Epiphone Vintage G-400 Guitar Review

Giboson's old SG guitars are legentary among both classic and newer hard rock and metal artists. The sound and style of the SG is virtaully unmatched, which is why it has remained popular from artists your parents listened to to artists you love today. Nothing quite gives the same look, feel, or sound as the SG style guitar. Epiphone, a duaghter company of Gibson, honors the original line of Gibson SG's with its own Vintage G-400 electric guitar. The aim is to provide all the essential qualites of the SG at a fraction of the price. Let's take a deeper look into how well Epiphone has accomplished this.

Features: The Epiphone Vintage G-400 is a solid body electric guitar with a body made of mahogany wood. It comes in two gorgeous finishes, termed by Epiphone Worn Brown and Worn Cherry. Both give a very vintage feel. The neck of the guitar is made of mahogany with a rosewood fretboard. The neck is set into the body of the guitar, and has crown pearl inlays. One feature unique to the Vintage edition is that the fret inlays also have a worn look to them. All of the hardware on the Epiphone Vintage G-400 is chrome. This includes the tuning heads on the headstock of the guitar, the Tune-O-Matic bridge, and pickup covers. This combines to make a very professional looking instrument. As far as electronics go, the Vintage G-400 has two Alnico humbucker pickups, and two volume & control knobs, with a three way selector switch.

Playability: The first thing you'll notice when you pick up the G-400 how light it is. The neck is actually heavier than the body of the guitar. To me, this felt a little weird. But that is a matter of personal preference. Additionally, as is commonly said about Epiphone brand tuning machines, the guitar tends to fall out of tune rather easily. What I like about it, though, is that the deep cutaways of the SG style crafting combined with the set neck allow for very good access to the higher frets and some wonderful sustain.

Sound: Staying true to the SG's original purpose, the Epiphone Vintage G-400 is definitely made to play music with heavy distortion. Its clean tones are OK at best, but if you are looking to make a serious investment in an instrument, this is nothing a pickup swap out can't fix.

Overall: If you are a decently experienced musician on a tight budget and love to play hard rock or metal, this is probably the guitar you are looking for. It can rip out some great distortion and has great sustain for screaming solos. If you'd like to make the Epiphone Vintage G-400 yours, you can find it at most music stores for around $300.