“reaching their pinnacle”? Epiphone had reached their pinnacle before Gibson bought them out in 1957 and made them into their “economy line” of guitars. Epiphone was Gibson’s direct competitor before that, making guitars of the same quality. Gibson bought them to kill their competition.

More affordable options? They almost tripled the price of an Epi 335 without even letting us know how much true involvement Gibson CS had on these guitars

err.. the "pinnacle" of pricing more like. in the end of the day, you've got an epiphone with the inherent stigmas.

I think what’s lost on people is that they are looking at this as a higher end Epiphone. It’s a combination of two branches coming together to produce a product. That’s why they put a united logo on it. It’s like Lexus and Toyota coming together and building a car. How is the car competing again Lexus?

They have to with those soaring Gibson prices. They can’t let their competition go in to that market segment.

I was a bit lost by the last part of your comment. Epiphone isn’t competing with Gibson with THIS guitar. This is Gibson and Epiphone coming together to create a guitar. This isn’t an Epiphone and it isn’t a Gibson, it both. At least that’s what they’re marketing

In that case DAngelico and other mid tier semi hollows beat the crap out of these Chinese epiphone models. While I do think epiphone is solid at $400-600. Over 1K for a same Chinese QC guitar with only a new headstock and USA pickups? It’ll never be a Gibson no matter the headstock, yet people still want the look when it’s far from it. Gibson is successful with these models in convincing them their marketing

​@@Tweed_Tone Seems you need to be educated on a few things that have changed with Epiphone in the past few years.... So let me do that now. "it will never be a Gibson". These days Gibson wholly owns the Epiphone factory in China in the same way Fender owns their factory in Mexico, it's not a case of the guitars being built, where 80% of your other Chinese built guitars for US vendors are outsourced to a company like Musikraft... What this means, is that Epiphone absolutely can build a guitar in China to the same qaulity standards as their Gibson USA product if they wanted to. You put the CNC machines in place, you send quality USA built components, like USA pickups, CTS electronics, Grover tuners, etc.. Then you fly over US line workers from the Gibson plant to train the foreign line workers to do the job exactly the same way to the same quality standards. That's all possible, that's common sense it's also the way many US companies outside music gear have offshored production. Something built in China only cuts the corners on quality that the vendor chooses to. These Inspired by Gibson Epiphones are exceptional instruments. When you're using real Ebony or Indian Rosewood on the fretboards, real Grover tuners, real USA made Gibson pickups, the same CTS pots that go in the Gibson USA product, the same Switchcraft jack and switch. Real mother of pearl inlays, etc... The quality components are there. The "craftsmanship" very good. There's little details, like Gibson necks are usually one-piece, Epiphone's often have a joint where headstock meets, but the biggest thing is the Nitro lacquer finish on the real Gibson's. We're at the point now where Epiphone's are so good, really it's just the Nitro Finish and the one piece neck making the difference on some of these "high-end" models. That's the objective truth, it's sad so many people still have head up asshole when it comes to foreign built vs USA built. Get yourself out of the early 2000s, things have changed, a lot. It's not worth responding to any reply you might make as anyone can go fact check everything I've written and confirm, it's not an opinion but facts about how good the latest "high-end" Epis really are. This is all part of a plan hatched when they came out of the bankruptcy, their new CEO at the time decided to lift the Epiphone brand up to build guitars near the quality of the USA Gibson product, and push the prices on the USA Gibson product higher. and focus all their USA Gibson marketing on rich old farts in their 40s-60s, this is why you see so many signature Gibson models for 80s and 90s guitar players. They know what generation has the deep pockets. The Epiphone's are the guitars they expect most working musicians to afford and they are competing with Fender's Made in Mexico product, delivering better quality than Mexico in many cases, but that's not country of origin, that's QC standards at the factory. It doesn't matter where the factory exist.

@@Tweed_ToneWhy do you have lie online to convince yourself that you bought the right guitar? Just love your D’angelico. I’ve owned them all and this new 355 is a stunning guitar and worth every penny. Just log off and play your guitar rather than spouting nonsense about a guitar you’ve never played

@@adamproctor483 I actually own a 59 Murphy lab light aged ES-355. I don’t own a dangelico but the ones I played In store along with this new model sounded and played better than this. The dangelico sounded closer to the Gibson. Epiphone is great but not at 1K+ and this model doesn’t show any quality step up for its price tag

Not really, this guitar as one piece, long tenant neck with ebony fingerboard (neck is also thicker). The stop bar and bridge are Gibson branded and has 5 plies binding.

Lol, most KZfaq guitar reviews are done by people who can't play worth a dang. If they can they do that gained up chugging crap. That tells me zero about the actual possible tone of the guitar being featured. Some cleans and a little gain is cool. Too much gain is just a waste of time

No I don't think there would be any difference between polished or satin. For sure nothing the human ear would pick up on. Polish it up 👍. I just bought one recently and I'll tell you that everything about it is just as described. Sweet! 😎👌

Are you going to sell your Gibson 335? That's the only reason I would get this one. Or I guess if you want to throw this one in a different tuning for a different sound...but considering you have 11 other guitars, I'm sure you can already have a whole range of variously tuned guitars. My 2 cents is play what you've got, and if you want to take some money out of your collection, but not sacrifice on tone, then sell a guitar (or six) and buy this one.

YOLO 😂

Get a cherry color one while you can

@@matiasdvoskin3985 I'd get a white one

@@chrislink73 Uh no....I'm not selling a Gibson anytime soon, I'll probably just wait and get a Murphy Lab 335 I'm a month or two.

Yes we are! Call us for more info

Same here. The 355 I received needed a full fret level. I said no way for $1,300 and sent it back. Too bad, very nice guitar.

@@BlueberryStinkFinger62 My last 2 purchased were the first Epiphone inspired by Gibson 50's LP's. A gold top and a vintage burst. Got em for 519.99 per during #geafest @Sweetwater. They normally sell for 699 (street price) Great friggen guitars, even the USA designed Pro Buckers sound awesome. That said, both guitars arrived with rough fret ends and required TLC. That's unacceptable, period. Leonard Griffie YT bought the ES-355, a gorgeous guitar. Guess what it needed, fret end dressing. That's 1200 bucks. You're the only person I've ever seen say your new Epi's were perfect. TBH, I don't think you know what perfect means when it comes to a guitar. No new guitar is ever "perfect" and they never have been in the 50 years I've been playing. That includes the boujie stuff I own. So I'm discounting what you just wrote by 100% Cheers

​@BlueberryStinkFinger62 I had older Epiphones with perfect fretwork. Since the new ownership the fretwork has been subpar on every guitar I've tried.

​@@booshting3520bullshit

@@TheRange7 I got the white 355 and guess what, the frets needed polishing (typical Epiphone) and there is one fret that need levelling. I think that at that price point they could have made sure there are no bad frets... I can do the work myself and I like this type of project but this is a valid criticism. I know that Gibson is keeping tracks of reviews and opinions online so they may act on feedbacks observed in future runs.

I highly doubt that. Go on reverb and see. The Faulkner V retailed for $900. They’re asking around $2500 used now. I bought a Zakk Wylde buzzsaw for $600 years ago. The ones listed today start at $1300.

@@antoniomontoya5298 love how you cherry picked limited edition rare runs of epiphone to support your argument. just goes to show you're reaching there. trust me, these mass produced epiphones with faux gibson open book headstock and trinket bells and whistles will command half their price. the "ebony" isn't even the same species of ebony used on USA Gibsons. give me a break.... you're all being fooled by the marketing machine. wake up!

@@kenichi407 I think these are going to be limited runs. That’s the point silly. I don’t think epiphone is going to keep pumping out guitars with Gibson pickups. It’s called fear of missing out. It’s a marketing tactic. By the way, I also bought a epiphone custom v with a hard case brand new off eBay for like $450 a few years ago. There’s one on reverb now listed for $878.30, no case. That’s not a signature anything. I think you guys are in denial about what is happening to a brand that used to be very budget priced. If people want to buy them, why be mad at them?

@@antoniomontoya5298 limited edition "rare runs" are announced at the beginning... they're not being marketed that way. damn, you're really reaching here. hopefully, you didn't buy one as an investment!

@@kenichi407why do you care what other people buy with THEIR own money? Chill out and smoke a joint...it's going to be ok.

I have 2 made in the USA Epi's from when Gibson bought them. They're awesome, but so are the latest Chinese made Epi's with the exception of crappy fret ends

Look, another of your usernames, posting the same thing 😅 Gibson need to show the CHYNA folk how to do frets

Better research Epiphones history before you make another ridiculous comment

@@Myfingersstinklikefish I’m well aware of Epiphone’s history. Including the fact that they are owned by Gibson. So them raising their prices is Gibson wanting more money from consumers, by proxy anyways.

@@chrisb8193 no you're not well aware of epiphone history you're post prove that

@@Myfingersstinklikefish Educate me then, what am I missing?

@@chrisb8193 research yourself buddy just like everyone else including me has

If you can't figure out how to raise 3K while not being a dentist, you've got bigger problems than picking out a guitar 😂

@@HALWASRIGHT that one went right over your head, eh?

it's called cannibalizing your own brands

Sounds great! Whether it looks great as well depends on personal taste. Personally, I prefer gloss over satin finish except for the neck. If this guitar gets polished and buffed to a high gloss, will it alter the sound? Any comment will be much appreciated. Thanks!

@@mr3klaxIt will not. The magnets in the pickup is amplifying the resonance of the strings and not the body. The shine of the finish will not alter the sound.

Epiphone has separate accounts from Gibson and it's actually KKR and company finance Corp that owns both Gibson and Epiphone

​@FrankBuyers...guitarista-iu3zg Always 5 likes, from your other usernames 😆

Fun with fiction 😅 You post identical posts from multiple user accounts. Identical posts!!!

​@@booshting3520hey it's booshturd the guy no one likes great name for you booshturd 😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣

@@Myfingersstinklikefish Your post is sanctioned by CHIBSON & THE BUDGET COPY GUITAR BUILDERS ASSOCIATION OF CHYNA!!! 😆

Man... you guys have nothing better to do....🤨

@@Mason_N. I always make time for the less fortunate.