Buy it. I have one and it’s the best acoustic I ever had. Solid spruce top and select maple back and sides. Also has nitrocellulose finish. Tone and sound cannon.
Ok, so here is my experience with this guitar, bearing in mind the 20/80 rule does exist (20% great/80 meh). Initial thoughts out of the box: it's big, it looks great, and it's loud and fairly balanced. It is probably missing some of that booming bottom end you expect from a jumbo, which is a shame but not unexpected given its cutaway shape. Grover tuners are great, the nut is cut correctly, action is low with no fret buzz. So my issues were as follows: a rattle when playing which emanated from the pickup control box, rough scratchy frets, a rough fretboard and misaligned string spacing due to the bridge saddle slots being in the wrong position. These things aren't ideal, but fixable especially given the relatively low price for a lot of guitar. My fixes, and these are super easy fixes: 1) Clean excess dust off of the fretboard and then gently sand it with super super fine sandpaper. 2) Clean and polish the frets using a fret rectangle and a fret polisher (using tools from a general guitar maintenance kit from any online seller.) 3) Oil the fretboard with any guitar oil, applying 3 coats at various intervals. This really brings out the wood grain and changes the fretboard from scratchy and pale to a smooth and darker finish 4) Gently sand down the bridge saddle and re-cut the slots with correct string spacing (again using sandpaper, nut files and the string action ruler which are all included in the same guitar maintenance pack described before.) These recommended fixes took less than 1 hour and less than $15 for the maintenance kit. Additional fixes, if you are so inclined include sending the guitar to your local guitar shop to fit a bone nut, a bone bridge saddle and bone/brass string pins. Shouldn't be too much money for those fixes. If you don't fancy that extra cost simply buy a set of Elixir acoustic strings (.11 or .12 gauge as it's a jumbo) for around $20 and enjoy what is a good, loud guitar that simply requires an hour or so of work out of the box.
I bought one in amazon just liked the look of it and waiting for the delivery it will arrive in 4 days. I saw reviews to know what I actually bought and they all compare with Gibson and put me off but in all their comparisons I liked the sound of epiphone best and I’m proud that God made me buy the best guitar and it’s my first guitar. Thank you so much for your review, you really made my day, you really made me fall in love my guitar. Now I can’t wait to receive it.
I'm happy for you. Like all new acoustics, give it a few days for the strings and wood to settle and the sound you are looking for will be there. Too bad marketing always try to bring down this Epiphone.
You are right. This version EJ200SCE would be more beautiful without the cutaway. They do have an acoustic version though EJ200 but without the pickup/preamp. Recently I came across the Sigma GJA-SG200 which is an exact replica of the Gibson J200. Sigma GJA-SG200 seems very good quality but costs twice the price of the EJ200SCE.
thanks for this review i got one of those and is good but i want something more from my guitar. I was wondering to replace the nut and saddle from plastic to bone or something better then the original. What's your thoughts on that? does it make any or much difference?
Hi, same here, so many times over the past year, I felt I wanted something more from this guitar and trying to compare to the real deal, the Gibson J200. But then I made a discovery which might help you shape your tone. It’s all in the tuning. Here is my suggestion before upgrading nut and saddle. On a scale to -10 to 10, where 0 is the dead-on spot in tune of your tuner, downtune the strings as follows : low E (7), A (8), D (9), G (8), B (1 or equal to 0), high E (1 or equal to 0). You should probably find that the low E string rings properly and has a better sustain. The B and low E string will bring the chimes/sparkles to the sound. Hopefully give yourself a few trials and adjust your tuning if necessary. Here is a video on this tuning concept ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-V2xnXArjPts.html
Don't know if you eventually replaced the nut and saddle. I have changed my guitar strings to the new D'addario XT phosphor bronze and this fixed most of the dead notes and strings rattles. Notes ring to correct pitch and sounds fantastic. Downside, guitar lost some warmth but got more sparkles. If you haven't upgraded, give it a try but do give yourself at least one week for the strings to break in (will sound metallic at first).
is there alot of difference between the Epiphone ej-200CE and the Epiphone AJ-220SCE? Since the 220SCE is a 100$ less, woud you say its worth it or is the difference minimal?
Yes there are a lot of differences but price should not be a decision factor for these two models. The sound is different since EJ is maple body and AJ is mahogany body. Usually the “S” stands for SOLID top and this is what you need to go for to have a better sounding instrument. Check your product description from your seller to make sure which one is SOLID top. If both are SOLID top, then it’s a matter of taste in terms of sound, size and also looks.
The biggest difference that affects the price is solid vs laminated wood. The J200 (999) is a full solid wood (top, back and sides) whereas the J200CE is solid top only but laminated back and sides.
What strings do you have on this guitar please? Also when you are demonstrating, is the guitar plugged into an amp? (Before you plug it into the Bose one)
Hi, this guitar comes with Daddario phosphor bronze EJ16 (12-53) gauge. No at the beginning, the guitar is not plugged in and just using the camera inbuilt mic to record. I recently changed the strings to Daddario XT phosphor bronze (12-53) which improved a lot intonation on every note but it also altered the sound of the guitar.
@@HavickFunk hi there. Thanks for the reply. So on this video, the strings are daddario EJ16's? I have just bought this guitar and it sounds quite tinny. Certainly not how yours sounds in this video. I changed the strings that were on it and put some Martin strings on. The same ones I use on my Martin guitar which usually sound nice but it still sounds tinny. This guitar just doesn't sound as nice as my Martin. Maybe I will try some daddario strings which I've never used before.
@@streetspirit956 Hi yes it's EJ16 that comes with the guitar. I do not think it's fair to compare this guitar to high end guitars like Martin. It's not the same quality. If the EJ16 does not work out for you after a few days, try the XT phosphor bronze (12-53) but you need to allow at least a week for the strings to break in.
First thing, always try the guitar in your local shop. For a better experience and feel, if your local shop offers renting services, rent either the Epiphone, the Gibson version or both if available, bring it home and take your time to fully experience the guitars. I have never played a Gibson and I do not have the means to buy a $ 5000 Gibson. How about you?
@@HavickFunk gibsons arr very expensive in our country and there is no renting services with the guitars in our music stores. You can have the guitar home when you exchange it with its worth financially. What im trying to clarify is that, base from your review of the guitar, would you recommend it to other guitar player?
@@brotherguitarman Yes I will definitely recommend this guitar. Without amp, it has a good sound projection and sustain for strumming and finger picking. If you are gonna use an acoustic amp, the results will really depend on your amp. Are you buying online or at your local shop?
I bought this model 3 days ago. This is really a good one. But the action of my piece is a little high. The truss rod is ok. It's for the saddle which causes the string height. Should I sand down the saddle a little to make the touch soft? Actually I am afraid of loosing sound quality. What's your suggestion?
If you bought your guitar brand new at an authorized Epiphone retailer, get back to the store and explain to them that they owe you 100% satisfaction and get them to set it up by a luthier. I do not recommend to sand the saddle yourself.
If you haven't fixe this yet its super ez. 1 remove the strings 2 remove the saddle with a pair of plyers 3 mark with a pencil a straight line on the bottom of the saddle. I would recommend about 1/16 or less. This is the thickness of a penny or less 4 get some sand paper and a flat surface and put sand paper rough side up and sand bottom of saddle to your line 5 reinstall saddle and tighten strings. If you arnt happy make another mark on the saddle a do it again. I do this and dont suffer any in tone. Good luck.
This guitar always gets good reviews,but you really have to of owned one for a while .In my experience with this guitar within 3 to 4 weeks all the detail on the scratch plate was wearing off and one of the pins came loose and kept popping out because the wood housing the pin were to soft.also the top e string sucks.dont buy one they look the part but they are actually very poorly made.
I have had the Epi EJ 200 SCE in black with the cut away for about 7 yrs now and I love it. I don’t think you can get a better guitar in the $500-1000 range. Every time I’m jamming with friends everyone wants to take turns playing this guitar because it sounds better than theirs. Granted, no one in the jam has the Gibson original, but all of them are playing guitars in the $500-1000 range. So while the $5000 Gibson is superb, the Epi version is very good and costs 10 times less.
I buy the same shit box this summer the scale lenght is wrong the bridge supose to be at 25 .5 inch to the nut mind is at 25 1/4 and left to right the moustache is off 1/16 the head inlay is not in the center line the esonic 2 you need after each utilisation remove the battery because is drain it all after around 3 days and the groover tunning machine is fucking fake made in china is not a expensive guitar but is a real scrap
