bitten by the 7 string bug

tobin1 said:
How are LTD's (500-900$ range) and Epiphones not "identical" build qualities? Same wood? Same pickups?
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Lol...with any of the $750+ LTDs you are getting a lot more for your money. As somebody who has owned a lot of high-end guitars, including a vintage Les Paul Custom, two PRSs, prestige Ibby's and CS Jacksons...the $800+ LTD (deluxe series basically) are a LOT of guitar for the money. The EC1k should easily retail at $1,200 judging from my experience. Many people may disagree, but there's a reason I've sold off all the other guitars I use to own and kept my EC1k...whether I miss them or not. And no, it wasn't because I needed the money. ;)

~006
 
I'm not arguing the fact of LTD's being great guitars or knocking their guitars, I actually like the way LTD's play than Epi's, I'm just simply explaining that they are identical build quality of Epiphones whether anyone likes it or not lol... That said, with the exception of some idiot putting together a shitty guitar which can happen every time you order a guitar (ALL brands are guilty), they _DO_ have the same wood (Mahogany), both have rosewood frets, same hardware (grover tuners..etc) and they are all made overseas. And even so...all of this is void considering the fact that if you don't like the way a guitar sounds and plays, you're not gonna play it lol.

And you say bang for your buck, http://www.rondomusic.com/product1075.html <- So if you were on a budget you WOULDN'T buy this instead of a guitar that may be a TAD bit better in build quality, but double the price?

Not trying to start a big argument here though ;P Just looking at it from a broke mans perspective
 
tobin1 said:
I'm just simply explaining that they are identical build quality of Epiphones whether anyone likes it or not lol... That said, with the exception of some idiot putting together a shitty guitar which can happen every time you order a guitar (ALL brands are guilty), they _DO_ have the same wood (Mahogany), both have rosewood frets, same hardware (grover tuners..etc) and they are all made overseas.
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Are the Epiphones actually made of real Mahogany or Mahogany-like Nato "Mahogany"? I've heard it's the latter but have no firm evidence. How about the LTDs, does anyone know?

Also, I'm curious how many peices of wood does it take to construct the body?

It's this kind of information that manufacturers shy away from providing on low-cost guitars for good reason. :lol:
 
I'm sorry, but the Deluxe series from LTD is not the same build quality as the Epi stuff. Epi doesn't even come close...

~006
 
And for the record I have yet to see an Epi Les Paul that had locking Sperzels or TonePros II locking TOM bridges like featured on my EC1k. Do they even have models that come with EMG actives (not the HZ bullshit) stock? Or real SDs? Forgive me if I'm a little hazy on that, I don't exactly care to keep up on the models that Epi offers... So no, they don't offer the same features and hardware either, and the newer models have locking tuners that are ESP or LTD branded, the first runs came with Sperzels.

FWIW Shane (Kazrog) feels the Zakk Wylde Epi LP is actually pretty decent with a pickup swap, I trust his opinion. But that's the only model he said was worth a shit, and that's with a pickup swap ;)

Sorry if I'm harping on these points, but if there's anything I do know it's guitars.

~006
 
go on sevenstring.orgll they talk about agile guitar all over the place... for me a killer 7 string = mahogany body with a dimarzio evo7 in the bridge...
 
http://www.epiphone.com/prophecy/default.html

I would say they made this line of guitars to compete with LTD's, I have never tried one myself but even so, and once again I'm not saying that either one are better and whatnot, but there would be something seriously wrong on Epiphones part if those guitars weren't closely matched in overall build.
 
tobin1 said:
http://www.epiphone.com/prophecy/default.html

I would say they made this line of guitars to compete with LTD's, I have never tried one myself but even so, and once again I'm not saying that either one are better and whatnot, but there would be something seriously wrong on Epiphones part if those guitars weren't closely matched in overall build.
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I have to say that I find the Epi Prophecy far more pleasing to the eye than say a similarly priced (here in the UK at least) EC-500.

I'm not overly keen on the ESP Les Paul-alike shape, the rather garish wavey flag inlays, the 3 control knobs and the un-symmetrical headstock.

Now this looks quite nice to me (barring the "tribal" nonsense inlay on the headstock!):

PROPH_LPCstEX-ME.jpg
 
Ok, fair enough. Didn't even know they had that series. And as much of a smartass thing it is to say...oh well...I'm still really unimpressed by them, haha. Epiphone is still gay ;)

And I wouldn't trust anything said on ss.org these days. I was an active member a long time ago, but wow do those guys really not know what they are talking about half the time. It's not even down to opinion differences...their information is just plain wrong. That said, I've heard about the Agiles from many reliable sources as being decent guitars, especially for the money. So I say go for it. To be quite honest I've caught myself browsing their LP line on more than one occasion :)

~006
 
006 said:
Ok, fair enough. Didn't even know they had that series. And as much of a smartass thing it is to say...oh well...I'm still really unimpressed by them, haha. Epiphone is still gay ;)

~006
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Ha, I know what you mean, after having an Epiphone V as a first guitar I made a vow to myself never to go down that path again. I just get the feeling with an Epi that you're paying quite a bit for the Gibson association.
 
Epiphone guitars are built in China. LTD guitars are built in Korea (not all, but from the 400 series and up, they are). They may have the same specs but the build quality is NOT the same. Of course, it's all about what guitar suits you better, but I'd be willing to bet anything that, on average, the build quality of Korean LTD guitars is superior to that of similarly priced Epiphones (excluding the old Elitist models).

The lower-end non-Korean LTD's is just a whole different story. Again, this is just based on my experience. I have own an Epiphone guitar and have played many others. I own an LTD bass and have played many LTD guitars.
 
006 said:
I was an active member a long time ago, but wow do those guys really not know what they are talking about half the time. It's not even down to opinion differences...their information is just plain wrong.
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Its like any forum. A few guys know what they are on about and many do not.

As far as Epis go.. I've played a couple of those Epiphone Prophecies, the Explorer-ish one and the Les Paul. They were both junk. I imagine it is like anything that cames from a Gibson-owned company nowadays.. good ones certainly do exist and you can find a tone monster at any price, but they apparently have no QC process so an overwhelming portion of their guitars are basically firewood.
 
Epiphone guitars are built in China. LTD guitars are built in Korea (not all, but from the 400 series and up, they are). They may have the same specs but the build quality is NOT the same.
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So you're saying that because Epi's are made in China they are worse?

Wouldn't that mean that a Korean made Agile is technically *better* quality than an Epiphone with the same specs? And possibly even better than an LTD? Just doesn't really make too much sense to me :D

As far as Epis go.. I've played a couple of those Epiphone Prophecies, the Explorer-ish one and the Les Paul. They were both junk. I imagine it is like anything that cames from a Gibson-owned company nowadays.. good ones certainly do exist and you can find a tone monster at any price, but they apparently have no QC process so an overwhelming portion of their guitars are basically firewood.
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Couldn't have put it any better. The fact that Epiphone and Gibson have such shitty QC/Support/Service makes a lot of people (including myself) to steer clear of their shit. Especially Gibson, considering people are paying thousands of dollars for them being shattily built.
 
tobin1 said:
So you're saying that because Epi's are made in China they are worse?

Wouldn't that mean that a Korean made Agile is technically *better* quality than an Epiphone with the same specs? And possibly even better than an LTD? Just doesn't really make too much sense to me :D
Click to expand...

Have you ever played a nice Agile? Better than LTD in my opinion and FAR ahead of Epiphone.
 
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