Epiphone J-45?

For guitars of the straight waisted variety (or reverse offset).
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Larry Mal
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Re: Epiphone J-45?

Post by Larry Mal » Tue Jan 26, 2021 10:19 am

Yeah, I'm fairly new to the other guitar form factors also, and I feel kind of dumb about it. I have two 00 size guitars and had a third, and while I'm not all that bothered by any particular size, the smaller form factor is very pleasant. They also sound every bit as good as a dreadnaught just in different ways, and like I say, they record well.

You may also want to look into the 000/OM shape, which is slightly smaller than a dread, and fairly slimmer. I didn't love the 000 that I had, but I would buy another.

I mentioned the Guilds since American made Guilds can represent tremendous value, I bought a D-40 which is basically their equivalent of Martin's classic the D-18. I spent about half of what I would have spent on the Martin, and recently I had a trade offer for a D-18 so I went to a guitar store and played their D-18 to see if there was anything there I didn't already have, I concluded that there wasn't.

Guilds get a lot of love around here and in my mind for an all solid wood guitar they really hit the sweet spot (they also make models with arched and laminated backs that are very good).

They have a line of Asian made guitars that also look like good value for the money, but I'm not as familiar with their construction.

There's a lot of great choices out there for the $1000 that you have set aside for your budget.

Those Epiphones are all basically dreadnaughts, though.

Here's a little review of some Orchestra Model guitars, hope this might provide some insight.
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Re: Epiphone J-45?

Post by papa_hotel_delta » Sat Jan 30, 2021 5:14 pm

I've been looking for something I can set up and leave in open D, I have a serious hankering for a Vic/Van era Larrivee, but these inspired-by-Gibson J-45s are hard to ignore.

Sometimes there is a certain appeal to a guitar at a price point where I could just be careless with it.

I wonder if they are actually short scale as advertised, and I wish they made it in something other than SB.

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Re: Epiphone J-45?

Post by Dok » Thu Feb 04, 2021 6:31 pm

I've been really intrigued by those new Epi J-200 models. In listening to the recent "Wildflowers" reissue I've just been in awe of that acoustic guitar tone, which seems to have been a Gibson SJ-200. It would certainly be a nice contrast to my Martin CEO-7, which is a 00 style body. As others have said, though, it is really a crapshoot to buy an acoustic guitar without playing it first. It's also really tough to find a Gibson jumbo under $2k, and any of them that I did find would most likely be an online crapshoot as well! At least if I went through Sweetwater for one of those new Epiphones it could be returned, you know? Fuckin' guitars, man.
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Re: Epiphone J-45?

Post by kgbAttack » Wed Mar 24, 2021 1:26 pm

Today I was able to make an appointment at my local guitar store - In the Netherlands shops are still closed for walk-ins but you can arrange a visit. So I went and tried a bunch of acoustics:

Epiphone Masterbilt J-45
Epiphone Masterbilt Texan
Epiphone Masterbilt Frontier
Gibson G-45 Standard
Gibson J-50

With the J-50 being the outlier given its price tag (but played and sounded really good) I really liked the playability of Texan, the fretboard width is comfortable - honestly, all models were pretty comfy to play, I didn't feel any fatigue even though they're strung with 012" which is a gauge I would have never thought of playing.

While I really liked the look of the J-45, I admit I was pleasantly surprised by the G-45 Standard - it feels and plays really nice, is much lighter than the Epiphone, and it sounds really good, though obviously not as deep as the J-50, but good enough to my ears.

In terms of sound, I can't say I disliked any of them - I'll say that overall the one I liked the least is the Frontier, with too big a body for me and the sound didn't impress me.

I wish I could try a L00, but they're very hard to come around - and even second-hand their price point is quite high for what I need. The G-45 is, I think, the one I was looking for.

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Re: Epiphone J-45?

Post by Jonesie » Thu Mar 25, 2021 6:32 am

kgbAttack wrote:
Wed Mar 24, 2021 1:26 pm
Today I was able to make an appointment at my local guitar store - In the Netherlands shops are still closed for walk-ins but you can arrange a visit. So I went and tried a bunch of acoustics:

Epiphone Masterbilt J-45
Epiphone Masterbilt Texan
Epiphone Masterbilt Frontier
Gibson G-45 Standard
Gibson J-50

With the J-50 being the outlier given its price tag (but played and sounded really good) I really liked the playability of Texan, the fretboard width is comfortable - honestly, all models were pretty comfy to play, I didn't feel any fatigue even though they're strung with 012" which is a gauge I would have never thought of playing.

While I really liked the look of the J-45, I admit I was pleasantly surprised by the G-45 Standard - it feels and plays really nice, is much lighter than the Epiphone, and it sounds really good, though obviously not as deep as the J-50, but good enough to my ears.

In terms of sound, I can't say I disliked any of them - I'll say that overall the one I liked the least is the Frontier, with too big a body for me and the sound didn't impress me.

I wish I could try a L00, but they're very hard to come around - and even second-hand their price point is quite high for what I need. The G-45 is, I think, the one I was looking for.
I have a G45 Standard, and I can vouch that it's a great guitar. The electronics are fine in it (unoffensive, just not spectacular.) but the fit and finish on mine is great, and it plays and sounds great.

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Re: Epiphone J-45?

Post by Larry Mal » Thu Mar 25, 2021 9:38 am

The G series has been cancelled, so my advice is to grab one while you can before the prices begin to rise. I'm not sure what, if anything, Gibson will replace them with.
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Re: Epiphone J-45?

Post by Jonesie » Thu Mar 25, 2021 9:57 am

Larry Mal wrote:
Thu Mar 25, 2021 9:38 am
The G series has been cancelled
I know the G-Series had some controversial opinions, but cancelling them seems a bit much... Thanks, Obama.

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Re: Epiphone J-45?

Post by kgbAttack » Thu Mar 25, 2021 10:15 am

So last night I was thinking about this and by pure luck, I noticed that the guitar shop I went to had this model listed on Reverb at 15% off until today. So I called them and they confirmed about the discount - I went, picked it up and took it home ;D

I paid 1,050 € - without the discount, I would have probably gone for a used one currently on sale for 850€ but between the delivery and the fact that its top didn't look as nice, I decided to play safe.

Image

I love its sound, and it's really comfortable to play.

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Re: Epiphone J-45?

Post by Jonesie » Thu Mar 25, 2021 5:39 pm

kgbAttack wrote:
Thu Mar 25, 2021 10:15 am
So last night I was thinking about this and by pure luck, I noticed that the guitar shop I went to had this model listed on Reverb at 15% off until today. So I called them and they confirmed about the discount - I went, picked it up and took it home ;D

I paid 1,050 € - without the discount, I would have probably gone for a used one currently on sale for 850€ but between the delivery and the fact that its top didn't look as nice, I decided to play safe.

Image

I love its sound, and it's really comfortable to play.
Congrats on the new guitar! If yours is anything like mine it sounds great!

Image

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Re: Epiphone J-45?

Post by kgbAttack » Fri Mar 26, 2021 12:44 am

Jonesie wrote:
Thu Mar 25, 2021 5:39 pm

Congrats on the new guitar! If yours is anything like mine it sounds great!
Thank you!!! I love it so far. I will be curious to try and record with it, just to see how the pickup sounds.
Jonesie wrote:
Thu Mar 25, 2021 9:57 am
Larry Mal wrote:
Thu Mar 25, 2021 9:38 am
The G series has been cancelled
I know the G-Series had some controversial opinions, but cancelling them seems a bit much... Thanks, Obama.
hehe what do you mean by that?

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Re: Epiphone J-45?

Post by Jonesie » Fri Mar 26, 2021 5:39 am

kgbAttack wrote:
Fri Mar 26, 2021 12:44 am
Jonesie wrote:
Thu Mar 25, 2021 9:57 am
I know the G-Series had some controversial opinions, but cancelling them seems a bit much... Thanks, Obama.
hehe what do you mean by that?
I was trying to make a "cancel culture" joke, which apparently fell flat.

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Re: Epiphone J-45?

Post by seenoevil II » Sat Mar 27, 2021 8:03 am

Jonesie wrote:
Fri Mar 26, 2021 5:39 am
kgbAttack wrote:
Fri Mar 26, 2021 12:44 am
Jonesie wrote:
Thu Mar 25, 2021 9:57 am
I know the G-Series had some controversial opinions, but cancelling them seems a bit much... Thanks, Obama.
hehe what do you mean by that?
I was trying to make a "cancel culture" joke, which apparently fell flat.
Ooo, so you haven't read G-15's tweets yet? Yikes. I know Montana isn't the most progressive place, but c'om.
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Re: Epiphone J-45?

Post by spindizzy » Tue Mar 30, 2021 1:45 am

If you want a J-45 and don't want to spend Gibson money, my recommendation would be an Eastman e10SS.

https://www.eastmanguitars.com/e10ss

It will be a world better built than the Epiphone (I love Epis but their acoustics all sound a bit dead to me, possibly because of the finishes,) with full nitrocellulose and high quality woods. It'll probably be a bit better built ahn even the authentic new Gibsons.

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