wkatastrof's Reviews

Nice player but beware of failing neck block! See longer review for details.

This guitar was given to me by some friends in 2005 or so as a gift. Its the non-deluxe version with a natural finish so it has dot inlays. Its a 70's Made in Japan Epiphone made by Matsumoku which also made Aria guitars. Being a laminate top guitar, its quiet. With 1 3/4 with at the nut, fingerstyle playing is comfortable.

With a bolt-on neck, these guitars have a history of glue failing at the neck block which causes the neck to cave in the top and cause severe damage. When I got mine, it had that problem but luckily it didn't do much damage (the top has a slight warp to it under the fret board extension, but does not affect playability). Rick at the Music Place in Berlin, NJ was able to re-glue the neck block into place and its been fine at full tension for the last 12 years. Here is a great thread dealing with this repair if you run into it:

http://forum.gibson.com/index.php/topic/37812-repairing-a-norlin-era-ft-guitar-with-broken-neck/page_p528620hlrepairingfromsearch_1#entry528620

I used a Bill Lawrence A-300 soundhole with this guitar since its a bit quiet for fingerstyle.

Decent player with better tuners and a setup.

I have a 1999 Epiphone Special II in Alpine White bought used at the Cherry Hill, NJ Guitar Center in 2002 used for $100. Unlike some newer Special IIs, the body is laminate. Its been my main electric guitar since and is a good player. The tuners have been replaced with used Gibson tuners I got for $5 which really helps keep that G string in tune. The pickups were replaced with Gibson '57 Classics taken from a Gibson Les Paul, and the electronics replaced at the same time. This work was done by Rick at the Music Place in Berlin, NJ in 2005. Last year (2016) the stock plastic nut cracked, so I had it replaced with a bone nut at Fret Mill Music in Roanoke, VA. The B string slot was filed too low, so there's a slight buzz when playing it open, but its barely noticeable. The nut slot was filed in a sloppy manner, so the bone nut doesn't fit snuggly in the slot, but it plays OK. Action is pretty low and easy to play. The guitar lacks the sustain of a set neck Les Paul, but other than that I am happy with it. The white poly finish has now faded to a nice cream colour.