NGD Epiphone Masterbuilt Century "Olympic"

rockabilly69 · #1 08-20-2018, 11:08 AM

Back in 2016 some people posted about these, but here's my review of one I that I just picked up...

Yep, I just bought one of these little Olympics a few days ago. I was sitting in a guitar store, and a friend of mine asked me to play a song that I just wrote, so he handed me one.

Well the action was ridiculously high (hurt my fingers high), there were rough spots on the rosewood fingerboard, the frets were tarnished, and the strings had some really crappy coating on them that sounded bad, and didn't feel good to the touch. But all those things didn't stop me from hearing a pretty cool tone coming off the top! So I bought it, under the condition that I could return it, if it I didn't like it after setting it up. So I took it up home, and yanked the strings off it immediately. Then I took 0000 steel wool to the fingerboard and removed not only the roughness of the wood, but the the black that coated the rosewood. It looks like Epiphone might have used some kind of dye on it to make it look more like an ebony fretboard. I also cleaned up the frets themselves. I then put some Martin Retro (Monel) strings on it, dropped the action considerably, set the intonation, and then affixed the floating bridge to the top using some really thin 2 sided tape. I did this because I have a heavy right hand sometimes and I would rather not bump the bridge and knock the intonation out of whack. And, I really didn't notice a change in tone, so no big deal. The truss rod really didn't need any adjusting so I don't know how well it works.

After I did the setup, I took it out for two three hour gigs, both being light finger-picked music (my own original material, James Taylor, Lyle Lovett, John Prine, etc). I plugged the Olympic into my pedal board which is a volume pedal, tuner, Grace Alix, and Keeley Delay Workstation (very nice reverb/delay). And frankly, after hearing clips posted on the internet, I expected a bad electric sound, so just in case, I had a microphone ready, and a back-up guitar in the car. But the pickup sounded pretty good through the Grace, which carved out the plastic sound of the archtop bridge piezo. There is a preamp on board, with a volume and tone control hidden at the inside edge of the lower F-Hole. The tone control has a center detent for FLAT, and I had it rolled slightly towards the bass side to pull out some of the piezo brashness. After that, I didn't touch the controls because I used my own volume pedal and the Grace preamp for any adjustments on the fly.

My only real criticism is that I typically anchor my right hand with my pinky on a guitar top for the way I fingerpick, I couldn't do that with this guitar, because the top is too far from the strings especially when your palm is resting on the bridge for muting. So, I'm going to have to install the included pickguard.

But, I really like this little Olympic. It's voiced to project a really cool midrange centric tone, and it's volume, is perfect for just sitting on the couch and picking and writing songs. And the finish on the body and is ridiculously thin which I LOVE!!!

I typically don't like budget acoustic guitars because of the compromises made to bring the cost down, but this is a fun little guitar that I would recommend after a proper setup! Oh, I got this guitar slightly above cost, but even at it's typical street price ($599 to $650), I would still recommend it.

Another thing I should mention though is... it doesn't come with a case, and if you want the Epi case designed specifically for it, you'll have to buck up and an extra $150. Fortunately I had an extra Gator acoustic guitar gig bag that works just fine for me.

jricc · #2 08-20-2018, 12:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rockabilly69

Back in 2016 some people posted about these, but here's my review of one I that I just picked up...

Yep, I just bought one of these little Olympics a few days ago. I was sitting in a guitar store, and a friend of mine asked me to play a song that I just wrote, so he handed me one.

Well the action was ridiculously high (hurt my fingers high), there were rough spots on the rosewood fingerboard, the frets were tarnished, and the strings had some really crappy coating on them that sounded bad, and didn't feel good to the touch. But all those things didn't stop me from hearing a pretty cool tone coming off the top! So I bought it, under the condition that I could return it, if it I didn't like it after setting it up. So I took it up home, and yanked the strings off it immediately. Then I took 0000 steel wool to the fingerboard and removed not only the roughness of the wood, but the the black that coated the rosewood. It looks like Epiphone might have used some kind of dye on it to make it look more like an ebony fretboard. I also cleaned up the frets themselves. I then put some Martin Retro (Monel) strings on it, dropped the action considerably, set the intonation, and then affixed the floating bridge to the top using some really thin 2 sided tape. I did this because I have a heavy right hand sometimes and I would rather not bump the bridge and knock the intonation out of whack. And, I really didn't notice a change in tone, so no big deal. The truss rod really didn't need any adjusting so I don't know how well it works.

After I did the setup, I took it out for two three hour gigs, both being light finger-picked music (my own original material, James Taylor, Lyle Lovett, John Prine, etc). I plugged the Olympic into my pedal board which is a volume pedal, tuner, Grace Alix, and Keeley Delay Workstation (very nice reverb/delay). And frankly, after hearing clips posted on the internet, I expected a bad electric sound, so just in case, I had a microphone ready, and a back-up guitar in the car. But the pickup sounded pretty good through the Grace, which carved out the plastic sound of the archtop bridge piezo. There is a preamp on board, with a volume and tone control hidden at the inside edge of the lower F-Hole. The tone control has a center detent for FLAT, and I had it rolled slightly towards the bass side to pull out some of the piezo brashness. After that, I didn't touch the controls because I used my own volume pedal and the Grace preamp for any adjustments on the fly.

My only real criticism is that I typically anchor my right hand with my pinky on a guitar top for the way I fingerpick, I couldn't do that with this guitar, because the top is too far from the strings especially when your palm is resting on the bridge for muting. So, I'm going to have to install the included pickguard. But, I really like this little Olympic. It's voiced to project a really cool midrange centric tone, and it's volume, is perfect for just sitting on the couch and picking and writing songs.

I typically don't like budget acoustic guitars because of the compromises made to bring the cost down, but this is a fun little guitar that I would recommend after a proper setup! Oh, I got this guitar slightly above cost, but even at it's typical street price ($599 to $650), I would still recommend it.

Another thing I should mention though is... it doesn't come with a case, and if you want the Epi case designed specifically for it, you'll have to buck up and an extra $150. Fortunately I had an extra Gator acoustic guitar gig bag that works just fine for me.

Good, insightful review. Thnx. I love the way these guitars look, I have to go check one out.

Johnny K · #3 08-20-2018, 12:38 PM

"It looks like Epiphone might have used some kind of dye on it to make it look more like an ebony fretboard."

The tour guide on my Behind The Scenes Tour at the Martin factory told us they do this to pieces of ebony that have brown in them. And he had a couple of samples that illustrated the point. He even passed around a couple of small billets they use for the bridges and those things are heavy. I made the comment that ebony seems to be as dense as Ipe, which I see a lot of in my business. Not all ebony is completely black.

He also showed us Richlite, a synthetic ebony they (and many others) are using for their fretboards.

That is a very nice looking Epiphone.

Steel and wood · #4 08-20-2018, 05:07 PM

Simply a beautiful guitar.

rockabilly69 · #5 08-20-2018, 06:13 PM

Thanks for the comments guys. I forgot to mention in my review that the Olympic has a bone nut that was cut nicely, real pearl dots in the fretboard, 18:1 replica Epiphone Epsilon tuners, a distressed vintage style nickel tailpiece, and the strap buttons already installed. For the bottom of the Masterbuilt Century line, this guitar it's pretty well equipped! Here's another pic...

Caddy · #6 08-20-2018, 06:56 PM

That's a great looking guitar! Congrats.

Reading this made me get out my old 1959, made in Hoboken, Guild archtop. Hadn't played in in a while.

rockabilly69 · #7 08-20-2018, 07:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Caddy

Reading this made me get out my old 1959, made in Hoboken, Guild archtop. Hadn't played in in a while.

Glad to get you back in the groove

BoneDigger · #8 08-20-2018, 07:44 PM

Nice review and beautiful guitar! I own the Century Deluxe version, also in sunburst, and it's a fabulous guitar. Mine was bought secondhand from an archtop dealer and he had it set up perfectly, so no issues from the moment it arrived. It doesn't sound completely archtop, not completely flat top, but it has a tone all it's own. And it's a tone I really enjoy!

rockabilly69 · #9 08-20-2018, 08:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BoneDigger

Nice review and beautiful guitar! I own the Century Deluxe version, also in sunburst, and it's a fabulous guitar. Mine was bought secondhand from an archtop dealer and he had it set up perfectly, so no issues from the moment it arrived. It doesn't sound completely archtop, not completely flat top, but it has a tone all it's own. And it's a tone I really enjoy!

Those Centuries are bigger sounding than the little Olympic, so I can see why you like yours. The Olympic is mostly a midrange which suits my voice well. It sounds alot like a resonator, which is an instrument I use a lot.