suspect toggle switch, I don't think there would be any trouble ahead.

I like this guitar and I would buy another if it were stolen. I bought it to play and can't justify the price tag on a real ES-335. I think the Dot is a really good value and - remember the price point here - is well put together and finished.



NOTE: After owning the Dot for 5-6 months, I recently broke down and replaced the pickups with a pair of Seymour Duncan '59s and replaced the toggle switch and pots. Now it does give me a wide range of tones and sounds. Really makes me glad I bought this - but remember it did cost me another $200 to get it to where I wanted/needed it (now it sound reminds me of a '60s era ES-335... just about perfect). -- I didn't include these mods as part of my ratings.

The Finish is a beautiful blonde natural color. i got it at First Quality Music Supply today. the body is a gibson 335 pretty much. the bridge is great and it doesnt knock it oout of tune. the tuners are awesome looking/working Grovers. the neck is flawless. it comes with a chord and manual you will need a case. you can pull out Rich Robinson/ Keith Richards tones to Clapton to BB King tones. its amazing. the body is laminated maple i beleive. 2 volume, 2 tone. 2 awesome humbuckers. it has an awesome mahogany neck too.

PERFECT. i can get an eric clapton Cream sound perfectly. i can get a good Keith Richards sound too. and Rich Robinson stuff too. has a thick bluesy rock n roll tone. on clean, its a Chuck Berry/Beatles guitar sound. its deep and soulful sounding. and sometimes bright. doesnt get too much feedback. i use a Peavey Valveking 112 and an Ibanez TS808 Tube Screamer, and the go together like a dream. has a good acoustic sound too.

Flawless clear finish, the adjustment is great. its glossy and pretty. no flaws at all! absolutley perfect.

this thing should last forever.

buy it. you will love it for blues/rock.

regular korean 2001 bouoght in 2001 - cherry' two humbuckers.

the sound of the guitar is good, the unfortunate downside is the intonation. perhaps i got a defective guitar, but even with the octaves set up properly, the guitar doesnt seem to be in tune across the neck, which makes it upractiacl and unplayable. Also, even with a new nut and grover tuners inslald, it doesnt stay in tune.

i give it a 3 coz i can hear that it actualy can be a nice sounding guitar, but with the intonation so awfull, its unplayable.

I had the guitar brought over from canada (im not from over there), bought new at long and mcquade toronto. unfortunatly, the person who got it for me isnt a guitar player, so we relied on the salesperson. unfortunatly i got a guitar poorly set up and buzzing, badly intonated - maybe because of the flight, or again, maybe coz i got a defective guitar, or maybe coz its just a bad guitar.

solid guitar, but unplayable because of the poor intonation i mentioned. i give it a generous 4 coz its actualt built well.

n/a

if you are thinking about buying one, make sure its playable - tune it, play bar chords across the neck and listen if it sounds and FEELS in tune. pull strings, be very suspicious about this guitar. mine is a complete dissapointment, i never enjoyed it and its just in its bag waiting to be sold to another poor felow.

2006 Chinese Dot...Sunburst finish with the usual controls. Grover tuners. Purchased new from ebay. Not used or factory second.

Delivered the hollow body tone I was looking for... playing it through a Vox AD50VT or Fender M80.

I read many reviews before opting to purchase and it arrived in the condition anticipated. All pots, the switch, and input jack were flopping loose and the control knobs had not been fully set on the pot stems. Perhaps they purposely do this to account for changes in the wood during shipping(or the guy in China who assembles them goes for coffee and forgets to tighten them...who knows...a quick bit of work with a socket and they are good to go. The three way feels quite cheesy and I'm betting it will be the first component to fail. Pickups were screwed down tight and required adjustment...action was set to specs and trussrod adjusted appropriately. Uneven 13th fret required leveling. The fretboard was rough in the high registers and needed a wet sand to allow string bends. Tuners are actually pretty good. Plastic nut must be replaced.

With the exception of the three way switch it all seems solid. Rumor has it the electronics are dodgy so...we shall see...

Playing for 30 years now and no longer doing it for $. Own 2 strats, a tele, and a Dano 12 string. Can't justify the extra bux for a Gibson and not willing to risk off-brands to get the hollow body experience. I have refinished and rewired several guitars but I will not attempt to replace any of the components on this unless they blow up. If you have big enough hands to play the fat neck on this bitch you surely can't get your fingers in the f hole to work on it. In spite of the tweaking needed, it is still good value for the price and even if you don't win the fight they do have an office you can phone and scream at if something goes wrong.

This Dot was natural finish, grover tuners, probably 2006-2007.

I think this guitar really needs to be played through a nice tube amp. With a low gain rhythm setup, you get a VERY unbalanced sound. Very absent on the lower-mid and low end, the upper mids and highs are OK. When you kick in the boost for a lead line (here's where your amp comes into play), this guitar shows it's stuff. Specially on the neck pickup. It sings with lots of sustain and a fairly good tone. I preferred the mix setting next, then the bridge alone last.

Clean - very different sounds based on pickup selection. Pretty distinct and good sound in the middle "both" position. Got a little twang and nice treble bite. This is my preferred position for clean, then neck, then bridge.

Overall these pickups are not very good at all. With the right tube amp, you can get a nice lead out of them, but they leave a lot to be desired.

This particular guitar was supposed to be new from our mail order musical friend, but it arrived with the fretboard covered with grime, big cosmetic scratches over two frets, and two pots that were so loose that you couldn't actually turn them. (the WHOLE POT rotated in the body instead.) I cleaned it up and tightened down enough to give this a solid test over a week.

Action was fairly high, but that was easy to dial down at the bridge. Intonation was a tad off (yes before the action change).

The fretboard was a mess. Poorly filed fret wire gave it a very rough grinding feel. Just felt cheap. I'll ignore the scrapes which probably happened post-production.

The natural finish looked pretty decent, no real complaints about the body. Sloppy work around the F-holes, but not enough to send it back for.

The pots and 3-way switch will need replaced fairly quickly. They are complete crap. Scratchy and loose.

Grover Tuners are probably OK, but know this. THIS IS IMPORTANT... Many complain about the inability to tune this guitar. This is correct that's it's very hard to keep it in tune or even get it in tune. But, this is the fault of the cheapest nut I have ever seen in my life. I think it's made by Fisher Price. The NUT is the reason for the tuning instability, not the tuners themselves. The grovers feel very solid and do not have any play, so I imagine with a simple nut replacement, tuning issues would be fixed.

You could try some graphite (pencil lead) in the nut slots, but I think replacement is in order.

na

Player of 23 years and have some pretty good musical skills. I own an Epiphone Les Paul Custom Cherry Flame as my main guitar, pickups replaced with SD JB and Jazz. Amp is a Traynor YCV-80 (all tube). I play rock (classic/modern) as well as blues. Influences are Hendrix, Page, Clapton, David Gilmore, Buddy Guy, BB King, and SRV. (yes I've got a strat too :-)

I bought this guitar because I could get it for $300, which is a great price. I played it and tested it for a week solid, many times directly comparing to the Epi Les Paul. Not that I want it to BE a LP, but with the same setup it was a good way to reference what I was hearing.

What this guitar did best for me was a neck pickup lead tone. It actually sounded very similar to my Paul bridge lead (and the Paul has Seymour Duncans in it). But the rest was cheap, plain, and unbalanced.

After a week, I debated long and hard if a Sheraton was a better route than a Dot with upgrades. Lets face it, this Dot needed some work if I was going to hang onto it. I went out to the store to test a Sheraton and wow, NIGHT AND DAY...

I knew the Sheraton II would be better, but I was surprised how much better. The Sheraton was much more in line with my LP Custom in terms of quality, what I had expected from Epiphone in the first place. Yes it has things like binding and inlays that were completely absent from the Dot, but it also has much better hardware, looks gorgeous, and has pickups that sound so much better than the Dot. They are much more balanced and offer good tone all around. There is not a rough grind from poor fret wire like the Dot. The Sheraton is smooth and easy to play. Sings with a lead tone and sustain. Clean is very nice and balanced, it actually HAS low end unlike the Dot.

I think that it's the Dot that is far below what it should be rather than the Sheraton is far above what it should be. From comparison to my Epiphone LP, the Sheraton is on par there and what I expect.

Here's what it all comes down to. I would rather have a STOCK Sheraton II than a Dot which has had it's pots, switches, nut, and even pickups replaced. How's that for putting it in perspective.

If you are learning to play, I think this would be a good guitar for you. If you like the semi-hollow style, you can't beat the price. I forgot to say that the wide neck makes it very easy to play, almost like an acoustic. You can pound out full cords and have some fun.

If you are a musician, don't waste your time. It's only a good deal if it's a good guitar. For the extra money, a Sheraton II is a no brainer after my research and testing.

I like Epiphone a lot and am disappointed in them for the Dot. I am very very happy with my Les Paul as described above.

The Dot has been returned and a Sheraton II is in my future.

I won't go over the top on features as it's all been mentioned before. My 'Dot' is a 2007, made in China, cherry red with USA designed pick-ups and Grover machine heads. The feature that made me buy this particular model was the inclusion of a hard shell case.In my opinion it's 2 weaknesses are the cheap and nasty looking translucent amber control knobs and the black, plastic nut.

I play semi-pro rock/punk/blues in a function band all over the UK and mainland Europe and the 'Dot' suits the music I play perfectly.
My set up is:- Fender Deluxe - Marshall 2x12 - Marshall GV2 - Behringer UF100 Ultra Flanger - Boss SD1 - guitar. Played cleanly this guitar offers such a wide range of tonefull, usable sounds that go from jazz to rock and roll to blues to country to rockabilly and back again. When overdrive is added the Dot really changes character. The sound is huge, ballsy and bassy. Compared to my Gibson SG Standard the Dot is much louder and fuller but lacks the complexity and smoothness of the Gibbo. The controls are reasonably sensitive and the switch feels remarkably solid.

Out of the case this guitar was very playable, the strings were clean and not overly nasty feeling and the action was medium-low, fully intonated and relatively buzz free.
The pickups were set a tad high for my taste but 10 seconds and a small, phillips screwdriver sorted that.
The finish is stunning for a guitar of this price tag. Very glossy lacquer and neat routing, hardware fit and binding all add to the 'quality' feel of this instrument.
The only flaws were that horrid plastic nut - it's not a great fit, a slightly chipped fretboard edge on the bass side of the first fret and evidence of a fairly heavy sanding re-shape where the neck meets the body. The re-shape is actually a good thing in my opinion as it shows that the guitar has not been 100% machine produced.

It's a great live guitar. The 'big' sound really jumps out and the pick-ups deliver a fantastic amount of tone. Controlled feedback is so easy with this design and the sustain is superb.
The hardware is in need of a tighten ( I've had the guitar 2 weeks and used it a lot!) but that's not unusual for any Gibson/Epiphone in my experience. Things loosen naturally when you start using the thing.
I think that the finish will age quite nicely, it's not overly thick so I may have a convincing 'relic' on my hans before too long.
The strap buttons went on day one to be replaced by Schaller strap locks.
The dependabiliy of this guitar initially feels extremely good. The tuning stability is superb. Only time will tell if the electrics are up to the job but it does generally feel extremely solid.
I never gig without a back-up. This guitar will generally be my back-up (when the 'new guitar' novelty dies down)

Never uset them so "no comment" !

I've been playing for 20 years and have bought and sold lots of decent guitars guitars over the years. I currently have a 2005 Gibson SG Standard, a Fender Classic '60's 'relic' Telecaster, the 'Dot' and a Washburn EA10 electro-acoustic. My amp is a '96 USA Fender Hot Rod Deluxe and I use a few run of the mill stomp boxes.
I was originally after a Sheraton due to the tone the guy out of Kings Of Leon gets but was frightened by the mellow pick-ups so I saved ??100 and got a Dot.
If lost or stolen I'd get another one, and pray it was as nice as this one.
I love the case, I'ts essential for any archtop electric and fantastic at the price. The general feel of the guitar is fantastic, it really sings ,even un-amplified and it looks the business . . . . . . . . nearly!
I aint sure about the headstock size, it seems massive.
I wish it had a bigsby. It'll probably end up with a bigsby - more expense!!
Seriously, if you like the sound of a semi - feedback/growl/blues-tone; just buy one. ??339.99 - the best value for this quality I've seen for a long time. It aint a Gibson, but it aint ??2000, and it sounds and looks like one.

Gloss Natural finish, Semi Hollowbody, F holes, Non Locking Tuners, Standard Neck(feels wider than a strat) No Accessories Included, 2007 Chinese, Solid top, Two tone controls two volume controls, HH config.

I like a variety of music. This guitar, well it has an absolutely different sound than my strat knock off yamaha. I love the sound of this guitar. I practice with my guitar through a smokie amp, with headphones. When i use it like this i hear a buzz. Playing with the volume/tone controls i can get a bright sound with depth and a heavy richer sound. I have an affects pedal and a cheap randall amp.

Guitar was set up pretty good from the get go. Pickups were set up fine. Bookmatched fine brige routered well. This is supposed to be a blem. But i could find no major . really no minor ones either. The closest thing to flaw is that the F holes are not round at either end.

I expected a soft light guitar. I got a hefty peice of musical instument. I think the gloss finish will be dainty, but this guitar can take some punishment.(not that i will give it any) I dont gig so i dont have a backup (not sure my yamaha is even in the same class as this intrument)

N/A

I been playing for about 20 years. I own an Alvarez R20 Accoustic, A Martin 15E-000C, and a yamaha 312( something 12) I have a multiple affects pedal, Randall 25 Watt amp, and a smokie amp. I would purchase this guitar again. I was going to get a Dot studio and took a chance on this guitar. If this was stolen I would replace it with the same or similar one. My yamaha is like a toy beside this. I wanted a unique guitar that gave me better sound than my yamaha. If there are more updates, I will let ya know. I purchased this from musicians friend after ordering a studio twice and waiting almost a month and not getting one.

This is a Cherry Red ES-335 copy, you know all the features, made in China...

24.75" neck scale, humbuckers, 3 way switch, 2 volume, 2 tone, blah blah blah...

I give it an 8 because it has the features you need, and they work.

Full, rich, clear sound. Sure, it's not as responsive as an actual ES-335, but it's also at least $1600 less. And, let's be real, in a rock band, while having the dynamic range and versatility of an actual es-335 would be nice, the Dot does quite nicely.

Pickups could be better, but they sound like humbuckers. Because the body and neck are maple, the Dot sounds brighter than the es-335, but I prefer that myself.

Here is what freaked me out a bunch. The action, fit and finish on every Dot I played, felt roughly the same, pretty good, needs some tweaks. I think Epiphone has improved a lot over the last 5 years. Bot my Korean made Casino, and Chinese Dot played pretty good, right off the wall.

The actual ES-335's I compared it too didn't. Some had horrible set ups, all had some issue with the jack, or the pots. All the Dots had everything screwed in tight and working, the Gibsons were missing knobs, had bad jacks, or loose pots that were falling into the bodies, or some combination of the above. What's up with that?

This guitar feels solid and totally dependable. Sure the tuners could be better, but whatever, these work. In a few years of heavy use I'll see how it all holds up!

This guitar feels just as solid and sturdy as the es-335's and it actually seems put together better than some of the 335's I played at a few shops.

No idea, I can fix the guitar myself, or send it to my luthier.

I've been playing since the 6th grade (1980)... I have many rickenbackers, an Epiphone Casino (the cheap korean one, quite a great guitar IMO), and some others.

I would buy it again if it were lost or stolen. One thing I can say is that all the Dots I played, felt pretty identical. In a good way.

I love the headstock shape, much cooler than the gibson shape.

I wish the neck was slimmer, like the ES-335's. I may have my luthier reshape it.

The lowly DOT compared quite favorably to the ES 335, sure, the 335 is a nicer guitar, and I would consider it a great value at like, $1000 - $1200. But at $2000 - $2600?!?!?!?! NO WAY! It's not that much nicer!

It is ridiculous too that these 2 grand and up guitars all had various flaws where the $400 cheapy was spot on. I don't get that at all.

Yeah, someday a 335 would be nice to have, but the Epiphone Dot does 75% - 90% of what the ES-335 does. For a boatload less cash.

I've read revues saying how much better the 335 is, and they are right, but they are missing the point here. The Epiphone Dot is a great guitar and value, that with just a few minor tweaks, is awesome.

This is a good, well-apointed ES-335 clone (VERY surprising, since it was made in China). Two Alnico humbickers, 2 volume & 2 tone pots, 3-way toggle pickup selector, grover tuners (VERY smooth, accurate action on these tuners), laminated maple top back and sides, center block, f-holes, tune-o-matic brige (good quality, not a cheapo), chrome hardware. I believe the strings are Gibson brite-wires 10-46 ga. It is advertised as having a maple neck; mine came with a mahogany neck. I prefer a maple neck for stability, so it loses a point for that, and loses one more point for the cheap knobs,pickguard, and incorrect truss rod adjustment. But, what do you expect for $400? The binding, finish, etc. are all beautiful: I got the natural maple finish. The toggle switch and tone pots are very quiet. ALL IN ALL A WELL MADE ES-335 COPY, WELL WORTH THE PRICE. I'D PAY $600 to replace it, actually.
**NOTE: This guitar came set up with perfect intonation; HOWEVER, there was a very nasty twist and dip in the neck between the nut and 5th fret. A simple adjustment (loosening the truss rod) corrected the problem, but it SHOULD have been caught AND CORRECTED at the factory). The frets are slightly larger than Fender Medium-Jumbos, but not as large as Ibanez Jumbos. The fret edges need a little re-dressing when you get the guitar (no biggie: a little 220 grit wet-or-dry sandpaper and then buff with 0000# steel wool).

THIS IS A VERY GOOD ROCK AND ROLL AND BLUES GUITAR. IT IS NOT INTENDED FOR HEAVY METAL OR THRASH. I play blues, 60's & EARLY '70s classic rock, jazz rock, Santana, and late-60's early 70's Psychedelic. My amp is a Crate V-15, with a JAN GE 5751 preamp tube (V1), a Penta 12AX7C tube in the reverb driver V2), an Electro-Harmonix 12AX7A in the Phase-Splitter (V3), and Electro-Harmonix EL-84's in the power section. The amp is tubed for a clean, chunky, fat rhythm with gain settings 4 and under, Rolling Stones to Cream overdrive for gain settings 5-6, and Billy Gibbons, Leslie West, and Carlos Santa overdrive at gain settings 7 and above.

This Epiphone Dot has very quiet controls (pots and toggles) with no scratching or other unwanted noises. It comes with 2 Alnico humbuckers. Don't kid yourself into thinking you are going to get original spec '57 PAF's at this price. But SURPRISINGLY, they sound very close to the original; not quite as smooth, and a little bit brighter on the top end than the original '57 PAF's. These 'buckers are VERY good for the price of this guitar (I SEE NO NEED TO UPGRADE THEM). If you want super-clean jazz tones, clean but chunky '60's rhythms, mild Stones crunch, Clapton style woman tone or Leslie West style woman tone, as well as Santana's searing smooth overdrive, they are all in there. You just have to twiddle with the controls to find them (I have marked my settings with a Magic Marker).

The bridge pickup will give you a dark to medium clean or crunch tone. This is the first guitar I have played where I can attain the dark snarl that Hilton Valentine of the Animals got with his ES-335. The bridge pickup will also give you a slight Fenderish out-of-phase tone (but not the full-blown Strat Quack) with the tone control set around 3-4.

I prefer to use both pickups for my rhythms, and then toggle to the bridge or neck pickup (depending on whether I want a dark crunch or a smooth overdrive) for my leads. The two pickups together give you lower gain than using one pickup at a time, so if you like clean to chunky rhythms with overdriven leads, this guitar can do it in spades!.

The tone pots are smooth, but not very effective in the 6-10 range; most of the boost or roll-off occurs in the 1-5 range, so I have used a magic marker to make it easier for me to find my settings quickly.
THIS IS NOT A GUITAR ONE SHOULD BUY IF YOU INTEND TO DO A LOT OF MODIFICATIONS. THIS GUITAR SOUNDS FINE JUST THE WAY IT IS.

For the most part, the cosmetics are flawless. The wood is beautiful. As discussed above, I was not expecting a mahogany neck (prefer the stability of rock maple). And the neck needed a truss rod adjustment (nothing major). The pickups are set up well and evenly balanced (no major volume changes or surprizes when you switch toggle settings). The strings were set VERY low (4/64"), so I had to raise them a tad. The fret wire needs a minor dressing (nothing major, just a little rough on the edges). Tone pots are pretty good, but I have seen much better. The Grover tuners are great, with very smooth action (was not expecting that on a guitar in this price range).

All fittings, strap buttons, pots, input jack, toggle were tight and of good quality. The plastic knobs and pickguard are a little cheezy, but Epiphone has to cut costs somewhere to sell this axe at this price (the major $ savings are the use of Chinese labor).
I played professionally for 20 years. Now I play for relaxation, and sit in on an occasional gig. This guitar, once set up properly, will withstand the rigors of the road, and no back-up is needed (unless of course you want to get a Fender sound, then you'll need a Strat or Tele as well).
** REMEMBER, this is a $400 axe, not a $2,000+ axe. As long as you treat it with the respect any guitar deserves, it should hold up a long time. IT IS A GOOD, SEMI-PRO GUITAR. People that play major gigs will not be shopping in this price range, to begin with.

Unknown. Never had to deal with Epiphone.

I have been playing for 40+ years. I own an original '62 Strat, a Squier Vintage '51 (set up for playing slide), and a 1980's Yamaha Acoustic Country Jumbo. (I have owned various Les Pauls, LP Juniors, Melody Makers, Fender JazzMaster & Teles over the years). My amps are an original '65 Fender Blackface Deluxe Reverb, '67 Silverface Princeton Reverb, and a Crate V-15 all-tube 112 combo. I use a Behringer Multi-FX (great chorus, delay and tremelo; the tremelo is actually better than the Fender tube-driven tremelo).
THE EPIPHONE DOT IS A GREAT MID-PRICED ROCK 'N ROLL GUITAR; DOES A PRETTY GOOD JOB ON BLUES AND JAZZ. I compared it to the Gretsch G5120 (wonderful guitar, but not as useful for rock 'n roll as the dot; the Gretsch is more of a Rocka-billy and Jazz box), Several Ibanez semi-hollow bodies (all crap - bad tuners, nasty ceramic humbuckers).
The one thing I wish this Epiphone Dot has is a Bigsby Vibrato Tailpiece. Other than that, this guitar is an excellent value for $. I WOULD RECOMMEND IT TO ANYONE LOOKING FOR A GOOD MID-PRICED ROCK AND ROLL AND BLUES GUITAR. AND YES, IF LOST OR STOLEN, I WOULD REPLACE IT WITH THE EXACT SAME MODEL AND FEATURES.

Look...I am writing this to make a specific point about the Epi Dot. As far as the guitar is concerned it is a good semi-pro to pro guitar. A pro guitar does not have to cost over $1000 to say the least. As for the Dot, either you like it or you don't. Let's face it, if we could afford a Gibson ES 335 we would opt for one rather than a Dot...be honest now, huh? When I was a younger player I could afford Gibson Doves, 335's and Les Paul Customs...hell, I onced owned a 1952 Fender Esquire back in '70. Nowadays I cannot afford to buy these guitars so I am relegated to the Dot and guitars of that ilk...with one exception...I own a Godin Multiac Classical that now sells for $1300....so I do own a pricey guitar but other than that....most of my 6 or 7 guitars are in the range of The Dot.

Now, on to my point...I would have bought a Dot years ago if for not one "flaw": they never got (Korean versions) the body profile just right. The upper bouts were too large and the body waist too wide. It was a clubby guitar with fat MICKEY MOUSE-LIKE EARS.

Even non-Gibson makes were getting it right but Epi Korea just kept missing the point. Now I know that even Gibson issues varied SLIGHTLY over the years...but these discrepancies or variations were never as blatantly off keel as the Korean issues. But glad to say that is no longer the issue...at least not with the Chinese versions of late. They finally got the body contours right on. The newer ones match up very close to the 60's and 70's profiles by Gibson and Epiphone (Casinos, Rivieras and Sheratons). And that makes all the difference when having to settle for a "budget" version of a guitar...at least get the basic shape correct for Crying Out Loud.....
to offer us some hastily assembled facsimile is adding insult to injury....
But hey...they finally got it right....
now if this does not matter to you....skip this....but if it does....then know that they pulled back on the insults.......

and if you cannot afford a Gibson ES 335...you might want to take a look at the New Dots....
peace

I've had mine many years now and have replaced all the hardware from Chrome to Gold. Mines a cherry color that has held up well.

Sound is pretty good. The bridge wore out and needed replacement. The pickups were replaced also with very hot GHS ones. It gave the guitar a darker ES335 sound. I may eventually replace these again with something like TV jones pickups to give it more of a jangally sound. The guitar came with 12s on it with a wrapped 3rd. I think it plays best with 10s or 11s. 9s are too light and you dont get a good sound. You can get a nice santanalike sustain out of this guitar with the right volume level and tone settings.

The Tuners had to be replaced because the screws inside eventually loosend up and it was a bitch to tune. The bridge rotted out too. You know how brass is. I was able to get a direct replacement in Gold metric. Looks much better in gold hardware. I replaced the nut with a Black Earvana nut. This made a real big improvement in intonation. In replacing the pickups I did see some separation of the top Cap (soundboard) from the plank that runs through the body. I reglued this and clamped it to prevent further separation. So far so good. I think refretting will be the next item for this one. I wear the hell out of them. Luckily I do my own refretting and this will be an easy job because the neck is unbound. This also has a wide neck and may not be suitable for all kinds of playing styles.

I've had no major problems with this one live or otherwise. Stays in tune and has a predictable sound. Blends well with other guitars soundwise and sounds good in the upper registers. Because the body is large getting to the volume is a reach, so is the selector. One thing I do is string it a littel different. I put the strings through the tailpiece backwards and then fold the strings over the tailpiece. This lifts the ends of the strings up, Puts ledd pressure on the bridge, And adds some length to the strings past the bridge. It adds some more harmonics for my style of playing. Overall its held up well to my playing style.

na

I prefer a Casino with the frequensator and mini humbuckers. This one doesnt sound all that unique. I've actually built better guitars myself. But it is durable and decent sounding for the price which is the key. I had and original 60s Casino as my second Real Guitar as a kid a Vox hollowbody being my first. $50 back then used. It would be worth a mint now. anyway if you cad deal with the huge neck on it and plan on upgrading components in it its worth the money for the neck & body alone.

Cherry Epiphone Dot, thinline semi-hollow body with center block, made in Korea, stamped "2nd" on the back of the headstock. "2nd" is generally indicating a finish flaw, this guitar is structurally sound. I bought this used on Ebay.
Otherwise it's a standard Gibson setup, but knockoff style (the parts pretty much resemble Gibson parts, but nothing is interchangeable without some modification). Pretty much all the parts are crappy, but some you can live with longer than others. Try and get a korean made one, they seem to be made better than the Chinese ones. The Chinese ones do have a fatter, deeper neck though.
Basically, if you're planning on gigging with this guitar as a serious player, replace the nut, tuners, posts, and pickups. Give a good fret levelling/dressing too.
I've swapped the stock pickups for some Duncan '59 models. The originals were just bad sounding.
These are fine guitars, but mainly for the body, not any of the hardware.
I'm giving it a 4 for the quality of the parts, but this is a cheap guitar and it will get you by as is if you're playing at home mostly.

I own an actual Gibson ES-335 Dot, so it's fun to compare them. It sounds alot different than my Gibson, even with changed pickups. It's brighter, more jangle, more top end. The Epi Dots have a maple neck (instead of mahogany, which darkens the tone) and poly finish, so it is a little bit more brittle sounding, but fine in it's own right.
It's not overly noisy with the Duncans, but the stock pickups were a bit.
I play shoegaze (radiohead, slowdive, cure)with alot of delay and reverb, lots of effects, 2 amps in stereo, so I'm not really concerned with any kind of pure vintage tone, just a good strong well balanced tone.
You can play anything on this guitar, it's up to you.

Epi factory setups tend to suck, as do most factory setups from any major manufacturer. No major flaws other than cutting corners on cheap parts, but that's what makes these guitars fun and affordable. Get a bone nut with the proper string spacing, new pickups (GIbson, DUncan, Frlalin), new pots and wiring (stock wiring WILL crap out on you), and some new tuners (altough the Chinese Grovers are okay, I'm not a Grover fan).

This is a great workhorse guitar once you upgrade the necessary parts. I've kept the bridge and tailpiece on mine, mainly because it's hard to find a bridge that will match those mounting holes. You need to pull out the mounting studs, fill the holes, and re-drill. It's worth doing though, alot of tone gets sucked up by the stock pot-metal dridge and tailpiece.
I would not gig with guitar without upgrading the vital parts, especially the pots. These get scratchy and cut out almost immediately. PIckups are a matter of personal preference.

Never dealt with customer support for Epi. I'm sure it's a hassle.

Overall it's a great guitar for the intermediate musicians if you leave it stock, and a great gigging player guitar once you upgrade some parts, mainly the wiring. I bought this guitar as a project with the intention of upgrading the nut, pickups, tuners, hardware, wiring, everything really. I use this as a back for my Gibson ES-335 Dot so I wanted it to be in the ball park of that guitar tone and feel-wise. I'd get another if it was stolen or whatever, I'd do the same things to it also. I really like 335's. The only thing I hate about this guitar is the massive headstock, inches longer than a Gibson headstock.
So if you're on the fence, buy one and have fun with it!

Dot ES335 Vintage Sunburt,Thinline Semi-acoustic,Made in China 2006 normal layout for this type of guitar,Epiphone USA designed hummbuckers and includes Grover Rotomatic Tuners not bad for a guitar at this price.(Includes Epiphone Hard Case)

The acoustic sound is quite full and rounded with decent sustain,plugged in to my Vox AD100 Valvetronix, boutique clean setting a pinch of reverb on the neck pup with treble rolled off Pure Blues, add a touch of gain WOW it will sustain for ages.This is a serious tone machine set the vox to UK Modern (Marshall) with a touch of gain the bridge pup will scream and howl, controlled feedback is a sinch. This is not a Gibson ES335 but it's a lot of guitar and PLEASURE to play and has'nt got the price tag of the Gibson.

Factory set up was a little high for my liking, It did'nt take long to sort,intonation is good,Frets are all well finished, The bridge is cut ok the nut is only plastic but it's cut correctly.The PUPS are ok for hight and the balance between them is good. There are NO floors in the finish or any problem with the selector switch or input jack, neither are there any problems with scratchy pots.(Yet early days)

I'm a bit heavy handed with my guitars but i can't see any problems using it live. The finish looks quite durable apart from the e sticker on the scratchplate

Never used them, The do give a "Limited Lifetime Warranty" but that is only if you register the instrument with proof of purchase ie receipt, and is only applicable to the purchaser. So if you bought it used it aint worth diddly.

I have been trying learn guitar since 1970 when my Uncle gave me his old Vox guitar.If it was stolen or lost I would almost certainly replace it. I now own a Gibson Les Paul Standard LE, a Fender USA Standard Strat, a Fender Player Deluxe Strat,a Tokai Les Paul,A Epiphone Les Paul 56 Gold Top, and an Ibanez Artcore AF85 VLS. Amplifiers Vox Valvetronix AD100VT 2X12,a Marshall MG50DFX,Carlsbro Kickstart 25

Epiphone Dot ES 335 type. Used 2003 issue (made in Korea at Unsung), Cherry Red, Double humbuckers. good condition. The guitar has a volume knob and tone knob for each pickup, and one switch with three positions.

The guitar illicits a nice warm earthy tone. You can manipulate the pickups and adjust this guitar for many styles of music. Used well for rock, reggae, funk. I was interested in buying a Les Paul, but now I'm satisfied with the punch this guitar has.

I bought it used, and it needed some work from a shop to make it playable. the action is low, and very user friendly. All the hardware is in good shape, but the pickup switch cuts out from time to time, which I guess these Epiphone's are known for.

Nice solid, playable guitar, that has style and class.

Cherry red. Purchased new in 1997 from Guitar Center in Chicago while on the road with my band. Typical 335-style features: Semi-hollow laminated maple body, set and unbound maple neck with rosewood fingerboard, 22 jumbo frets, 2 Samsung humbuckers with chrome covers, tune-o-matic bridge/stop tailpiece, 3-way switch, 2 volume 2 tone, black pickguard, sealed tuners of unknown origin (Ping, maybe?). Made in merry old Korea.

The 335-style guitar is remarkably versatile. It works well for so many types of music. So well, that I feel every serious electric guitar player should own one. Unfortunately, most mortals can't afford a real Gibson ES-335 (present company included), so enter the Dot.

Out of the box, the Dot is a decent sounding guitar. It has a nice acoustic shimmer and complexity unplugged, which is always a good sign. Late night practicing is quite enjoyable with the Dot. The biggest departure from the ES-335 is the maple neck, which gives the Dot a brighter voice than its mahogany-necked cousin.

The magic ends when you plug it in. The weakest part of the guitar is the electronics. First off, the pickups are dull and lifeless. Replace them. I gigged with the stock pickups for a week before I installed Duncan '59s. What a difference! Like taking cotton out of your ears (tired cliche, but very accurate). High quality pickups are a good investment for the Dot because they will better translate the guitar's excellent unplugged voice. I chose the Duncan '59s because they were affordable, but there are many excellent choices out there. Also, the switch is a joke. It crapped out on me on its maiden voyage. The same can be said about the output jack. Junk. The pots have held up pretty well over the years. I've heard that quality CTS pots are a slight improvement, but I've never felt compelled to try them.

In general, the 335-style guitar combines the jangle of a Tele with the fullness of a Les Paul into a sound all its own. The lower notes give a little more than a Tele or Les Paul, but that's the point. Big warm jangle, snarly lead tones, and smokey jazz textures with the tone pot rolled off. It's tone is not as centered as a solid body. Rather, it is a big more spread out and 3D.

My Dot sounds big and smooth. The neck pickup is warm and responsive, with a nice woman-like voice. The middle position has a nice sparkle and jangle. The bridge pickup has a really cool snotty bark that is accentuated nicely by the semi-hollow body.

Rating is for the stock Dot. With new pickups and electronics: 9.5

I bought the Dot as a road beater, so my expectations were already low. Fit and finish were on par with a $350 Guitar Center guitar--lousy. For starters, it died on stage the first day I bought it (bad switch). Gui-Target promptly replaced it with another one, which died on stage the following night (also bad swich)! Defeated, I took it to my tech when I got home from the tour and told him to "make it right".

Man, did he ever!
My tech at the time was the late, great Tom Everitt of Indianapolis, IN. (We miss you Tom!) He replaced the nut with a Graph Tech unit, installed Duncan '59s, replaced the switch and output jack with Switchcraft units, adjusted the neck and intonation, and dressed the frets. Yes, I spent a pretty penny: but what I got in return was a really excellent 335-style guitar for a fraction of what the comparible Gibson, Heritage, or Ibanez instruments were going for at the time. These mods were done in 1997 and as of this writing (2006) I still love playing it. Money well spent in my book.

Rating is for the stock Dot. With mods: 8.5

The Dot is a reliable gig guitar only if you address its shortcomings. In its stock form, it is a totally unreliable piece of junk. Sorry folks, but it's the truth. It is a price-point instrument made with cheap electronics and a finish that will eventually flake off in some areas (around the f-holes and the back of the headstock, for example). Don't even think about taking it on stage before sending it to your local tech for a once-over. You'll be sorry if you don't.

However, if you are willing to spend the extra cash to make it right, you will be rewarded with an excellent playing, great sounding, cool looking, solid gig guitar that you won't worry about getting dinged up and smokey.

I've owned this guitar for 9 years now and have played hundreds of shows with it. It has been banged around in a trailer from coast to coast in all kinds of weather. It's seen every thing from beer-soaked punk clubs and sandy outdoor frat beach parties, to posh theaters and huge outdoor venues. Since the mods, it has been incredibly solid, only needing regular adjustments to the neck. It did receive another fret dressing in 2002, but that was due to regular (ab)use.

It started to sound thin and ugly around 2004, so I stuck it in the case (in a fit of laziness) and left it there until last month (11/06), when I considered letting it go on Ebay. I took it to my fabulous new tech (Donnie Basham!) for a quick set up before the auction; as it was virtually unplayable at this point. I picked it up from Donnie's workshop and took it straight to the club for one last show with the old girl. When I opened the case, the damn thing looked brand new, just like the day I bought it. Hmmm? I plugged it in, the drummer counted off, and HOLY FRIJOLES it sounded huge and played great! I couldn't believe it. I'm so glad I didn't sell it. Thanks, Donnie!

As it turned out, all it needed was a good cleaning and an overdue neck adjustment. Beer and second-hand nicotine had caked the electronics, causing the thin, buzzy sound.

The rating is for the stock Dot. With the mods: 8

As stated above, my first Dot was replaced by Gui-Target under warranty the day after I bought it. The following night, the switch crapped out on me again. I was on the road and didn't know where to go, so I called Epiphone. They directed me to the nearest repair center--somewhere outside of Cincinnati, OH--and I was taken care of for the week. I promptly had my tech make right when I got home.

Overall, I love my little cheese-log Dot! In it's modified form, it is truely an excellent instrument. It doesn't have the presence of the higher priced 335-style guitars--but what it does have is the Devil-may-care attitude that makes you want to play it. A lot. My favorite thing about the Dot is that I don't worry about it. I don't think twice about taking it into smokey club and bashing it around; or loaning it to a buddy for a while. Who cares, it's just the Dot?

Anyone considering buying a Dot must figure in an extra $200-300 in parts and labor to make it right. I kind of feel like a goon saying this, but it is the truth. I get tons of compliments on the sound, especially from guitar snobs who would otherwise turn their noses up at Epiphones. A few players have bought Dots and modded them after playing mine.

I've been playing for around 20 years--professionally until 2003, when I decided to buy a house and get a day job. Now I'm just a weekend warrior with time to practice. I also double on bass guitar, so I must have two rigs ready to go at all times. I had many instruments stolen from my house in 2005 (they passed over the Dot!), so now I own the following instruments along with the Dot:
Les Paul Standard (cherry sunburst, WOW!) Les Paul Faded DC (TV yellow w/Bigsby), American Standard Telecaster (natural/maple neck/Duncan '59 in neck/Rio Grand Muy Grande Bridge), Music Man Stingray (sunburst/rosewood), Fender American Jazz (sunburst/maple), '74 Fender Precision (natural/maple).

For small gigs or rehearsals, I use a Fender Blues Jr. For larger shows, I use a fantastic 1967 Fender Bassman head with matching 2x12 cab that I've had as long as the Dot. The Bassman/Dot combination is really, really nice.

My current pedal board is a Pedaltrain: EB Volume Pedal-->Boss tuner-->Dunlop 535Q wah-->Fulltone OCD-->Voodoo Lab Micro Vibe-->Fulltone Supa Trem-->Boss DD-5 Delay.

Hope this helps you out.

Typical Gibson control lay out. The only unusual item is that there is no binding on the neck.

Since I have purchased Epiphones in the past, I thought it would be a crap-shoot in terms of sound and playability. To my surprise just about all the Dots I played sounded pretty similar. The differences in output seemed to be related to pickup height. Like Gibsons, Epi's need to have the bridge PU pretty close to the strings for good balance.

In the store the action was horrendous, the intonation was way off and the neck was bowed. The finish is beautiful Natural Blonde with some very minor imperfections. The f-holes are huge, much bigger than a standard 335. It was the only blond in the store and even though some of the others played better, I took a chance. When I got it home I did a complete set-up on this thing and then let it settle out for a few hours and then did some minor tweaks. When I came back to check it out I was astonished at how well it played. It has a fat neck which I personally love and with the nice tight action and it set up for 10's it plays like a dream. Other than the usual set up issues everything was perfect. Nice hardware, everything tight no issues.

One of the worries I had was this guitar staying in tune. In the store it was all over the place contsantly slipping out of tune, especially on the g string. All it took was a number 2 pencil in the grooves of the nut and now it stays in tune. I am a Strat player so normally I play pretty hard. This guitar can take hard playing and stay in tune. It even stays in tune overnite.

Who knows?

Here is the bet part of this story. I bought a Gibson ES-335 in '96 because I always wanted one. I had that guitar for 9 years and could not get along with it. The tone was weak, lacked resonance and was uncomfortable to play. I finally sold it in a fit of anger last year and was happy to see it go. I replaced it with a Gretsch so I didn't have any money for another 335.

I started looking around at Epi Dots about 2 months ago and the conclusions I have drawn may get some Gibson folks angry. I have 9 Gibson guitars all of varying quality. The new ones are fairly low quality instruments. They are nowhere near the quality of Fender, Gretsch, Ricks or some of my older Gibsons. Out of the box Gibson does not know how to set up a guitar. I honestly believe that this cheapo $399 guitar is as good as any regular production 335. I'm not sure if this says Epis are great or Gibsons suck but I think it is the latter.

I have been playing for over 40 years and have about 30 guitars. The Epi is one of my favorites but I have always had a thing about making cheap guitars play.

90's Korean-made, natural finish. Maple-ply body, rosewood fretboard. Pickups upgraded to Duncan Alnico Pro II. All pots, switches, etc. changed to USA parts. I don't know what happened to my pickguard, but it looks better without it anyway.

When I got this guitar, it sounded good without an amp - if you don't know, that's how you figure out if you've got a decent plank of wood on your electric. Plugged in, it was muddy in the neck and thin in the bridge. Just bad pickups - I also have an Epiphone Les Paul, so I know the importance of changing the pickups on Epiphones. I would rate the sound at a 5 with the stock pickups. But...

...once I put some decent pickups in there, the guitar really started to sing! Fat, smooth tone with the ability to give some good crunch. Sounds really great through my Fender Blues Jr. This is a semi-hollow, so it will produce feedback, but it's pretty controlable. You can play with overdrive, but certainly no metal distortion. Honestly, you're looking at the wrong guitar if you're a shredder. Go buy something pointy with a Floyd.

I don't know about the factory setup (I bought this from a friend), but I don't think it was set up before I got it. It was fine. One screw that adjusted the neck pickup height was stripped - probably not from the factory, but it was like that when I got it. Anyway, I never adjusted the action on this and it play just wonderfully! So far as I know, it's only been intonated. I use .012's on this guitar, and it still plays fast.

There are two reasons that Epiphones are so affordable. One, they're imports. Two, they use the crappiest electronics they can find. Nothing went completely bad on mine, but when I changed the pickups, I also changed all the other electronic components. Three of the pots were scratchy, so I figured that I'd just do everything. If you didn't already guess, it's a total pain to work on these guitars due to the limited amount of space in the wood - it'll cost a few bucks to have a tech fix up the guitar's electronics.

The tuners keep you in tune just fine. I thought about upgrading to Grovers, but there's really no need.

The strap buttons are very good - I did not install straplocks on this guitar because the buttons are big enough to hold the strap. Unless you're throwing the guitar around, of course.

Never gig without a backup - but that's just in case you break a string. This guitar isn't going to let you down.

Never dealt with them.

I've played for over 10 years, and I use this guitar a lot. It fits a wide variety of styles very well - rock, blues, jazz, and everything in between. If someone stole this guitar, I would definitely try to find another.

1997 Cherryburst, with open faced pickups. Rest has been covered.

I dumped this guitar after I couldn't handle the pickups any longer. They were just so lifeless and dull. I loved the look of the guitar, but once you plugged it in, it just screamed cheap guitar. The pups were very dark and fairly muffled. I thought about changing the pickups, but A) I suck a soldering and B) because it's a semi-hollow, access is extremely difficult, and thus quite expensive. It was more worth it to me to get rid of the guitar than to replace all of the electronics, which would have been necessary.

I sold it and picked up a Michael Kelly Patriot Phoenix, which is a Les Paul-type guitar that has an incredible sound. I'm thinking of picking up one of their hollowbodies.

The quality control for Epiphone is quite infamous for being sketchy. I picked up this guitar used, and it was beautiful, except for some finish issues around the f-holes.

Took it to the best shop in town for setup and they couldn't get the buzzing out of the top frets without having the action pretty high. Maybe a new nut? But, that's just more for the money pit.

The electronics are junk. The pots kill all of the high end below 9, and the switch only worked intermittently.

Never tried to call them.

Let's just say I would never buy one again. They are really nice to look at, but not very nice to play.

This is a 2006 Qingdao model in Natural; 22 frets, laminated glossy maple top, back and sides; glossy maple neck, unfinished rosewood dot markered fingerboard. We all know the electronic controls setup.

The chrome covered, fully wax saturated pickups in the 2006 models are now made in the Qingdao factory or by EMG (EMG overseas, I would presume). The pickups in this Dot are supposedly designed after Gibson 57 Classic but have Alnico V magnets.

The body shape is your standard ES-335 type.

Bridge is a tunomatic derivation; tailpiece is a stop. Comes OEM now with Grovers.

No accessories other than the truss rod wrench came with the guitar.

I play late 60s and early 70s Rock and Blues.

I generally use very small tube amps as I can't blast where I live.

The guitar isn't noisy at all.

The neck pickup would be really great for a Jazz player as with both the volume and tone pots on 10, it sounds like a stifled Clapton's "Woman Tone". In other words, bassy, very bassy.

The bridge pickup sounds, how you say, "Eh"? It'll get you into the vintage sounding ball park but only in the nose-bleed section of the bleachers.

Both pickups on together are like a decent, quiet Tele with a bit more power.

If you haven't figured it out yet, these pickups gotta go!

The finish and construction of the guitar itself are primo. CNC machines are a beautiful thing!

I didn't even pay attention to the factory setup. The strings were off it even before it got played 5 minutes. My tech knows how I like it and guaranteed, NO guitar maker's factory setup will please me.

The frets still had the file marks in them from when they were factory levelled. In other words, they ground them but they didn't polish them. My tech squared this away for me. He also noted that the 3rd and 16th frets were outright high and levelled them too. Also, the board appeared a bit dry. My tech also took care of that after the fret work was done.

As you all probably know by now, Chinese hardware ain't the greatest. Until it craps out (which shouldn't be many years down the road), it's functional and does its job. The chrome has already started blistering on the bridge saddles.

The Grover heads suck. I don't feel they are any better or worse than the rest of the hardware. I wish Epiphone still used the Pings.

The nut and saddle cuts are fine.

Mechanically, believe it or not, the toggle switch when placed in the middle position rattles when I hit an open A string. The pots and the output jack all had to be tightened. I'd be amazed if they didn't start crapping out real soon.

The guitar is solid and roadworthy but I'd say the total OEM electronic package would have to be replaced before even entertaining the idea of extensive gigging with this guitar.

As stated above, the hardware isn't quite garbage but I'd keep an eye on it.

The finish is really tough and durable.

Everyone knows gigging = straplocks.

Once all the above is upgraded, I'd say it was very dependable. FWIW, it does stay in tune and the intonation is right on the money.

I've dealt with Gibson many a time and it depends on who you get. Some are great, some are politely waiting for you to get off the phone.

Gibson is pretty good with warranty stuff again, provided you get the right person.

I've been playing 39 years. I own the Dot and a little Kustom 12W tube hybrid amp with an 8" Celestion and believe it or not, that's all folks! I'm going through some tough times financially and was forced to sell everything else which was the high end stuff.

I'm satisfied with the Dot because I knew exactly what I was getting for the $400. I asked all the relevant questions and there were no surprises.

If it were stolen or lost, I'd be foked because I could not afford another anything. Yes, I'd like another one if we parted company.

What I love about it is that it plays and sounds better than some of the real 330s and 335s I've owned over the years. I hate the inferior hardware/electronics. My favorite features are the beautiful wood grain and the (now) ease of playing - Nice, low action!

I chose this one because of the looks, price and the fact that Gibson runs the Qingdao factory from within with brand new, state of the art CNC machines. It's like you're guitar's been constructed by a "Super Luthier".

Everything I wish it had, I already mentioned.

This truly is a nice guitar to have and little by little, I'll get it up to exactly where I'd like it to be. In terms of the "big picture", I truly recommend it.

What can I say, it is a $399 semi hollow body that plays like a $2000 semi hollow body.

This is a very versital guitar, more so than my USA Strat! I can't get over the different sounds that come out of this thing. Play it clean, it is sooo sweet, add some overdriven tube to it and it gets nice and dirty the way a ood guitar should, throw some distortion and relive your Punk rock days! Hey, this is one versital guitar, I an digging it.

I bought this off the rack at a big 'ol guitar superstore, it has it's scars. I played many Dots, and an Aleycat or two to see waht I wanted, both ewere great, but for the $$$, the Dot was a clear winner. Plays real nice, easy to adjust the setup to your liking. It looks like a $2000 guitar!

So far so good, but time will tell. I think it will hold up just fine, with proper care and maintenance. Seems like a well built instrument.

Haven't had the need, and I hope I never will.

For $325? Can't find a better guitar, period. I had to sell my American Strat due to hard times, and now I am kinda glad I did! It gave me the chance to get this Epi Dot! There will always be another Strat out there, but I am thinking "why", this Epi does it all for a LOT less!

Paid $460.00 USD. I bought this guitar for use as a Bar/Road guitar. I own a Heritage 535 now, but would never take it out on a gig. If something happens to this Epiphone I'm not out that much. For the price you can't beat it. Let's face it Guys who has the money to throw down on a Gibson ES-335?. Like I said before I wouldn't take it out on a gig anyway. As far as features go, it plays like a champ! The only thing I plan on doing to it is change the pickups. I knew that going into the deal. but I figure it's a small price to pay for bringing this up to the standards of the higher end stuff. My rig consists of my Epiphone, Blues Deville 4x10, Boss CE-5 Chorus, DOD Chorus, Turbo Rat, Boss Blues Driver, Crybaby, Ernie Ball volume pedal and my Lexicon MPX 200.

As I said before, the pickups are the only real concern for me right now. soon to be replaced. I give it a 6 just for that matter. Other than that this guitar sounds excellent

I bought it used. It's not a Gibson or a Heritage but I wasn't buying it for that. As far as workmanship goes I don't have any complaints for something like this coming out of Korea. Nice smooth finish. Good tight tuners. nice case. fits like a glove! They did a good on this one!

This and my Mex Strat are my new Gig Guitars. There's absolutely no reason you should think that this guitar won't cut it on the road.

Haven't had to deal with them yet

I've been playing for 36yrs. I buy guitars like these for the fact that if it's ever lost or damaged I'm not out to much. And yes I would buy another Import Epiphone. If you want a good working man's guitar this is the one! I say jump on it, you won't be disappointed.

Made in China in 2004.
The standard features are as described in other reviews, semi-hollow body, 2 Epiphone 57 pups, two tone and two volume controls. I'm giving it a 9 as these are standard features on similar guitars.

I have heavily modified my Dot. The grover tuners are the only original hardware still on it. Having said that, I'll do this review in two parts: before and after my fiddling.

Stock standard: Overall the stock Dot sounded good. I found the pups, particularly the neck position, to be muddy, but overall I was happy with the sound and feel of the guitar. It is very quiet and was able to produce a variety of sounds. I tend to play clean with slap back echo or reverb as the only effects. The Dot handled this sound well, but as noted lacked definition and tended to sound a little muddy.

Mods: The first mod I made to the dot was replacing the crappy plastic epiphone nut with a Tusq nut. The difference in tone was nothing short of amazing. The muddiness was gone, the sound was now crisp and defined. The individual strings ring out and articulate clearly on all settings. The Tusq nut also brightened the sound. I would rate this as the single most important mod to improve tone.

I next replaced the Epi pups with Gibson classic 57 and 57+ in the neck position. I had ordered the prior to installing the Tusq nut (the Oz supplier was out of stock so they arrived and were fitted months later). After hearing the differnce in tone made by the Tusq nut I quite liked the sound of the Epi pickups and hoped I would hear a discernable difference from the Gibson pups - to justify the expense. I needn't have worried, the Gibson 57s are sensational. The tone is much richer and more complex than the Epi pups. The combination of the Tusq nut and Gibson pups has brought the Dot alive and it really sings.

I play a lot of Rockabilly and the dot sounds great. it also has a throaty roar when using distortion. Suits rock, brit pop jazz and Blues. Pretty much any music.

I rate the stock Dot sound as 8 and the modified sound as 10.

The original set up was poor. The action was so low that two stings were lying on the fretboard. Also the stock strings were of poor quality. Both easy fixes.

The overall quality of the finish is very good. The only flaws are a rough patch on the binding which appears to have missed sanding/poishing (you can feel this but its not visible). And a couple of chips at the base of the fret board where it meets the neck pickup ring. For a cheap guitar I was impressed with quality of the finish. I replaced the ugly amber knobs which appear to be a standard featur on Epis.

I have replaced the electonics with switchcraft switch and jack and CTS pots. The Epi switch fell apart (literally) while being removed. The pots on the other hand were alphas which is an improvement on the componets previously used by Epiphone.

The Epi hardware appears solid and i believe it would last. I fitted a Bigsby trem and wilkinson roller bridge so, as noted, earlier all hardware has been replaced other then the tuners. With the exception of the nut there were no problems with the other hardware.

I believe the Dot is robust enough to gig with and a guitar you could depend on. I would still take a backup, but I'd do that regardless of what guitar i was using.

Tuning stability ia good.

The original strap buttons seemed solid, though I replaced them with strap locks which i have on most of my guitars.

No idea - never dealt with Epiphone.

I have been playing for over thirty years and own a number of guitars including Fenders (USA telecaster and USA deluxe strat) and a Gibson L6s. I bought the Dot because I wanted a cheap semi. I was impressed by the Dot and have spent the equivalent of its purchase price on modification.

The result is that I now have a professional quality guitar with an awesome feel and tone. I recently played a Gibson ES 335 in a music store. The feel and tone were almost identical to my Dot. In Australia, the difference in price between my Dot (with mods) and a Gibson ES335 is approximately $4000. Is the diffence in tone between the gibson and my Dot worth $4k? The answer is no.

I love my Dot. I play it more than any of my other guitars. It has killer tone, is well made and well setup. The stock Dot is a well made guitar. It just needs improved electronics and a better nut etc to bring out its true potential.

If my Dot was damaged i would buy another one and transfer the Mods to it. If it were stolen I would by buy another one.

Overall the Dot is well made but is let down by the poor quality nut and electorics.

Made in 2005 in Korea. 22 frets. 2 volume, 2 tone, 3-way selector switch for 2 PAF-type covered passive Epiphone humbbuckers. Tobacco finish, ES-335 style semihollow body with f-holes, tune-o-matic bridge with stopbar tailpiece. Set neck with Grover tuners.

Awesome sound for classic rock, country, jazz, and blues. Not suited for shredding. Good, solid, full sound. Since it is hollw, it can feed back if too close to the amp, so get a long chord. Very responsive pots reduce excess electronic noise.

Action is right for me, since I like low action. Pickups adjusted at the sweet spot (close enough for power, far enough away to avoid being muddy). Bridge adjusted properly to maintain correct tuning for the length of the neck.

Good sturdy construction for a hollow body. I would use it without a backup, but I would be a little less active on stage than if I was using a good solid body. Strap buttons are secure.

I have dealt with the company as I own more than one Epi. They were very helpful, and I would continue to use Epis.

I have been playing for over 30 years. I own Les Paul, a Morgan Monroe acoustic, and a bass. I use a Behringer guitar amp and a Fender bass amp. I would replace it if lost or stolen. I love the quality and the sound. I compared with other guitars such as Ibanez, Washburn, and Guild. It played and sounded better. It's not as good as a Gibson ES-335, but I paid about 1/6 of the price for about 90% of the quality.

I think everyone knows the features on this guitar. Dual Epiphone humbuckers that are supposed to be their version of the 57 classics. Volume and tone for each. I was suprised that it had Grover tuners on it like my Gibson Standard Double Cut Les Paul. As afr as features you get wwhat youexpect if you are Looking for a good sonding hollowbody guitar.

I play a lot of staright forward Christian rock and Praise and worship. I was looking for a hollowbody guitar for the fat, round clean sound that had good sustain, and a guitar that had some beef when using it with overdrive. Well I was suprised when I playedthis guitar at my local Guitar Center. It was almost exactly the sound I was looking for. It has that fat, round tone to it that I love.

I am primarily using this through my Mesa Boogie DC-3. This guitar really warmed up that amp. It sounds much less harsh now because of this great sounding Epi. I also really like the sound of it running through my Marshall TSL 100 and 1960 TV cab with Greenbacks.

Overall I have really been impressed with this guitars sound.

This guitar seems like it is well put together. I told myself I would never buy and Epi because I am kind of anal about my guitars being American made, but this little thing seems to be top notch. The imput jack seems to be a little less than perfect because it really likes to hold on to your cables like they are a life raft or something.

When I got the guitar it had a set of 9's on it. They were ok but it made the intonation pretty bad. So i put some 10's on it and that helped a lot. I will soon be taking it to a great tech and having him set it up so it will be perfect. I will also have him lower the action just a bit because it is just a little high to my taste.

Overall this thing seems to be great quality. It feels substantial when you hold it and play it. I am very pleased with it.

As far as I can tell this thing seems like it will hold up with the best of them. I haven't gigged with it but once so I am not for sure how durable it is. Anything will last a long time if you take care of it and don't abuse it.

I haven't needed any customer support yet.

If this guitar were lost or stolen I would definitely buy another. I have been very pleased with my purchase.

Features are as listed below. Mine was made maybe in 2003, in Korea. It's cherry red, an oh boy, does it look beautiful or what! I really love the feel of it. After playing it Les Pauls and Strats feel like toys. It doesn't slide away from you while playing. The really fat neck may feel wierd after strats thin neck, but after playing Dots neck for few years it almost hurts to crab a strat.
The pickups aren't that great, but you can make it with them. Nothing ruins such an amazing guitar!

I play just about anything, from flamenco to Randy Rhoads' stuff. I don't play flamenco too much with this guitar because I don't want to ruin my nails doing rasguedo. [rrrrrramm]

If you love the fat sound of Les Pauls, go for Dot! Dot has even more kick n' punch, it's a Big guitar with a Big sound. It's great, you can beat the bass player and the other guitar player on stage.

About the stock pickups, they aren't that great. For the prize they're really good, but if you really want to hear THE sound, chance 'em. I went for Seymour Duncans Alnico II Pro PU's, and I can't recommend them enough! What a sweet full rich sound, now I know what the Dot is made of! Slash has a pair of them in about all of his dozens of Les Pauls, and I think those fit ES-335s even better. I also had DiMarzios Super Distortion in the neck position for a while and it sucked. Randy Rhoads had a great tone with 'em, but he also had tons of crap between his guitar and amp. I don't like to use even distortion pedals, and these Alnico II Pro's cover a huge variety of sounds. I think I get better sounds from my guitar that Randy got from his on his records.

Of course it suits for blues, jazz, pop, and harder rock than you wound think. Talking about the wall of sound, this guitar if some guitar has the punchy bass sound. I just love the "woman tone" on neck pickup with the tone rolled down. It's so beautiful you'll forget it's a guitar sound and you just drown in emotions. Some delay, and you can play the most touching solo EVER. On bridge position you'll find really tight kick ass sound, great for hard rock riffing and super fast soloing. The sustain is just amazing.

I've been using only Crate 15w solid state amp and a Roland Microcube, but I'm planning to buy a Vox Valvetronix to get the most out of my hot guitar. The Dot has sounded great on every amp I've ever tried it on. A really cheap amp doesn't show the whole character.

No flaws, but a few little paintless spots in the inner side finish of the f-holes. It was set-up great, no need to chance anything. This guitar is real deluxe to play. I chanced the ugly colored knobs for Gibson style black speed knobs, which look genuine. I also removed the pickguard, it didn't look cool for my taste. As I said the fat neck is really comfortable. The nut is black plastic, but it works well, no need to chance. The Dot is just a piece of art to look at.

I haven't really played it live too much, but it's a real hard piece, though it's semiacoustic. I depend 335% on this guitar! I would absolutely gig with it without a backup. (well maybe with a backup of six strings) Electronics have worked really well. No need to chanche any pots or anything.

I haven't dealt with them, I'm not even sure how to make a contact, cause I ordered the guitar from Austria. I don't know about any warranties.

I just love it. I wouldn't chance anything in it (but the pickups and knobs, which I did). I recommend this guitar with all my heart, you will not be disappointed! If it were stolen I'd send the mafia after the guy. Just kidding, I would absolutely buy it again!

Mine is a 2003 model, made in Korea at the Saein Factory. Features are as listed below. Mine comes in a purple flame top. A case was provided in the cost.

Seems like people have all sorts of opinions on this guitar vs. a Gibson ES-335. It is Gibson's B line but that doesn't mean a good one can't be found. I tried many before settling on this one, and it is a gem. Pickups are "designed by Gibson" and undoubtedly made in Korea. Doesn't matter tho. They sound great. Very quiet and full sounding. In time I might consider swapping but don't feel I have to just yet. I did my first gig with it the other night and it was very sweet sounding.

They are no flaws that I could tell. Finish is exeptional. I can't stand the nitro finish on Gibsons so I'm glad this has the poly.

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I'm semi retired from professional playing now. This is my only electric and all I need. I play it thru a little Behringer amp as I don't do big gigs anymore. I play everything from jazz to blues, country to pop. This guitar can cover it all. I've been around so I know my sound. I can get it from any guitar that can tune well and plays easy. I don't get into the comparison crap anymore. Very negative. I bought this to be an all round instrument, and it handles that. No other comment needed.

Well, everybody knows the deal with these. It's the poor man's Gibson 335. The basic dilemma is whether to try to save cash and get the real McCoy, or get one of these to sort of cure your fix for a 335 (at least temporarily). Read below whether it will cure the fix permanently!!

As you can see from these reviews, typically everybody gets one of these, swaps out the pickups, maybe changes some hardware, and calls it a damn good 335 clone. It just so happens that I had a spare set of Gibson 57 classics lying around, that I took out of a 61 SG reissue so I could load that one with Iommi's (my Sabbath axe). So, in they went, and at the same time I had that pesky selector switch replaced with a Switchcraft. to be honest with you, I didn't really think the stock PU's sounded that bad...I read Samsung makes them, hey they make good TV's right? But I digress. After the PU swap,
I'll tell you, it sounds damn good. Maybe my ears are fried from decades of decibel abuse, but i'd be hard pressed to hear the difference between this one and a real 335. Especially thru a Marshall, which is how i'm running it.

It's a gorgeous cherry finish. I wish it had nitro instead of poly, maybe that's another sonic factor. The guy that re-finished some of my axes won't touch these things, says they're too difficult. Of course, i'm judging this as a $400 axe, not a $3000 one. For the money it's an incredible guitar.

As everyone else stated, the hardware is really not up to snuff and should be replaced. The Grovers seem OK though. Don't step on it, and it should be fine.

None.

For the bang for the buck factor, you just can't argue with it. I completely satisfied with it now that I put in the 57 classics and replaced the switch. Hell, after I did that, I played nothing but Ten Years After for a week and made believe I was Alvin Lee. Then I had to check out those Cream gigs when Clapton was playing one. Every collection needs a 335 type axe, and your choices are this, maybe a Heritage (maybe I should of gotten one of those...), or the real deal. Of course you must understand these have no resale value, so buy one, play the hell out of it, then use it for firewood when you get the Gibson.

Features the same as any Epi Dot. Cherry Red, Made in Korea in June 2005.
2 alnico humbuckers "designed in Epiphone USA," whatever that means.
Stop-tail tailpiece, tune-o-matic bridge
Stock Grover tuners (that actually aren't all that great)
No case included.

My style is classic and alternative rock. Anything from Beatles to Green Day. I'm using it primarily with a Vox Valvetronix. The humbuckers make the guitar dead silent, which is a welcome change from my noisy Fenders. I tried this out with several models on the Valvetronix, and it works well with all of them. The pickups are fairly powerful and will push amps to overdrive sooner than a single coil. I thought I would have to change the pickups, but they are pretty good for a mid-priced guitar.

This guitar was fairly well set-up out of the box. The salesperson at the store tweaked the intonation a bit. What I'm noticing is that the volume from neck to the bridge pickup drops off noticeably. I'm experimenting with raising and lowering the pickups.

The big flaw that I noticed is that the 20th fret has worn down. I noticed it buzzing yesterday (about 3 weeks into owning and playing the guitar) and today I noticed that the fret is entirely worn down so that the high E string will not fret at that note. Big thumbs down for this.

The black plastic nut is also noticeably cheap. Fender uses a reasonable plastic facsimile that at least looks like bone.

Well, I will take the guitar into the shop to see if I can get the fret redressed. However, as I do not do much wheedly-wheedly-wee on the high frets, this is not an immediate problem for me. Epiphone has a reputation for bad electronics, but so far, the hardware seems very solid. The strap buttons hold on my Planet Waves strap VERY tightly, much more so than my Fenders. The polyurethane finish is great. Even though it's a semihollow, this guitar is good for live playing. It is durable, and doesn't feedback (unless you really want it to).

I have free setups for life from the store I bought it from. No contact with Epiphone itself.

I've been playing for 10 years. I own a Fender Highway 1 Tele and a Mexican Classic '50s Strat. The biggest complaint I have about this guitar is that it is so freaking heavy and bulky. This is easily the heaviest guitar I've ever owned, and possibly even played (except for that weird Lucite BC Rich in Guitar Center). It looks like a big awkward retarded cousin sitting next to my Fenders.

What I love about it is the tone. I had thought about changing the pickups, but they are actually very good. You also get the best of both hollow- and solidbody with the Dot. It sounds very lively, but you don't get uncontrollable feedback.

I compared this to an Ibanez Artcore. The Epi felt more solid. Possibly because it was much heavier. The Ibanez didn't hold tuning as well, and the pickups sounded thin and weak. The Bigbsy felt like it was going to snap the guitar in half. Plus, the Epi was bought from a store that had better customer service.

In spite of this, I think I will not keep this guitar past next spring. It is just too awkward for me to play. I will be replacing it with either an SG or a Casino.

This is a review of stock Dot, nothing added unfortunately. It was used but as new condition and very nice natural finish. The stock elec switches and pots are/were pure junk. I can only assume Epiphone loves selling guitars that will soon become defective due to crap switches/pots....guys, why not spend a few more bucks on better switches/pots is beyond good sense. Anyway, it is not a bad lower end guitar, neck is decent, pickups are loud, but slightly muddy(more later).

First their stock pu's are not great, but fair. They seem to be very loud like humbuckers should. However, the differnece between a dot and a real gibson 335 is like night and day. The sound is so much richer with the real 335 classic pu's.

The neck and setup are reasonable like most modern mass produced stuff is now days. The bridge/saddles and tuners are again cheap of the cheapest, but they work. Some buzzing still present after 2 professional setups, but could have been my playing style though.

As previously expressed you can expect problems with some of the cheaper components, all else was pretty nice and works. I replaced the pu switch that was kapult, and a cheap plastic nut that decided to break off at the low E slot.

??

In closing if you need a semi-hollow 335 type for non-professional bed room stuff a Dot will play, but it will not stand in comparison to a 335. I recently heard a nice 335 played through a vibro King for a couple hours recently, sweetest tone ever! Next band used a Dot on one song(fortunately) through the same amp and it was like night and day. Both guys were equal players but I told the 335 guy he made my day tone wise!

Same features as above. I have the natural finish one with the cream binding. Two volume/Two Tone/Two Epiphone Humbuckers, Tunamatic Bridge, Grover tuners. I am giving it a 9 because it gets the job done for what this guitar was meant to do. How many features could you ask for on a guitar? We aren't talking friggin cars here. I never understood rating a guitar in this category. It is an electric guitar, and has everything a semi-hollow body should.

I play slide. Raunchy blues/rock slide. Everything from Elmore James and Muddy Waters to George Thorogood, The Rolling Stones, etc. I have a very simple rig. I run it straight into a 50 Watt Laney Solid State Combo With a 2x12 Celestion louded cab. I use a Digitech Bad Monkey or Danolectro Daddy'O to give the Laney a little more tube punch. The first thing I will tell you about this guitar is that it has great pickups. This is the only guitar that I will never modify. I bought it stock, and it will stay stock. The bridge pickup is very punchy and bright with ALOT of output. The neck pickup is clear and thick with good midrange attack. They sound incredible together in the mid position. On clean this guitar can give you a crisp trebly sound, or a nice full acoustic like sound. With overdrive this thing has a ton of bite. Very thick, very full tone. I keep it in Open G, and it sings with a slide. I couldn't ask for better, and I am really surprised it came out of a stock Epiphone.

I am surprised to say that I bought this guitar from Guitar Center on Labor Day and it was setup perfectly. The action was incredible, and it has one of the nicest necks I have ever played. It is a pretty beefy neck, but feels incredible solid. The natural finish on the guitar is great. I have a small knot in the wood grain right under the bridge and it gives it a lot of character. The chrome/nickel hardware is well built, and everything was attached. The tuners are great. I instantly raised the action and put 11s and the guitar responded perfectly. I only had to tweak the rod a little bit for a precaution. Everything was solid on this guitar and it sounded great right out of the store.

This thing is a tank. I have never owned a hollowbody before, but I played 9 different brands in GC before purchasing this one. It killed everything else. It is big, light, and extremely sturdy. It feels like you are actually holding onto something solid with a degree of quality when you play it. I put some straplocks on it, but I would play it without backup, and I would definitely gig with it. The hardware looks like it will last, but hardware is cheap anyway.The only thing I noticed was that the truss rod cover screws could be stripped easilly. They had to cut corners somewhere.

I have dealt with Epiphone before and they have been very informative. They market their guitars with a lifetime warranty now which covers damn near everything with the exception of an act of God. I would say that that is worthy of a 9 at least.

I have been playing about 6 years on and off, but I recently discovered my love of blues slide guitar a couple of years ago. I recently rekindled my love of playing after taking a break in college and I have been at it every night since. I own a Fender Deluxe Players strat, and an Oscar Schmidt Les Paul replica, and I love them both dearly. This guitar instantly became my number 1 the moment I picked it up in the soundbooth at GC. It is big, light, dependable, backed by great support, and sounds absolutely amazing for what I play. The Dot Studio isn't bad, but I prefer two volume and two tone controls. It is worth the extra money to me. You cannot beat this guitar for the price. Only it's Gibson cousin could be better, and with this kind of quality for $349, I prefer the Epi Dot.