Silvertone SSLA30 Semi-Hollow Jazz Guitar

Pretty basic set-up- hardtail hollow-body with a couple humbuckers; but you knew that already..

I really like the sound, I try to play a little bit of everything, and this baby'll do it for me.

I did go and pry the cover off of the bridge p/u though, turned out really well; gives me that bright harsh tone for punk or grunge. however, if i slip back to the neck p/u and roll back the highs a bit, it gets nice and bluesy sounding. Or I can stick the switch straight up and turn everything to 11 for some serious rock power.

All in all, sounds as good as/better than a lot of the higher end Epiphone/low end Gibson.

Oh, that's played through either my Crate Gx-15 or my 10-watt Knox tube amp - no effects.

Well, I got it used, so I'm not sure what it was like from the factory.

That being said, the grain is pretty much not visible on mine, not just hard to see like some other people have said; kinda costs points with me because I love wood grain all over the place.

All the electronics are nice and smooth and quiet.

Now, even though I don't know what the action was like from the factory, I can tell you that if you spend a couple minutes with a truss rod wrench and adjust your bridge; this baby will have about the sweetest action you'll find this side of $1,500! Actually took it to a luthier and he told me it played better than the last few $1,000+ Gibsons he had worked on.

About the only flaw I've found is that I had to go in and re-solder a wire on one of the volume pots; no big deal for a guy like me, but could be expensive if you have to have it done for you.

I only play for myself, so I can't say anything for live playing.

Everything on this axe seems solid; except for the aforementioned loose wire, having to tighten the strap knobs every once in a while, and also tightening the output jack a few times. This is all stuff I'd expect from any guitar though, no matter how much you paid for it.

I wouldn't use it without a backup if I ever did a gig, but only because I love all my guitars equally and couldn't stand to have the others get jealous.

Never had a problem with any guitar I didn't fix myself.

I've been playing for about two years; this was my first "real" electric I bought. (I don't count the falling apart Teisco that I had for a bit; until it fell apart.) It sits in my room next to my other guitars; a 1979 Ovation Legend, a Tradition PRS copy, a rad '70's Japanese electric, and my Series 10 Rickenbacker copy.

I really love everything about this guitar, if it were stolen I would try to replace it as soon as possible.

The only things I didn't like about this guitar were the pick-guard, and the ever-so-slightly muted trebles. I fixed those by removing the pick-guard and bridge pickup cover, respectively.

All in all, it can't be beat for the price; I would recommend it to anyone looking for a fun guitar to play around with.

2005, semi-hollowbody, probably made in Korea. Two humbuckers, volume and tone for each. Transparent finish over wine red stain. Pretty standard setup.

I play everything from John Denver to Metallica. This guitar does a good job covering most styles of music, through a variety of effects. I've got a GNX4 guitar workstation working with several different amps. Unplugged the guitar is slightly louder than my Les Paul but nothing to write home about. The electronics are not noisy. Overall I am very pleased with the sound of this guitar. I was pleasantly surprised by the tone for this price range.

Action was surprisingly good out of the box. I needed to adjust intonation on two strings, but that was easy and not a problem. The finish is slightly below par and I'm taking away points for this. From a distance, the guitar looks nice, although it's a bit dark and hard to see the natural wood grain. Close up reveals several imperfections that other companies would probably not have let get through quality control. I would rate my guitar a "b" stock but it was sold as a regular. There are smudges under the clear finish, nicks, glue, etc all over the guitar (I'd say in at least 5 places). None of these, however, affect playability. It stays in tune relatively good, although I may consider replacing the tuners at some time in the future.

I don't play live and I take VERY good care of all my guitars. Everything feels very solid, and if I did play live, I would not hesitate to use this guitar.

Never dealt with silvertone.

I've been playing guitar for roughly 20 years, I've got a Les Paul Classic, Silvertone Strat, Kramer Focus, Yamaha 12 string acoustic, Yamaha 6 string acoustic, and of course my SSLA30. If this guitar were lost or stolen, I would buy it again. I wish it came in other colors, but bang for buck, it's a great guitar.

2003 import. u know the details, lets get to how it sounds.

sounds awesome. great bargain. i play in an alt rock band and it brings so much to the table. awesome full sound. definitely sounds like a guitar 5 times its value. only dislike is the placement of the toggle but thats me. i like them by the strap button.

came set up nice. great job silvertone. action was great, everything is solid. and im very particular with guitars.

this is to be determined when we play live quite a bit. i think it will be fine. course when u move around alot on stage u determine whether or not a guitar will last. i have had it almost two years and its been fine for practice..but i dont use this guitar exclusively.

dont know

id buy this if ur looking at a Dot or any other epiphone. sucks its only in one color but it really does look nice. great bargain..definitely worth at least 800 bucks.

Made in 2004, Indonesia...good finish...comfortable fast neck..tuners a little less than good quality

Praise & worship style. blues/jazz

set up was not bad...only needed a little bridge adjustment and a new set of strings...inotation was off on 2 strings and the adjustments fixed that

as close to a Gibson 335($2,000) and as good as an Ephiphone Dot 335($600) for a WHOLE lot less $$$$$ (made from Gibson which owns Epihone, Samack and Silvertone......same family ...identical guitar made overseas and with slightly different woods and electronics)

no contact with the Silvertone folks yet

product needs more color options (cherry is all you get)

you know what they are.

sounds good. pickups are nice. gives some feedback when in the bridge position, but thats a hollowbody for ya.

not that bad. im surprised the action was pretty decent..id give it a B because it was above average. there are small flaws in the top of the guitar, but they are not very noticable, unless you really look. they are like little identations and nicks, but like i said barely noticeable. the neck is not 100% smooth, it has a few small nicks and identations, but, this is really not worth fussing over the guitar was 199 bucks. the sound is good, the pickups are nice, the weight of the ax is nice. the balance of the guitar with a strap is nice.

not sure how reliable, b/c i just got it. we shall see, i have a feeling it will last pretty well and i am just nervous until i get a hardshell case for it.

dunno, probably not the best. guitar companies mass produce them in indonesia for about 10 bucks and resell them here for 199..lol. you know im right.

first hollowbody ive bought. ive played some. and this has a good sound nice neck and good look. the thing looks like a rock guitar. it sounds nice with distortion (like ted freaking nugent) and a spacy sound when clean with delay. i was looking at an ibanez artcore, but this was 100 bucks cheaper and i think honestly its just as good, cept for a few tiny nicks. personally i could care less about a couple dings for a hundred bucks. the artcore had a bad balance with a strap, which i thot was really lousy. this ax should last a while, and the sound and feel are just right. the thing sounds good with out an amp, which i think says alot.

-Just the facts-

The Body:
A thin semi-transparent red slim profile semi-hollow double cutaway body with double F-holes, an arched nato top with fully bound nato back and sides(Cream binding surrounds F holes and body).

The Neck:
22 fret Bolt-on slim profile mahogany, 24-3/4" scale with a 1-5/8 nut, slightly rounded indian rosewood fretboard with medium frets and pearloid dot inlay.

The Hardware:
Chrome for the stop bar tail piece, tune-o-matic bridge, pickup selector, pickup covers, and tuners. Semi-transparent, copper "volcano" style dials on the dual volume and tone controls. Black pickguard with chrome stand-off. Pickups are an H-H configuration with toggle switch located below the bridge.

Came with a bonus guitar cable of a reasonable length and a hex-key for truss rod adjustment.

The stock pickups do a good job. While they might not be incredible they are sensitive to playing style and have nice tone, in fact they brought out some nice character in my amp I wasn't aware of before. Unplugged, for any one curious, the sound is nothing to wow over and not very projected but nice. The fact the acoustics of the guitar don't project well does make sure that there is not a constant feedback problem, but you can easily get richly harmonic feedback if you try for it. Electronics are noise free, no scratching of the tone/volume pots or issues with the pickup selector.

For anyone interested I play classical, blues, bluegrass, rock, industrial, and metal. The sound works well in each, I was very impressed regarding the sound considering pickups of less quality can cost almost as much as this guitar in some cases.

Nice finish, but the grain of the wood isn't quite vibrant as expected unless you have great lighting. Rosewood fretboard will look better after a little time playing, a light haze on the fretboard gloss prior. Tuners are sold with a good accuracy in getting subtle movement. The hardware is just pretty(Chrome is classic).

The neck is very playable, works well for chords due to the slightly rounded fretboard but still comfortable for single note runs. Setup needed to be changed/intonation corrected and my preference for strings runs .049 .038 .028 .018 .014 .011, but that was expected. Even as a semi-hollow I was surprised by how light it was when picking it up, feels comfortable and solid however.

No complaints at all regarding workmanship(Indonesian assembly if you are wondering). Pickguard is fairly resistant to scratches, finish is reasonably durable, and the chrome plating doesn't scratch easily. Strap buttons seem secure and large enough to make movement no problem. Seems very solid and would trust it as gig equiptment, but I tell everyone NEVER GO OUT WITHOUT A BACKUP.

Haven't had a need to seek support luckily, but it comes with a life-time warrenty so I give it a 7.

I'm quite satisfied with the purchase and have blown many hours getting to know my new little beauty. You can't ignore the price/performance ratio.