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My Epiphone is...
Mahogany and Alder...
A Rosewood Fretboard...

After it's introduction by Epiphone over 15 years ago, the Epiphone G-310 SG is said to have out-performed the original Gibson SG of the 1960's... It quickly became the six-string of choice for many professional musicians...
I walked out of the store with the G-310 SG... I did five albums with the thing... It seems the store is the only place to find the guitar... I found a profile on Epiphone.com buried deep in the search engine...
Epiphone.com doesn't list it directly in stock, at this time... You can find them on Amazon, or maybe at the Guitar Center... Both stores will knock roughly 150 dollars off of Epiphone's suggested $415.00 retail price, for those interested in the classic SG sound of the Epiphone G-310 SG...
Don't worry... They are pretty serious about out-performing Gibson... As Epiphone states "Performance Is Our Passion!"
Have some fun!

Sincerely,

Robert Lee Kumpf
http://www.facebook.com/rlkumpf
http://www.twitter.com/RLKumpf

I own some Epiphones, but will be the first to caution people that you need to play the instrument you are going to buy BEFORE buying it, because there is not a lot of quality consistency from one instrument to the next.
I don't own an LPs of either Gibson or Epi, but I have heard the $500 range of Epi LPs are pretty good, overall. Gibson has kind of whored themselves when it comes to their models (as Fender has) by offering a zillion different models of each one. Used to be there was just the LP Studio and LP Standard, now there are a ton of variations.

A friend asked me to check out his Epiphone SG and tell him if I thought it was any good.

I did. It wasn't.

Funny thing is I remember when Epiphone's seemed to be higher quality than they are now.

Talbot

They also glom on to the Beatles a lot. Did they really rely so heavily on Epi's? Acoustic or electric?

schmedidiah wrote:They also glom on to the Beatles a lot. Did they really rely so heavily on Epi's? Acoustic or electric?

They didn't rely on them, but you have to remember early 60s Epiphone - not bought out by Gibson yet.

Correct. I have an Epi SG400. It sounds pretty good, but it drives me nuts. The neck weighs so much more than the body, compared to a Fender. It won't just stay put. If you don't hold the neck up, it falls like a rock. I've played a friend's Les Paul. It was so heavy, I don't care how great it sounds. My Tele Deluxe has deep tone, crunch and twang. I'll stick with that. Plus, you don't see anyone else playing them. They're pretty unique.

I also had a generic epiphone g-400 sg and it was the worst guitar I ever owned.

It was so bad, I almost gave it away. I couldn't use it for anything and those plastic "kluson-type" tuners were a joke.

BTW, they are nothing like vintage Kluson's. They are just cheap junk tuners from hell.
If you have anything with them on them, just replace with metal Grovers of any variety.

Hey!

Some were talking about prices... You're paying for a fancy-looking fretboard... The strings don't connect well with the wood... Keep it simple! I think my G-310 SG screams "Raw Power!"
There's also the bolted neck dilemma... I believe Gibson glues the fretboard to the body... Epiphone offers bolt-neck construction... In the end of things, Phones connected with Metal win!
Have some fun!

Sincerely,

Robert Lee Kumpf
http://www.facebook.com/rlkumpf
http://www.twitter.com/RLKumpf

schmedidiah wrote:Correct. I have an Epi SG400. It sounds pretty good, but it drives me nuts. The neck weighs so much more than the body, compared to a Fender. It won't just stay put. If you don't hold the neck up, it falls like a rock. I've played a friend's Les Paul. It was so heavy, I don't care how great it sounds. My Tele Deluxe has deep tone, crunch and twang. I'll stick with that. Plus, you don't see anyone else playing them. They're pretty unique.

Gibson SGs suffer from the same condition.

I've always liked Epiphones, especially their early Gibson owned acoustics, even with the bolt on neck. THe zero fret was just great.

With their electrics, whether solid body or hollow, it seems to be hit and miss. As Mike said, play it before you buy it. I've picked up two identical guitars in music stores, one would be great and I'd put the other one back on the rack in 10 seconds. So you have to be picky. Play it, unplugged, and pay attention. If you like it, plug it in. If I don't like it unplugged it goes back on the rack. I pay little attention to bolt on versus set neck, I've gotten good results with both, and don't really have a preference. Can't seem to find too much difference in sustain either.

Strats have a long standing reputation for good sustain...David Gilmour, Jimi Hendrix, Robin Trower, Mark Knopfler, Jeff Healley, Jeff Beck... and more, all play Strats exclusively or more than anything else, and all can be heard getting terrific sustain out of them. Same for Les Pauls though. I've heard plenty players using LP guitars (Gibson and off brands) and getting great sustain.

I've never owned a Epi electric, but have seen quite a few I would have bought had I been able to afford them...They're actually on my short list of brands I look at first. I pay little attention to the cheaper hardware, if it goes belly up it's not hard to replace and I know how to do the work.

I looked at (and played) an Epiphone knock off of the Thunderbird Bass- all in goth black. Looked cool! Played ok. Only 400 bucks.

It seemed to be a bit higher quality than most of the guitars of theirs I've seen lately.

Talbot