Epiphone ES 339 Pro Natural 2013 model

hobbio

Here goes.

I bought my Epiphone ES 339 Pro from Andertons mail order in December 2013. It cost £339 and was supplied with a free Stagg gig bag.

Out of the box the set up was pretty poor, with the nut waaay too high and the intonation all over the place. I intonated myself, but took it in to Noiseworks in Coventry for a proper set up. It didn't need a fret job, just the nut slots, neck relief and pickup height sorting.

It's a great looking instrument, and the finish was generally good apart from the black paint in the f-holes which had a few spots missing. The control knobs were secure, but a little wonky. The "e" logo one the scratch plate became detached within a few days, but a good firm press secured it again and it's been fine ever since.

The neck is quite chunky, D shaped with a lot of shoulder, but extremely comfortable. The tuners are reliable and secure.

It's been my number 1 ever since I bought it. 

Sound wise, it's lovely. Both pickups split with push-pull volume pots and all the sounds are usable, but to my ears it's best on the full neck humbucker where it sounds full and thick clean (roll the tone off about 1/3) and really chunky with a bit of dirt. The bridge has bite. I'd say it's best for blues, jazz and crunchy rock. Both pickups are quite well defined and I've not considered swapping them out for anything else. The electronics on the other hand are not the best, but more on that in a second. 

It's held up to knocks and bumps well, apart from one that took a chip out of one of the knobs. The bridge and tailpiece are a bit pitted, but I like that.

I'm predominantly a home player, but it has seen two 14 gig runs in a show band. The first run went without a hitch, but the year after the switch failed leaving me with no sound in the middle of the most guitar heavy number. I fixed it temporarily with switch cleaner, but that had the unfortunate side effect of stripping off a bit of the black f-hole paint.

Since that run the guitar has been on the wall awaiting a clean up and strings. I'm also planning to fit a new switch, but it's a though the f-hole job so it'll take me a while to round to it unless it fails again. The only other mods I'm considering are removing the scratch plate and pickup covers.

In conclusion, it's a good guitar at its price point. It is well made, despite showing its budget nature in a few places, and if it was stolen I'd replace it with an identical one in a heartbeat.

meltedbuzzbox

Thats the only Epiphone model I've ever played and been impressed with.

My father in law has one and its fantastic guitar. I didn't think the neck was that chunky but it did have a great feel

TTony

I've quite fancied a 339 - for the smaller body size - and the Epis are considerably cheaper than the Gibson alternative.

hobbio

You might be right about the neck, you've played a lot more guitars than I have so you've got more to compare it to. It's the chunkiest neck out of mine though and definitely the most rounded. Anyway, you of all people know how badly I judge size..

I've cleaned it, restrung it and removed the pickguard now. It looks so much better with it off, even if it leaves the wormholes.

dindude

I had one in natural too a few years ago. It was a cracking guitar for the money. I remember the neck being quite chunky, I also remember picking it up more than the PRS McCarty I also had at the time.

XWulfhere

Great review @hobbio

I've been a bit of snob about chinese epiphones but I've had to seriously eat my words since I tried and then bought a Gary Clarke casino a couple of months ago. I can't fault the workmanship or playability. And I actually play it all the time and don't worry about messing it up, unlike my two US made axes. Your review inspires me to go check out some more, I quite like your ES-339, also the Casino Coupe is quite cool too.

TCat

good to know that epiphone have resisted the temptation to slim down the necks on this model. I know its subjective, but I do think fat necks add to the tone, sustain and tuning stability.......looks like a little beauty!

hobbio

Update:

The switch has failed completely, so I'm going to replace the entire loom and upgrade the pickups whilst I'm at it.

I say me, what I mean is I'm going to pay someone to do it for me.