
Posted on Feb 06 2012 03:35 PM
At one point I owned 3 of these, but I'm down to just 1. Here it is:
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=182242965123917&l=81d3685fe6
This one was a hardtail that I upgraded with a Bigsby B5 and vibramate adapter. SD PhatCat 90 in the bridge, and the stock pickup with a chrome cover from Phantom Guitar Works in the neck. I swapped out the tune o matic with a roller bridge version to work better with the Bigsby.
My other two were stock, with the Jag/Jazzmaster style trem. While I generally prefer that trem, with the Mach IV, I like the Bigsby better, can't really say why.
As far as sounds go, the neck pickup is great. It's a really nice, glassy sounding pickup, full without being muddy. Stock, the bridge is two single coils wired together to act as a humbucker. Literally two single coils next to one another, each with their own adjusting screws. The two newer ones with the surf trem had a push pull tone switch to disengage one of the two, so you could get a normal single coil sound.
The one I kept was purchased in 2000, before they started having the coil tap option. The stock pickups have a magnetic bar underneath the bobbins to boost the output. When I went to look under the hood on this one after 11 years to see about installing a push pull switch for the bridge "dual single coil", the bar and pickup fell apart - the glue that had kept them attached had dried out. So I just said to hell with it and installed the Phat Cat, which sounds AWESOME on this guitar.
The neck is 24 3/4" scale, with a very, very flat radius (14" I think). Finish work/details is what you'd expect from an Epiphone, and unless I am mistaken, these are actually made in one of the Korean factories that Epiphones are made in. Nothing to complain about really.
On mine, the racing strip stops on the front of the guitar, but on the newer ones, it continues down the side, but stops before the back.
The "surf trem" on the two I sold was fine, but seemed a bit stiffer than the Japanese Fender offsets I'm used to. Strung up with flats or rounds, they sound good either way.
Also, Chris Dipinto and his wife Sophie are very pleasant to deal with when calling the shop to place an order or ask a question.
I'm working off of a lot of caffeine and not much sleep, so I might be overlooking something, but off the top of my head, that's my review for now I guess.