Frustrated with QC issues

[sentry13]

I have been wanting a hollow or semi-hollow body guitar for a while now. Yesterday I visited my local Guitar Center to check out a few different options and just see if anything felt right. A couple of thing stood out to me and really got under my skin for some reason.

The first was on an Epiphone Casino. Overall the guitar was nice enough, played well and all. But the f holes...when I looked at those, the edges looked like 80 grit sandpaper painted black, it was horrible and very noticeable. How does something like this get past QC in the factory? Or is that considered acceptable? Now, I know many people will say that it's a cheap guitar and what do you expect for that price. I agree that in the overall spectrum it can be considered cheap, but $600 is a fair chunk of change any way you look at it I think.

The second thing that annoyed me was on all the red Epiphone guitars with body binding. Every single one had the red bleeding into the binding creating a bright lipstick looking line around the guitar. Every single Epi that was reddish in color, from $300 up to $800 guitars.

It just seems lazy to me. If I'm going to spend more to get an offering from someone like Epiphone I expect a decent level of QC, otherwise why not just buy something from Rondo or Guitarfetish or even direct from China? They are probably made by the same people in the same factory anyway.

I did come close to buying a 2010 Ibanez af75 in Orange that someone had replaced the stock pickups with Seymour Duncans though, still thinking about that one...

[Tomm Williams]

It can indeed be frustrating to spend $600 or so on a guitar and see shoddy workmanship. I owned a 2004 Casino for awhile but determined it just wasn't for me. QC wise, it was one nicely built guitar, perhaps you saw a lemon?

[guitararmy]

I would grab the Ibanez with the SD pu's just because changing pu's in a semihollow isn't a piece of cake.

I had a '74 Gibson ES-335 with the red stain that bled into the fretboard binding, so it also happens on the expensive ones. Unbound F-holes tend to look rough...

[fazool]

A non-guitar shop owner was proud to tell me that he recently became a Cort dealer and was carrying some hollow bodies.

From a distance (say.....across the street maybe) they looked really nice.

The most striking QC failure, top me, was the binding in the F-holes. There was about 3/16" of overhang on the binding that didn't line up and looked exactly like you would expect from a cheap guitar.

[MikeBmusic]

Its long been a fact that Epiphone quality is hit-or-miss. Just keep checking guitars until you get one that loos/soudns the way you want it.

[Badfrog]

I've been around the block at bit on semi hollow guitars. Ibanez turns out some good stuff IMO. As mentioned and noted Epiphone can definitely be hit and miss. I've seen a couple of Washburn HB35 models that made me laugh (seriously they were some kind of bad). Crooked strap button, terrible f hole binding and a neck joint that looked like it was out of a Frankenstein movie. I wanted to like them but the couple I saw were plain bad.

I currently have an Eastman T386 that I got used for $475 off ebay and it's quite nice for the money. Many folks give that model great reviews and I concur with them. Beware though that they have a 1 3/4" nut width so you'll want to pass if that's not your kind of thing.

Either way, in most cases you're going to have to really look around for a semi hollow in the $600 range that doesn't have much of any blemishes to it. QC is not of the same importance to each company. Some places just want to make sure it makes noise when they plug it in before shipping it out (to avoid warranty claims). Others actually look at the finish, binding and other areas of the guitar before shipping it....... but you simply have to pay more to get a guitar that goes thru that kind of QC.

[Steve DeRosa]

Lay down a few more bucks and spring for a Gretsch - IME they probably have the most consistent QC in the under $1K bracket, and they've got their own tonal/visual thing going...

[aknow]

the 2015 Gretsch Electromatics have been getting great reviews for performance and Q.C.

[The Growler]

Originally Posted by Steve DeRosa

Lay down a few more bucks and spring for a Gretsch - IME they probably have the most consistent QC in the under $1K bracket, and they've got their own tonal/visual thing going...

Originally Posted by aknow

the 2015 Gretsch Electromatics have been getting great reviews for performance and Q.C.

I'd agree with this. For the money, they can't be beat and they have a unique sound. Lots of fun.

[jseth]

Well, you might try "upping the ante' a bit in your shopping... I know that $600 IS a lot of money (it is for me, anyway), but the truth of the matter is that it isn't much for a really good guitar...

I can say that the entire Reverend line has impressed me completely, from every aspect; the designs, the quality and finish, the playability, the electronics... the whole package. They're around $800, but do not include a case... even so, if I weren't completely satisfied with my electric guitar "stable" at the moment, I'd be looking at one of those...

Epiphone has ALWAYS been the 'cheap" Gibson (at least since the 50's/60's)... of course, nowadays, Gibson has some of the worst quality control on the market, ESPECIALLY for the price point... but my point is, you are going to have to look at LOT of Epiphones to find one that doesn't have significant blemishes and glitches...

If you can find any of the 80's/90's Yamaha electrics, they are STELLAR instruments... as well as the Ibanez Artist models of that era...

[Bingoccc]

An Electromatic owner here. I upgraded the tuning machines on mine but otherwise, was pleasantly surprised at the quality for the price.

[Glennwillow]

Also, Eastman makes some very nice hollowbody (thinline) electric guitars, though they are about twice the cost of the Epiphone you were looking at.

- Glenn

[Random1643]

+1 for the Gretsch Electromatic series. I recently took home a made-in-Korea G5620T-CB thinline semi-hollow and am happy with the QC and other aspects. Here's my NGD thread: http://www.acousticguitarforum.com/f...d.php?t=398970 Steve D posted some interesting history on there.

But my shopping experience was similar to yours, Sentry. Late-2014 I made up my mind to buy a hollow or semi-hollow electric via my local shop. Spent many Saturday mornings at my downtown store plugging new and used guitars in the $700-1,000 range into my little tube amp. The vast majority - Fenders, Epiphones, Guilds,... - IMO suffered from low build quality, narrow and hard-to-play necks, limited tonal options via guitar pickups and controls. Not impressive. Having pretty much given up on yet another Saturday of trying out multiple guitars I grabbed the G5620 off the wall just to try something different and WHAM! I had it on layaway after 10-12 minutes of playing time. Great playability, excellent build quality, lots of room to maneuver even for an all 5 bare fingers picker like me, huge set of tones via the tube amp.

But I think, even in this next $$ range up, you still have to play lots of guitars to land one that you like and has that QC. While working out of Vegas in 2008, I stumbled across a music shop that had about 2 dozen MIK Breedlove acoustic-electrics. Eventually sent one of those guitars home, a dreadnaught @ $820 shipped that is now my Dread for Life, but it was the only guitar out of all of 'em that IMO was worth playing much less owning. Very inconsistent build quality. Perhaps such is our fate. I'm never going to pay much more than $1,000 for a guitar, hopefully less. So maybe I'm destined to play lots of instruments prior to finding one I like, hey?

[Steve DeRosa]

Originally Posted by jseth

...If you can find any of the 80's/90's Yamaha electrics, they are STELLAR instruments... as well as the Ibanez Artist models of that era...

...and if you can find someone willing to part with theirs, good luck scoring one for a decent price. I've seen Ibanez AR solids selling for $1500+ depending on model; Yamaha SBG's (Carlos Santana's main squeeze before he went to PRS) pushing well over $2K in unmodified condition; and the last Yamaha SSC-500 Gretsch-Corvette-meets-Stratocaster, entry-level solid (best $199 - with HSC - I ever spent back in '82) I saw was going for $800. If you're considering this route I'd recommend checking out garage/yard sales in older neighborhoods (folks in their 70's who bought them for their kids 30+ years ago, and left them in the basement/attic when they got married and/or moved out) or the occasional classified ad in the local news, since just about everyone else who knows anything about guitars has gotten on the pre-1990 Japanese bandwagon - and while we're at it, have you priced an all-original mid-80's MIJ Squier Strat or Tele (before they started putting the Fender brand on them) lately...?

[Steel and wood]

Agree with others .... the Gretsch Electromatic range (6120 copes in particular) are great guitars.

I own a Samick Greg Bennett designed Royale 2 semi (thin line) and it's flawless. (The RL3 version of this guitar won awards). It plays and sounds like a much more expensive guitar.