There àre different levels of Epiphones, but don't expect miracles. Perfectly nice guitars, but not as unbelievable as some forum/ebay rhetoric may have you believe. The better hollowbodies and semi-hollowbodies are supposedly out of the Peerless factory, but even those are still mystery laminate poly finished guitars with subpar electronics and very generic hardware. Some of the higher-end hollow bodies and semi-hollow bodies are still made in other factories besides Qingdao, both in Korea and Indonesia. For example the ES-175 reissue is not actually shaped like a Gibson ES-175, and has larger f-holes, but the guitars themselves seem quite well-made. The build quality at the Qingdao factory seems generally quite good these days, although the specs have been changed on some of the designs.
PEERLESS GUITARS FACTORY SERIES
The Elitist series was discontinued except for the Casino, and occasional limited runs - currently a Riviera with mini-humbuckers seems to be available. Quality is slightly less on those, but still very good. Later, production was moved to other Korean factories (Saein, Unsung) and the body shape was changed a bit. The ES-295 was first made in the Peerless factory in Korea, and the quality was superb. The only Epiphone model that is made in multiple variations of differing qualities in different factories is the Casino. Before 2002 they were contracted out to other factories like Peerless. The regular Epiphones are currently built at the Gibson Qingdao factory in China. These are hand made, finished in nitrocellulose and use Gibson pickups and top of the line hardware and electronics. The Elitist models from Terada are the top of the line Epiphones. I recently bought a 1961 Reissue Casino and have done some research on the various Epiphones to learn about my guitar and how Epiphone guitars in general are made. Yes there are different levels of Epiphones. Other than that I think Epiphone is decent for the cash and some setup. The only thing that is a bit of a put off is the Epiphone's gold on the goldtop guitars, it's got some green in it and it's a bit plasticly looking due to the poly. That being said there's an ES295 locally I'm thinking of checking out but it's $780 (a tad high in my opinion). I then bought a few other Epiphone '56's that were just ok, sold those too. My first Epiphone was a '56 Goldtop which was pretty good but sold it. is same model made in different locations/price levels? 2 Have also gotten interested in ES-295 and they say Epi has one from the Peerless factory, whereever that is.Īre there really differeent levels of Asian Epi, from serious hi-end Japanese, thru Korean, to Chinese lo-end.
I had (and will have another) Epi/Terada Byrdland that was fantastic, and not all that cheap.