HNGD.... I think. (Epiphone 335 Figured)

[adad]

I picked up a Grote 2 P90 335 Sunburst on Amazon for $159. Will be here Friday. I got the 125 Style Hollowbody a few Months ago and it was real nice out of the box. Worth Checking out. Looks like there selling fast.

[adad]

This guys video sold me on the 125 style. No regrets.

[sabasgr68]

I picked up a Grote 2 P90 335 Sunburst on Amazon for $159. Will be here Friday. I got the 125 Style Hollowbody a few Months ago and it was real nice out of the box. Worth Checking out. Looks like there selling fast.

And they also carry left hand versions.

Enabling the enabler @tobijohn (because you were eyeing that Ibanez...) https://www.grotechina.com/collections/left-handed

[OMB]

Not to offend any Epiphone owners here but for some crazy reason I have never owned an Epi that I wanted to keep. There was something missing. Not Gibson on the headstock because that means nothing to me. The Riviera with the toothpick neck was nice and well made but that neck! The AS93 is a Semi and not overly heavy.

[tobijohn]

Enabling the enabler @tobijohn https://www.grotechina.com/collections/left-handed

I would but the red version got here last week....

[sabasgr68]

Enabling the enabler @tobijohn https://www.grotechina.com/collections/left-handed

I would but the red version got here last week....

See why you need to keep us updated about your NGDs?

Congrats!

[Mossman]

I picked up a Grote 2 P90 335 Sunburst on Amazon for $159. Will be here Friday. I got the 125 Style Hollowbody a few Months ago and it was real nice out of the box. Worth Checking out. Looks like there selling fast.

That one looks real nice... I like it!

[Mossman]

Not to offend any Epiphone owners here but for some crazy reason I have never owned an Epi that I wanted to keep. There was something missing. Not Gibson on the headstock because that means nothing to me. The Riviera with the toothpick neck was nice and well made but that neck! The AS93 is a Semi and not overly heavy.

No offense taken... I've been hot and cold over Epiphone for almost 20 years now. I was going to say that I've owned a "few" that didn't do it for me, but then when I stopped to think about it, I realized that I've owned over a dozen Epiphone guitars and basses in my life, and only the Casino has remained in my stable over the years. For some reason, all the Casinos that I've owned have been very good to me, but I've ended up selling every other Epiphone I ever owned... voluntarily... because I didn't play them enough to justify keeping them around.

I used to think that Epiphone was the gold standard for import, archtop guitars, and after a while, that's all they were really good for to me (I've had very little interest in their solid-body offerings for some time now). But on the other hand, I had a Dot that was a dead fish, which I put a lot of time and money into, trying to turn it into something I could like, but it just wasn't happening... I actively disliked that Sheraton II Pro that I bought a couple years ago after playing it just one night, and returned that right away... Every 335 Pro that I tried in a store failed to stir my emotions, and these last three guitars that I've had in my hands all played well, and sounded good... they just didn't have any juice.

So now, I don't even know why I thought their arch-top guitars were so great... I think I've completely lost all my interest in Epiphone guitars at this point.

[OMB]

Not to offend any Epiphone owners here but for some crazy reason I have never owned an Epi that I wanted to keep. There was something missing. Not Gibson on the headstock because that means nothing to me. The Riviera with the toothpick neck was nice and well made but that neck! The AS93 is a Semi and not overly heavy.

No offense taken... I've been hot and cold over Epiphone for almost 20 years now. I was going to say that I've owned a "few" that didn't do it for me, but then when I stopped to think about it, I realized that I've owned over a dozen Epiphone guitars and basses in my life, and only the Casino has remained in my stable over the years. For some reason, all the Casinos that I've owned have been very good to me, but I've ended up selling every other Epiphone I ever owned... voluntarily... because I didn't play them enough to justify keeping them around.

I used to think that Epiphone was the gold standard for import, archtop guitars, and after a while, that's all they were really good for to me (I've had very little interest in their solid-body offerings for some time now). But on the other hand, I had a Dot that was a dead fish, which I put a lot of time and money into, trying to turn it into something I could like, but it just wasn't happening... I actively disliked that Sheraton II Pro that I bought a couple years ago after playing it just one night, and returned that right away... Every 335 Pro that I tried in a store failed to stir my emotions, and these last three guitars that I've had in my hands all played well, and sounded good... they just didn't have any juice.

So now, I don't even know why I thought their arch-top guitars were so great... I think I've completely lost all my interest in Epiphone guitars at this point.

Yeah I was there (gave up on Epi) until they came out with another Riviera in 2020 but it has been on backorder. It is supposed to have a chunkier neck just like the newer Casino Worn series. I have grown weary of buying - returning or selling so I am now going to wait until Guitar Denter or Sam Ass gets the Casino Worn in stock so I can check their necks out. Should be the same (CRC?) as the Riviera but the body on the Casino is fully hollow as compared to the Semi Riviera.

[andrewsrea]

HNGD!

That looks classic! Looks more like an ES 330 than a 335 to me.

[Mossman]

HNGD!

That looks classic! Looks more like an ES 330 than a 335 to me.

The black-covered P90s give it a 330 vibe, but the neck is set like like a 335 (the 330 neck joins the body at the 16th fret, I believe, like the Casino), and you'll have to ask @adad, but I think that Grote is probably a semi-hollow, whereas the 330 was fully hollow.

[Tonray's Ghost]

Ok, I received the THIRD guitar yesterday, and I'm sorry to report, it's very much like the last two... It's becoming obvious now that this is the rule, rather than the exception. All three guitars had the same pattern of sanding scratches under the finish on the headstock:


headstock scratches rs.jpg


The paint lines on this one are real sloppy in parts... Here, a bit of the wood is exposed:


rough paint rs.jpg


On the heel, someone sanded through the paint a little (that's not a reflection), and you can see more of that super-clean tape work!:


sand-through rs.jpg


I also found a few specs of... something under the finish:


spec rs.jpg


And like the last two, there are plenty of scuff marks, swirl marks and light scratches in the finish:


scuffs rs.jpg

I'm just going to send this back and have done with it, as I have no reason to believe that whatever they send me next is going to be any better, and I've officially lost all of my enthusiasm for this guitar. It just doesn't have any "wow factor". Apart from the finish issues, it's a fine guitar, but nothing about it really knocks my socks off. It plays well, but most guitars play well these days... That's not remarkable. It sounds ok, but I was planning to swap out the pickups anyway. I think the only reason I bought the guitar in the first place was for the finish.

For a minute, I thought maybe I could exchange it for a completely different guitar, so I went to see what else AMS had to offer in the semi-hollow department, and almost everything is out of stock! I considered a Gretsch G5622... I really like the sound of those "Broadtron" pickups:


5622.png


But of the two finishes available, they won't have the one I like (aged walnut) in stock for almost 2 months.


Then I saw this Ibanez AS93FM:


as93fm.jpg


It's cheaper than the Epiphone by about $50, and it's better spec'd (3-piece neck, ebony fretboard), but I just don't have any real juice for either of those guitars, and I realized that the only reason I'd get one of them would be just to get something, not because I have any real desire for it. And I think it's stupid to buy something just because it's there.

It might be a good idea to refrain from buying import guitars sight-unseen for a while, until things stabilize a little. I think we're going to see a lot of less-than-stellar quality control in the guitar world as the industry rushes to catch up. It's not just in Asia, either. I heard a lot of Gibson dealers have no idea when they're going to receive their 2021 inventory. Could be next month, could be mid-summer.

I have to say Epiphone has really taken what could have been a home run with their new lineup and got thrown out at third. I'm off the "have to have the new 335 or Riviera" kick. Just don't have tolerance for this kind if stuff when my $150 guitars are cosmetically flawless. Why can't they do it if SX, HB, Maya, etc can?

[Mossman]

I have to say Epiphone has really taken what could have been a home run with their new lineup and got thrown out at third. I'm off the "have to have the new 335 or Riviera" kick. Just don't have tolerance for this kind if stuff when my $150 guitars are cosmetically flawless. Why can't they do it if SX, HB, Maya, etc can?

The thing is, they can... Just not consistently. But then again, I have no way of knowing just how consistent/inconsistent they are. I haven't closely inspected a large number of Epiphones... I only know that the last three I've owned since 2016 were nearly flawless. But maybe it's not uncommon for them to let stuff like this out the door, and I just got lucky those times.

I still tend to think that this is just a rushed batch, though.

[andrewsrea]

HNGD!

That looks classic! Looks more like an ES 330 than a 335 to me.

The black-covered P90s give it a 330 vibe, but the neck is set like like a 335 (the 330 neck joins the body at the 16th fret, I believe, like the Casino), and you'll have to ask @adad, but I think that Grote is probably a semi-hollow, whereas the 330 was fully hollow.

Thanks for pointing that out! I hadn't noticed where the neck joined and that it was semi. So it is the Gibson that never was, but should have been?

[uwmcscott]

I picked up a Grote 2 P90 335 Sunburst on Amazon for $159. Will be here Friday. I got the 125 Style Hollowbody a few Months ago and it was real nice out of the box. Worth Checking out. Looks like there selling fast.

Looking forward to the NGD for that one. I actually prefer a satin finish and for $159 how can you go wrong ( asking rhetorically...of course a lot can go wrong ).

[Mossman]

HNGD!

That looks classic! Looks more like an ES 330 than a 335 to me.

The black-covered P90s give it a 330 vibe, but the neck is set like like a 335 (the 330 neck joins the body at the 16th fret, I believe, like the Casino), and you'll have to ask @adad, but I think that Grote is probably a semi-hollow, whereas the 330 was fully hollow.

Thanks for pointing that out! I hadn't noticed where the neck joined and that it was semi. So it is the Gibson that never was, but should have been?

Guitar Fetish has actually had a model like that for as long as I can remember. I've often thought about buying one, as a kind of semi-hollow sibling to the Casino, but I always chickened out. After buying a truly horrible neck from them, and bearing in mind their less than friendly customer service, and shipping rates (and I'm pretty sure they'd make me pay return shipping if I wanted to send it back), I decided it wasn't worth it. They sure look purty, though.



https://www.guitarfetish.com/XV-910-Sem ... c_186.html

[OMB]

The black-covered P90s give it a 330 vibe, but the neck is set like like a 335 (the 330 neck joins the body at the 16th fret, I believe, like the Casino), and you'll have to ask @adad, but I think that Grote is probably a semi-hollow, whereas the 330 was fully hollow.

Thanks for pointing that out! I hadn't noticed where the neck joined and that it was semi. So it is the Gibson that never was, but should have been?

Guitar Fetish has actually had a model like that for as long as I can remember. I've often thought about buying one, as a kind of semi-hollow sibling to the Casino, but I always chickened out. After buying a truly horrible neck from them, and bearing in mind their less than friendly customer service, and shipping rates (and I'm pretty sure they'd make me pay return shipping if I wanted to send it back), I decided it wasn't worth it. They sure look purty, though.



https://www.guitarfetish.com/XV-910-Sem ... c_186.html

I have owned 3 or 4 Xaviere Semi's and they were all meh. But I qualify that was my reaction so everyone is different. Nothing bad or glaring but no reason to keep them either. So after a while I sold at a loss. I gave my son one and he still plays it.

[Mossman]

I have owned 3 or 4 Xaviere Semi's and they were all meh. But I qualify that was my reaction so everyone is different. Nothing bad or glaring but no reason to keep them either. So after a while I sold at a loss. I gave my son one and he still plays it.

I hear that... a couple of years ago I played one of these that was for sale used at a local guitar shop.



The two things that struck me were that the f-holes were unreasonably large, and the pickups were unbearably hot. Otherwise, it felt no different than any other garden-variety, bottom-tier, import guitar. It could have been a Stagg, or a Davison.

[Tonray's Ghost]

I have owned 3 or 4 Xaviere Semi's and they were all meh. But I qualify that was my reaction so everyone is different. Nothing bad or glaring but no reason to keep them either. So after a while I sold at a loss. I gave my son one and he still plays it.

I hear that... a couple of years ago I played one of these that was for sale used at a local guitar shop.



The two things that struck me were that the f-holes were unreasonably large, and the pickups were unbearably hot. Otherwise, it felt no different than any other garden-variety, bottom-tier, import guitar. It could have been a Stagg, or a Davison.

The thing that GFetish has going for it is a wide variety of styles and colors. We have a shop here in Bangkok that is Grote distributor...the quailty looks pretty good for what it is...but the colors are very limited and frankly if you don't want cherry red 335 or TSunburst...out of luck. If they had some great finishes / colors like GFS I'd buy today.

[Stoli]

Aargh! I just went on the AMS website to check one of the specs on the AS93FM and I happened to notice that the expected arrival date has been pushed back by a week. It originally said they'd have more on the 1st, now it says March 8th. I hope this doesn't become a trend.

I was trying to find out what the center block is made of. It doesn't say on the Ibanez website, and for a second, I got worried that it was a fully hollow guitar. I just assumed it was a semi-hollow, and Ibanez tends to use the terms "hollow" and "semi-hollow" interchangeably. Though I've never seen a hollow body with a stop-bar tailpiece before, I wasn't satisfied until I found out for sure that it's a semi-hollow. But I still don't know what the center block is made of... probably maple.

Sorry to hear of all the trouble in trying to get a decent guitar. Anyhow, sounds like you will have a nice axe in a week or two. I started looking at semi-hollow guitars that looked like a 335 around this time five years ago and played everything that I could play in local shops and some that were out of town as well. I ended up buying a b stock Eastman from a dealer that I found online in a color scheme similar to your Epiphones. Had some sort of finish issue on the back of the neck that I think the shop tried to fix as best they could but I think the repair is beginning to chip off in the past few months. Is not anything that bothers me and I guess you could call it play wear, road worn, etc. No big deal as the guitar was set well, plays well, and was sold honestly with a pretty big discount in that there was an issue with the finish. Those guitars have a thin nitro finish and it does not take much to wear or put very fine swirls and scratches on but I bought it to play and do almost everyday.

Anyhow some variant of an Ibanez is what I would have likely bought had I not found the Eastman. I played several different models of them and they were all very playable, seemed to be set up pretty well, and looked pretty cool too. For the lower to mid range priced guitars I think Ibanez is hard to beat if they have something close to what you want. My brother in law has an Ibanez hollow jazz box style guitar and I love to play that thing thing. Is a very different guitar but very nice. He bought it for about $300 used with a hard case and a bunch of tuners, picks, a nice capo, and some other stuff in the accessory compartment of the case. Looked like it had hardly been played. After the Ibanez, one shop I visited had a Peavey 335 copy and that would have probably been my third choice.

My Eastman can have a little brighter sound to my ear probably due to mostly pickups and wood but I like the comfort of these guitars and like you said they work with almost any genre of music especially with amps, effects, etc. Hopefully, your Ibanez arrives in good order and hits the note so to speak.

[adad]

I got that P90 Grote. I has been busy so I have had little time with it. It is semi hollow. Strings were bad, replace first thing. P90's sound good to my ear. Plays nice. Finish goes into the gain. Guitar came with no flaws. Wish I saw this green one a guy on you tube posted. It sold out before I noticed the new model.

[RiverDog]

I got that P90 Grote. I has been busy so I have had little time with it. It is semi hollow. Strings were bad, replace first thing. P90's sound good to my ear. Plays nice. Finish goes into the gain. Guitar came with no flaws. Wish I saw this green one a guy on you tube posted. It sold out before I noticed the new model.

Man if that was a full-hollow guitar I'd be all over one of those.

[OMB]

I have owned 3 or 4 Xaviere Semi's and they were all meh. But I qualify that was my reaction so everyone is different. Nothing bad or glaring but no reason to keep them either. So after a while I sold at a loss. I gave my son one and he still plays it.

I hear that... a couple of years ago I played one of these that was for sale used at a local guitar shop.



The two things that struck me were that the f-holes were unreasonably large, and the pickups were unbearably hot. Otherwise, it felt no different than any other garden-variety, bottom-tier, import guitar. It could have been a Stagg, or a Davison.

Yup - Nothing really wrong with it but I had the same reaction I have had with most of my Epi's and some other generic Chinese guitars. My Grote and Ibby are both much nicer.

An aside. If you haven't looked at a Gretsch Streamliner lately (G2420T) they have really really upped their game. I have owned two Professional Series and I am not suggesting the Streamliner is on par but for my purposes it is purty durn close and has a bigger neck. QC is outstanding!

[Mossman]

Sorry to hear of all the trouble in trying to get a decent guitar. Anyhow, sounds like you will have a nice axe in a week or two.

Unfortunately, it's going to be longer than that... AMS now says they won't have them in stock until April 1st, so I have about 5 more weeks to wait, unless they pull an April Fool's prank on me and push it back even further when the 1st rolls around.

Anyhow some variant of an Ibanez is what I would have likely bought had I not found the Eastman. I played several different models of them and they were all very playable, seemed to be set up pretty well, and looked pretty cool too. For the lower to mid range priced guitars I think Ibanez is hard to beat if they have something close to what you want. My brother in law has an Ibanez hollow jazz box style guitar and I love to play that thing thing. Is a very different guitar but very nice. He bought it for about $300 used with a hard case and a bunch of tuners, picks, a nice capo, and some other stuff in the accessory compartment of the case. Looked like it had hardly been played. After the Ibanez, one shop I visited had a Peavey 335 copy and that would have probably been my third choice.

My Eastman can have a little brighter sound to my ear probably due to mostly pickups and wood but I like the comfort of these guitars and like you said they work with almost any genre of music especially with amps, effects, etc. Hopefully, your Ibanez arrives in good order and hits the note so to speak.

As with Yamaha, I've always regarded Ibanez highly as a brand for their consistent quality... I just haven't seen many (or any) Ibanez guitars or basses that really grabbed me until recently. In fact, I've pretty much ignored Ibanez for years, thinking they didn't really make anything I could get excited about, and I had almost forgotten about the Artcore line until I started looking for an alternative to the 335. But now, I'm more excited to get this Ibanez than I was for the Epiphone!

Eastman makes some really nice guitars, and they're not as crazy expensive as you would think, considering they're kind of a boutique brand. The only thing that puts me off (or I imagine would put me off... I've never played one), is the wide nut width. I think every Eastman guitar I've seen has had a 1.75" nut, and my wrist doesn't even like basses that have a nut that wide (I have repetitive stress injury). I can't imagine what playing a guitar with a 1.75" nut would feel like. Maybe it wouldn't be as bad... I don't know.

[Mossman]

Yup - Nothing really wrong with it but I had the same reaction I have had with most of my Epi's and some other generic Chinese guitars. My Grote and Ibby are both much nicer.

An aside. If you haven't looked at a Gretsch Streamliner lately (G2420T) they have really really upped their game. I have owned two Professional Series and I am not suggesting the Streamliner is on par but for my purposes it is purty durn close and has a bigger neck. QC is outstanding!

Man, it was a tough call between the Ibanez and the G5622. I've also got some strong GAS brewing for the 5220, but I'm not in the market for another solid-body guitar right now...