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Comments
With Alpha pots :-)
The pick ups and switchcraft stuff seem to be an upgrade, but the price shift is looney tunes like most have said.
* EDIT ...and after the panning here, I'd be surprised if anyone 'fessed up to paying £1700 for one in a NGD post...
I already own one of the first-run models, and the build quality and hardware are top-notch. Ebony board, TonePro hardware, Seymour Duncan pickups, and a super thin finish you can see the grain through, plus a satin finish on the back of the neck.
As for "when am I ready?" You'll never be ready. It works in reverse, you become ready by doing it. - pmbomb
There has been no announcement of a new factory or anything like that, so we have no choice but to assume that these are built in the same Epiphone factory as models that cost a thousand pounds less, with very similar specs. So there's a huge price hike but nothing in the marketing about an improvement in quality.
Now there may be arguments that the Fender or Gibson Custom Shops aren't that different to their mainline factories, but they do make a fuss about them being built in a separate facility/production line, with more time spent on the build and more care taken selecting the components.
These Epiphones don't have that. These aren't Custom Shop Epiphones. These are regular Epiphones with Gibson Custom Shop branding attached to them, with Gibson USA Firebirds very cleverly discontinued so as to make these appear like an "affordable" option compared to Gibson CS.
So to explain things in the terms you've laid out, this is like buying a run-of-the-mill Fender or Gibson USA model at CS prices because it has a CS sticker on it, and the model you'd expect to pay that money for has been conveniently discontinued to reduce your options.
I continue to be stunned.