Epiphone Masterbilt Excellente Review

Amazing guitar!!

Well..after buying the IBG Hummingbird which l absolutely love... I had to get an "Excellente" and lm seriously happy l did..personally l do not like the "artwork" on either pickgaurd, l find it downright ugly, l don't understand why they would use such quality wood and then slap a huge thick gummy pickgaurd right on the sound board of the guitar?¿? and l can't help but wonder… read more how much better would the tone be with a thin coat of nitro or better yet..varnish! These are my only concerns or questions about the guitar..it sounds and plays fantastic. For one issue l did order a Bruce Wei dark rosewood pickgaurd without artwork that will be ebonized before I install it, at that time it will get a set of Elixer nano's, I will say the action is perfect on the guitar for me, med/low..much better than the Hummingbird ( which was purchased locally..no fault of Sweetwater!) which will only be remedied with shaving the bridge saddle. Nich at Sweetwater was amazing with frequent updates on the status of the guitar prior to shipping! Thanks Nich!

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The Excellente

First off, the specs are wrong folks. Just about every website you go to calls out the inlays as "Perloid" when we all know is a fancy word for crap plastic. They are not plastic, they are Mother of Pearl. I personally confirmed this with Gibson, who confirmed it with the Epiphone Engineering team, as well as the factory. I have it in writing. Now, on to the guitar itself. It is… read more incredible, and I mean incredible. You could not get me to touch an overseas guitar until 2 things happened: 1. Solid woods were deployed with an actual build quality 2. Prove you're worthy of my hard earned money Epiphone has accomplished this. I wouldn't touch Epiphone prior to the "Inspired by Gibson" and this "Excellente" to which I now own the Epiphone Inspired by Gibson Hummingbird as well as this Epiphone Excellente. Both guitars are just killer as far as sound and build quality are concerned. If they skimped, I can't find it. The Excellente is a step above the Hummingbird and I don't mind saying that. You can't go wrong buying this guitar. The only thing I'd do different is to remove their pickup system. When I said they didn't skimp on these, I meant on their construction. The pickup system should either be removed or replaced, to which Sweetwater will surely do for you at a reasonable price. Again, this Excellente is bad to the bone friends! I did a review of it at: https://youtu.be/JFdOWLAIH7I Thanks, Randy Cox

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Love this guitar:)

Been playing my new Epi about a week now and she's super fine;) Really solid, feels well built. Plays easy and spot on intonation out of the box:) It sounds really great plugged in too. This guitar is such a looker as well, feels like I'm in the 70s lol Neil Young keeps asking me to borrow it but I told him no…

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Worth the wait!

I was searching for a new acoustic, and when the Excellente appeared in Sweetwater's catalogue, I knew this was what I was looking for. It took a while to pull the trigger on the purchase, only to realize they were on backorder. OK, my Epi Bonamassa V was worth the wait, I'll take a chance. I bundled the Excellente with an Epi eDread case. I couldn't be more pleased with both… read more products. My guitar does NOT have thick, plastic like polyurethane. It is a thin coating, with a flat matte like sheen. The guitar looks incredible, plays great, & sounds 'excellent' plugged in or unplugged. Fishman electronics sound great through my tube amps as well. Thank you, Jordan! I am, once again, well pleased! Trust Sweetwater, they deliver the goods!

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This sounds and feels like a $ Acoustic!

First off the guitar is absolutely beautiful. The mother of pearl, ebony fretboard, the spruce top looks like a one piece. It's very well crafted with tones you can get are clean bass and really clean crisp highs. Every note rings and the sustain is really good. The action on mine is perfect with no buzz anywhere. Sweetwater does it right. Keep in mind, everyone has a preference… read more in how their guitars are set up. Set up is the most important. I purchased mine with the Epiphone case to protect this beauty. This guitar should be a lot more money for what you get. I don't like talking about big brand companies and I own plenty. It's all opinions and tastes, and what you want out of guitars. I always say check it out for yourself, and don't listen to anyone making your purchase decisions. You are the one that has to play it. All I can say is that I'm incredibly happy with my Excelente and I would recommend it to anyone.

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