NGD- Epiphone Hollow body

stimpsonslostson

Today a big box came to my house...

https://i.imgur.com/AIEYdT6.jpg

But what's in the box? Is it an Ibanez Jem? Nope. It exactly what it says on the box...

https://i.imgur.com/v9lGuq3.jpg

So an Epiphone then. With a 3 a side headstock, not the Bonamassa Firebird I've been lusting after. So what is it?!

https://i.imgur.com/c10etk9.jpg

It's a 66 Century!

https://i.imgur.com/pFbhjFw.jpg

First impressions:

Epiphone have REALLY upped their game since I last played one of their guitars. I'm impressed with the quality feel of the guitar. 

It was a bit of an impulse buy- I had cash & thought it looked interesting.

 I've never (knowingly) heard James Bay although I did watch him being interviewed by The Captain & he seemed like a nice chap and an impressive player. 

I've only had it a few hours but have played the heck out of it this afternoon. 

It's a satin finish & I think it's rather pretty. MrsLostSon agrees. 

The neck is pleasingly deep & comfortable. Fret work is good & it plays really well. I have it tuned to D standard, fitted with 12s and a wound G & intonation is almost spot on, which I wasn't expecting. 

Tonally it's creamy sounding as you'd expect from a neck mounted P90, the volume & tone can make it thinner or darker sounding respectively. 

I won't be playing any Mastodon on it, but with a healthy dose of Chorus & Reverb it sounds wonderful. Old school blues licks suit it too. 

It's totally different from my other guitars- which is what I wanted. 

Being hollow it's also good on the sofa unplugged. 

It might not be the most versatile guitar I own (but it's not a telecaster, so it never could be) but it does what it does beautifully. 

I'm off to play it some more...

stickyfiddle

Lovely lovely lovely. 

I had had a very enjoyable strum on one of these last summer. Definitely my favourite current-range Epi

EricTheWeary

Nice.
I always think the Epi headstock looks clunky on the Gibson replicas but right on ones like these. 

darthed1981

Nice guitar, I'd like to try one.

Poor old James Bay, not a huge fan of his first album but clearly a very talented man - but what's happened with the new one?

Still - great guitar

grungebob

Looks a nice guitar. 
I agree Epiphone have upped their game it seems. I had some money to spare on a new purchase recently and I bought an Epi explorer. 
Apart from the pickups being a bit meh the rest of it is extremely well put together and at £400 new I think it’s a bargain.  

stimpsonslostson

grungebob said:

Looks a nice guitar. 
I agree Epiphone have upped their game it seems. I had some money to spare on a new purchase recently and I bought an Epi explorer. 
Apart from the pickups being a bit meh the rest of it is extremely well put together and at £400 new I think it’s a bargain.  

I played an Epi Explorer yesterday too- it seemed great (& being an Explorer it avoids the divisive Epiphone LP headstock). 
I spent last night using my looper & pedals to lay down textured shoegazey stuff with it- I’m normally more of a rock/blues player. 

The best thing about the Century for me is that it’s NOT a Tele/Strat/LP/SG it’s something completely different. Hopefully it'll broaden my playing horizons a bit. That said Black Keys riffs sound brilliant on it, so maybe not!

SimpleSimon

Nice score, been eying these up too as a massive Casino fan already. Love the simplicity of these. What made you go for the standard version over the JB model? I notice prices creeping down on both.......

stimpsonslostson

SimpleSimon said:

Nice score, been eying these up too as a massive Casino fan already. Love the simplicity of these. What made you go for the standard version over the JB model? I notice prices creeping down on both.......

The JB was £200 more for a strap I don't particularly like, a lot of case candy, a case I probably wouldn't use much (I'm not in a band at the moment) and a different pickup. 
I'd MUCH rather spend £100 on an OilCity JinGo pickup & improved harness. 

SimpleSimon

stimpsonslostson said:

SimpleSimon said:

Nice score, been eying these up too as a massive Casino fan already. Love the simplicity of these. What made you go for the standard version over the JB model? I notice prices creeping down on both.......

The JB was £200 more for a strap I don't particularly like, a lot of case candy, a case I probably wouldn't use much (I'm not in a band at the moment) and a different pickup. 
I'd MUCH rather spend £100 on an OilCity JinGo pickup & improved harness. 

Interesting to hear that, im struggling to reconcile the same and was wondering what other 'real' differences in the guitar there actually were, as the Bay model is supposed to have a different bridge, pickup and CTS pots. I suppose the case is a straight £90-£100 addition

lovestrat74

There's a sunburst one for sale in £Guitars section

SimpleSimon

lovestrat74 said:

There's a sunburst one for sale in £Guitars section

Plus plenty online