Epiphone Sheraton

Epiphone Sheraton (not Sheraton II). Made in Korea in 1999, glossy black finish , semi-hollow body, gold hardware, two humbuckers, two separate volume controls for each hb; two separate tone controls for each hb ? basically Epi?s take on the Gibson ES 335.

Points galore for the overall looks of the guitar! It is indeed quite a head-turner. Instantly improves your looks as a guitarist. However points off for the cheap components. This, if you read the other reviews, is where the guitar falls down. Cheapo hardware, pickups, tuners, electronics.

Fortunately for me, I lucked out and scored one that sounds great (see below).

The ?new? Epiphone Sheratons seem to be some of the most underappreciated guitars on the planet. Sure, they look as pretty as a prom queen. But most people think you?d have a better sound putting some pups on a plank of plywood. Such was my expectation when I scored mine as a bonus in a trade. I thought, ?Doubt I?ll get much use out of this girl ? put she?ll look nice sitting out.? Sort of like a trophy wife. Har!

Anyway, I was surprisingly when I put her through her paces. Couldn't believe how much vibration she gave me just strumming an open A. Kept saying things like, "Hmmm. Not bad... let me try at low volumes... not bad there either... she must buzz like a bee bitch at higher threats on the six string, right? Nope.... sounds good there too... Well, she's gotta sound bad in a band situation right...? No, she held up just fine..." It was like I was trying to find where this guitar sounds bad! Based on reviews here and elsewhere! Sheesh.

So after I decided to let my own ears be the judge and not Internet reviews, I was amazed on how much she cut through using the brdge pup. Bright, but not too harsh. And not twangy either ? different from a Tele -- sort of like an old Gretch? very vintage garage rock sounding.

The neck pup is fat, fat, fat ? sort of like a rural gal?s bottom after visiting the ice cream buffet at Ponderosa. Very good for gutsy blues tones. I'm not a jazzer, but could see how my guitar would do well in that sort of an application.

By rhe way, my main amp now is a 1964 Bassman, and I have a boatload of high-end effects from Prescription Electronics, Menatone, Keeley, Electro-Harmonix and of course, Boss. Everyone says their's is microphonic... I can get feedback at stage volumes just by turning toward my amp -- but it is quite controllable and enjoyable.

So, to sum up, mine sounds really good stock. I am not lying. I?ve done blind taste tests with very discerning tone tasters as well as those who aren?t (i.e., my wife) and this thing wins hands down every time. Beats my 70s SG Standard, my MIJ Strat, and my prized Les Paul Classic. Hard to believe maybe, but true. So, it?s my first-stringer. I?ve thought of upgrading the pups to Duncans, the tuners, the nut, etc., etc. -- as of others have recommended, but I?m too scared to mess with the miraculous luck I must have with this guitar. It's quite nice AS IS.

Action was not good from the factory ? needed a pro setup to stay in tune. But after that, a very nice player. Finish on gold hardware wears think quickly? especially on the pups, but it adds character and vibe. Overall body finish is quite nice -- again, I must have lucked out.

Just fine. No worries.

Haven't needed any.

Again, others have ripped this particular guitar to shreds. But my experience has been most favorable. I'm glad to give it a good review. I've been playing daily for nearly 20 years, so I think I'm qualified. Is thing the ticket for a poor man?s 335? Maybe. I?m very happy with mine. Very striking in looks and sounds. But your mileage may vary ? so be cautious. There are a lot of hollowbody and semi options out there. I think with Epis in general, quality varies widely. So, play, play, play. Do not trust Internet reviews blindly.

Natural finish, else samo samo. Except have replaced tuners with Grovers, jerked pickguard and junked stock pick ups in favor of a 498R and 57 Classic in neck and bridge, respectively. Rating jumps from 6 to 8 with alterations.

Before pick up change, sound was miserable when amplified. Pickups were microphonic and fed back. With Gibson pu's the whole tonal situation dramatically changes. 4 goes to 9.

well set up and easy to play in a big-boy 335 kind of way

pretty solid in feel and having been inside the thing it looks reasonably well constructed. however, it would be advisable to change all hardware for more durable stuff

w/ upgrades this is a really nice instrument. plays fine and sounds great. well worth the cost, particularly if comparison shopping against 335s etc. I have been playing for 35+ years and have a bunch of instruments. This one is a real contender with the upgrades. Highly recommended for someone willing to invest a little more than just the price of the instrument

1980 Japanese, blonde, rosewood neck. No Bigsby, stock tuners. All the technical stuff is the same as above. Had the stock pickups which appeared to be the weak link...

The guitar appears to have been played twice in 1980 and put in its case in a cool dry closet for 22 years then pulled out a couple of weeks ago. It is basically brand new. Fit and finish is perfect and better than most of my American guitars.

We play everything from Green Day to Steve Earle to Neil Young. I primarily use it with a 99 Fender Prosonic or a 65 Fender Bassman. It was noisy and muddy so I swapped out the stock pickups for a pair of Seymour Duncan Seth Lovers. Now it sounds awesome. I have never had a guitar like this so I cant compare it to others, but it sounds wonderful on the clean channel and downright nasty with some distortion...very very flexible!

It came to me set up just right. I traded it and the guy I got it from must have never played it. The wood is beautiful and the finish perfect. The binding hasn't even yellowed yet. I really like the inlays on the neck and headstock...very fancy!

There appear to be no flaws in the fit and finish department.

This guitar seems rugged and tight... Finish is perfect. I would and will gig this guitar but I will always have a backup...whats the point of having five guitars if you cant play em all?

Im pretty sure its about 20 years out of warranty...havent needed the folks at Epiphone but I am sure they are nice.

I have played off and on for 30 years, probably 6 years altogether. I have 76 Les Paul Custom, 84 American Telecaster, 72 Telecaster Thinline, 96 American Precision Bass, and the Sheraton.... 99 Prosonic, 65 Bassman, 98 Blues Junior, 01 Bassman 60, and an 00 Frontman 15.... If I lost it I would look for another one, and would probably go out of my way to find a Japanese one as they seem to be most highly regarded. I would swap the pickups before I even played it this time. Having always played solid bodies this guitar seems cool just because it is different. Great sustain, awesome tone and is wicked on lead, which suprised me. If you can find one get it!

335 style semi-solid guitar with 2 humbuckers, rosewood fretboard, tailpiece and t.o.m.-style bridge. gold hardware. MOP blocks and snazzy MOP vine inlay on headstock. decent HSC.as far as features go, i was pretty satisfied with what i thought i was gett

i bought this guitar for blues and jazz (clean tube sounds and a little crunch) to be used on my fender tube amp. A "poor man's ES-335", this guitar fails miserably to live up to any expectation you may have just because it is styled after a Gibson.
The stock pickups were awful. i threw 'em away and dropped in a Duncan JB in the bridge and a Duncan Jazz on the neck. this helped a bit. the construction of this guitar with regard to the glue on neck and solid wood "block" glued inside looks pretty shoddy upon closer inspection. The cheapie tune-o-matic type bridge has never worked well for me as it rattles constantly and it was machined wrong from the start, causing general adjustment problems. i couldnt get a real tune-o-matic to fit since the post spacing is not standard.
all the gold finishes promptly wore off after about a year. the tuners are very low end, i put on some grovers after i finally got disgusted with their performance. the cheap plastic nut was laughable.

of my 8 guitars, this is my least favorite. the fretboard is very uneven and has some dead spots as well as some serious intonation challenges. the cheap plastic nut was unacceptable so i cut my own bone nut, increasing the string spacing a little. i am still wrestling with cutting the saddles to get the bridge radius to work with the neck considering the unevenness of the fretboard.
this guitar is painted white. the finish is ok, but with opaque finishes, i am always scared of whats underneath...

i dont use this guitar much anymore and will probably try to sell it (unless the buyer reads this review...) I have gigged with the instrument and it worked out pretty well.

just after purchasing the instrument, some frets were buzzing and i took it back to the store. they said there was nothing wrong with it and talked me out of shipping it back to epiphone for warranty work.

to anyone considering buying this type of guitar - BEWARE! its a poorly made instrument that sounds pretty mediocre. and for $800, well, the joke was on me!

I bought this guitar 2nd hand so i don't know what year or where it was made. Its got a nice finish and a really nice neck that was a bit different from what i was used to using. The Pickups are the standard Epiphone Pickups they sound good for factory pickups. This is my first semi that i've played and so far I love it. It looks great.

I play a lot of Oasis and other rock music and some metal. It suits them all well and the pickups are good for distortion. I like the middle selection pick up the best i find the neck pickup a bit noisey. At the moment I am playing it through a Marshall 30 watt amp and a small Orange amp and using my Korg multi fx pedal and produces what I am looking for.

The only bad thing about the finish is the Gold has come off the pickups but they look pretty cool Silver. It was well set-up probably cause i bought it from 2nd hand.

I am sure this guitar will withstand live playing. Its got a good range but i'd have my Explorer as back-up. The strap button came loose but I tightened it with a screwdriver and seems to be fine now. At the moment this is my no.1 guitar. Unlike some of the other guitars i've owned like a Fender Jaguar I feel i will keep this one.

Never had to deal with Epiphone. Don't think i'll never have to.

I've been playing for about 3 years now. I've owned a Fender Jaguar before this and didn't get on with it at all. I also have a Epiphone Explorer and just really like Epiphone guitars. If i lost this guitar i would be very sad I love it and i keep playing it all the time i can't put it down. Its a great guitar for the price I paid.

secondhand Epiphone Sheraton II, tobacco sunburst, gold hardware, rosewood fingerboard, laminated maple body and seymour duncan pickups (JB and SH2 model) installed by previous owner. also hard case.

I've been playing alternative/jazz/experimental rock for 10 years.
I don't know about the original pickups, but the duncans are great. Specially the SH2 in the neck position, sounds great for clean warm jazzy sounds.
I play it through various pedals (Dunlop wah, Rat distortion, Boss compressor and delay) and a Laney VC50 tube amp and it has this sweet warm clean sound, and with distortion sounds like a Les paul.
I love the neck, very comfortable. Lots of sustain.
ok, it's not an ES335, but the sound for the price is incredible.
Much better than the Dot model!

The action was already well adjusted, but I might change it a little higher for slide playing.
I've read that a lot of people have problems with the tuners but mine keep always in tune. As I said before, the neck is very comfortable, small frets, and didn't have any problems with the bridge adjustments.
The fiinish is lovely!!

It definitely withstands live playing, but believe me, it's too heavy!!
I might change just the strap buttons, they freak me a little bit.
I can depend 100% on this Sheraton, but it's allways worth a backup.

Never dealt with them!

I've been playing for 10 years, and have owned a 62 telecaster, a Fender jazzmaster, a Gibson The Paul from the 70's and a Fender 60s Strat reissue, and believe me, this one beats them all, it has the sound I've been looking for, it's a well built guitar, and really worth for the price, I used to be very skeptical about Epiphone before but I love this guitar, I would never sell it!!

As far as features go, this guitar is allright. I bought it used, and was impressed by how much it played like a 335. Granted, it isn't a 335, but the neck, and body are similar, and it fit my hands a little more comfortably. I was not impressed with the factory pickups. Very hollow and lacking in brightness. I play a lot of Phish, so I wanted the brightness that Trey has in his pickups. I replace the epi pickups with duncans, 59's, and Man what a difference.

With the duncans, which are both coil-tapped with their respective tone knobs, this thing rocks. Has great sustaine, and you can really dig in to the fretboard.

Another problem I had was with the action. The guy who owned it before me was into action that hit the fretboard, and buzzed on every note. In my humble opinion, if you can't play with higher action, you need a few more lessons. If all you get is buzzing, then what's the point? I raised it up a little, not super-high, but enough, tweeked the neck, and it sounds great now.

This thing is built like an american guitar, which surprised me. the bracing is good, and the neck joint is very solie.

Never dealt with them

1995 Sheraton natural finish 2 humbucker 2 volume 2 tone 1 pickup switch 3 way. Archtop, Maple.

Sounds great, good tone, clean sound, jazz sound.
i particulary like the bridge pickup sound.

Good finish, good tuners and bridge, absolute sustain, i had to replace the pickup switch after 2 year. a 10$ repair that should not discourage you for buying this great guitar.
I also had a fret with some filing job needed, out of the box.
Other wise the guitar is good.

I dont think i would play live with this guitar since its really heavy, i mean, big bertha. when you sit its ok, i just wouldnt stand for 3 hours with that guitar without breaking my back...

na

Ive been playing that guitar for 4 years now without any major problem. Its a great guitar for the price and most of all, i really still enjoy playing it and thats the most important caracteristic of all, i really enjoy it!

Bought this one used off eBay. I think its either a 1994 or a 1995 Sheraton, ebony finish. The guitar was pretty dirty and the gold hardwares were corroding. So.....I did a complete overhaul. Installed Grover Tuners, Schaller Bridge and Tailpiece, new gold bracket, put in 2 push-pull pots so I can switch to a "Strat"-like sound when I want to, and installed DiMarzio PAF Pro on the nect, Seymour Duncan JBs on the bridge. The result: Sounds like a $2000 guitar, IMHO.

As stated above, the Korean made pickups and the corroding gold plating really was turn off. I didn't even played it until after I've installed the DiMarzio and Seymour Duncan.

With my Crate DX-212 Modeling Amp, man, I am having hours and hours of fun with it. And with the push-pull pot to switch from single to humbucking sound, this guitar really rocks.

The ebony finish still shines like brand new after all of these years. Since I've changed most of the guitar's original pieces, including putting in a Tusq nut, this is almost a totally different guitar.

This is my only guitar, and I've had it for a few months. Seems like the last owner didn't really took good care of it, but the thing just kept on going. The finish is still shiny. The fretboard is still very playable after removing a ton of grime from it.

Never dealt w/ customer support.

With an investment of about $300 and some time, I've managed to resurrect this guitar to a really sweet axe. I love how the new pickups I've installed performed, especially the DiMarzio($10 cheaper than the JBs). If this were ever stolen, I will definitely be very very unhappy, and may have to buy another one and re-do the steps I've done to restore it.