Epiphone Masterbilt Century Zenith Classic

Epiphone Masterbilt Century Zenith Classic

Subheader goes here...

By K.C. McCarthy

(Ed. Note: Craig, this is un-edited and exactly as submitted. I just added the info at the end in the Resources section, as well as the initial image... )

I un-boxed the sample guitar, and was immediately impressed by the case, of all things! Not that it has anything to do with the instrument itself, but it does say that Epiphone feels this new MasterBuilt line deserves a high quality case.

Out of the case, my first take was that the guitar's back looks better than the front - not that the 'natural' finish on the spruce top is bad at all, but the flame maple on the back is gorgeous! The headstock inlay work is pretty fancy, harking back to the Epiphone heyday of the 1930's, but the gem in the crown here is the ebony fingerboard...it just feels so silky.

The guitar arrived in tune, down about a half step, fairly impressive having been shipped from Nashville, Tennessee to Los Angeles, California. The pickguard is not installed, no big deal, but I think I will leave it off, as I am not a wild strumming kind of guy. Tuned up, a few strums. The G and B strings seem to ring out a bit more than the rest. Not a bad thing if you are playing in a 1930s big band setting.

As a benchmark for comparison, I used one of my 'go-to's, an Epiphone Performer ME A/E with a Shadow pickup/undersaddle [made in Indonesia]. The other comparison was to a Martin 000CXE, which sells closer to the price range of the Zenith.

I discovered one tiny, almost invisible, ding, where the binding meets the body on the upper bout...no doubt the reason this unit was designated to be put in the hands of a reviewer. It will have no effect on functionality.

Okay, the basic specs:

Laminated maple body, spruce top, ebony fret board with diagonal diamond inlays [they call them 'snowflakes', and, oddly, they are set two at the 3/5/7/9th frets and a single marker at the octave/12th fret], 20 medium frets on a 25.5” scale, 5 piece laminated mahogany/hard maple neck, 'C' shaped, a bit wider than one would expect, but not 'classical guitar' wide.

The body has a 16” lower bout, 11.6” upper bout, 9.4” waist, OAL a little over 20”, but is only 3.5” deep. This has a nice compact feel, and tucks in nicely against the body without that 'put a crease in your arm' feel of many large body jazz boxes and acoustics, feeling a bit more like a deep semi-hollow body. Electrically, this sports the new Shadow system, with the controls in the lower f-hole, and the battery and output jack in a unit on the lower back side of the guitar. This is a little hard to reach with the guitar strapped on, but it does make the guitar look less 'electrified' than having a big black plastic control/battery access panel on the wall of the upper bout, something we acoustic electric players have learned to live with over the past decades.

The process: acoustic comparison, recorded on a Tascam DR-05, then the electric comparison using a Fishman SA220 [set flat] and the rehearsal PA system of one of my project bands.

I took the opportunity to plug this through my lightly modified Fender Champion 600RI, which is always at the ready in my work room. Not a good idea. No matter what I tried, I could not get a 'creamy' tone, which I had hoped would be the result. On to the Fishman and the PA.

Acoustic comparison: The Zenith has a very forthrightly bright tone.. It is not over bearing, but there is nothing subtle about this guitar's tone or ability to project. It is not lacking depth or bottom, and it has that 'push' which may be great for playing fills and triads behind a horn section, however, I do not think this was is the intention of the designers. That strength, though, also has some drawbacks, as I find fingerpicking sounds rather unbalanced by comparison to both of the benchmark acoustics.

Electrically, the sound reproduction of the Shadow system is pretty accurate. The controls, so neatly tucked under the lip of the lower f-hole are somewhat challenging. There is no visual context, and not much 'play' from the center detent. The control wheels are also too close together in my opinion. I suppose after a while, one would get accustomed to the feel and position and develop the light touch required to make the volume control useful; I did not, however, master this in the time I have had the guitar. I found it extremely difficult to roll the volume up and down for soloing.

Through the PA, set totally flat, although the acoustic properties are there, the over all response seems somewhat unbalanced, and tweaking the controls failed to relieve that. I was unable again to achieve a warm, even sound. No matter what I did with the tone control, the bass was too deep, or the top end was too cutting on the verge of shrill. The center position seemed to lack any 'shaping'. Adding a DI box made no real difference to the instruments sound.

Some notes to the designers...this guitar just looks like it should have the split Frequensator tailpiece [in lieu of the trapeze], that 'radical' late 1930s design that helped distinguish Epi's of the era, and are still favored today on some Epi's; just a thought, considering how much this wants to evoke that era, and how well it does that visually. Also the plain Jane truss rod cover; couldn't you have an Epi emblem at least? A script 'Zenith' would have looked very 'high end'. Also. A pinned bridge base would have been a good addition, as floating bridges are inherently 'painful' to deal with.

I really wanted to fall in love with this guitar, but it isn't happening. The look and the feel had me at first sight, but it is like dating a super model with Marge Simpson's voice...you just can't ignore that sound. May I add that I have two Epiphone guitars that I really like, and sound remarkably good for inexpensive instruments made in varying parts of Asia, both of which I have gigged with for years: the aforementioned Performer ME, and an Alley Kat [Y2K issue, I was an early adopter]. So I am not biased against the Epiphone brand, nor offshore/Asian manufacturing in anyway. This is a great looking instrument, that feels good, but just doesn't bring the sound I was hoping to hear from it.

Let's also look at some realities. Epiphone wants over $700 for this guitar, and with the niceties, I can see some people paying that, but you are paying for a lot of nice window dressing, or the sizzle, not the steak. When you close your eyes...what you hear does not equate to what you expected. If you are looking for an instrument that will look great on stage, this is it! If you are looking for a guitar that will sound great on stage, keep looking.

Overall rating:

Appearance 4.5 stars

Sound 2.5 stars

Value: 3 stars

-HC-

(Ed. note: He said he's got some photos too, but he hasn't sent them yet... the one image is one I sourced from the Epiphone site. Also, in case you want to reference the De Luxe Classic review, here's the link:

http://www.harmonycentral.com/expert-reviews/epiphone-masterbilt-century-de-luxe-classic

- Phil)

Resources

Epiphone Masterbilt Century Zenith Classic ($1,232.00 MSRP, $739.00 "street")

Epiphone's product web page

You can purchase the Epiphone Masterbilt Century Zenith Classic at

Sweetwater

Musician's Friend

Guitar Center

Demo videos:

Masterbilt Century series overview

The Wild Feathers