Ibanez vs Epiphone vs other semi-hollow guitars

[dconeill]

I was just in a Guitar Center looking at semihollows. Heaven knows why, I've got a perfectly nice Gibson ES-335.

I looked at Ibanez, Epiphone, D'Angelico, and Gretsch semihollows. Of course the quality varied with price point; but the thing that stood out to me was how poor the fret side-dressing was on the Epiphones. In many ways, the Epis had the most comfortable necks; but the sharp bits of frets that were sticking out on the sides of the necks of those guitars were terribly uncomfortable.

Since I wasn't really looking to buy, I didn't plug anything in; my comment is limited only and entirely to the fret dressing issue.

[entresz]

I too have a great Gibson ES 335, and I tried a few new Gibsons and Epiphones in the local music shop. Both the Epiphones and the Gibsons had some terrible fretwork.

[nevershouldhavesoldit]

It’s probably not a manufacturing defect. My bet is that the guitars you played there with fret sprout had never been properly humidified once they left the factory, so the fingerboards shrunk just enough to make the fret ends palpable. Getting from the factory halfway around the world, sitting in shipping containers and trucks, then hanging in huge climate controlled but not humidified display areas is a hard life for a wooden instrument.

Since it was just the Epiphones, it’s likely that the ones you played arrived together and suffered the same environmental insults. It doesn’t take much end exposure to make them feel like little fish hooks. But it also doesn’t take much filing to make them smooth again.

My Ibanez AF207 was perfect when I got it in ‘97, and I kept a humidity pack in the case. But over the first winter with me, it developed a little bit of sprout that I lived with for years - but I kept 2 humidity packs in every case since that happened. The first time I had the frets leveled, crowned and polished, my luthier smoothed them back - and they’ve been fine for years.

My Eastman Jazz Elite had a hint of sprout on 3 frets near the end of the fingerboard. It took Marc Tappan about 90 seconds to smooth them, and they’ve been fine over the 3 or so years since then. Guitars ‘n Jazz has a very well humidified showroom and storage area, and the guitar had been made only a few months before I got it.

[Aiq]

Tony Rice said in one of his lesson videos when talking about tuning and intonation, “There’s something wrong with all of them.”

I have a fret rocker, crowning file, and a couple of other little files and I have used them on several instruments of all levels of “quality”.

I assume some tweaks are needed.

[frabarmus]

On my MIC Epiphone Casino fret edges are flawless (lucky me!?). The only flaw is the G string tuning post that, at some point, stops turning and then with, a sudden "click", shoots down a semitone. I can still tune that string as precisely as I want, though. I'm not sure what causes that?

[Sam Sherry]

{T{}he G string tuner that, at some point, stops turning and then with, a sudden "click", shoots down a semitone. I can still tune that string as precisely as I want, though. I'm not sure what causes that?

The string is binding-up in the slot.
Use a nut-slot file or needle-file to widen the slot just a hair, but not deepen it.

[frabarmus]

The string is binding-up in the slot.
Use a nut-slot file or needle-file to widen the slot just a hair, but not deepen it.

Thank you

[m_d]

In my experience Ibanez Japan vs offshore are in a different league quality-wise - not to say that the Chinese ones are bad at all. That said, on my JSM, the nut turned out to be too high, and I had to bring it to a luthier anyway. No work was needed on the frets. Epiphone, I played one once and was not impressed, but it could have been from a decade ago and they change up their production a lot. D'Angelicos look cool to me and Mark Whitfield has been playing them for quite a long time, so there must be something to them.

[Etcher]

I’m loving the look of this new Ibanez AG95MG with mango top. What’s mango like as a top wood? And is the only difference between this and the previous ag95 the wood top? It’s £100 more at £795 in the UK than the previous model.

[jazzshrink]

I’m loving the look of this new Ibanez AG95MG with mango top. What’s mango like as a top wood? And is the only difference between this and the previous ag95 the wood top? It’s £100 more at £795 in the UK than the previous model.

Not just the top. The back and sides are mango as well. Ibanez wiki states "The AG95QA and AG95K are similar models with, respectively, quilted ash and acacia bodies."

[EllenGtrGrl]

In my experience Ibanez Japan vs offshore are in a different league quality-wise - not to say that the Chinese ones are bad at all. That said, on my JSM, the nut turned out to be too high, and I had to bring it to a luthier anyway. No work was needed on the frets. Epiphone, I played one once and was not impressed, but it could have been from a decade ago and they change up their production a lot. D'Angelicos look cool to me and Mark Whitfield has been playing them for quite a long time, so there must be something to them.

They're great guitars. Why don't I buy one? The necks are just too thin for my playing comfort.

[John A.]

They're great guitars. Why don't I buy one? The necks are just too thin for my playing comfort.

FWIW, my D'Angelico EX DC has the same neck profile as an Ibanez as200 I tried side by side with it. But, yeah, neck profile can be very particular and personal thing. All of mine are different from each other (the D'A being the slimmest, but very close to my strat). At the moment think I prefer the chunkier ones and sometimes I think about maybe doing some horse trading to "standardize" on that, but I figure as soon as I do I'll start preferring the skinnier ones (given the fickleness of fate).