Epiphone WildKat

Hollow body thin line.One master volume,one volume for each pick up,one master tone.Turquose(color),two p-90's,with crome covers.Single cut away.with Bigsby tremlo.Tuners seem pretty good.I've only had the guitar a week.Paid $610 with case from Musician's Friend.Paint and finish look real good.Neck was straight with enough adjustment in truss rod to handle the heavier strings i'm going to put on.10-52.(P.S.)This guitar is just like my Gretsch 6120 JR,except for the P-90's.

I play blues,swing,rock,and rockabilliy.I've been playing for 39 years and i know my stuff.I'm a tube amp user only.The only problem i have is the pick ups is There microphonic,which is what i expected.I already have a set of Lindy Fralin pick ups being built.

Acition was l little low for me,but i'm having the whole guitar set from top to bottom.

I'm sure the guitar will be able to handle a live gig,or else i wouldn't have bought it.

None

I've been playing 39 years.I own 15 other guitars.If it were stolen i would think about buying another.Don't like all the volume controls.I'm eliminating the two vol. and keeping the master vol.& tone.To many knobs for live gigs.I use Peavey Classic 50 watt amps which i think are under rated and sound great.$1500 for a 40 year old amp that you have to modify(Fender),and breaks down a lot,you're all nuts.The tone is in your fingers.

Two P-90 pickups on a thinline hollow body. Korean-made, I believe. 22 frets. Master volume control, two individual pickup volume controls, one tone control. Bigsby-style tremolo arm. Good quality tuners. Finish is a transparent black (which makes it a really attractive guitar to these eyes, and I'm not even a huge fan of the damn color). Gig bag was included with the purchase.

I've been playing guitar for over 10 years now, most of that time spent with a mexican-built Fender Telecaster and a rather poorly-constructed Epiphone SG copy. Coming from that background, the sonic abilities of this guitar are UNREAL. It's got just enough delicacy to handle some of the more enigmatic and quiet passages I play, but can absolutely screech when necessary.

Rhythm setting is like a punch in the gut, particularly through my Fender Deluxe. I tend to do most of my playing on either this setting or the middle setting, as the Treble-only setting seems slightly thin at times. It's not BAD, just not as good for my purposes as the other two.

For its price, this guitar really sounds more expensive. You can get some wonderful mock-harmonics in the middle of the fretboard, and the thing growls whenever you nail an open string while its cranked up.

Finally, the tone is very true, and can hold tremolo very well. The only real problem I've encountered is that the guitar doesn't always stand up to repeated bashing out of chords (which I tend to put it through on numerous occasionans) without falling somewhat out of tune, particularly on the high E string.

Guitar played very well off the rack, though I ended up having it re-set up by the place I purchased it (it was being shipped a pretty long distance). Haven't run into any problems in this area.

Strap buttons are solid, and the guitar seems like it would withstand the normal wear and tear. I've owned it for a year and it's gone through two moves and a couple of too-close encounters with a ceiling, but it's exhibited no problems.

Never had any problems, hence no need for support.

If it were stolen or lost, I would immediately undergo severe symptoms of depression. ABSOLUTELY I'd replace it, as quickly as possible.

I know there are better guitars on the market in terms of construction and sound, but for my purposes, with the type of music I like to play, I haven't really found anything that this guitar doesn't do or can't do well. The only issue I have with it is my concern over the knobs...as other reviewers have pointed out, they seem kinda cheap and rickety. But those can always be replaced, so it's not a big issue.

Let's put it this way...I had no intention whatsoever of buying a new electric guitar before I saw this one. I was on vacation, happened to wander into a music store and pick it up, and immediately was taken with it. Highly recommended.

2002 Model with Epiphone tremolo; 2 Gibson P-90's; Beautiful Flamed Maple (laminated) top.

This guitar is inspirational. My son picked it up at Sam Ash while I was looking at something else and it turned my head. I played it, and we bought it immediately. This is the first guitar I have ever (in 35 years of playing) bought off the in-store display. Most have been specially ordered or taken from the back room. Sound is fantastic. Have used it for recording; country/rock; and even slide guitar. It is nasty!!! There is nothing not to like about this guitar. The P-90 single coil pickups have a real bite.

The action was (and is) a bit high from the factory. It seems to have 11 guage - and I intended to change them to 10's - BUT - I have gotten used to the feel and action. Neck is very fast and frets are well set and even. There are absolutely NO FLAWS on this guitar. I bought a Gibson ES-175 recently and there was a finish crack; splinters in the "F" holes; a rattle in the bridge... THIS EPIPHONE lists at 1/5th of the price of the Gibson and is PERFECT! Not a mark, flaw ...

The tuners are Grovers (great); Hardware is first class; Finish is an eye-catching antique yellow.

I have had none of the switch/jack/control flaws others have mentioned elsewhere on this site. I would gig with it without hesitation. I do always have other guitars with me, so if there was ever a problem, I could switch. I have always done that in live situations. Guitars were meant to be trees! Deal with it!

Haven't had to deal with Epiphone. Limited Lifetime Warranty (on a $400 instrument??!!! - FENDER IS ONLY ONE YEAR!)

I've been playing for over 35 years. Lots of guitars, amps, etc. If this guitar was stolen I would hunt the thief down like a dog. It would definitely be immediately replaced. Originally I got the guitar for my son and me to share - but he later wanted a "real" Gibson, so I got to keep the Wildkat!! Actually, I was very protective of it when he took it to school, etc. It is really a one of a kind instrument!

The sound of this guitar is unique. It should just be one more guitar in a player's arsenal. It isn't good for everything - but neither is a Strat! I've used both Solid State and Tube amps with the Wildkat. Pick your poison.

I do wish that the instrument came with a case. The hardshell case which fits this model had to be ordered from Musician's Friend (approx. $60). It is very nice. All the stores I went to acted like I was asking for something so unusual when I tried to purchase a case as Sam Ash didn't stock them in their store. Advise - If ordering or purchasing - Buy the case at the same time. This guitar should be protected and finding a case in the future for this unique size instrument with tremolo could be difficult. Epiphone makes a case that fits the WildKat/FlameKat. Get it.

2003, Korean made, 22 fret, plywood top w/ flame maple veneer, volume for each pickup, master tone and master volume, two single coils (Epiphone Alnico 5 P-90s), passive, low grade mahogany body with ribbon mahogany veneer on the back, maple neck, clear gloss polyurethane finish, thinline body style, tune-o-matic w/ Epiphone Bigsby, Grover tuners, 24 3/4" scale, jumbo frets, ebonized rosewood fingerboard, thin, fast neck, comes with short junky cable, case is $70.

This is Epiphone?s version of a Thinline style guitar. It is not a true semi-acoustic with bent sides: It?s a solid body that has been routed out about ?? from the edges except for a solid area from under the bridge rearward and the areas under the master volume and pickup switch. Both pickups are floating over air, though, not set into solid wood.

No case (like all Epiphones except the Elitists and John Lennon/John Lee Hooker models), no pickguard, and master tone control instead of one for each pickup, so it gets a 7, which is still good. But it does come with Grover tuners and a very useful and uncommon master volume control (some old Gretsches had it), so that brings the score up two notches...pretty danged good for a Samick-built guitar.

Great tone for an Epiphone! Very versatile. A cross between an SG Junior and an ES-330 or Casino. Epiphone P-90s are definitely better than Epiphone humbuckers. The master volume is very useful; All the way up and you get a mild overdrive, or you can turn it down and get a very clean and jazzy tone. 7 or 8 is the sweet spot ? You get a blues tone that slightly breaks up when you really nail the strings. You can back off each pickup?s volume to get a little more brightness, or put them all the way up to darken the tone. The tone knob doesn?t do a whole lot?I would change the tone capacitor or completely replace the pot.

This guitar has a great neck that is good for bending and left hand vibrato (a la Mr. Soul by the Buffalo Springfield), and is a natural when it comes to chunky rhythm. The fretboard is ebonized rosewood. I would prefer the frets to be lower and more flat, but hey, that?s just my preference. The neck shape and fret width used by Epiphone is much more to my liking than the new Gibsons, however. It comes with 9s, like 99% of new guitars, but I think it would play even better with anything up to 13s. I have a custom set of .011" to .054" Gibson strings on mine, although all my other guitars have Ernie Ball skinny top/heavy bottom except my Strat, which has .015" to .062". I think I like the Gibson strings better, actually, so I might start using them on my other guitars as well. It is still great for lead, even with these relatively heavy strings. Switching to heavier strings really brings out a much better tone from the woods and pickups, and makes the guitar noticably louder and more stable as far as tuning goes.

Epiphone?s quality control is inconsistent. With Epiphone, one guitar can be a hot rod off the line with no visual defects, and the next will be unplayable with messed up binding or finish imperfections. They are not usually horrible, however. I got a great one with only one slight flaw: A little bit of the mahogany stain bled onto the maple top by the neck joint. It took me a day of ownership to even notice it. It was also set up just fine in stock form. I was able to lower the action a lot thanks to the heavier strings. It's still an Epiphone, but it's a killer Epiphone the way I have it set up right now.

The vibrato arm looks really cool, but isn?t extremely useful for the stuff I play. Unfortunately the only way you can get this body style with P-90s is with a vibrato arm. One thing I?m upset about is that the picture on Music 123's website, and on the Epiphone website shows ?Bigsby? on the vibrato, but the vibrato on the actual guitar says ?Epiphone.? I don?t know if it?s specially made by Bigsby for Epiphone, or if it?s an Epiphone copy of a Bigsby. Whatever it is, they should sell exactly what the picture shows.

The finish is very nice for an Epiphone. The ribbon mahogany veneer on the back is a little cheesy because it doesn't match the sides and is very obvious, but you?re the only person who sees the back. Also I could do without the yellow tinted polyurethane on the natural finish model. I prefer a pure clear finish on a natural finish guitar. I?m splitting hairs here?this guitar looks AMAZING! It gets tons of compliments and lots of looks.

I would not gig with a Korean Epiphone without a backup unless I had replaced every single electronic component, except maybe the pickups, but especially the pickup selector switch.

The bridge and nut look really bad...I don't think they will be around in ten years of moderate use. Same for all Epiphones except the Elitists (of which I own 3). The tone knobs don't even look smooth.

This guitar is definitely cheap for a reason...but don't get me wrong: This is a very useful guitar, even to a professional. If you are debating this versus other Korean Epiphones, BUY THIS GUITAR. You can?t go wrong, especially for the price. It is the best of the new Korean Epiphones, along with the 335-style Dot. This is an amazing value! (Additionally, I got mine without the factory seal, so it was an even better value!) Wow! Great, great, great guitar! It?s not a Gibson, but you definitely get at least twice what you pay for, and get a faster neck and better frets than a new Gibson.

No experience with them. 1 year warranty on defective materials, void if modified in any way.

Have been playing guitar about two years, bass for ten years. I own too many instruments...and am too lazy to list them all right now. See my review on my Epiphone Elitist '61 SG if you really want to know.

The final words: Quality is very good. Very impressive for a brand which I long regarded as junk. Incredible bang for the buck. EXTREMELY versatile as far as tone and style. The only guitar that I would need in addition to this on a gig (to fill in a gap that the Wildkat cannot cover) would be a humbucker equipped Les Paul. I wish they made the Wildkat guitar as part of the Elitist line! Drool, drool?.

2002 from Korea with the Antique Natural finish.
Mahogany body with a real nice flame maple top. One tone, two volune and one master volume. P90s and a Bigsby type (same thing but with an "E" on it) tremelo.

I play classic rock & roll and a little rockabilly. I use Tube amps the guitar does not have any noise. P90 sound going on but they screeeech if to close to the amp. I cant get real good feedback from these pups. Good rock tone...I would not recommend this for metal.

Set up "OK" came with 11s I think. I put 10s on it and adjusted the neck and did a light fret job on it. Has lower action now, easier to do bends and plays great. I will say this a few times: This was put together very well! Just replace the pickup switch and jack with a quality one. Thats why I gave a 9.

Have played a number of gigs with it. Right off the bat the pickup switch went. Replaced with a Switchcraft and did the input jack as well. Hardware has no problems and the finish is amazingly nice. No space between bindings in the F-holes or anything and the flame on the top is real nice. Put together very well. Without a backup? Well I only use it for tunes it fits best.

Never had to deal with this

Been playing forever and have Les Pauls, SG & a Strat.
Good bang for the buck. Replace the pickup switch!
It is really fun to play and you will get a traditional sound out of it. Its a looker too! It aint a Gretsch but has that taste to it.

New 2003, Antique Natural finish
Mahogany body and head stock, maple neck, and laminated flame maple top. One tone, two volune and one master volume. Cream color laminated body and neck.
Gibson designed p90's with alnico V
construction is great, action is fast no buzzing. Bigsby is real not the Epiphone branded one, tuners are grover another surpise.

I have tried this guitar with many amps already. Works well with both Tube and solid state amps. Stays in tune. Sound is classic p90. No need to buy other pick ups. Good for blues, hard rock, 50's and 60's rock and country, can even play Jazz really well. Most versatile guitar I have ever had.

It was set up very fast and low with 11 size strings. no buzzing and great action. The workmanship is great. The woods used are of lesser quality, but what do you want for 600 dollars. The finish is less then perfect but acceptable and good. I changed the bridge with Graftech string savers, and also a graftech nut. Need to if you want to use the bigsby for expression. Also changed the pots and switch to gibson parts. The tuners are really good Grover parts. And applied lemon oil on rosewood fret board. This guitar is really nice now, and is great feeling not too big like a jazz box, and just a little bigger then a Les Paul.

It's built solid, once you change pots and switch it's as good as a gibson. It's not light about same weight as gibson les paul smart wood.

Never had to deal with them.

I have been playing for many years. I have a strat, a couple of les pauls one from Gibson and one epi 50th anniversay custom. I also have a few Yamaha classical guitars and a jumbo steel string martin. I play everything from Flamenco to hard rock and love the blues. The wildcat is just a great guitar to play. Great action, great sound, and nice looks. I played it for 5 hours straight after picking it up. DO a few upgrades and its nice to play. It's a good deal.

Pretty much the same model everyone else has, mine is the gorgeous antique natural finish. My bio teacher (who is also a blues superstar) called it "a sweet ride" when i brought it to school. P-90s, 3 volume/1 tone, imitation Bigsby, set neck, etc etc.

I play it through a Fender Ultimate Stereo Chorus, although I tried it with the 15-watt Fender Frontman I use at school and it held its own against my friend's Marshall combo. I mostly use the neck pickup with the tone rolled down to about 7, it's got a nice smokey bluesy sound clean. The treble pickup sounds ok but since the neck pickup sounds so great I hardly ever use it.
I use a Big Muff Pi for distortion (3 bucks at a yard sale, it's very old-school) and although the pedal has a fairly rich tone with other guitars, it really shines on this one. The only problem is that it feeds back ridiculously. I have to turn down low to prevent this. The master volume makes this easier but it really does affect the sound negatively. As much as I love the sound, I have to give it an 8 because not being able to turn up can be a big hinderance.

It came with really heavy strings (11s i think), and I replaced them with acoustic strings (a weird quirk of mine, but it gives me a unique sound). But even with the electric strings, there was some bad buzzing. The G string rattles all over, and the D and B strings buzz at the 7th fret, so playing a barred D chord is harsh. It's not audible if you're just listening to the amp or a recording, but it bugs me a lot. However, it's such a great guitar I can't bear to part with it while I get it fixed.
I see the same problems with the messed-up f-holes, but the pickup selector and frets and all the other aforementioned things were fine. I don't use the Bigsby for more than a little bit of wobbliness but on the few occasions when I've dive-bombed chords down a whole step it sprung right back in tune.

I haven't brought it to a gig yet (but I have a few booked in the upcoming month) and I trust it. I'm doing these gigs sans backup, but they're with friends' bands and I could always borrow one of their guitar if I have a problem (which I've done before for basses).
The only problem I've had is with the strap. I'm not sure if it's the strap or the buttons, because it's the same strap I used on my SG and it kept slipping off on that too. I'm probably going to upgrade the buttons because I don't want to take any risks with this guitar.
Everything else seems pretty durable, although after reading some of these reviews I'm considering upgrading some of the stuff as a precaution.

Haven't had to deal with Epiphone after 2 years of ownership (first an SG and now the Wildkat). I got the SG from Daddy's Junky Music and they fixed a few problems with my SG for free because their warranty covered it.

I've been playing for 3 years (I'm 16 now). I started out on a second-hand Washburn, upgraded to a $250 Epiphone SG, and just got the Wildkat about a month ago. I've gone from an hour a day to 2-3, because it's so great to play. I've also expanded to playing more blues and slide since getting it (it's just such a perfect guitar for it).
When I didn't have enough money for either, I was debating between a Casino and this guitar. However, after getting a job and saving up 600 bucks, I went back to Guitar Center only to find that the Casino had been bought. I don't regret getting this one instead, although I'll always wonder what would've been (I went back there after the purchase to get some cables and saw another Casino, dammit). Advantages over the Casino: cheaper, nicer finish, and a (fake) Bigsby.
If it was stolen, I'd be very sad, and then I'd have to do the whole Wildkat/Casino debate all over again. Not sure which one I'd pick this time, but I'll knock on wood that I don't have to decide again.
I wish it had come set up better but otherwise, for the price, what a value. Great sound, and great-looking too. My other guitarist is now looking into getting a Les Paul so that my Wildkat doesn't outshine his DeArmond SG onstage. It's a great second or third guitar, and it should last me for a very long time.

Standard Wild Kat probably a 2000 made in Korea. Bigsby removed before I bought it. If it hadn't been, I would have removed it myself.

Semi-hollow, 2 P-90's and sounds exactly like it should. That great in-between humbucker and single coil sound.

Here's where we seperate the old from the new. They did an awful job of fretting this instrument. What makes it worse, is that they knew it and shipped it anyway. You can see the glue dollops on the sides of the fingerboard by the binding where they probably tried to hammer down the mislayed frets. I took it to have the edges taken down but even so, I still get the high E string caught under the edge of the 3, 4, and 5 fret. If this were a bolt on I'd get a new neck. The knobs were cheap and I've replaced them.

It should outlast my left hand which is being torn to shreds by the uplifted fret edges.

Don't know them

I've been playing pro or semi-pro for 38 years and have all the stuff that goes with that. If the seller had informed me about the bad fret job on this guitar I would not have purchased it. Financially I would have been better off going to the guitar center and paying full price for one that was made properly. If this thing didn't sound so damn good I'd toss it in the trash.

I purchased it in early 2002, sor it may well have been made in 2001.
22 frets, lamminated maple top with nice figuring and yellow staining.
Master Vol., master tone, separate vol. for each pickup, very useful, when you have found a sweet mix and just want it louder or lower.
2 P90s with Alnico V magnets. Body is three pieces of mahogany, hollowed out with a laminated maple top. Neck is despite of company specifications mahogany, too with what looks like an ebony fretboard.
Gotoh tuners work well, bridge tune-o-matic style with BIG posts, Bisgsby style vibrato tailpiece, works well if you don't do any dive-bombing. Finish and evrything else very good in this pricerange.

I'm playing Blues and I bought this as a slide guitar and it turned out much better than I expected: very very good sustaining qualities, vintage sound, P 90s are my favourite pickups for slide anyway.
One problem: pickups sqeal at medium to higher volumes, will have to have them repotted.Other than that they are very quiet.Can go from a dark, jazzy sound to a fat bite without being harsh or piercing your ears. I play it through a Fender custom vibrolux reverb live and in the studio and also through a Fender Pro Junior for recording. Sometimes use a Klon Centaur Overdrive in low volume situations to get a little more distortion.

I was pretty amazed to find the guitar factory set up with big strings (.012 - .054, I guess), which was excellent for me, because I just had to retune to open D and could go sliding. Pickups can't be adjusted, so you will have to make up with the polepiece srews.
Pickup selector seems to pass out in the neck pickup position sometimes, but replacement will be a breeze. I can't say anything about action etc. because I use it for slide exclusively. No other flaws that I know of. ( No wobbly knobs on mine)

This seems to be one solid guitar, have been playing it live and in recording situations so far. strap buttons are very solid so I didn't substitute them for security locks. i don't use a backup on gigs.

Haven't dealt with the company

I have been playing for some 30 years now. I do have a lot of other guitars, electric and acoustic, mostly Gibsons and Fenders. I have been using Gibsons with P 90s for slide since the late 70s. This one compares favorably with the Gibsons (Les Paul Pro, 63 SG special and ES 135 with P90s). Comfortable size, sounds like a vintage guitar, very good sustaining qualities for slide-playing.
I would definitely try to get another one, if this would get away from me.

Regarding the review below from 10/01 from Andreas. I replaced the nut and string saddles with GraphTech ones (made from Teflon) and they have helped considerably. I also replaced the tuners with Sperzel locking tuners for further tuning stability and have seen an improvement as well. This is a great guitar that shouldn't disappointment once you've made some minor upgrades such as these.