Pros: Good playability and sound, great value. Close to a gibson, but a lot cheaper.
Cons: Unbalanced weight(neck is heavy), not great pickups.
The Bottom Line: I would recommend this guitar to anyone looking to get a quality entry level guitar or someone wanting to upgrade from their first guitar and stay on a budget.
link21886's Full Review: Epiphone SG G-400 Deluxe Electric Guitar
Overview
I purchased my Epiphone G-400 with the cherry finish from a local music store at the beginning of 㤌. The price was approximately $360, but I received a discount since I traded in some older equipment.
Because of its price, the G-400 can be classified as an entry level to mid level guitar. It is in the same price range as a Mexican Strat, but in my admittedly suggestive opinion (I’m definitely a Gibson person), it is a much higher quality guitar. Everything from the fast neck to the good tuning stability and reliable electronics just make it “feel right.” This is not to say it has no problems, but its faults are definitely acceptable considering the price tag.
Features
Electronics:
-Two Epiphone brand alnico humbuckers
-3-position switch (neck-neck/bridge-bridge)
-Four Potentiometers (1 tone and 1 vol. for each pickup)
-Standard output jack (located on front of body below neck pickup tone pot)
-Shielded electronics cavity cover
Hardware:(chrome)
-Standard Epi/Gibson style tuners / Grover tuners depending on individual guitar
(Note: Mine came with locking grovers stock)
-Tune-o-matic bridge
-white/black/white/black pickguard
Body/Neck:
-SG style body (pretty obvious)
-Cherry/Ebony finish (mine was cherry)
-22 fret set-neck with pearl trapezoid inlays
-Mahogany neck and body
-Abalone Epiphone logo and symbol on headstock
Playability
The Neck
Personally, I love the feel of a gibson neck. To me they feel much more substantial and more solid than a fender neck. However this is very subjective. The bassist in my band (a hardcore fender guy) hates the feel of this guitar just as i in turn (a hardcore gibson guy) can't stand his strat.
The neck on this guitar plays fast and feels great. The action was set up just right to fascilitate fast runs but still allow open chords to sound clean and sustained. However, if you don't like the factory setup its easy to adjust the screws on either side of the bridge to lower or raise the action (just make sure you tune down if you are raising the action as the increased string height increases tension and if high enough probably would snap your b or g string.) The frets on the neck are well polished and also play very well.
One nice thing about the H/H configuration is that your picking hand never gets slowed down by a middle pickup when you are playing. This used to drive me nuts on my fat strat copy because my pick would always somehow find its way to the raised middle pickup and throw off my concentration.
Tuning Stability
My G-400 has Grover auto-locking tuners on it and stays in tune very well. If I tune the guitar and pick it up a few days later its still perfectly in tune. I've heard bad things about the other setup for the G-400, that the standard epiphone tuners are not very stable. I believe the price is the same with either setup so if you can find one with grovers that would definitely be preferable.
Some drawbacks/hinderances to its playability
For those of you who like to use a toggle switch type tremolo on your guitars, the SG makes that a little difficult. Because of the placement of the switch near the volume knobs its hard to get that type of effect as easily as on a les paul. This really isn't a fault of the guitar (same design from the 60's), just something worth noting.
The above also applies to volume swells. Again, not really anything wrong with the guitar, just something i've noticed.
The body of this guitar is remarkably light so you won't have to worry about your shoulders being sore after a long gig. Now, after that praise, its time to note the one serious drawback that absolutely drove me crazy when i first started playing the guitar. Because the body is as light as it is, the neck greatly outweighs it. Be very careful when you are playing with a strap that does not grip well as if you let go of this guitar, it WILL nosedive, sending your precious beauty into the harsh reality that is the hardwood floor you will no doubt be playing on when this occurs(gotta love murphy's law).
Sound
Ahh sound, another suggestive issue as are most things related to guitar. As mentioned before, this guitar has two humbuckers made by Epiphone. Some people hate them, some people love them and I would probably be somewhere in between.
The neck pickup has a great warm, sustained, full but clean sound. It sounds great for jazz, clean or chorused riffs, and even a pretty good sounding acoustic simulation if you have the right EQ and amp.
The bridge pickup has a decent tone suited to everything from blues-hard rock. It has an ok sound, but really not great. If you are picky about your sound, you most likely will want to replace it.
At home I play through a really horrible practice amp and with my eq this guitar still sounds great. At practice/gigs I play a marshall 50watt and it sounds amazing on there.
Many people choose to put in different pickups which I will probably do in the future, but for now the stock pups are good enough.
Aesthetics
Some people say SG's are ugly, but I'm definitely not one of them. The transparent cherry finish looks great and lets you see the grain of the mahogany (something a lot of other entry guitar manufacturers are afraid to do because of the questionable quality of the wood).
The inlays also look amazing. The difference between mother of pearl and mother of toilet seat(inlays on some cheaper guitars) is very apparent. Overall, the guitar just looks like a quality instrument.
Durability
I'm very protective of my guitars and I haven't had this one for very long, but no problems yet. Everything works perfectly and the finish seems tough enough to not scratch/dent easily.
Customer Support
I've been told Epiphone has a good customer service department, but I've never had to use it so I can't verify that.
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