Epiphone SG Special

This is a bog standard cherry Epi SG special, somebody has correctly identified it as a laminate...I know this is the case as I sawed it up to make it rectangular, filled some of the chamferred bits, and re-styled it in a kellogs frosties box... partly in homage to the fairport convention "Cornflakes" model but mainly to establish my "comedy" presence... see myspace.com/glennyvee. I think the fingerboard is actually a dyed cheaper timber than rosewood. the bridge is quite nifty and doesn't fall off ala gibson, the pick-ups twin humbuckers are epis and are ...OK, the machine heads are ....OK

hmmmm I bought this guitar to chop up....before I did, I will say this...My main stage guitars are gibsons, Flying Vee and tv yellow doublecut... my only experience of SG's was about 17 years ago when a fellow bandmember imported at VAST expense a '61 re-issue. I thought it was wank...it was a flimsy little thing with a whip neck, and I formed the opinion that gibson sgs were not for me...I have grown up ! this ?? 72 purchased second hand beginner model played and sounded very very good... through a marshall dsl...i instantly became Angus Young...and added "whole lotta rosie" to my set list.
I liked this guitar, and would recommend it to anybody as a knockabout or beginner instrument..... I still chopped it up though...and in its new guise, as a real "tiger top" its sounds gggreeeaat !

I will say again how impressed I was with the set up, the lad I bought it from was no player...whichever shop set it up, or importers deserve a big pat on the back.
If i were to be really picky...the bridge has been slightly misplaced so the strings do not run central to the neck, I am happy with the pick-ups which are a bit rougher sounding, and thicker than on my V ...I don't know where the bass response comes from on this skinny body, and I can't beleive epi have specially "voiced" these for the laminate body...perhaps a happy accident ? I have re-soldered all wiring for a single volume..the selecter knob is ok if slightly stiffer than a gibson, and the machines work...ok

Reliability and durability...I don't think so. I use it for 2 opening numbers to get a laugh...it holds tune for that long, under lights as well ! I expect the fret wire to disintegrate with extended use, I may change the machines.... I have fitted schaller strap-loks. It is unfair to expect a chaep beginers instrument to take an extensive on stage pummelling from a midly amusing entertainer...

I have never had any dealings with gibson or epi.... No I lie...norlin ( 70's uk distributers for gibson) wouldn't let me have a wiring diagram for an ES 355 after the 5 way selctor switch started to crackle and not engage... they said Gibson, wouldn't supply it and to get it fixed I would need to return it to the states ! this was on a ten year old guitar.... I found a top name uk luthier to do the job...and he charged me the same rate he probably does his internationally acclaimed clients....hmmmm

This guitar changed my life....If it wasn't for the weak pound, and prices that sg standards are on ebay ( due to euro punters with a strong euro) I would have bought a proper gibson SG standard by now...as It happens I have a few guitars so I don't need an SG desperately...I have played a long time, so don't get excited easily...As this project has worked so well.. I will search for a cheap gibson melody maker to chop up and become the next tiger top..I may utilise the epi's pick-ups though !

Beginners who are non fender fans could do a lot worse than an epi sg special !

Made:In Indonesia.
Year: 2008
Frets: 22
Solid body, laminated.
One Volume One tone, 3 way selector.
Pickup config: H,H.
Body: Alder.
Neck: Maple.
Finish: Red Wood grain transparent.

I play everything from blues to metal and i find that this guitar works well for any kind of music.

ive used fender amps and line 6 amps with this guitar, and ive used both clean and extreme distortion.

Not so much rich or bright but it does produce a full sound for being a cheap sg copy.

i use allot of pinch harmonics and this guitar has GREAT harmonics.

I found no flaws, but it is a low end guitar.

I have not played any shows with this guitar but it seems like anyone with skill could get great sounds from this axe.
and it seems durable.

I have not dealt with them.

Ive been playing 10 years and own/have owned, A fender strat, a bc.rich bich special edition, a harmony strat, two fullerton strats, and a prs se custom.

I would buy this guitar again.

I love the looks, that is what makes it great, in terms of hardware and technicality your getting what you pay for, but the looks are beyond the price.

i think this is a great beginner guitar and is a wonderful value.

I bought this SG not really knowing what the heck it was. I knew the neck was unusual for an SG (maple, not the normal mahogany) and that the body sounded like it was made of something other than mahogany. I tried it through 3 or 4 amps before I bought it and was very pleasantly surprised. Took it home and did a little research and found out the low-down and this model:

Maple/Alder laminate body
Maple bolt-on neck
Janky Epiphone tuners
looks like the nut is TUSQ
22 fret neck
rosewood fingerboard
fairly large fretwire size
dot inlays
cheap-o stopbar and bridge
single volume knob
single tone knob
flush-mounted input jack on face of body
3-way toggle pickup selector
epiphone humbuckers (passive)
gloss finish on body, neck and headstock
24" scale length
medium neck thickness

This is the budget version of an SG, so I think the appointments are pretty good for what you're paying for. However, due to reliability problems, I'm knocking the rating down a couple of points. See below.

What makes this guitar worth buying, modding, and fixing is that it sounds very, very good. When jazzed up with a couple of mods and adjusted correctly, the SG Special has a very open sound with plenty of upper harmonics (the alder/maple body has a lot to do with this to my mind) Fast palm-muted runs have just the right amount of resonance under high gain settings: not so little that the notes sound stunted, but not so much that the palm mutes are uncontrollable. Lead sounds are authoritative and pinch harmonics are good (though not excellent). The 24" scale makes bends and vibrato a breeze, though (as expected) it cancels out some harmonics and makes for a somewhat dull clean sound from both bridge and neck. The tone control is fairly useful. When wound fully up, the sound is biting in a pleasing way, and wound down gives a nice warm legato-like feel (more noticeably under distortion). The neck pickup is slightly disappointing as it is over-bassy and lacks a little for definition. The middle pickup setting is great for situations where you want to back off your volume and clean up your signal, though I should mention that neither of the pickups cleans up very easily.

In sum, I think this guitar covers a lot of ground sonically. Those who have been disappointed with this guitar seem to have missed the point that they paid less than $200 dollars for a guitar. I'm sorry folks, but if you want great materials and fancy appointments, you will have to spend probably at least $1000 on your instrument. If you're going to buy a guitar like this, assume you will have to set it up and maybe do some repair work and modifications. I think there are a lot of guitarists here who want way too much in return for their piddly expenditures. And they expect to sound like Van Halen without putting forth the effort and time required to coax a good sound out of any guitar regardless of materials. Van Halen made his first guitars out of spare parts he sometimes got out of the trash! Jimi Hendrix played a stock CBS strat he pulled off the wall--there was nothing special about his guitars either. The point is, kids, that they made due with the equipment they had and ended up making amazing music. If you want a fancy guitar, pay for it. If you don't, fiddle with what you can afford. But most of all, as Zappa would say, shut up and play yer guitar!

I can't comment on the factory setup as I bought this guitar used. I will say that it's easy to adjust action and intonation. I like that the neck is maple (maple is my favorite neck wood) as it is much stronger than your typical mahogany neck. However, the neck joint presents some problems. It has already started to show stress cracking, and I'm concerned that it won't hold up if dropped or gigged with. I don't know if that should discourage anyone from getting the SG Special though, since a ton of the Gibson SG's have similar problems. Gibson-style necks in general are somewhat fragile (mostly due to poor design) and need to be babied. Ever tried to break a strat neck? It's nigh impossible! But, because Gibson (and Epiphone) are locked into their traditionalist attitudes toward product design, they refuse to acknowledge that there is a problem with the strength of their necks. Having said that, I'm not sure that I can fault Epiphone for making a somewhat fragile neck. Until Gibson makes design changes, this will be a problem for their whole product line including the high end custom guitars.

But, I will fault Epiphone's negligence when it comes to the SG Special's bridge. I play with 11-gauge strings which while not being extremely heavy strings, still have a lot more string tension than the standard 9's. As soon as I installed my strings, I noticed that the stopbar began to pull toward the neck and got steadily worse. I had to reinforce the mounting holes in the body with superglue to stabilize the posts for the stopbar. When I examined the holes, I found that the fixtures the posts joined with were digging into the body material, and that the material was actually GIVING WAY! It would be very simple for Epiphone to have reinforced these holes with some sort of material. Eh, at least it was an easy fix.

Also, I ended up replacing the tuners. They simply sucked.

Replaced the knobs too. They were ugly. Strat-style knobs look and work better.

See above.

Despite my somewhat low ratings above, I do recommend this as a beater/experimental guitar. It sounds good, it plays good, and for a little extra cash, you can soup it up. For all its design flaws, the SG Special is a fun guitar to play. Also, the woods used in this guitar make it sound better than most Gibson SG's! It's got me thinking about building a Warmoth SG with an alder body and a maple neck (but obviously with better hardware and wood). This guitar has also turned me on to the shorter Gibson scale length.

So, for the money, it's a lot of fun. I would never pay more than a couple hundred bucks for this guitar though. It deserves to be cheap.

This Guitar is Very poorly made, it has almost no features.

The sound in this guitar is Alright, the Humbuckers do all right for a beginer but for every one else the sound is poor.

When I got this guitar right away i noticed the cheap wood and finish. It barley stays in tune, the tuning pegs dont turn smoothly at all and the pickup selector would stop working every once and a while and i would have to jiggle it around to get it to work.

This guitar will last about a few months before problems occor but overall i think it would take a year and half to get this guitar into terrible condtion.

I have Been playing for about 3 years now i started off with a knock-off strat which lasted me two years, this guitar lasted me for four months.overall this guitar is very poor i think it would be great for a beginer.

Epiphone Guitars are known for weak necks. You can find them cheap on ebay with cracks and broken headstocks. I have an acoustic and the headstock broke off when it was fairly new. I own a bunch of guitars and I have never had this happen before. I have had a minor stress crack or two on some older guitars. The Epiphone line looks good and sounds ok but dont expect a Gibson. I like my Squire better but I have a Gibson USA SG that I use on stage. I would look elsewhere for a guitar.

Cheap money but a cheap guitar

Poor to barely presentable

Weak Neck

They will tell you that it was dropped when the headstock falls off. I do know one gut that got his Epiphone Les Paul replaced but I think the store ate it.

Basic features, 2p/u, V/T controls and 3-way switch. Laminated maple/alder body, bolt-on maple neck. Color is olive drab, the only one I've seen. It was purchased new from Muscian's Friend. This guitar was bought in the mid 90's but I'm just now getting around to posting a review.

I play primarily through an original Fender Blues Deluxe. I don't use any effects any more, just plug and play. I play blues and 60's & 70's rock and roll. The pickups were typical cheap humbuckers and I swapped them out for a Carvin M22T in the bridge and M22V in the neck. This changed a muddy sounding guitar into an articulate and clear sounding axe. The neck is clean and clear enough for serious jazz and with the guitar volume dimed on the bridge p/u you have all the AC/DC you could want. I'll eventually change the switch and control pots but they are ok for now.

The finish was very good and all the parts fit clean and tight. The action was set up average. I did put a strap button on the tip of the upper bout to make it balance better. The tuners keep it tuned perfect and the frets are crowned and and polished to perfection. Intonation is dead on. I bought this guitar to play slide on but gave up and it had been setting unused for about 6 or 7 years. I changed the strings to 10's and set the neck as straight as I could get it then lowered the action as low as possible without buzzing. I plugged straight into my Fender Blues Deluxe and instant AC/DC. This thing plays smooth as silk and and sounds like a million bucks. I've been playing for about 45 years and this axe sure doesn't play or sound like the $200 guitar it really is. This axe might be a "one in a million" and I'm glad I'm the one who got it.

It seems to be built very solid and I have used it on gigs several times. My main axe is a Strat but when I need some good crunchy rock & roll, my little green frog comes to life.

Haven't had to deal with them.

I'm very glad I bought this axe. I wound up using it for a different purpose than I bought it for but I'm sure glad it worked out that way. Overall I'd give it an 8 without the p/u change, but with it it would have to be a very solid 10.

Charcoal burst finish. medium frets, bolt on neck, plastic Nut, twin buckers.

Only a 3 because the fit of the parts are so bad and poorly constructed that proper intonation is impossible. What sound you do get does sound like an SG although a very anemic one that tends to annoy the ears rather than stir the soul. Looks pretty... but like your mama told you looks aren't anything.

Where to start... frets levelling is terrible, the nut was cut to abritrary depths for the strings, the neck pocket in the body was milled incorrectly, the tune o-matic bridge and stop tail peice positioning are off so as to throw out the string alignment .

There is no doubt that this would be reliable because it would probably sit in the case it is that bad.

Can't repair bad engineering... but this is the was Gibson / Epiphone wants it... if their low end guitars were playable and sounded good why would somebody spend Thousands on an actual Gibson SG or Half that on a "Nice" Epiphone.

I've been playing for 10 years, I own a Gibson Explorer, An entry level PRS, a dillion Les Paul, and a Pawn shop prize Vantage PRS kinda copy.... I was able to set these up and they are all very playable. I play these guitars though various amps including a Fender 75, Traynor YBA-1A, Hiwatt DR-103, Musicman 212-65, Garnet Gnome. If you are a wannabee and never intend on ever playing and just want a guitar for decoration then by all means buy one... it's pretty enough. But as a caution to players and PARENTS who want to buy their child their first guitar.... this guitar sounds bad, it cannot be properly tuned and that will make it sound bad.... as a result the novice player will quickly stop playing because they think that it is them that sound bad. I've tried several Epiphones in the past and they always leave me disapointed to more or a lesser degree, usually with the construction quality, and setup/playability... a guitar that is well built can be set up into an EASY to play instrument. The Kid I bought this from ended up taking up the drums.

SG shape electric guitar. Volume and tone knob, bolt on neck. Lead / rythum three way switch. Mine has black/white humbucker pick ups and gold harware, cherry red color. Tune-o-matic bridge, stop tailpiece. Inlays on the neck.

Pretty good for a cheap guitar I use it with a Fender Princeton amp.

Fair, doesn't stay in tune as well as I think it should. Color is nice finish is very good. Action was fairly well set up from the factory I have never adjusted the neck.

I don't play it that much, I'm a bass player use this guitar for ideas and fun.

No idea.

Very nice for the price. Cheap and looks good, sounds good, fun to play. I've had it kicking around my house about two years seems fairly durrable.

This is a beginners guitar, period. It is an entry level guitar and I dont think that Epiphone is trying to market it as otherwise.
I have read some other reviews on this guitar, and they are from beginners so they dont really have the knowledge to be giving a review. I bought one new for 140 bucks out the door, it has two generic humbucking pickups that are cheap and sound that way, but a beginner is not going to be able to tell what a good pickup really sounds like so that is ok. The tuners are also cheap but adequate. One of the best things about the guitar is that it has no trem on it so it stays in tune reasonably well. The neck is thin and the action was set fairly well and low for such a cheap guitar, I consider it a very easy to play guitar so its role as a beginners guitar it does pretty well. Just know you will outgrow it, if you keep playing, I would suggest buying a used one in good shape because you can get them for next to nothing.

It sounds like what it is, a couple of cheap humbuckers. Someone that buys this guitar most likely does not have a great amp either, and as a beginner they are not ready to appreciate things like the tone of tube amps or the difference in tone of pickups. I dont find any bad noises etc. scratchy pots, so it is not "defective" just will loose its appeal as one learns how to play. Probably the best feature is the neck, it is thin and the back of the neck is easy to slide your hand on. The second best thing is the stop tail bridge, it is very basic so it is hard to screw up

Again, it reflects its price pretty well. The factory sets them up adequately if they are like what I got. The worst feature is how thin this thing is.

Nobody is going to be gigging with this guitar, it is a good guitar for a beginner, it is basic, certainly not spectacular in any way, but it has a decent thin neck that is easy to learn on, hopefully by the time you are ready to move on you will be able to learn more about guitars also, and you can go shopping at stores and compare them to this one. The best way to find a guitar you like is to go in to a big music store, actually play every guitar that you can possibly afford, and play all of them, even if you dont like the look, the most important part of any guitar is the neck, you can always change the pickups but you have to have a neck that you like and fits your hands and that is comfortable for YOU to play. So dont be embarassed that you are not Eddie Van Halen, dont ask the store clerk to play it for you. Suck it up and play whatever you know however well you can, no real musician is going to make fun of you because you are a beginner. Having a salesman play it for you means nothing. This is a personal choice, so find a guitar that you find is comfortable and easy for you to play, if there was one "best" guitar for everyone there would not be hundreds of models for sale. It only matters that you like how it plays and how it sounds. I still keep my SG Special only because it is worth about 50 bucks used, and you should not pay more for a used one than that, and even though I only use it as a test guitar for pups, it is too thin for some of them to fit. It will last probably as long as you want to play it.

never needed support, just play it and when you get an idea of what is going on by learning buy a better guitar.

I am giving this a 7 because looking at it as a pure beginners guitar, it serves the purpose, and it will be easy to play and stay in tune well enough so that a beginner will not get frustrated.

Strings? If you are a beginner you can do two things, buy some decent plain strings, eg Dean Markley Blue Steels and let your fingers build up callouses so the strings dont hurt your fingers, or you can buy Elixers which are coated strings, these are much easier on your fingers and are good quality strings. You dont need to change strings that often, so dont go cheap on them, also as you learn to hear the tone of the pickups etc, you will also find strings you like by trying them yourself, again this is personal, I listed two that are good and I use on different guitars for different reasons, so there is not one string that will be the best for every player or every guitar, but you cant go wrong with either of those.

Cheap black stripped sg. The first guitar I ever bought was a G-400 so this one brings back good memories. For the money you can't beat the quality.

cheapo pickups actually sound decent.

Tuners are a little cheap and go out of tune slightly. This was a musicians friend reject guitar that someone did a little fretwork on and sold me at a blues jam. It plays great now that it has been set up.

Seems durable enough. This is my "don't give a crap" backup guitar for gigging.

Been playing about 10 years and currently own about 200 guitars. Again for the money you can't beat this SG. Serious hod rodding potential.