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Topic: Epiphone Electar Inspired by 1939 Century Lap Steel Outfitt |
Mike Ormsby
From:
Ontario, Canada
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John Burton
From:
Manassas, Va
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Posted 9 Jul 2021 7:34 pm |
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I got one. I need to eventually write a proper review, but here are my quick thoughts.
The good:
First off, personally I love the looks, based on the original style of the Electars but not an exact copy in any way of a particular model that I've seen.
The scale is 22.5", which is nice. The tuners are good. All in all a well finished guitar. I love the strings being spaced properly and being parallel from nut to bridge.
Nice metal nut and bridge. Good design.
The annoying:
Comes "set up" with a weird (to me) string guage. I went to put on a set of C6 gauged strings and ran into two nut grooves that needed deepening to keep the strings from constantly jumping out. The bride piece had string holes that were also too small. So had to use a file and a drill a little. All is good now.
Also had to adjust pickup height as it was way off.
The not so good:
The pickup is a jazz bass style pickup, which actually sounds pretty good. Good bass and treble separation, nice quiet humbucker that sounds "roundish"..BUT..under powered. Just not a lot of output.
Honestly seems way too underpowered. I almost always run a EHX Soulfood pedal after it to give it a little boost.
All in all, I think it's great Epiphone at least made a newer lapsteel. I like everything about it except the pickup, but again..it sounds actually pretty good with a little amp and pedal tweaking. I have a couple of vintage steels that also have low outputs so its not really a deal breaker.
Anyway, I payed around 250 for mine and I would say it was worth it. |
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Bill Groner
From:
QUAKERTOWN, PA
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Erv Niehaus
From:
Litchfield, MN, USA
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Posted 10 Jul 2021 7:04 am
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Nice rendition of SleepWalk. 
Erv |
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Mike A Holland
From:
United Kingdom
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Posted 11 Jul 2021 2:13 am
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Thanks Bill for comments. I have one of these that I bought when they first came out. For an inexpensive instrument I thought it was great with the exception of the pickup which I was very dissapointed with. I upgraded the pickup with the blade type CC single coil pickup and the guitar is now lovely. I have a few lap steel guitars now and think that this one is as nice as the others in its own way. I have it tuned C6 normally.
The other point I would make, this guitar records really well through the little Yamaha THR10 that I connect directly via USB into my PC. I have a few videos online with this guitar and setup if you are interested in viewing.
It is a shame that Epiphone have not put a better quality pickup in this instrument. It would have been a great inexpensive instrument. |
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John Burton
From:
Manassas, Va
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Posted 18 Jul 2021 3:42 pm
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Here's my attempt at "Together Again" using the stock pickup.
https://youtu.be/DrnId6fBg9Q
Kind of based on Roy Thomson's tab. (But Roy plays it better!) |
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