Epiphone ES-175

[Jeffers]

I have one of the last ones they made (in Indonesia). It is very well made and plays nicely. The only weird thing is that the pickups are extremely powerful and you only need to rotate the volume control about 5% from "off" to be at high volume. It has a very "beefy" sound and is great when you are the "chords" in a band with no keyboards because you can give som much support. For duo?trio type gigs I would choose one of my other guitars for a more "acoustic" sound.

[0zoro]

What do you all feel about the neck, ei the hand and finger playability of the Gib vs the Epi, or the Iban? since I havent been able to compare the guitars myself (arch tops and their variations are not big items here). Is there a size, thickness, and/or form/shape difference? Does it affect playablility or is it just getting used to?

[billkath]

All I can say is I swapped the nut for a nice Graphtech, swapped the T-o-M bridge for a graphtech Resomax with stringsaver saddles and it has completely transformed the way my Epi plays, sounds and feels. Both acoustically and electrically. All the buzzes and stuff have gone. The tone is now clear as a bell and it sustains nicely. I put off swapping out the pups now, as it's not bad enough at all to warrant the $200 for a new pair, for the moment.

[tonedeaf]

If you are playing anything that is subtle and needs wide undistorted dynamic range you can pretty much plan on a PU and electronics upgrade. A good setup and strings will also improve things considerably from the delivered condition.

[docbop]

Has anyone replaced the ToM bridge for a wood bridge to mellow out the brightness?

[jbear]

I've had 175's of all types and years...some amazing...some not so much. My favorites, a Gibson '71 (which is surprising because I've played a lot of 70's dogs from Gibson), a 70's Ibanez (the neck was just a bit too narrow), and my all-time favorite find...an Ibanez AK100 (pretty recent but discontinued)! This one has the nicest neck and fretwork of all of them and the tone is exactly what I go for. I liked it stock, but I did change the PUP's to Duncan Seth Lover's and the electronics to CTS/.22Orange Drops because I'm a Duncan freak. The neck and body are what has to be there...everything else can be played with.

[0zoro]

Thanks for the response JB. I will have to try to find some dealre here who stocks the 175´s, I have been interested in them for some time. It is always a bit of a scare when the choices are limited, as they are here.