Epiphone Sheraton II

[Skip Ellis]

Anybody using the Sheraton II and getting a decent chord melody tone? It seems that there are no videos on YT except screechy distorted things. It would be amazing to be able to listen to demos with a clean tone for a change but they're few and far between. If you've got one of these, will the neck stand up to 12's or 13's? I made a tentative deal awhile back for a vintage late 60's Sheraton but don't think that's gonna happen.

[peskypesky]

not a great recording, but....

[Little Jay]

Not a fair comparison peskypesky, that's an Elitist with the mini-humbuckers. A completely different guitar than the China-made Sheraton II.

I have an older Korean-made Sheraton II and you can most certainly get a decent tone out of that one! In fact it can compete with my Gibson ES-333, but the latter wins for being more organic and vibrant, just a little bit of je ne sais quoi that the Sheraton lacks.

[Little Jay]

And oh yeah, mine has .012s. No problem, very sturdy neck (5 pieces!).

[feet]

with the 5 piece maple neck and the various upgrades of your choosing, you should have a plenty useful tone. i had flat 12s and a bartolini in mine, but that was a billion moons ago. i'd expect to upgrade the electronics and bridge, but i do that on any guitar anyway.

age aside, my concern with an old one would be the nut width. things got a little skinny for my liking toward the end there.

[mr quick]

Used to have a Sheraton like you described, but got rid of it because the sound wasn't 'smooth' enough for comping for my taste =)

[jazz.fred]

I own a Korean made (Samick factory) Sheraton II. I have it strung with D'Addario "Pure Nickel"s (11-48) and also have used D'A. EXL115w's (11-49 with wound 3rd) with excellent results. I have small hands and can't go too much heavier than an 11 set. The guitar is about 17 years old now.

I may have mentioned in another thread that I have received a great many compliments from members of the audience and other musicians regarding the "beautiful tone" of this instrument. Which illustrates that a lot of tone is in your fingers and in your technique.

I can get a decent Jazz tone. Over the years I have purchased and sold several guitars, but I don't think I'll ever sell my Sheraton.

[Jimmy Mack]

I found a Chinese Epiphone Sheraton II along with a Chin. Epi Lucille. Almost the same guitars, cept for Varitone, stereo and f-holes. Both on sale - a clearance at Manny's in NYC.

I liked both and wanted one. The Lucille was set up a little better - higher action. I opted for the one with Varitone, wasn't sure if I'd need that, but there it was.

I replaced the stop bar tailpiece, for an aluminum light weight. Brass bridge saddles from Stew - Mac made an improvement in smoothness from the horrible junk metal stock saddles. That and a stainless steel bridge post on the bass side only. Gibson 57 Classic p/ups gave it more power, but the stock set had a great tone, or else I wouldn't have bought it!

Then I put in a brighter p/up in the neck position, a DeArmond GoldTone h/ber.

It's a great guitar, my main axe. But I never used heavier strings than a Daddario XL110 set. Still it has a nice jazzy tone when needed. And very lively.

[lpdeluxe]

This is a pic of my '94 Samick Epi Sheraton II, with speed knobs, creme pickup rings, and Seymour Duncan Anniversary humbuckers complete will all-new wiring and components. Alas, it never won my heart, even though a friend who is an excellent guitarist told me that its sound through a Fender Blues Jr NOS amp was the best tone he had ever heard.

I ended up with a blonde 335 which is perfect for me. Anyhow, the picture:

[mikeSF]

I owned an Epi Sheraton for many years and never could get on with it for a jazz tone. I changed pickups, hardware, replaced all wiring, tried a floating bridge even, string sets, etc...just never liked the comp/chording tone it had.
Good luck with whatever you do.

[Little Jay]

I once thought I'd upgrade the pickups of my Sheraton to Seymour Duncan '59s (SH-1). Bad idea! The Sheraton is an all maple instrument with a mid-scooped tone and can be harsh in the highs, even more so when you take out the mids. The SH-1s enhanced that making the tone either too thin or too boomy depending on how you set the tone-controls. The SH-1 might be the perfect pickup to tame down a bold Les Paul and giving clarity to overdriven tones, but it was no good for the Sheraton.

I changed it out for a StewMac Golden Age (basicly a budget asian PAF-clone) that sounded much more like the old cheap pickup that was in it (that had developed a terrible wistle that I couldn't repair with my skills then): much darker and rounder sounding and that sounds very sweet in my Sheraton, so it still sits in there. My Sheraton can produce a very sweet tone and soft, perfect for smooth jazz and doing a Wes-type of tone without using your thumb.

But it's difficult to generalize a Sheraton's tone since over the years they've been made by different companies in eiter Japan, Korea and China (maybe Indonesia too?). General consensus on the web seems to be the older, the better. Early Japanese are praised the most, followed by early Koreans (Samick factory).

As said, I like mine (somewhere between 91-94 Korean-made, probably by Samick). It's all factory, except for the pickup-change mentioned above. I had been fiddling with the electonics too, but I changed everything back to a complete Epiphone-harness that I purchased on eBay. Don't know if the harness' origin, but is has big Alpha pots, little green caps and a switcraft-type of pu-switch. Feels and sounds great, with a useful (gradual) sweep of the pots. The old harness (that I destroyed in my mod-thrift) had mini-pots and a closed box-type pu-switch and the same little green caps.

[vinlander]

My highly modified Saein 2004 Sheraton sounds great to my ears.
I was not impressed by the original electronics, too muddy for my taste.
It got a 50's wiring BCS harness with Gibson Classic 57 Classic 57+
It can go easily from very chimy to smokey tone; middle position is my favorite by far on that guitar
Lately got a professional setup and is now strung with d'Addario 11-50 round wound

[Longways to Go]

My Sheraton is a pretty darn good jazzer. It's a 2013 -- Chinese made -- and the build quality is excellent. The only minor quibble I had was replacing the input jack with one with longer threads -- the original kept falling into the guitar. I'm running Seymour Duncan Slash Alnico 2 pickups and Thomastic flat 13s. It's a very nice combination.

[maco]

I have a Peerless "01" stock all the way, for now. I like the bridge Epi PUP tone.Even though it's a 2nd stamped I haven't found any flaws in her appearance, although she's ebony coated. I also run addiro 115s.
Little Jay- how are those SM- Golden age on the bridge? do you notice a big difference from the stock PuP there?

[jazz.fred]

Hi Vin,

I'm curious, What is the exact name of the D'A 11-50 round wound set you're using? The closest set I'm aware of is the EXL115 (11-49) and the EXL115w (11-49 with wound 3rd).

[Little Jay]

Little Jay- how are those SM- Golden age on the bridge? do you notice a big difference from the stock PuP there?

Sorry, I don't know! Since I hardly use the bridge pickup on it's own I didn't bother to replace the Seymour Duncan in the bridge position for the Golden Age. Instead I put the GA in my cheapo Japanese 175 copy (branded 'Condor') and there it performs very well: articulate but not too bright with the right 'thickness'.

I do use the middle position on my Sheraton, combining the GA with the SD and I have no complaints about that, sounds authentic, like you would expect.