▶▶▶ Epiphone Lefty Sheraton II Archtop Electric Guitar, Vintage Sunburst

Friday, September 24, 2010

Epiphone Lefty Sheraton II Archtop Electric Guitar, Vintage Sunburst

Epiphone Lefty Sheraton II Archtop Electric Guitar, Vintage Sunburst Review

NOTE: I purchased this product through a local guitar shop, so this review in no way speaks of the quality of delivery or customer service you would obtain ordering through this website.

A few weeks ago, I sold my Fender American Deluxe Strat. I wanted to replace it with something a little newer with a similar style. My other guitar is an Epiphone LP Standard with a gritty tone and great sustain that spends most of its time in Drop-C, so this guitar will mainly stay in standard/Drop-D tuning. My musical styles range from contemporary Christian/worship (Hillsong, Tomlin, etc.) to hardcore/metal (A7X, Atreyu, As I Lay Dying), so my guitars need to be diverse in their playstyles.

When I first got the guitar home, I noticed it was much taller than my Epi Standard. I had read online that it was heavy compared with guitars of a similar composition, but I'm used to solid-bodies, so it was actually very light despite the greater length. Reviews I've read say that it would be heavy to hold for a performance, but I disagree. If you're used to a solid body, it's very light and comfortable.

But I know that what everyone cares about is playability, so here goes. The first thing I noticed is the clean, beautiful tone that it produces even when unplugged. It's not a replacement for an acoustic by any means, but it's definitely worthy of being played unplugged for practice. Amped with clean settings, it has a very warm tone and produces a stronger output than either my Epi or the Fender with Noiseless pickups.

As for distorted/metal settings, it still has a strong, thick tone, thanks largely to the dual humbuckers which I find to be entirely adequate for all playstyles. It doesn't have great resonance and pinch harmonics are very finicky (read: difficult) with it, but it has good sustain for a semi-hollow body, and is definitely playable for a heavier style of music.

Overall, I have no complaints about this guitar. The strap attaches on the back of the body, which I'm not used to, but is comfortable after a minute or two of adjusting. For the money, this guitar absolutely shines, and for lefties, it's one of the few well-priced, well-equipped machines out there.