Epiphone ES-339 Semi-hollowbody - Vintage Sunburst Review

Best value in a semi-hollow guitar

I've had this guitar for around 6 months. It is a very comfortable guitar to play either sitting or standing. Pretty versatile in the tone department, although I always seem to drift into blues mode on the neck pickup. The bridge pickup can get a pretty good snappy tone, and the 2 combined can get some really good rhythm tones. I have to admit, I have not explored all the possibilities… read more with the individual volume and tone knobs and I'm sure to someone more familiar with the Gibson type array of controls the possibilities are endless. If you're thinking of getting into this style of guitar, this is a great place to start.

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Excellent guitar-Excellent value

I've had this guitar for about three months. There have been no issues at all. I was impressed initially by the fit and finish. It is truly a beautiful guitar. Once you get familiar with the controls there is a wide variety of tones available. I'm liking the middle position a lot...very crisp. The neck pickup sounds great both clean and overdriven...great blues tones. Haven't used… read more the bridge pickup much, to be honest. The neck is a good size. I have medium size hands and it fits well. I would certainly recommend this guitar to anyone looking for a good looking, sounding and playing guitar. It can cover a range of styles. The overall experience with Sweetwater was unlike any online music store I've experienced. The vintage sunburst finish model was not in stock when I ordered. Gregg Lanning touched base weekly and kept me apprised of any updates. I have since placed more orders with him. I have no reason to deal with anyone else (or any other company). The level of service was outstanding.

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Excellent Guitar

I just got this Epiphone ES-339 and here are my first impressions: First, I had the neck satinized at Sweetwater with a high quality aftermarket wiring harness installed by the Sweetwater techs. The guitar is pretty light and my first impression was that I'm not sacrificing any tone from it's larger cousin the ES-335. Overall, the fit and finish were perfect and after all that… read more travel, the guitar was only slightly out of tune. The pickups sound very good and it has that great middle position sound that you hear on 335s and that was one thing I was looking for. The tonal variety in all three switch positions is very impressive and that might be due to the custom wiring harness, but the stock pickups sound good. It's kind of a bright guitar, but rolling off the tone takes care of that. It does need a setup and the neck is a little dry, but some lemon oil will fix that. Still, right out of the box, it plays well -- I could gig with it, no problem. I'm going to replace the stock pickups with some Lindy Fralin Pure PAFs and I think that ought to complete this project. I'll say one thing, though: The stock pickups are really good and if you're a player on a budget, you won't need to replace them. For the price -- about 1/5th the price of a Gibson 339 -- you just can't go wrong. Epiphone is putting out a quality product and this guitar is a real keeper. Keep it stock or customize it like me, it's your choice, but either way, you'll like this guitar.

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339 Perfection

Was looking for a 339 size guitar, have a Gibson ES-335 and a Vintage brand VSA-500, both nice guitars. Read every review I could find on the Epiphone 339, most reviewers raved with only a few negative comments about the frets. Was a little concerned about how good it could be given the price point, but I didn't want to pay for a Gibson. Talked to my long time Sales Engineer… read more Yuval Fuchs's, and enquired about satinizing the neck and getting it PLEK'D. Yuval scored the guitar the day it became available and got the additional services done within (2) days. All that being said, the crew at Sweetwater did a great job, special Thanks to Ben A. It feels better than the Gibson ES that wasn't purchased through Sweetwater. So with the additional services, I have a guitar that's every bit as good, if not better than a Gibson at less than half the cost. Everything else about this guitar was flawless, couldn't find any issues. Special Thanks to Yuval for all his help. Purchased my first guitar from him in 2016 and have purchased a total of (8) guitars through him and have always received prompt responses to my e-mails and Great overall service.

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Great guitar

This is the first guitar that I've received through the mail that didn't some adjustments. The intonation was perfect the action was good and it sounded great. The reason I wanted this model was because of the c shaped neck. These are the new gibson inspired line . Where there going to the traditional neck profiles. All the epiphone models have d shaped slim taper necks.I know the… read more pro model does,personally I think model of guitar dosnt need a slim taper neck.I play a Gibson Les Paul and the neck is a little father on this guitar also the frets are wider. It's super comfortable to play! I don't want to say it but it's more comfortable to me then my les paul,but not by much. The build of the guitar is quality. It's got a really nice finish. I was worried that the neck was going to be super glossy and I was gonna have to sand it down,nope it's really Smooth! Plus it's got Grover tuners,and it stays in tune really well ! So you split the coils, personally I think that's over rated. If you want a es-339 inspired by Gibson,not epiphones idea of a 339 then go with this guitar it's got great tones and also sounds really good unplugged!

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