Epiphone Sheraton II

There are so many reviews on this guitar regarding features, that i need not repeat them. It is just that, A semihoolw ES335 copy at a very reasonable bang-for-the-buck price.

I have been playing for over 36 years most of them proffessionally working as a stage performer and recording session musician. I needed a semi-hollow body guitar for my work since i had sold a Gretsch "Nashville" a couple of years back and did not have an instrument of comparable sound/versatility in my arsenal. I went to my local dealer who let me try out many guitars until I got stuck on a used Gibson ES335 and a brand new SheratonII. After about 3 hours of playing I chose the Epiphone SheratonII because I figured that I am a working musician and resale didn't matter to me since I pretty well much bang up my axes and wear them out because I'm a player not a buff or collector. The sound is good enough that almost all my rythym lines on my recording sessions of the last 5 years have been cut with my SheratonII. On stage I play in one of the top Rock and Roll 50's and 60's bands in the country, and I find myself playing my SheratonII at almost half of my shows using it as my only guitar. MY main axe for that act is a Fender 1977 Strat with "Vintage-Noiseless" pickups but I still like the feel of my Sheraton on stage. It sounds great with the amps that are supplied by the sound companies that provide us with a backline at the venues I appear at. They usually have Fender Twins or Roland JC120's, but on occasion, they have had Marshalls and Mesa Boogie amps. The Sheraton has always sounded correct. My own amps are aPeavey Triumph 60 (tube 6L6 + 12AX7), a Fender Super 60 (tube), a Roland JC120, and a Roland Cube 60. She sounds especcially great on soft jazz work through the Roland Cube 60 where the middle (2P/U) sound comes to life. After reading all these previous reviews I am going to change my pickups to either Seymour Duncans or DiMarzios. I can use a hotter sound on some classic rock and fusion material that I do.

Action was as close to perfect, but my dealer always goes over every instrument that comes into his shop and once I chose the one I wanted he went in his back room and had it set up for me, which was 10-46 light strings and a super low action with the stop-piece all the way down for more sustain and string tension. My only problem with tuning is that my D and G strings seem to flatten a little when I bend a lot, but because I know that, I just tap the flat string just between the bridge and tailpiece and it slips back into intonation.

Will this guitar withstand live playing? Without a doubt! In fact my group is known for our exciting stage movements and choreography, which includes me taking a solo while playing with my teeth and dropping to the floor and resting on my back in a prone position. To that I say," Who needs SrapLocks?" I haven't in six years with this guitar and I've yet to drop it.

I have a problem, I go to my local dealer, he hasn't let me down yet.

I have been playing for over 36 years and I have owned or played just about every kind of axe out there from Gretsch Country Gentleman, Nashville, Tennessean, Dou-Jet, Gibson Firebird, Les Paul Standard, Deluxe,SG Standard, a PRS, Fender Telecasters (late 60's and early 70's),Stratocasters (1976 hardtail, and 1977 Ash body/Maple neck). I presently own a '77 Srat w/Vintage noiseless pickups, a Jackson Fusion Std. Pro, an Ibanez 1974 Double-neck 6/12, an Ibanez Artist (Blackw/Creme trim),a Parker P-38, An Aria Pro Elecord Model #P-90 acoustic-electric archtop roundhole, and an Epiphone Chet Atkins Model CEC Acoustic Nylon string electric. If this axe was stolen, I would run right back to Castellano's and order another one or an Ibanez Artar which is the only other guitar that can beat this one fot the money (it cost more than the Sheraton, but it feels lighter and the sound was a little bit better).

well this is an update from my fuull review......after getting over the new axe nirvanna,,,i found the stock pickups too get too muddy
with lots o volume.so........i upgraded....bridge,...a dimarzio
super 11 distorter excellent, neck 57 gibson clsssic,wow
it really does make a difference. its a10 now and even does metal
justice... n blues n rock n jazz n plus n .plus.

Originally submitted a review for this instrument last December......before I replaced stock PU. Threw a couple of 57 classics into this thing and turned a frog into a prince. The thing really sounds great now. It always looked nice and had a decent neck/action/intonation. But now it sounds wonderful!

Standard configuration for an Epiphone Sheraton II made in Korea in 2001. It came with a plush hardshell case that seems well made. Ebony (black) with gold plated hardware, mother-of-pearl and abalone inlays in the neck and headstock. Strikingly beautiful in appearance except for an unattractive pick-guard. Has anyone out there tried getting an ES335 pickguard from Gibson and substituting?
I'm going to dock a point for the pickguard.

The sound is flat with the stock pickups. The 2001 model is supposed to have the 'new and improved' pickups. They could be worse but they could certainly be better. Personal taste plays a part so I recommend that anyone buying this guitar should TRY a number of different Gibsons with different pickup combinations to get an idea of what this guitar could sound like with REAL Gibson pickups. I've installed a '57 Classic at the neck and a '57 Classic+ at the bridge; this was after lots of research and I'm now completely satisfied with the sound of this guitar. I use it to play classic '60s and '70s rock. Also some jazz and blues. I love the sound with the new pickups. I also replaced the pots and toggle switch with new Gibson components, and a switchcraft jack. Ooh la la, it sounds terrific now. It's a 10 with the improvements, a 6 without them.

The factory action was quite good, I haven't had anyone mess with it yet. No string buzz, the factory did a good job with the frets and adjustments. The intonation was set up reasonably well. I'll eventually have it all fine-tuned but I think that I'll wait until it 'wears in' a bit. The finish is fantastic, I'm particularly thrilled with the ebony finish & gold hardware.

It is a new guitar so time will tell. The pickups were changed so the gold plating on them is now REAL Gibson. I'll probably change the machine heads to real Gibsons, also. I've seen a year-old Sheraton II and the plating looked pretty rough, especially on the pickup covers because they get punished the most. Oh, also... the original factory toggle switch 'cut out' when changing positions. I can't stress enough how much better I like this guitar with the changeover to real Gibson components.

I was able to get a schematic for this guitar from the Gibson website. They sent me a schematic for an ES335 and told me that it matched the Sheraton II exactly. They were prompt and friendly. Go figure...

I've been playing for over 30 years. This guitar will probably become my most-used instrument. I'm using it primarily with a VOX AC15 and it really sings. Incredible tone and sustain!! Like others have said in previous reviews, it compares favorably with an ES335 if you change the pickups. Gibson probably doesn't WANT these things to sound great from the factory. Why would anyone spend thousands of dollars on a real Gibson if an Epiphone sounded as good, straight out of the box?

this is all written below. you say guitar, i expect a plank with strings on it, anything else is a feature. the binding on this thing is a plus. i mean what kind of features do you want on a guitar ? it doesn't have a v12 motor or anything megacool like that, it's a very well decked out guitar though.

i run this through an american made fender princeton, a dunlop 545 (chrome), a voodoo labs od, and a boss bf-2 flanger. it's fairly versatile, but i find it does best in settings involving drive equal to or less than classic rock. clean she's absolutely gorgeous. overdrive is very warm, and it really cuts through in a solo. not the best for metal, if indeed it's a hot thing in metal now to play a hollow body.

stock pickups aren't awful, but they aren't great. i replaced them with the gibson 57 classic series. excellent choice, really turns this guitar up a notch. basically, it's an es-335 without the wiring. that'll change eventually, i'm in no rush though because that's not a hassle on a frequent basis, just something that's nice to not have to worry about. i give it a 9 because everything i compare it to pales, and i'm a guitar player, i try out everything in stores just like you do.

action's easily adjusted. as far as intonation goes, well on the high e string the saddle on the tune-o-matic won't quite go as far as i need it to to get perfect intonation. it's close, but i might need to get it professionally adjusted. the wiring isn't good, but i'll change all that out. from a visual standpoint, it's stunning. probably the most gorgeous guitar on the market. very pleased in this category

mind you, the neck is a 2x4. small hands need not apply

it's a hollow body. relatively speaking, it's very solid. i've had this for three years or so and it doesn't have even a scratch on it. it gets used extensively, and has been gigging with me whenever i needed it to. it also went through a year of semi-daily rehearsals. it travels well.

i've been playing for five years. if it were stolen, i'd be pissed. it's a very good guitar, especially for the money. if you put work into it and make a few adjustments, you'll have one of the best instruments on the planet. if not, then it's merely solid. visually and sonically, i'm extremely pleased.

the features are great. way better than an es 335.gorgious gweeter
all around. don t know what year it is serial no. s99064459 ......
any one know the year send if so to gweeter8@yahoo.com.
super great kneck.

don t know what happened to others but she s a kickin axe. sound is just fine in my hot rod de ville 4x10. original and blues and classic rock ....so far so good, but i might try duncan seth and one other.

action was higher than i like but it played well. lowered it ripps pretty fast with great tone...must have been a wed guitar.

the gold pickups are wearing very fast as such the duncans will come.
this is the gweeter i gig with reliable comfort n trust.

no need

i ve played a lot of gweeters over 35 years and im happy with this
one its one of the best around especialy for the price
excellent gweeter dam she looks sweet too.

Bought this guitar in 1997-8, natural finish, gold (but not for long) hardware etc. You've read it all before.

For the most part this guitar should be played unamplified. While I have wrung a couple of nice recordings out of it, predominantly in a Bluesbreakers mode the thing sounds mediocre when amplified. This, as indicated by several other reviewers, relates to the mediocrity of the stock PUs. I have a pair of Classic 57s which I will install when I get the chance but basically have used this guitar fairly unfrequently.

Action is a strong point, smooth and fast. Finish is beautiful. Hardware is prone to near instantaneous oxidation. Also the tuners were cheap junk, replaced them with a set of Grovers which helps a lot. Indeed, most of the electronics (pots, toggle) are also pretty cheesy but serviceable. So it's a 9 for action, 8 for feel, 9 for finish, 3 for hardware= Avg 5-6

Wouldn't use it at a gig at all at this point in time, maybe when I swap out the PU's. Still it seems pretty solid and frankly if it were lost or damaged it might mean that one of my other instruments would have been spared, a reasonable trade off.

No experience with Epiphone but have had good relations w/ Gibson when necessary

Playing for too long, ~36yr. I have a bunch of other electric and acoustic guitars and also enjoy keyboard playing. Although I have no regrets about buying the Sheraton, I will have to do the PU surgery before proferring a final opinion.

"Double rounded cutuaway, arched bound maple top, f holes, raised bound tortoise pickguard with stylized E logo, maple back/sides, center block maple neck, 22 fret bound rosewood fingerboard with pearl/abalone blok/triangle inlay, tune-o-matic bridge/stop tailpiece, bound peghead with pearl vine/logo inlay, 3 per side tuners, gold hardware, 2 humbucker covered pickups with exposed screws, 2 volume/tone controls, 3 position switch."

This is the definiton of the Sheraton and Sheraton II by Epiphone itself.

I checked the serial number and found out at Epiphone that when the Sheraton II started being manufactured in Korea, they did not register the numbers properly so as far as I (and they) know, my guitar does not have a 'born certificate'. I do know though that the Sheraton II is a contemporary re-issue of the original Epiphone Sheraton (hence the 'II') which was manufactured from 1959 to 1970. The Sheraton II began its legacy in 1997. My guitar is probably from 1997. Make no mistake when you see an old Sheraton, it is vintage shit and you should not let the opportuniy ellude you. Go for it.

I got this guitar in august 29, 1998. I'll tell its story later on.

As far as I'm concerned, this is an ok guitar features-wise. I don't know how to hate it tho so I won't.

This guitar covers an extensive field of sounds and tones and I am satisfied with it but not before I had one of the humbuckers replaced by a Gibson Classic '57 (the bridge one). The stock PU's are extremely poor and like someone stated below, this guitar can howl at no moon when you crank the gain of your amp. I'm probably replacing the neck humbucker as well but I couldn't be arsed to do so as of yet.

The guitar is not noisy at all. If it's noisy than it's probably because of the gear you're using. Despite the poor stock PU's, the neck one sounds full and warm and you have a good range of tones. It's sensitive to the tone controls and if you are patient you can be very surprised. Especially with all-tube amps.

I play in a band that plays contemporary music (a cover band mostly) and although you have to struggle with the guitar to deliver Limp Bizkit-like sounds, you can pretty much play anything you want. It won't emulate any Telly or Strat sound but it will do it fair enough. At home I play Oasis, Beatles and general british rock and it suits my taste to the fullest.

I play it through a Marshall JCM2000 DSL401 and a Marshall VS65R. Of course, it blows anyone's through the all-valve Marshall but it can be really boring with a valvestate amp. This is probably because of the amp though. It's amazing how a valvestate amp is so worse than a tube one. And I thought my 65 watt VS was a good beast. Go for the tubes.

I also use a BOSS ME-8 (multiple effects processor) and teh guitar works fine with it.

Replacing the humbuckers with the ones of your taste, you have a delicious guitar to play with at hand. But with the stock PU's I'll give it a 6,5 rounded up to 7.

I traded this guitar so it was second hand but it was brand new. No one ever played with it. As I got it I brought it to my personal luthier to take care of it and replace the humbucker that very same day. As far as finishing and fit, it's a 10 in my opinion. It's all great and there's no flaws. I can't seem to find any in it.

However, after a few months the hardware gets oxidized and that, I think, is a major Epiphone hardware problem. It happens with my Epiphone EJ-200 acoustic also. The golden hardware goes green sometimes. It's not very good. That's definitely a 6 for it.

Other than that, everything is fine. The guitar was well set-up at the factory since it hasn't been used by anyone before I traded it. This is an 8.

Other than the hardware oxidizing, this guitar will last forever if you let it. Solid as my two beloved combos. :-)

I don't use it with a backup. Ths straps are very solid but I always recommend a strap-lock which I use in my guitar, the Dunlop ones.

I DO depend on it.

Never talked to any of 'em.

I've been playing for 6 years now and I've been suffering to find the guitar of my dreams. I found it in the Sheraton II but not without a fight. I'll tell you why.

I have also an Epiphone EJ-200 acoustic, an Yamaha APX-4-12A acoustic, a Washburn Strat Lyon Series and a Fender Jazz Bass.

If I ever lost this guitar I'd buy another semi-acoustic. I don't know which one though. Maybe a Riviera or even the original beautiful red Gibson semi-acoustic itself.

I love the look of it and I love it just because I love it. I don't know. It was love at first sight. (it's vintage sunburst with golden hardware)

Now, I'll tell the story behind the myth. In mid 1997 I bought a Rickenbacker 325V63 'Miami', a vintage re-issue of the same guitar that Lennon used when on tour with the Beatles in... Miami, right. However, I did not even see it before buying and I found out it has a f***ing short scale and my hands are quite big. Plus, as it's a re-issue, it has precisely the same hardware. Shit bridge, shit tailpiece, the strings would never stay in tune. Plus, the 3 pickups are match only to the vintage Vox amps they used to use. I don't know, They don't work with digital effects and distortion. Ok, I didn't know much about it at the time but I believed in the guitar. It's beautiful.

So, I spent one full year of my life with a 15 hundred bucks worth guitar that would serve for nothing to me. (I bought it new in NY)

One day I step in this Wal-Mart like store here where I live and I see this big shiny Sheraton II hanging on the wall simple to serve as a background to the CD store inside this big mall. It was hanging beside this big poster of the Beatles. I kinda flirted with the guitar everyday and one day I decided to talk to the manager of the store. I brought him my Rickenbacker and a big book with several pictures of Joh Lennon with the guitar and said: "Look, this guitar is worth 1.500 bucks, it's the same as Lennon's and it's much more good looking than that guitar you have on your wall. Let's trade it. You'll get a better background wall and I'll get the guitar I want and you'll even get money off my back because that Sheraton is cheaper than this Rickenbacker." So be it, the guy traded with me, hung the Rick on the wall and I got my Sheraton II.

BUT, I am so picky coz I want a guitar which never goes out of tune and man, does EVERY guitar I play let the G string goes soft and give me a completely out of tune open chord after a solo. I don't even play like Ray Vaughan. I just play and bend like everyone else. To solve this I replaced the bridge with a micro-tunning Gibson bridge, the one which comes with the Lucille model for instance and put up a Gotoh locking system in the neck. After that, I never got back to my luthier again but I spent quite some money to get this guitar going.

Because of that and, read this, this is not only because it's a Sheraton II, this is me who's talking, I'll give a 7 as overall opinion. Because I know that it could be a Gibson Standard, I'd put the tunning system the same way. So, don't take this so seriously if you don't even know what a guitar out of tune is. This guitar is tremendous.

My Sheraton II was a '97 model, purchased in March of '98. It is a semi-hollow, double cutaway guitar, similar to a Gibson ES-335. This means a double cutaway body of laminated maple with a center block. It also has a 24 3/4" scale on a 5 ply maple and mahogany neck, with an "ebonized" rosewood fingerboard with 22 frets. Electronics is typical with two generic humbucking pickups, volume & tone pots for each pickup and a three way switch for pickup selection.

The guitar was finished in a reddish brown sunburst, shading to black on the top. All other surfaces are red/brown without any shading. There are 5 ply bindings on the top edge of the body, fingerboard, headstock and tortoise shell pickguard, and single ply binding on the back and "f" holes. There is an extravagant amount of pearl and abalone inlay. The "epiphone" name is inlaid on the headstock, along with a "vine" inlay. The fingerboard has large pearl blocks divided by wedges of abalone inlaid for position markers. The tuners, pickup covers, stop bar tailpiece and bulky tune-a-matic bridge are gold plated, but the metalwork has a cheap, cheesy look and feel.

The guitar came with a very bulky hard shell case. It appears to be sized fo fit a similar 12 string guitar.

I play mostly blues and blues-based rock. In the store, the guitar seemed promising. The stock pickups, while a little bland, were not as bad as a lot of people say. They are, however, extremely microphonic, making the guitar squeal like a pig if the gain on the amp is cranked very much. Even my little Fender Super Champ could make the poor Sheraton howl in pain.

Obviously, the guitar cannot really be gigged with in stock trim, and new pickups are definately in order, if only to control the feedback. I planned to change them, but never quite got that far. Read on to see why.

Rating is for stock pickups, and reflects lack of usability.

At a distance, the guitar looks like a million bucks, slick and uptown classy. The neck is wide, but not too deep, very fast, like a good Gibson neck from the mid 60's. The fretwork was good and level, and the ititial setup was quite good.

From here, it goes downhill. The fret ends protruded over the fingerboard, leaving sharp edges. The paintwork was applied too thick in spots. There were swirl marks and scratches in the top which were inadequately buffed out. The back was covered with overspray, and not buffed out. The tuners, bridge and tailpiece were poorly finished, with big scratches showing under the plating. The first time I restrung the guitar, the ball ends got stuck in the undersized holes in the tailpiece, and had to be removed with a puch and hammer. The plastic nut was servicable, but cheap. The rear strap button screw was mislocated and crooked. Inside, there were big gaps between the back and the center block.

I can't out how this guitar gets such high marks in this category from everybody else. Apparently mine was a "Monday morning" guitar.

I suppose I should have quit right there, but I figured that most of the faults could be cured or lived with, so I had a luthier replace the nut with a bone nut, and the huge, ugly bridge with a Gibson bridge. This required doweling the existing bridge holes, but the thombwheels hid the repairs. He also dressed the sharp fret ends. I replaced the tuners with Grover Rotomatics, and the tailpiece with a Gotoh unit. Now the guitar was shaping up.

Still, I had doubts about the guitar. The neck joint is short and appears to be more glue than wood. Also, there is no kerfing to reinforce the joints between the top, back & sides. I don't know if the guitar will fall apart, but the overall construction doesn't inspire confidence. I might have gigged with it if I had replaced the pickups, but I finally decided that I would be spending more on the guitar than it was worth to me

the few times I've dealt with Gibson, they were courteous and prompt with a reply. The usual reply was to tell me that they don't sell replacement parts, and to see my dealer.

I almost never depend on the company for service. I either fix it myself, or take it to a good luthier. I am fortunate that I have a guy who does great work and doesn't laugh at the guitars I bring him to fix.

I've played for 35 years and own a lot of other guitars and a few amps.

After doing so much work on the guitar, I began to realize that you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear (I already knew this, but sometimes it's still fun to try). I was faced with spending another $200-$250 for pickups for a guitar that I was still likely to be unhapy with, so I decided to cut my losses and trade it in. If it had been stolen, I wouldn't have cried.

It's too bad, because the Sheraton was a lovely guitar. However, it was too much "show" and not enough "go". If you have one you're happy with, I'm happy for you. Maybe I bought the one bad apple in the barrel, but I have to call this as I see it.

I love the beautiful inlays and gold-plating, which hasnt rubbed off this 2000 Korean-made git-fiddle in the months ive owned it. It came with the newer, Gibson-liscensed wax-potted pickups, which sound comprable to the Seymour-Duncan copies. The finsih was done expertly, a fine vintage sunburst. The tuners are large, gold ones, similar to the Yamaha acoustic ones. The maple back is finished like the front, just of a slighty less beautiful piece of lumber. Sam Ash threw in a gig-bag and stand.

I play lots of blues-jazz, like a Kenny Burell mix. But i need the output to go for full out alt. rock for some gigs. This guitar does both well. When i crank my Fender Hot Rod Deluxe on the Drive channel, set around 6 on gain, i get a sweet overdrive, responsive to my picking dynamics. It could be the tubes...but this guitar sounds loads better than my friends Ibanez-ass thumping metal guitars in the same setups. The guitar also is geat for the clean, bassy jazz hollowbody sounds i need. What versatility!

The PUs, as with all hmbuckers with only 1 pivot point, move a little, but i was told it was normal. The creme binding is applied perfectly, and the setup was fine. One gripe: the STICKERS applied to the pickups at the factory, whne removed ,left a visible residue that only came off with 2 bottles of lighter fluid and a roll of toilet papaer. Besides that..its a thing of BEaAUTY.

This guitar seems quite hardy, and the finish hasnt checked or chipped as of yet. The stap buttons are rather large, and hold my strap well, even w\o locks. I always gig with a backup, simply for stirng breakage, but in any other respect, this axe will hold up. The finish and such seems expertly applied and durable, as good as the many 335s i have played. I am sure this guitar will age beutifully.

Ive never spoken with them..but the Epiphone policy of voiding the warranty with any modifications, even straplock addition scares me.

I LOVE this git bucket, what a dream. I have people coming over just to play this, and they dont wanna put it down. Ive loaned it out to some of my pro-am jazz player friedns for gigs, and they love it. I am ENTIRLEY Satisfied with this bad boy.