Epiphone Sheraton II

I've always wanted a Gibson 335 but, its a bit too pricey, so I "settled" for the Epi. BOY, AM I GLAD! I've had this guitar for two yrs., At first I was a little disappointed because while it played very smooth & fast, it didn't quite have the tone I was looking for.Also, the pick-ups were loud (hiss). Then, magic... I replaced the treble pick up with a Seymour Duncan JB. WOW! What a difference!Great bitting highs, full mids, and just enough bottom.(I run it through a Tech 21 amp.) Recently I went a couple steps further and replaced the neck pick up with a Duncan "59. Again, huge difference. Then I replaced the factory tuners with a set of Sperzels. I beleive I've created the perfect monster! I play blues/rock, and am getting into some rockabilly, and my current setup does the job just fine.

From the factory the guitar was VERY playable. The action was set properly. The intonation was almost dead on. Craftsmanship was high. No unsightly marks, glue, scuffs, etc. I often get comments on what a cool looking guitar it is.

With the exception of the toggle switch cutting out, I've had no problems. I used to play a '76 Les Paul, and had alot more problems with that guitar than my "Epi".

N/A

This review is a bit mixed. I LOVE my axe. But it's not the factory axe, is it? As I said, I would have loved a Gibson 335, but thats just too much dough. So, for $600.00, I got the style of guitar I wanted, with quality craftsmanship. For another $250.00, I replaced the pick ups to get the sound I wanted, and changed the tuning pegs so I stay in tune with more consistancy. Bottom line, if your willing to put a little effort into setting this guitar up, it will really be a nice surprise at a reasonable price. (Don't you have to tweek em' all anyway?)

as far as sound goes i think the guitar kicks ass..especially with a really saturated distortion...i really only wright my own music...so do a lot of recording at home on my hard disc recorder...using the line6 POD...and i have to say my sheraton sounds great.

The Guitar is a very beutiful instrument...very nice finish...looks very classy....i would say it's not far off the gibson in looks...The Guitar needed no adjusting when it was purchased so the stock set-up is pretty good as far as i'm concerned.

don't have it long enough

I have been playing for about 15 years....i also own a fender strat...but have had Jackson's,E.S.P.'s....Ibanez...and charvel's...and would put my sheraton against them any day of the week...overall this is an excellent instrument for a beginner or expert...also it stays in tune very well the best i have seen coming from guitars that always have a locking nut on it....the only problems i have with it are...LOSE THAT UGLY PICK-GUARD....AND CAN THOSE CHEAP VOLUME KNOBS!!!!

The serial number suggests mine was manufactured in 1995 in Korea by Samick. The cosmetic details are thoroughly covered in the other reviews. The features are very standard and functional. The neck is a bit wider than I care for, but that is just because I am hooked on the Gibson slim taper style. My Sheraton II has the Sunburst finish. I purchased it with the Epiphone hardshell case.

I play lots of 60's covers, guitar hook driven power pop and related material that requires good tonal range. I run this guitar through a CRATE GX-140D stereo chorus amp. The stock pick-ups sounded very bland. The neck pick-up in particular sounded very muddy. The given is that you have to replace the stock Epiphone pick-ups. The conventional wisdom seems to be with Gibson 57 Classics or Seymour Duncan 59s. I think both of those are great,but I went with Gibson P94 single coils. The tonal clarity these pick-ups deliver is a thing of sheer beauty.
I am also amazed at how much sustain I get out of this guitar - as good as I have ever heard on any ES-335, Guild Starfire IV, Washburn HB 35 or any other guitar in this genre. With the stock pick-ups, I have to give it only a 6. With the P94s, it is a 9. With better pots and pick-up selectors, it would be an absolute 10.

There are excellent Epiphones out there waiting to be discovered. You just have to go out and play as many as you can, meticulously scrutinize each one, and then pick the best in the batch. That is what I have done with two Epiphones - this being one of them.
My guitar was well set up right off the shelf. The action was low and very playable: good but not great. The bridge was well tuned. The cnonstruction of the guitar and the alignment of critical hardware all appeared very well done.
I had the guitar professionally set up. I use heavier strings (.10/.46s) than the factory provides (.09/.42s)to get a better tonal fullness. It made sense to do the set up, but very little adjustment was actually required.
I have not had any problems with the tuners, saddles, bridge, etc. Everything was well set up from the factory and has continued to perform well. The finish is beautiful and flawless. This particular guitar was exceptionally well put together. (I saw many that were not!) The guitar stays in tune, looks great and plays as well as I could ever hope for out of any guitar.
On the other hand, the quality of many of the components falls a little short. The nut needed to be filed down a little, but did not require replacement. The hardware - tuners, bridge, etc. - is oxidizing. I stay on top of that, but it seems I have to clean it up too often - a sign of poor quality materials.
The jack was of exceptionally poor quality and was itself responsible for lots of unwanted noise. I think there is no excuse for this. I had to replace it.
As soon as I upgraded the pick-ups, it became very obvious that the pots were very noisy. I have not replaced them yet, but suspect that investment is not too far away.
The finish is perfect. The hardware works as intended. The guitar stays in tune fine, but the oftentimes second rate quality of the components can not be overlooked.

Yes, this guitar withstands live playing just fine. Though I have 13 electrics, this is the only hollow body I use, so I guess you could say I gig without a similar back-up.
Finish appears very well done - especially by Epiphone standards.
Despite my concerns over the hardware, it has not let me down yet. This guitar feels very solid and well built. I baby my guitars. I think the amount of care I give this instrument will insure that it will be around for a long time.

I have never dealth with Epiphone regarding this guitar. On one occasion, I wrote to them for some warranty information. They responded promptly. I wrote to them on a second occasion about concerns over one of my other guitars and the need for some factory authorized warranty repair work. They never responded. In other words, when I needed them most they delivered least.

I have been playing 22 years and own 13 electrics. I can afford a Gibson ES-335, but I am not into throwing money away for the sake of showing off. I wanted a hollow body to complement the tonal spectrum of my current inventory of guitars. The hollow body I was looking for needed to be well built and deliver good tone. I was not pre-disposed to buy any particular model. My search focused on finding a hollow body with good tone.
I played Guild Starfire IVs, Gibson ES-335s, Ibanez hollow bodies, Washburn HB 35s, and everything else under the sun in the ES-335 style. I found the best built Sheraton II I could find. I walked out the door with it and an Epiphone case for $596 and put another $175 into good pick-ups and a professional set-up. The guitar is not perfect, but neither did it cost me custom shop $. It is not a Gibson. So what? Neither did it cost like one, yet it sounds just as good - a conclusion I come to after having heard and played many. And with the money I saved, I am going to buy another one (this time in the natural finish) and install some already purchased Gibson 57 classics.
My rating is for my guitar as modified. For what I have invested in this guitar, this is a good guitar at a very reasonable price.

VERY BEUTIFUL LOOKING GUITAR

I have been playing for 15 years I have a Fender strat and a custom ESP i just purchased an epiphone Sheraton II. I have to say i'm very pleased with the overall rating of the Guitar. If any flaws they are very minor details that i might have changed. I can say it does present a whole new sound for me. being a rock guitarist.Great instrument for the price.

1997 model made in South Korea. 22 frets. arch top. bound edges. Sunburst. Solid block inside to promote sustain. Two humbuckers, 3 way switch. Two volume and two tone controls. I don't know body material. Gibson 335 style. With hardshell case. Sunburst color. The first guitar (read below) was Sunburst, but the poor quality control in the making of this first guitar had it Purple!

I play rock and blues and some jazz. I have a Carvin MTS-3212 100 watt tube amp and a Tech 21 Trademark 60. The sound is decent, but I agree with one other Posting: The E,G,and B strings are bright where as the D,A, and low E strings are more dull sounding. Overall the sound quality is good. Rich sounding. It can be made to sound like a jazz guitar but play rock and blues well.

Here's where the trouble starts. I sent my first Sheraton back. The bridge was mounted incorrectly. The pickup pole pieces, that is, the "Screws" weren't underneath the strings. They were between the strings! The holes drilled to mount the bridge was WAY off! Unacceptable! The second Sheraton shipped to me was similar: The pole pieces were not exactly under the strings, the bridge was not mounted perfectly, but I kept the guitar. POOR WORKMANSHIP.

Built solidly I believe. Would stand up for continued playing. The volume knobs seem cheap but might be ok. Finish is fine. strap buttons seem normal. Dependable? Maybe, but I would have a backup! I would use it on a gig without a backup though.

I bough it from Interstate Musician in WI. They were helpful in getting the situation right.

I've played for 35 years. I have a Fender Telecaster and a G&L Asat Classic. Also an Epiphone Les Paul. IF it was stolen I would be happy! I tried to sell this guitar in a newspaper ad but it would not sell. I love nothing about it. I very much dislike the workmanship and I would not recommend this guitar.

Korean-made semi-hollow body. Maple body, rosewood fretboard, center block throughout the middle supporting the bridge and stiffening the body for sustain. Two low-quality humbuckers (see below). The idea behind buying this guitar is something I've started to do with new electrics; buy a low-price instrument and put money into the deficient areas. You end up with a high-quality instrument at a fraction of the cost of a top-of-the-line Fender or, certainly, the many overpriced Gibsons. For the Sheraton II, the deficiencies are in areas where they can be replaced or fixed by even semi-skilled owners such as myself: the pickups, the switch and the tuners. Besides, it's fun and instructive to work on your own guitars, especially when they don't cost much and there's little to lose if you screw up! If the score were for features-for-the-money this would be closer to a 10.

The stock pickups are unacceptable because the response on the top three (treble) strings is far stronger than for the lower three. The high end was piercing and stark and the bottom was ill-defined and muddy. This guitar was not usable for playing clean as received but, with enough distortion, was OK for blues. The stock pickups were also somewhat microphonic. I'm of the philosophy of using a very clean transistor amp (Princeton 65) and driving through a multi-effects box (Digitech RP-7 for now). I'm in a constant debate with my purist tube friends over that! Anyway, no amount of signal processing could rid these pickups of their bass/treble duality. So I ordered a pair of Gibson 57's and they transformed this guitar into a sonic beauty. Blindfolded, I'd challenge anyone to tell the difference between this $900 (total) guitar and a $3200 ES-335. These pickups are covered sufficiently in other parts of this database so I won't add to that but suffice it to say that it's a joy to just listen to the chords ring either clean or dirty. The switch is very noisy and needs to be replaced. The pots seem OK for now but bad pots usually start out fine and get crackly with just a little use. I don't turn them very much anyway since I usually adjust the gain and equalization on the effects box. Again, with the new pickups, it's a 10.

I got the natural finish; the maple on the front and back is almost flawless in pattern and polish. The fit is exceptional; the neck, heel and body are tailored together with perfect smoothness. I've been ordering most of my instruments from discount houses but I spent the extra bucks to go the local retailer and made sure I got something that looked nice. The binding is smooth and even. Some raggedness inside the sound holes, but a little sandpaper fixed that right up. Frets are fine if perhaps a little small for my tastes. There is a significant flaw in the headstock inlay, but it's not enough to matter. The first thing to do with this guitar is to get rid of that god-awful cheesy pickguard. What is Epi thinking with this piece of translucent plastic with a big "E" stamped on it? A simple black piece would look so much classier and would be cheaper for them to make. I promise, this guitar looks much better without one. Picture Lennon's Casino for the guardless look. The tuners seem way too easy to turn; I'd trust them a little more if they had somewhat greater resistance. They seem to stay in tune but I'll replace them because they just bug me being that loose-feeling. The setup was fine. I like a flat neck with very little relief (I'm not a big bender) and this instrument is easy to adjust. Again, one purpose of getting a cheaper instrument is to learn to do this anyway.
I'm getting a little buzzing after string changes which I finally tracked to the bridge. The A and D strings don't seem to seat well but a little pushing down behind the bridge seems to fix that and eliminates the buzz. I might need to take a small file to the bridge slots. Any suggestions out there, I've never run into this before?

I don't know how much of a problem this is but the neck doesn't seem to be attached very securely. I'm not one to go bending my instruments much but you can do a dandy whammy bar imitation by pulling back on the neck. If it doesn't get worse it'll be OK.

Don't know.

I've been playing for many years and own several guitars including a Strat, Tele, and Washburn electrics. The acoustics include a Martin D-28, Martin 000-18, Taylor 855 12-string, and a couple of old classicals. This particular guitar is the second "cheap" electric that I've bought for little money and fixed up with a couple of hundred bucks and a dozen or so hours until it's just as good as the top-of-the-line. The other was a $240 Tele which I repainted and added Texas specials. I doubt you could do this with an acoustic, just buy a Martin or Taylor and be done with it! The Epiphone Sheraton is perfect for this purpose but, if you buy one, you at least need to put in another set of pickups. I'd hate for a beginner to buy these and think this is what electric guitars should sound like. And ditch that pickgaurd!
Overall, I love it now that it's fixed up. If stolen or damaged by the hail of bullets I'd inflict upon the robber, I would buy the same guitar and fix it up the same way. An Epi Dot or several others would probably do just as good as a semi-hollowbody. I do prefer a semi-hollow with a center block for more sustain and less feedback. Half the fun is in the modification and you'll be a better guitarist for having a closer relationship with the hardware.
The rating is for the stock instrument. After modifications, a 9 or 10.

See all other reviews.

The main reason for my contribution here is to pass along some (helpfull?) opinions ob improving the sound of this guitar. The stock guitar has a decent sound although the pickups suffer 2 major problems. 1- they are a bit muddy, especialy at high volumes. 2- they are extremely microphonic. You can almost sing into them. Feedback is a serious problem even at low volume. After playing out with this guitar for about a year now, I finally upgraded the pickups. I went with Seymour Duncan Alnico II pro pickups in the neck and bridge. What an unbelievable difference. I'm sorry I waited so long. As good as the Duncan's are I'm sure any quality pickup will make a big improvement.

Consistency is the key here. I've seen some samples of Epiphones that are great. Setup and parts are first class. Some samples, though, are terrible. Poor setup and adjustment, etc. This is the result of cost cutting measures. But, I they all seem to have a good basic design and construction. Playability is excellent. Tuning and intonation are very good. Just plan on a good pro setup and fret dressing after your purchase. Once again it's worth the money.

You know. My biggest problem is that I'm a serious klutz. After more nearly 30 years of playing I'm still bumping and banging my instruments into everything in my path. The Sheraton is still in one piece. Pretty durable and stable. I haven't had problems with the nut or tuners as others have. Once again, watch for those guitar to guitar variations in consistency. I do find the toggle switch picks up dust easily. It is an open contact design. I clean it once in a while with a blast from one of those cans of compressed air you can buy at the hardware store. Works well.

Not used. Don't be afraid to hook up with a good local guitar technician. They are worth the price they charge 10 times over.

Good looks. Good playability. Good sound. Stays in tune (this is a big issue with me and guitars). What's to complain about. It's a bargain even aften spending extra for new pickups.

I guess made about 1990, I bought it new at that time. Has 22 frets on a short-scale, three-piece neck. Neck is fat but very fast. Has a laminated top. Two volume and two tone controls plus a three-way switch. Two humbuckers. Bridge is a tuno-o-matic with stop tail. Tuners are kind of cheesy. Got this with case for the price I quote. All the exposed metal is gold plated but, as others have noted, the finish rubs off pretty quickly. Mine is the natural finish and I love the look of it. It is kind of heavy but not as heavy as a Les Paul. The body has a solid block down the middle with hollow wings, just like an ES-335.

I play blues and rock & roll and this suits me perfectly. The tuners are somewhat flaky, but I've played it long enough that I usually know which string goes out of tune from bends and I can tune on the fly. The stock humbucker never sounded good through anything -- Bassman reissue, vibrolux, and a Seymour Duncan 84-50. I purchased dimarzios to install (PAF pro for neck and FRED for bridge) but then I got my Silvertone twin-twelve rebuilt and plugged in the Sheraton and damn if it didn't sound like a classic Gibson. The tone on the neck was always dark and muddy, not it's dark but with a bite. The bridge is very twangy but I roll off the treble and it settles down. Through the Silvertone this thing sustains forever. I think it rivels Santana's PRS and Marshall setup. I'm not making this up. This is one of the best combinations I've ever played. The sound makes my knees weak and my heart melt. It's the tone I've chased for nearly 35 years. I'd still like to experiment with the dimarzios in the Sheraton but with the sound I'm getting now I'm having second thoughts. I will, however, definitely changes the pots and switch -- they got noisy real fast and have to be cleaned frequently. Sound was a 5 but through the Silvertone Twin-Twelve it jumped to an 8 easily.

I've done all of the setup on this guitar myself. Intonation, once set, seems to hold for a year or more for me (I check every couple of months). Pickups were adjusted OK on this axe, so I got lucky. The finish is beautiful and I love the natural look. The grain is beautiful and distinctive. I had to fiddle with the high E saddle, as it was literally cutting a string a night. After a small amount of filing I don't have the same problem. The hardware finish is gone. It wore away in about a year (I was gigging five and six nights a week then) and I plan to replace all the hardware with good chrome pieces (probably and ABR bridge and sperzel tuners). Still, the action on this has never been a problem. From the day I first played it the action has been great -- tight and fast.

I've used this for live performances for almost 10 years and I trust it without a backup. It's never let me down. The only things that has broken is the pickguard (at the screwpoint by the neck) and I just took it off. Actually, I like the look without the pickguard. I always replace strap buttons with strap locks, so that's no issue. I've depended on this guitar for a long time and I think I'll be able to depend on it for many years to come. As I said, I do plan to swap out the hardware -- the electronics suck on Epi's. But other than that I'm happy with this axe.

Haven't dealt with them at all.

I've been playing for 35 years, but I didn't get into electric music until about 1989. Had a Mexi Tele first and I hated the cheesy sounding pickups. I loved the feel of the Epi the first time I picked it up. I don't have the tele any longer but I do have the Epi, so that says something. With the sound through the Silvertone amp, I feel like I've found the setup of my dreams. Just goes to show you how an amp can effect the sound of a guitar. I'd replace it if it were lost or stolen. I feel like I got much more than my moneys worth with the Epi Sheraton.

black 1997, read the other comments for specs

Beautiful thick sound. I run it through a Roland Blues Cube, used to run it through a Roland JC 120. Extremely versitile if you mess around with the dials. Great clean tones, and dark and dirty when the gain is cranked up a notch. It suits my style to a tee (which is blues based rock). 100 times more quiet than my tele.

Action was kind of high, but that is the way I like it. Didn't really pay attention to the original pickup adjustment cause I mess with that all the time (still experimenting).

One thing (which others have commented on) is the gold plating. It has rubbed completely off of the bottom of the neck pickup, and some on the tuners (I'll get to that). But that doesn't bother me at all, gives it some character after all it's the sound and tone that matter. As for the tuners, I play with heavy guage strings and bend them all over the neck (often off of the neck), and hardly ever have to re-tune. Maybe I got lucky after reading some other comments.
Have and will depend on it for many years

Would like to say one thing not relating to Customer service.
Don't buy Mail order. You go to your local guitar shops and play their guitars and talk to their salesman (&waste their time), pay the extra money and buy it there. Plus you get to play the ONE you are going to buy, and most places set it up to your preferences. Support your local stores and give the finger to the mail orders cause when you need help those places won't do crap for you. As for the guys who bought theirs through mail order, I'm glad they aren't happy. Don't complain when all the GOOD (& Helpful) guitar stores close down!!!
I'm sure that'll bring some good emails

Been playing for 4 yrs, and to be honest no one believes it. I own a epiphone emperor,sheriton II, tele, roland bluescube, alvarez acoustic. I bought it because I loved my Emperor, and wanting something a little smaller and less delicate. Would definately buy another one if it were stolen, I love everything about it, and for the money it can't be beat.

1996, Korean-made, 22-fret, laminated top semi-hollow body, 2 vol, 2 tones, one (cheesy feeling) three way switch, two humbucking pickups (I suspect these have been replaced with Gibsons). Maple neck with triple-bound rosewood fretboard and big mother-of-pearl inlays. The body is the ES-335 style, of course. It has a tune-o-matic bridge with a stop tailpiece, which when combined with the solid center block means you have nice sustain. The neck is a 24.75 scale, very well finished and fretted, with rather mushy, unreliable-feeling tuners. All hardware was gold tone; I say "was" because most of the "gold" has corroded off, which is very common with Epiphones with "gold" hardware. They should just stop trying to do this and put chrome hardware on the things; they aren't fooling anyone. Since this was bought used, it came with no accessories. Despite the fact that the "gold" has corroded off the guitar, and the inferior pickup switch and machine heads, otherwise this guitar shows some really nice workmanship and is very solid. The finish is solid black and I can't find any obvious flaws in it. A solid 7, with points removed for the tuners and the switch.

I have no particular style, just a mishmash of everything I like, and the guitar fits my style when I am in a blues/jazz mood. I use it with my little old Ampeg Jet II and whatever effects I'm in the mood for (usually a Boss compressor and Rat pedal). This is a very quiet guitar with a very full, loud sound (especially when compared to my other guitars, which are a Rickenbacker and a couple of Fenders). This guitar is capable of a pretty wide range of sounds, although one would not want to try to play heavy metal or punk with it. It has a very dark, wide tonal range with good cut in the treble position. The middle position sounds very good, unlike a lot of humbucker equipped guitars, and the neck pickup is very nice; with a bit of distortion you can easily get a Cream-era Clapton sound, or without distortion, venture into B.B. King territory. A really good blues/jazz sound at a very fair price. The neck is very easy to play and required minimal adjustment after I got it back to the house and put light top/heavy bottom strings on it. Overall a very responsive guitar with a good sound that I appreciate more as I play it more.

This guitar was used, so comments on the setup, pickup adjustments are inappropriate. I do all the setup on my own guitars anyway. For the record the action was decent when I got the guitar and I have not had to adjust the pickup height. Everything about the action is nice, as is the finish, which I can't find anything wrong with. It's black, which makes the inlay on the headstock (quite nice!) and the neck stand out. A very classy looking guitar. My problems with the guitar, as I mentioned earlier, are with the pickup switch, which feels very cheesy but seems to work OK, and the tuners, which feel a bit too loose for my tastes. A set of Grovers should remedy that problem. And of course I already mentioned that the phony "gold" plating is mostly gone. Epiphone really should consider either dropping the whole idea of phony gold plating or else switch to better quality plating. Their gold plating never lasts, and I've seen a lot of Epiphones. Again, everything else is really nice except for the damn tuners and the crappy "gold" plating, which is what gives it a solid 7 instead of the 9 it would have gotten otherwise.

This guitar would certainly stand live playing and I would play it without a backup, if that became necessary. The finish on the body seems well done, if a bit thick. The hardware, once the miserable "gold" plating has worn off, is solid. I won't really comment on the strap buttons because my standard policy is to replace all the strap buttons with locking ones on all my guitars. This is a dependable guitar and will be even more dependable once I extract the stock tuners and replace them with Grovers. A couple of points off for the bogus "gold" hardware, but otherwise a good solid 8.

I have never dealt with Epiphone or any other guitar company. I do most of my own repairs and modifications, and I intend to replace the tuners and maybe the three way switch. Since I bought this critter used, there is no warranty, of course. If you buy a new Epiphone, they claim that you have a lifetime warranty.

I've been playing for an embarrassing amount of time and I own a lot of stuff. If this guitar was stolen, I would certainly get another one, because this fills a very big hole in my collection. It gets some very cool Gibson sounds without the brutal weight of a Les Paul, and it has a lot of character and a very good, rich tone. I compared it to a Washburn 335 copy and a Vantage ES-175 copy, as I was in the market for a semihollow-body guitar and didn't want to break my bank account. In comparison to the Washburn and the Vantage, I felt that the Sheraton II was clearly the superior guitar, as it has the feel and sound of a much more expensive guitar.