Members Glenn F Posted January 14, 2010 Members Share Posted January 14, 2010 Hey all, Went down to my local shop this afternoon, to satisfy my curiosity regarding a few guitars it had listed on its website. Epiphone Masterbilt EF500M. Ok, this was my first experience with a Masterbilt. The strings were dead, and the guitar seemed to be a bit dry. However, it is a solidly-built guitar, the tone was ok (for dead strings) and it projected throughout the guitar department. The neck is a bit too chunky for me. I give it 3.5/5. Epiphone Masterbilt AJ500M. Although I am looking for a 000-sized guitar, I had to try this, too, given all that I've heard about Masterbilts. Different tone from the EF, obviously. Again, dead strings, but you could tell that there was a really deep bass waiting to jar your bones, and I may well have gone for it, had I wanted a dread/jumbo. Just looked at the site; they sold this one after I played it, this afternoon. Someone was watching me play it. Hmmmmm..... I give it 3.75/5. Martin 000-M. Nice. I think the newer models have the stratabond neck? This didn't, and the grain on the top had a sort of a wavy texture. I know it's been in the shop for a while. Again, probably not enough humidity. Again, dead strings. However, it played very easily, and would've been the guitar I would've wanted to walk out of there with. I didn't. 4/5. Cort Luce 450M. This is the little, inexpensive, all hog guitar that I was, um, pining for around Christmas. It was a bit of a let-down. The nut wasn't cut well, and the guitar didn't intonate well. On the chords I played when it wasn't going out of tune, it sounded pretty good. I expect a good luthier would be able to improve this guitar significantly. For the money, it is hard to ask for a lot more, and expecting it to stack up against a Martin is unrealistic. 2.75/5. Furch V-OM34SR Vintage: This was the most expensive 000 guitar that I played. It was ok, but I still remember one of the shop's salesherrs telling me about problems with too thin woods, a problem that was also corroborated by a HCAG luthier. It cost Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members gitnoob Posted January 14, 2010 Members Share Posted January 14, 2010 That's surprising about the Furch. They're sold as Stonebridge here, and they get a lot of love. Too bad about the Cort. Great specs and great price. I've heard the same complaints about others in the LUCE line: poorly cut nut and not-so-great fret work. Eastman FTW! Looking forward to your review. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Glenn F Posted January 14, 2010 Author Members Share Posted January 14, 2010 Re: Furch: yeah, I know. There's likely to be some truth to this, though, since I was told this by one of the sales staff (at a shop not renowned in my book for honesty, lol) which was corroborated by, I think, Gary Palmer, here. I am looking forward to getting my hands on the Eastman. It truly looks gorgeous! Too bad I'm a Taurus! Cheers, Glenn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Danner Posted January 14, 2010 Members Share Posted January 14, 2010 I hear you about the dead strings. At out guitar store, they run the gammit from bright and new to flat dead. And I think this is a big problem in choosing a guitar. Also, why Gibsons get the "variability" issue, and Yamahas get so much praise. I could go on, but you get my drift. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members andy thompson Posted January 14, 2010 Members Share Posted January 14, 2010 Ahh, love reading first hand reviews. Stonebridge/Furch info www.guitars.co.uk or Richards guitars. The specs on Masterbilts confuse me, 1 7/8 or 1 3/4 depending on what you read. Only heard sound clips of them and they seem...urgent?...responsive? an ideal opposite of my laid back S&P S6. Wanna try the rosewood/cedar but they are 100 miles away. Blueridge, well that gets me dreaming, BR 163 is Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members andy thompson Posted January 14, 2010 Members Share Posted January 14, 2010 I hear you about the dead strings. At out guitar store, they run the gammit from bright and new to flat dead. And I think this is a big problem in choosing a guitar. Also, why Gibsons get the "variability" issue, and Yamahas get so much praise. I could go on, but you get my drift. Yeah, precisely, Im no player, just an avid practicer with a penchant for tone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Glenn F Posted January 15, 2010 Author Members Share Posted January 15, 2010 Whats wrong with a taurus? Bull in a china shop, impulsive...dunno..? It means I have to wait until May! I've already used up the 'early birthday present' gambit. Yeah, it is definitely hard to judge a guitar with dead strings on it. To the shop's credit, they'll put new strings on any guitar I take a genuine interest in, but I was only reconnoitering yesterday, and so didn't take up the offer to have new strings put on the Martin. The Masterbilts would've been a lot better, too, with new strings. Off my list, though, because I prefer a narrower neck profile. Cheers, Glenn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BLUtunes Posted January 15, 2010 Members Share Posted January 15, 2010 When I was shopping for an OM-size guitar last year, I did find that you didn't really hit the "sweet spot" until you got into the Martin price range. The OM-21 (or the 000 equivalent) is a very nice guitar, and is pretty much the standard bearer for small body, fingerstyle guitars, IMHO. In terms of tone and playability and build quality, this should be the guitar that you want to use to compare others against. Of course, there will be some that you might like better, but they will usually be even more expensive. (I played a Martin custom shop OM in Claro Walnut that definitely had something very special going on - but it was well beyond my price range.) And you can sometimes find deals if you look around. For me, the goal was to find one that I liked AT LEAST as much as the OM-21, that was in my budget. Personally, I managed to get a really good deal on a (supposedly) used Larriv Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members OldGuitarPlayer Posted January 15, 2010 Members Share Posted January 15, 2010 Funny about dead strings on the Masterbilts. I tried one 3 years ago (I can't recall the model) and the strings on it where dirty, dead and "crusty".... About a year later I also tried the 12 fret slot head one that's been discontinued...same thing. They didn't sound too bad considering but felt terrible to play plus I just can't get into the V neck... Thanks for the review. I managed to try out the new (Chinese) Epiphone Texan re-issue and it's very nice indeed. Had a real nice feel to it and I liked the neck and fretboard. Nice tone too. Really nice for fingerstyle blues or Doc Watson type of stuff. It's too bad they put those cheap plastic white button kluson style tuners on it. If I bought that guitar I'd swap them out right away for a set of sealed grovers. I am not that much of a purist. They want $600 for it here in Canada. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Elias Graves Posted January 15, 2010 Members Share Posted January 15, 2010 The Eastman guitars are very impressive. I want this one... EG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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