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At least the new Epiphone line are using Graphtech nuts, I've no idea whether this means the cutting of the nut will be any more accurate. Will just have to wait and see whether the quality component additions add up to a big change.
I find the widespread and relieved acceptance that these are getting due to the minor change in headstock puzzling - it's not the same shape as a Gibson, which is what the headstock-whiners seemed to want. They're still blockboard bodies under the veneer, I'm not convinced that they use the term "mahogany" in its strictest sense, and they're still coated in thick, hard plastic. I have an Epi LP (and have had a Dot and a Sheraton in the past) and they're decent guitars once you sort the likely neck/fret/electrics problems... but a minor change in headstock doesn't make me want a new one.
The ebony fretboards on the Customs are good though - an Epi LP Cutsom with a pale "rosewood" neck looked far more wrong to me than the shape of the headstock!
Upon closer inspection it's the Firebird that interests me most, which isn't affected by the headstock change.
Mahogany body with maple top, graph tech nut, long tenon neck joint, CTS pots with 50's wiring, 59 shaped neck with rolled edges. I don't think it's a surprise at all why people are excited to play one of these when you look at the detail.
Of course the proof will come when they reach the publics hands, until then many will judge them on previous years quality.
In fact, I started to strip the finish off that one until I realised that the guitar WAS the finish. It was a thick, hard shell with a soft, goopy interior - it was constructed exactly like a Smartie. When I routed it it didn't even smell like wood, at least the Bonamassa did.
Curiously, and contrary to expectations, the G400 was rock solid and sounded awesome once I changed the pickups, though not particularly like an SG. The Bonamassa, despite the 9-piece construction and through neck never stabilised at all so I flogged it.
I'm sure there's debate about what constitutes "real" korina and it's definitely a veneered multi piece body, but it certainly works and sounds huge with a 498T in it.
These new ones look like a continuation of the higher-end LPs which Epiphone have marketed around the £550 mark, like the Tribute Plus I have - “long” neck joint, full thickness maple cap under the veneer, decent Switchcraft/CTS electrics (and Gibson Classic 57 pickups). But the back is five pieces, with joins at about 30 degrees to the length!
You mean unlike that Sapele , aghem , African Mahogany that Gibson use?