Epiphone Elite Byrdland

I am not going to review the features because they have been written about several times. However, I bought this for the "short scale" length and the solid top. I have really small hands and it is amazing I can play a guitar at all. This is a great purchase for me. Also, the solid top provides amazing tone! Played through my Roland Cube amps or my Fender Blues Junior, this axe has got unbelievable tone. The case is also really top notch. The tuners have that Art Deco design with Grover macines- that is class.

Sound. . . . Wow! For a guitar in this price range, it is one of the best. Nice mellow tones for jazz and I also use it in a big band/orchestra. I have heard guitarists like Anthony Wilson use this axe and the tone is perfect. I run the Byrdland through all types of amps- mostly a Roland Cube 60 or 30 or the Fender Blues Junior. I do not play at high volumes even with the big band. I wonder what I would sound like through an Acoustic Image or Raezers Edge amp. When I can gut it up, I am going to runt it through a premier designer amp. But for now is sounds great through the Rolands, which I sometimes set up in a stereo configuration.

I bought this on order from Guitar Center. The Action, Fit, and Finish were excellent. Everything was in great order. No loose pickguards, etc. However, it was set up with D'Addario round wounds. SQEAK SQUEAL, SQUEAK! It took a few weeks, but I restrung the puppy with Thomastik-Infeld Swing Series Flatwounds (.11). The set up was really good and I did not have to adjust anything. I also like the volume and tone knob in terms of color and design.

I can depend on this guitar but I always take a variety of guitars to a gig. I have one issue- I rarely use my really good guitars (Gibsons, Epiphones) for outdoor gigs. Sun, cold, the elements are not to be trusted. I have a few Ibanez guitars for those outdoor venues. This guitar will hold up with good care.

I have dealt with Epiphone in the past when I had to order a small part. They were tremendous. I called them in Nashville and I even remember the fellow's name. I imagine if I have to call them again, I will get the same great service. It is under warranty.

Jazz guitar is a serious hobby of mine. I have been playing over 35 years and jazz for the last ten. I did take some time away from playing for 10 years. (I was married to a disinterested spouse.) I have 12 guitars- Gibson, Fender, Epiphone, Steinberger, and Ibanez. They all have their own unique sound. MY Gibson ES175 is a great guitar but this Byrdland is as good with tone. If this guitar was stolen or lost, I would send out a posse. But most of all- I like the short scale and the solid top, which is why I acquired it in the first place.

New(not sure of year)thin hollow body single cut-away, humbucker-equipped Japanese-made Epiphone "Elitist" Byrdland. The shorter scale is not as dramatic as one might expect, especially if your hands have graced Fenders, and the thinner body is quite comfortable to hold. In 1955 or so the Gibson people approached Billy BYRD and Hank GarLAND --two Nashville-based legends -- for suggestions. In light of the solid-body invasion and modern needs the artists suggested a shorter scale neck and thinner body, and the Byrdland was born. Thanks, Hank and Billy. Many years later the Epiphone company, owned by Gibson, introduced the modern, affordable, made-in-Japan equivalent.

It is what it sets out to be: a very decent version of the classic Gibson ax which when introduced was an innovative, very playable, user-friendly jazzbox. It does still feedback at moderate to loud volumes, but players know to either stuff the f holes with foam or situate one's self in relation to the amp to minimize the howl. The thinner body of the Byrdland helps in this regard (mind you, it isn't quite as thin as the ES-330 series). Yours truly pursued this model out of a wild love for Chuck Berry. Chuck played a P-90s equipped ES-350T back in the day, a very similar model to the Byrdland, and post--1958 used one with humbuckers before eventually switching to the 330/335/345/355 series for the next, oh, say, forty-odd years! This Epiphone is close as I will get to a Chuck guitar for under $5000. A nice full range of Gibson-like tones, from warm, mellow jazz to biting modern blues sounds. It does not "twang" like a Gretsch, or a P-90s model, but it does produce authentic Gibson-like warmth and fullness. All in all it seems to be a faithful modern reproduction of the classic Gibson model on all levels.

All new purchases should be brought to a technician for set-up, adjustments and trouble shooting. Out of the box accuracy is rare, and everyone has a preference for the right action, strings, etc. Having said this, the Epi felt nice immediately, and was wound with .12--.52s which is what I like anyway. The finish looks fine (blond/natural) though perhaps not as creamy yellow as an original Gibson. Hard to tell, and matters little to this player.

If the "Elitist" line means anything hopefully good craftsmanship and quality parts will result in a durable, rugged professional instrument.

This was a scratch & blemish offer from Musician's Friend. Yet another case of a loose pickguard resulting in about $500 being knocked off the price. This customer considers himself quite lucky. Buying guitars sight unseen -- despite MF's 45 day return policy -- is not a good idea generally.

This player wanted a Chuck Berry-type guitar (while not particularly fond of ES-335s and the like) and this model seems a good choice. It covers R&B styles nicely, and when cranked yields some nice BB King/ Freddy King wailing tones. Rockabilly cats might be disappointed as the humbuckers don't "twang" and the lower bass strings don't cut they way Gretches or Fenders do. The nature of the beast. If one has problems with products being made overseas, well, welcome to the modern world. This seems an excellent guitar for well under what you'd expect to pay for an USA Gibson, and without the annoying necessity other Epiphones carry: that of switching pick-ups and pots and caps, etc. After a month of gigging with the Byrdland I am not anticipating major surgery of any kind.

This is a 2006 Epiphone Elitist Byrdland, Solid spruce top and Maple back and sides with a 5 piece neck.
The guitar has beautiful appointments from the ebony fingerboard with block inlays to the fancy inlayed tuneomatic bridge. All gold with fancy grover tuners. The tailpiece is the only dissappointment, it is not engraved with the word Byrdland as it is in the Gibson model.

It is a short scale guitar with a thin body. comfortable to play and hold. Not too light but also not a real heavyweight.

This guitar as a rich sound that is perfect for jazz. It can also have a pretty good bite and my guess is, in the right hands there is probably nothing it can't do.


A great Jazz Guitar.

Actually, the guitar was pretty much a wreck out of the box. The pickguard was broken and the general setup was poor to awful.

A drop of glue and some time fixed the pickguard and Milwaukee's Finest Guitars did a first class setup. If you live in the area Alex Allgood is a real master at getting the most out of a guitar.

The pickups needed adjusting as did the nut and bridge. Way more than one would expect from a guitar that is built as well as this one.

A bit dissappointing but now that its fixed and setup it is perfect. The action is great and the sound is flawless.

This is a solid instrument. The hardware and woods seem well choosen and well made. the strap buttons are solid and I feel as though I could depend on it. I don't gig but when I did I never played without a backup. It might be tough for some to switch scales mid job. But that's another story.

Never used the company or warranty but I assume lifetime means as long as I own it. I'm sure only the wood is covered.

I've been playing guitar for over 40 years. I've had lots of expensive and inexpensive arch/carved top guitars. This is one of the best. Compares favorably to the gibsons, Eastmans and even my d'Angelico.

I bought it from Musicians Friend as a blem. The pickguard not being attached may have been the blem. The box was also a wreck.

Either way. If you have small hands or like to play big chords, this is a guitar to try. The scale makes it unique. I though it would be tought to switch back to the longer scale, almost 2" longer in most case, but it is not.

2006 made in Japan Epiphone version of Gibson Byrdland. High gloss poly blonde finish. Carved spruce top and laminated maple back -- both bookmatched -- laminated maple ribs. Moderate flame on maple. Two epi humbuckers. Bought new from Musician's Friend.

Sound is perfect for me -- I play trad and progressive jazz and blues. Bought for the short scale to replace a beloved Gibson Tal Farlow when I developed a hand condition that restricted movement slightly. I liked the Tal's laminated body for its richness. The epi has the same richness but the carved top gives it a bit more edge than the Tal making it more versatile. Play through a Fender Custom Dual Professional and use Thomastic Jazz Bepop 11's. Tried it in store against the Gibson Byrdland and just couldn't tell a difference in sound, feel, fit & finish, so couldn't justify paying three times as much, even though I have the money.

Here's where there are some issues. The wood construction is absolutely first rate, from top to bottom -- though its assembly line, the folks who put this together in Japan are definitely craftsmen. It is the stuff that's added to the wood where they have some problems. The pickguard was unglued from its bracket (mentioned in another review too). The pickguard was also delaminated on the bottom -- which could have happened in shipment. The neck pickup tone pot was loose, almost to the point of falling off. It's minor, but the bridge pickup cover has casting bubbles along the bottom and lower sides. Another quibble are the imperial tuner buttons. They look classy but don't fit any of my string winders which makes restringing laborious. Ebony buttons would be just as classy and more efficient -- I'll replace these. Setup -- done in the US -- was also a problem. The instrument arrived with the neck pickup canted at an extreme angle due to it not being centered in the pickup routing, which cut off the strings above the octave F sharp. Had to unscrew and realign. Also, the bridge was misaligned top-to-bottom orientation. All of these are easily fixable -- and I had planned to remove the pickguard anyway, but maybe the Japanese wood craftsmen could give the other assemblers some QC lessons and the US setup techs slow down a bit and pay attention to details.

Seems sturdy but the jury is still out. Never gig without a backup.

Jury is still out on this too. I was able to fix everything but the delam pickguard myself. Have returned it for replacement, so we'll see. Warranty is essentially lifetime. A word about Musician's Friend -- the first instrument arrived with a rather nasty 8-inch finish crack in the top. I called MF and no hesitation, no quibbles, they had FedEx pick it up the next day and rushed it through processing, then sent me a replacement (described here) within a week.

I've been playing 20 years. I also own a custom Goodman L5XE, an 89 custom shop strat with an ebony fretboard and replacement Kinman pickups, a reissue Gibson VOS 1957 Les Paul Goldtop (my main backup), a Martin D42 and a Guild Jumbo 12 string. I've also ordered a custom tele with a short scale neck from a midwestern luthier. The Byrdland is my main archtop now. I'd buy another right away if lost or stolen. My favorite features are the neck -- even beyond the scale it is very smooth and playable -- and the rich sound that comes from combining the laminated back and sides with the carved top. I usually find all solid wood maple archtops to be a bit to hard in tone. I've dropped Epiphone a point from 10 for the issues described above, but then nobody is perfect.

2004, made for Epiphone in Japan by Terada. Vintage Sunburst. Nice hardshell case included.

Wonderfully adaptable tone. Good for Jazz, country, and R&B, rock. I play through a '71 Fender Deluxe Reverb. I've played several Gibson Byrdlands and had always wanted one, but they were always too rich for my blood--had resigned myself to never owning one unless I won the lottery. Then they came out with this. It is a photo finish to my ears. We'll see how it ages. I had initially thought I'd replace the Epiphone humbuckers with '57s, but I'm reconsidering that. This guitar plays wonderfully.

Overall excellent with two minor complaints. The polyurethane finish gets real swirly when you you wipe it down. Have to use an extremely soft cloth. Also, the catalog showed different volumen/tone knobs. The ones that came with it are cheesy/cheap looking--guess I'll have to replace them with the better Gibson knobs...someday.

Can't speak to this as it is new. First Epiphone I've had since the mid-60's.

Same as above. Online registration process is nice and saves a stamp. Warranty is lifetime except for electronics which are for one year. They could do better on that last--bite the bullet and extend it to the whole guitar. That would be the 'elitist' thing to do.

I've been playing off and on for over 40 years. Own quite a few guitars (20+) that I've picked during that time. I'm glad to see Gibson is offering some of its better models, Byrd/Les Paul, at a better quality/price point as their US production is putting them out of reach of a growing number of musicians. Terada makes some fine instruments that, IMO, compare quite favorably with the Gibsons. Fact its made in Japan doesn't bother me. Its the only way I could ever afford a Byrd. I'm quite happy with this guitar and will keep it to pass on to my younguns.

The main feature of this archtop guitar is its 23.5 scale, which is ideal for people like myself with small hands.

I wish Epiphone/Gibsonw would make a similar quality solid body model with such a small scale length, perhaps a Les Paul or SG equivilant, much like Fender did with its Stratocaster.

It contains a rounded, Venetian cutaway, although I would have prefered the sharp (ES 175) florintine cutaway as such a cutaway makes it easier to access the frets up the neck near the pickup

This 23.5 scale length seems to be an ideal small scale length in comfort and convenience for those of us with small hands and to produce complex chords, without sacrificing tone, like other smaller scale lengths, such as Fender's 22.95 has done.

The Humbucking pick ups help as well in this department.

As it is fully acoustic, expect feedback if not careful, hence a need for a solid body guitar with such a scale length.

You can get classic jazz sounds and rock ala Led Zepplin/Ted Nugent as well, but don't expect twanging tele type sounds or able to "shred" as the venetian cutaway would make a person with big hands have a hard time to reacb all the frets.

Like other reviews, there is fret buzz which Epiphone/Gibson should fix by putting more money in quality control, than in hand rubbed finishes or putting USA strings on the guitar

See quality control problems above and other reviews as well. So far seems to be very well built with no other problems

The reason to buy this guitar is for its ideal small scale length and its is (so far) mostly quality built.

I have previously suggested I would like to see a Les Paul or SG solid body with such a scale length.

Having an option of a sharp florintine cutaway would have been great as well

2003 Epiphone byrdland, in tobacco sunburst. The features have been described in other reviews--gold hardware, short scale neck, etc.

I like to play Jazz, and had the guitar set up with flatwounds when I bought it. The sound is terrific. You can get almost any sound you want out of the guitar from staight Jazz to very grungy rock. The guitar does have a tendency to feed back, however. I use a Behringer Vampire amp, the the vaiety of sounds I can get from the combination is endless.

The guitar looks beautiful. The binding, the finish, everything is top notch. The orginial set up was good. The guitar plays like a dream. My major complaint is that the neck seems to be extremely sensitive to changes in weather/humidity. If I had the money, I would have to have the guitar set up every month. One time I pick up the guitar and the action is perfect, a few days later it is too high and then a few days after that it is too low. Its like the wood used in the neck was not cured. I wonder if anyone else has had that problem with the guitar? Furthermore, I think at least one of the frets needs a fret job. I sometimes get buzzing on my B string even in the open position. Finally, the guitar never stays in tune. I don't know if this has to do with the tuners or the neck. It has to be retuned every time I play it, and sometimes while I am playing it.

I believe the guitar is very well made. That being said, it is an archtop and very delicate. I knocked it against a table and got a little ding in it, it taught me to be really really careful with it.

I've been playing for nearly 40 years. The second I picked up this guitar, I knew it was the one for me. I have small hands, and this is the easiest guitar I have ever played. Most archtops have impossibly large scales and are very difficult for me to play. I had a Yamaha AEX 1500, which had nowhere near the versatility of sound or smooth action of this guitar. I tried an es 135, es 175, and es 335, but this was easier to play and a much better value. I also have a Strat, a telecaster, and a Howard Roberts, but I much prefer to play this guitar. I would definitely buy another if it were lost or stolen.

This is a follow up to my original review. I have since had fret buzzing and noticed a couple of frets are popping up from the fret board. The guitar is at the local Gibson repair center as I write this follow up. Had to re-glue the pickguard mounting bracket to the bottom of the pickguard. Otherwise, the guitar is great. You'll have to get used to the short scale though. Also, it's a 2003 not a 2004.

2004 Epiphone Elite Byrdland. 22 frets.Ebony fret board. 23 1/2" scale! Solid spruce top. Laminated AAA flame maple back and sides. Three piece maple neck with serial number stamped in back of head stock (just like Gibson). Two made in USA humbuckers. Two volume and two tone controls. One three way selector switch. Vintage sunburst finish (perfect). Binding everywere. Tunomatic bridge on ebony base. Gold hardware. Grover tuners with emperial buttuns. Very nice plush lined hard shell case (as nice as my Gibson Custom Art and Historic). Case has Epiphone Elite screen printed on it.

I play jazz and progressive rock. Very impressed with the acoustic tone and volume. Sound better than my L4-CES amplified!

After the UPS guy left, all I had to do was tune it up. Played perfectly. Excellent finish and fret job. The sides and back are gorgeous. Much better flame maple than on my L4-CES or other Gibsons I've owned (ES-165, Tal Farlow)! Controls are smooth. No noise.

Very well made. As rugged as any archtop can be.

I've been playing a long time.Archtops I've owned: Gibson ES-165, Gibson Tal Farlow, Gibson Howard Roberts, Guild X-170 and a Epiphone Joe Pass. I currently own a Gibson L4-CES. I bought this guitar because of the short scale (whole tone scale is no problem now) and because I didn't want to let my L4 go in order to buy a Gibson Byrdland. Previous experience with Epiphone Joe Pass allowed me to feel safe buying another Epi. This guitar (made in Japan, not Korea) is as good or better than ANY archtop I've owned.

I'd nagged Gibson for years to make a mid-priced short scale archtop, and they finally did. It's the single most important feature of this instrument and the main reason to own it. Easy reach for the short of fingers or the arthritic of hands. Solid top, thin line, two humbuckers, two volume two tone controls. It's a half- thick L5, at least in appearance. Tune-o bridge, Grover tuners. Gold hardware. Made in Japan, 2003.

I would rate it a ten, but that's subjective. I like it played through a mid-70s Fender Vibro Champ amp. I play quietly and it's clean as can be. Accoustically, it's surprisingly loud for such a thin body. Not the most versatile club in the bag, but it doesn't pretend to be. Metalheads shouldn't look at this one.

Yikes! Gorgeous bookmatched front and back. Flawless, perfect action. Flawless inlay. Apparently they set these up here in the U.S.

Yes, it'll withstand live playing. The hardware is good looking, apparently solid, and I wouldn't use ANYTHING on a gig without a backup.

I've dealt with Gibson for years. The current ownership is fine with that in general. The warranty is lifetime for the original owners except for electronics (that's one year.) There's a lot of fine print, as there is with any warranty. The bottom line is if you don't fool with their stuff, they'll fix it.

I've been playing more than 50 years and own more guitars and banjos than I can count. As I said up top, I've been nagging these guys for years to make a short scale at mid-price. Did a blindfold test with the Gibson Byrdland. Yeah, it's better. But it's also twice as expensive. I play jazz, country, pop, standards and elevator music. If lost or stolen I would buy another in a heartbeat. This is not for everyone. But if you want a short scale archtop that's gorgeous, well made, well set up and whose manufacturer is likely to be around tomorrow, this is the one.