Epiphone G-400 Korina

- SG body (pieced-together Korina wood)
- Set SG-style neck (rosewood board), fast and smooth...
- 2 humbuckers... neck strong, bridge a bit thin...
- 3 way selector switch
- one volume, one tone
- ABR bridge
- White '61 SG Standard style 2-piece pick guard
- "Gold" hardware
- CHeapy Epiphone tuners

I play blues. Bought the guitar after one year of playing, because I wanted a break from the P-90 in my LP Junior now and again. Neck PUP sounded pretty good... you could play dirty, bluesy leads with it... great sustain! The bridge PUP was a bit thin and underpowered, though. I sold the guitar, but would have replaced the PUPS if I'd kept it. Sounded smooth and warm played clean.

- Action was too high and strings too flimsey, so I had the guitar set-up to suit my needs at the dealership.
- Some flaws in the workmenship of the body finish; there was a polyurethane run by the neck with a little spot of discoloration
- Saw dust piled up under the edge of the pick guard... I took off the pick guard and cleaned it, of course
- 3-way selector switch would intermittently malfunction when selecting the bridge PUP... I finally got the "feel" of how to "work it" to get it to activate the circuit... just a little annoying
- Guitar hung "head stock down" when worn with a strap... it was out of balance. E-mailed Gibson, and they assured me the Gibson SGs wouldn't do that, but offered no explanation for mine. If I'd kept the guitar, I probably would've moved the strap button from the back of the guitar to the tip of the top horn to try to get it to balance.
- Tuners... replaced them with Grovers before I decided to sell the guitar. The stock tuners were okay, though. I think I just wanted to see gold keys as opposed to the white plactic one's that came with the guitar.

I don't play live, but if I did, I'd bring a back up. The neck is a little on the thin side (compared to my Telecaster), but I'm pretty sure it would survive a minor fall. No strap locks, so I'd be careful. A friend of mine had a G-400 he dropped abd he lost a tuning key is all.

Dealt with Gibson only a few times... sometimes they answer my inquires, and sometimes they don't. I sent two in the other day and only got back one.

If lost, I would not have replaced it. If I'd kept it, I would've replaced PUPS, Tuners, Switch... AND I'd still have to live with the cosmetic flaws and out-of-balance condition. It was a great looking guitar with a lot of little flaws I didn't care to live with (no major problems, though). I sold the G-400 and eventually bought a Fender American Series Fat Tele. The Tele is perfect! Don't get me wrong... I think Epiphone is a good company, and would consider their upper-end Les Pauls (custom flametop, '56 goldtop...) or signature models (John Lennon Casino, John Lee Hooker Sheraton, etc) in the future. If you are a quality conscious person, give the Epi your considering a very careful inspection before bringing it home. If cosmetics aren't an issue with you, you may be right at home.

Korean made copy of the original 1961 Gibson Les Paul Signature model...which shortly became known as the SG after Mr. Paul asked that his name be removed from the guitar. Standard Gibson style humbuckers in the bridge and neck position, three way selector switch. Hardware was that fake gold crap that I'm sure will wear off shortly. The body is made of Korina and suprisingly, is very attractive looking. The pictures you see in magazines really don't do these guitars justice. The neck is maple with a rosewood fret board, inlays in the neck and headstock are very nicely done. Frets are medium sized, and like most Gibsons, the neck is about as thick as a Louisville Slugger. Basically this guitar has everything you look for in a Gibson style guitar.

I mostly play blues-rock. In the hands of people like Eric Clapton, Angus Young, Gary Rossington, Duane Allman and a long list of others, the SG practically helped invent blues-rock. I am running this guitar through a Boss Super-Overdrive, Boss Flanger and Morley Bad Horsie Wah into a 50 watt Blue Voodoo head and a 4x12 Blue Voodoo slant face cab. There is a Tech 21 Comptortion in the effects loop as a lead boost. The guitar growls, it sings, it screams...all around solid guitar with damn near perfect tone. I did the set up myself so it plays very comfortably. Never overly bright or excessively muddy. Of course, that is partially a matter of adjusting your amp to match the guitar. I will be the first to admit, I was shocked at how well it played and how good it sounded. If Epiphone keeps this up, they may just steal my business from Gibson.

I did the set up myself. These guitars are genrally very easy to manipulate and set up the way you like them. I notice they have fianlly started putting a decent nut on these guitars, which was a relief. Epiphone is notorious for putting crappy nuts on their guitar...this one was perfect. Once I had the action where I like it, everything else was perfect. I do wish the neck was slightly slimmer. In the past I have played some SG's and Nighthawk's that had slimmer necks. They are just a little more comfortable. But, no big deal...

I haven't had this one long, but I believe it will be rather durable. The only down side is the gold plating will eventually wear off, I'm sure. I would have just preferred the chrome hardware instead. But for now its very classy looking.

Never dealt with Epi...Gibson was very helpful a couple of years ago when I had to deal with them on another guitar. I will give them the benefit of the doubt...

I have been a professional for about 10 years now. I favor Gibson products above any other. I must say, I am extremely impressed with this guitar. this is actually the second Epiphone I have purchased and again, the quality was outstanding. Quite frankly, I don't even own a Gibson that plays or sound any better than my Epiphones. At this point, I'm not sure I will ever even purchase a Gibson again, unless I run into a vintage model that I want simply for collector's value. Unfortunately, I simply cannot justify the difference in cost. BE FORWARNED...there is one thing you must keep in mind when shopping for an Epiphone...actually two things: 1)stay away from the bolt on neck models. They aren't worth the time you'll spend to tune them up, and the tone is the worst. Those guitars are the bottom of the barrel guitars with little or no quality control. 2)play several Epiphones and pick the one that you like most. If you just pick one up and hand it to the salesman to ring up, you take a risk. These guitars are stamped out by the thousands over in Korea. While I commend them for building such a fine product, when you are making them as fast as they do, some crappy one slip through the cracks. Take your time... http://crackerbilly.homestead.com

Made in 97 I think from Korea. This is Epiphone's SG but made of African Korina wood and with gold hardware and rosewood finger board. It comes with 2 gold covered humbuckers and 2 tones and 2 volume knobs as well as a 3-way pickup selector. The tuners look like gibson ones with the plastic turners, however, I don't believe they're that quality.

I bought this guitar as a backup guitar to my rickenbacker and tele.
I play indie rock with a dose of 60's lounge/elevator/coctail/porn music. I hoped this would fit in. Eventually this mud machine annoyed me to the point that I never used it. The pickups are not at all good as they have zero definition and sound like mud. The best was having both pickups on - this had a decent chime, but the neck pu on it's own sounded poor and mushy and the bridge pu was clangy. Not nice.

What I decided to do was to fuck with it a bit - use it as my toy (my rating is for how this guitar sounded as stock). I had an old gibson P-90 hanging around from a les paul and a dimarzio chrome covered PAF classic. I squeezed the P-90 in the neck position and put the PAF in the bridge. It looks disastrous now but sounds amazing. This guitar does have an interesting and nice tone - you can hear it acoustically. Now with the P-90, it sounds a bit like a Les Paul Jr but not exactly...

Finish is quite attractive, but being light coloured, you loose the angry SG look. The factory set up was fine and it actually has a good feel. Fat neck. Mmmmm.

This guitar's going Ok except the pickup selector is already dying and I have not yet been bothered to get it fixed yet. Also the gold plating won't last long but that dosn't bother me. Otherwise not too bad.

No idea. I'm sure they're nice people with family and friends...

This is not a great guitar. No sir. You NEED to replace the pickups. Anything will be better - Gibson, Dimarzio, Seymour Duncans. It will sound great with decent pickups, they really pull out the guitars natural sound which I must say is EXTREMELY unique. This is it's one redeaming feature. Problem: it will probably fall apart. Hey, it's epiphone. It's not even good Epiphone, although it does have a glue on neck. Get it and expect some work, otherwise get a Gibson or a 70's Ibinez copy.

Brand new Korean made guitar. Your basic SG. I give it a 5 because it doesn't have many features. This is good. I reviewed the Korina V and Explorer and gave them the same rating here.

I love playing blues and hard rock/metal. It's no wonder Tony Iommi uses one of these things. It sounds great. Thick and gritty. I was surprised. My Korina V and Explorer sound great too, but the pickups on those 2 guitars suck. These pickups are just fine. Go figure.

Played great right out of the box. I've come to expect this from Epi. Overall fit and finish is excellent. No flaws to report.

I'd never play out without a backup, but this guit box seems very relibale. Remember it doesn't have many features. Construction is solid.

I own 3 Epi's and I still haven't had to call for service or support.

I've been playing for way too long. I've owned dozens of guitars in price ranges from $150 to $4,000. Price doesn't mean jack. All that matters is the guitar. Is it playable and does it sound good. This one is both. I bought this guitar to complete my Trilogy Of Terror Collection. I now own all 3 Epiphone korina guitars. I'm satisfied with all 3 of them. The money saved by not buying the Gibsons will be well spent on fine tuning these instruments.

/-1999 made in Korea/-22 frets/-solid top/-2 volume & 2 Tone 3way selector/-H/H/-Epiphone or Gibson (I don't know) PAF Humbuckers gold/-active/-fully made of Korina, some sort of mahogany i think, it's yellow(!!!!)/-transparent finish: as I said the wood is yellow/-Gibson SG Body style/-Tune-O-Matic bridge/-old school gibson tuners (not like that crappy metal things on the new Les Pauls)/-The Neck is thinner than a standard Gibson Neck, it's good to play and because it is SG style you can play up to the highest frets without problems/-no accessories were included (that sucks)/-gold hardware

/-this guitar is perfect for hardcore, blues, (classic-)rock, desert rock, (nu-)metal and punk stuff/-I'm using a marshall jcm900 hi-gain series 100w for it and sometimes a peavey rage158, but with the marshall you can do really everything you want to do with it, it has got such a rich sound and it really brings the best distorted sound i've ever heard, but if you prefer playing clean than I wouldn't use this guitar, because it's to rich/-if you play the guitar withpout a amp it's already quite loud and it vibrates a lot which makes the sound when it is plugged in too/- i don't like the rythm/neck pickup sound to much, ui just play it when I play clean, because by using the treble/bridge pickup clean it's to silent and "soundless"/-you ve got the variety of rich (wonderful sound) and tooooo rich when it's distorted and soundless and pretty rich when you play it clean/-you hear every hit in the guitar, and you can achieve pretty good dirty sounds by playing the right way, but in my opinion it's too rich/-if I've to play unplugged, I like to play the g400 korina much more than any other acoustic guitar, its vibration and sound is really unbelievable/

/-fawk! this guitar is a real string killer, minimum 1 string per week, that's true/-and there is to much weight on the head: I had to put stones on the strap (2.425pounds)/-the pickups were set up right, i can't say anything more/-there was nothing wrong with the setup of this guitar and it was perfect manufactured/

/-right now I've got a little problem with the neck pickup: sometimes you can turn down the volume of the pickup but it is still working, don't ask me why/-i had no problems playing a gig with this guitar, maybe i had to take some extra-strings with me, but you always have to/-the finish is really solid: once it (really) crashed against the wall and there is just a little cut in cut in the finish/-the strap buttons are ok, maybe a way to small/

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/-I'm playing for one and a half years now and this is my second guitar/-I think i would cry for 3 months when it was stolen or lost, it's ma baby, I think I wouldn't buy it again, coz I think I already got the best manufactured g400 korina in the ehole world/-I like it much more than the Gibson SG's because they don't sound so "wild", don't have got the vibration and the neck of the Gibson's is to thick/-It would be great if there was a guitar in the world that is a mix of sg and fender jaguar and fender mustang(so I'm thinking bout buying a Fender JAG-STANG :-) )

Korina Solid body, 2 Gold Plated Humbuckers, Medium-Thin neck, 2 Tone 2 Volume knobs. Fixed/Slide-off Bridge, When strings are taken off the back of the bridge slides back. ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, 6-String. 3 way pickup toggle switch, Rhythm, middle, Treble

Sounds great, I play mostly rock and Punk and when I have the volume on 7 and the tone on full treble with the toggle switch to treble it gives enough grunge to kill a cow.

The action is great, with D'Addario .09's bends can be pulled up to 2 steps up. Bridge is on prefect, pickups were well adjusted when I bought it, but to get more grunge I raised the neck pickup a little higher. It has put up with me for a long time, only problem I had was when the nut broke, but that was a simple $20 repair, and nuts don't last forever. sometimes the treble switch won't give much sound in treble, but I just give it a little tap and it works...that's probably just mine, it didn't do it until I while after I had it.

Reliable? YEA, Durable, oh yea. I used to tote this thing to school, so it can get pretty ruff on a bus. I have gotten it dropped about 3 times, but it's not bad at all, a SMALL chip on the top, but it's more of a dent. Dependable? that too, sure I'd use my baby on a gig without a backup, in fact, I have. I had a string break once, but I just played right through. The neck is very sturdy so the intonation didn't change when it lost part of the tension. Strap buttons are good, but I took mine off and replaced then with bottle caps to permanantly keep the strap on, I had a few cases where the strap would fall off at times though. The finish has lasted since I got it, and it's still on there perfect. Yes, it withstands live playing, I've done it, she hasn't failed me yet. The Hardware is also great and has never failed

Very friendly, I got a part replaced for free under the store I bought it from, just a $20 labor charge, and it wasn't under warranty anymore. The factory warranty I think is either 3 yrs or lifetime.

I have been playing for almost 3 years, and ever since I got the Korina everyone has said I'm ALOT better. If it ws stolen? I'd find the guy who stole it and kick his @$$ I love it, I have seen some cooler guitars, but I love this one just the same. I only wish it had some nifty lights on it so I could play in the dark! but I do have some glow in the dark spraypaint that I used a little on to help illuminate it, it comes off with windex and a rag.

think it was made in 1999. based on early 60's sg design with smaller pickgaurd but with new korina body. 2 humbuckers designed by gibson 2 tone and 2 volume controls. gold hardware. tuneomatic bridge

i play a variety of styles mostly rock and blues. i think this guitar is versatile enough for me. i find it quite bright and jangly and like it a lot for 50's rock. it's also good distorted. i have a lot of fun when it's distorted actually. for some things i find it's a good idea to back off the on the treble volume and tone or high eq (on amp) because it can be a bit bright. but i like that it's got plenty bite.
i use it for rhythm and lead also play a bit of classical with it just for fun. been experimenting with a glass slide and it sounds pretty good. I play this guitar more with my fingers than i woulud another guitar- to soften the sound for some styles. Also varying the pick thickness makes a difference. it's an individual thing really. the guitar you choose gives you your own unique sound to whatever you play. don't be bound by convention. currently using a 15 watt peavey rage amp with it in my room. it's alright. but i've played it through a 60 watt marshall and loved it. so when i can afford another amp this guitar will be even more versatile.

This guitar was set up well. i changed the strings to my favourites and it's fine. i would have liked binding on the headstock but u get what u pay for. the plastic heads on the tuners kind of make me nervous (in case i break them) but they look ok and u get what u pay for. appart from this the appearance is everything i've looked for.
The fit is as sgs go. kind of annoying at first because it hangs funny. but now i'm used to it there's no problem. i have it slung quite high and rest my forearm on the guitar as i play. you can still get power like this. i like the easy access to the higher frets and the neck feels good. This is also a light guitar and once you get the position right, easy to play standing up.

yeah it seems durable except 4 the plastic tuner heads and minimal binding. i've had this guitar three months and have averaged around 2hrs of playing a day. i'm careful with it because i like the thing but i do play it hard and it's taken everything i've thrown at it.

never dealt with

i've been playing 9 years. this is my 2nd electric guitar. i had a squire (fender) stat before (along with my acoustics) when choosing i tried out mainly les pauls. compared to the les pauls i found the sg easier to play because it's smaller and lighter. Also it sounds better than my strat (wanted something fatter) i would like a tremolo arm (some g models have them)but all in all i love the thing. it's simple, suites my playing, looks good and feels good. i would gig with it because it is very me. if i had a back up it would be my acoustic (the only other guitar i am really comfortable with) if it were lost i would go nuts. if it were stolen i would not rest until i caught the sorry #@!^&*(~ who took it and did horrible things to them.

Not realy sure where or when it was made but I think it's a '98. It's got 22 frets which is workig out fine for me. 2 tone 2 volume and a 3 way selector and 2 humbuckers(i think thats almost a sentence). Comes w/ a nice Tune-O-Matic bridge and stop bar tailpeice and all of teh hardware is gold.

Seeing as though I haven't a style i guess it fits the style i dont have pretty well. I use it w/ a Crate-20M amp w/ a 6ft cable and it sounds pretty nice from up close. Bass notes are extremaly good no matter what the tone, volume or humbucker is set for. High notes sound realy good on rythem setting but on the treble are quite quiet.

Umm realy not sure what all that stuff is or means.( its my first electric give me a break)

I think it would withstand live playing havent realy tried harware seems good and if i ever play a gig i would go with out a back up.

never had to use for i've only had the guitar for 4 months

I've been playing for about 2 years and this guitar sounds great it has a beautiful korina SG syled body gold hardware and lost of mother of pearl. If i lost it, broke it, or had it stolen i would replace it as soon as i had the cash.

Well..it does have that gorgeous Korina body....it is rather inexpensive...but that's about all the features it has.

It has an odd little squeal when distorted without too many mids...but it sounds okay i guess.

This is the entire reason I submitted a critique. THIS GUITAR CUTS MY STRINGS LIKE A KNIFE. For some reason, it cuts my D string constantly. I have to restring this beast about every two days...i don't beat on it or anything, just the crappiest hardware you could possibly forge and gold plate on this damn thing. Don't buy it, or replace that if you do.

I would never gig without a backup. The string thing listed before makes me down this catagory as well.

I know the CS in the store i purchased it from sucks. They don't even have a pickup selector switch knob that fits it.

Welp...i've been playing for..hmmm...let's see....16 years now. This guitar is pretty shitty. I wouldn't replace it if it were stolen...if i were to buy another Epiphone guitar, it'd be an Epi Hellcat..just cuz it's cool as shit. I play punk, ska, and surf...so whatever floats the metalhead's boats...cuz i think it fawking sucks.

I believe this was made in Japan. But the Korina wood was imported from Africa, and honeslty i can tell an amazing difference. 22 Frets, all solid body, nice wood stain. Although i would prefer more of a choice in the category of colors.

This guitar is perfect for my music style which is mostly Smashing Pumpkins. Actually the reason i picked up this guitar was for the reason i saw Billy Corgan using one at a recent show. I used it on both a clean and a tube amp and from what i played it absolutly sung on both Distortion and clean channels.

Everything was perfect. There was no buzzing at all. There were no flaws in the finish of on the fretboard or anywhere else. Its an incredible guitar.

I can't say because well i only played it in the store the finish looks solid along with everything else.

can't say

As soon as i can i'm buying this guitar. I already have a Fender Standard American Strat. Which is excellent but this is incredible with both guitars i can vary my sound a lot. Try an SG but i highly recomend this its affordable price tag was $450. The Korina wood honeslty made a difference. I clocked the Sustain at about half a minute with out any break up. BUY IT NOW!!