[Ralph124C41]

Originally Posted by Wade Hampton

Cam, I've played a number of Epiphone Masterbilt guitars, and have owned two, both with sapele backs and sides, the square-shouldered version and the slope-shouldered AJ-500MNA.

I gave the square-shouldered version to my daughter's boyfriend, as he was guitarless at the time, but have kept the AJ-500MNA. I've also compared it directly to the rosewood version of the same thing.

Truthfully, the AJ-500M models tend to be the best-sounding. There's a gentleman who posts on here who spent a few years rehabbing a number of those guitars, and his overview of them, with far more hands-on examples than I've had a chance to play, was that the so-called "mahogany" (actually sapele) Epiphone AJ's are the best-sounding overall.

A large part of that is that the rosewood examples all seem to have some tone-killing built-in electronics in them. Whatever pickup system was used definitely has a negative impact on the tone of those guitars.

If everything else was equal, I'd agree with Rmz on this, that rosewood is just another choice in tone colors, neither better nor worse than the "mahogany" version. But in practical terms, the rosewood version of these Masterbilt guitars seem to have all have those electronics in them, and that sucks quite a bit of tone out of them when played acoustically.

They don't sound all that great plugged in, either, frankly.

Normally I don't like sweeping statements like this, but it seems to be borne up by the examples of the guitars out there. So I would strongly recommend that you look for an AJ-500M without the factory electronics if a good acoustic tone is what you're seeking.

Hope that makes sense.


Wade Hampton Miller

Sir, I've just come across this 3-year-old post reply by you. This is the first time I've ever read that the back and sides of the AJ500M are made of sapele, not mahogany as stated on the Gibson site and just about everywhere else. How did you come across this information if I may ask? The 2006 AJ500MNS I recently bought sounds great, regardless of what wood makes up its back and sides. I'm so impressed with it I'm trying to find a similar Masterbilt (AJ or DR) with rosewood back and sides.