Epiphone is making great guitars these days.  It could be argued that they’ve always made great guitars, but here in 2021 it seems like they’re making their best instruments ever.  This guitar, which sells for a mere $450, is a good value with one big flaw that can be fixed, but more of that later.  Let’s dive in.

The Good

The Gibson SG Standard sells for more than three TIMES the cost of this guitar ($1499).  And at $1,499, some players consider it a “budget” Gibson.  From a distance, the Epiphone SG looks almost identical.  It’s a very playable guitar considering the price range, and the Tune-O-Matic style bridge gives you the ability to easily set the action and intonation.  The finish on the Sparkling Burgundy model is killer.  Actually, it looks BETTER than a Gibson SG Standard.  The SG is known for sounding like a snarly Les Paul.

The Bad

Does this guitar snarl?  No.  It sounds like gargling with mud.  At $450, I wasn’t surprised that Epiphone didn’t put their good pickups (the ProBuckers) in it.  Instead, it uses the Alnico Classic Pro pickups, which to my ears sound muddy.  If you play blues, you might like them.  If you play rock, well… I’d recommend a pickup upgrade.  And that’s not cheap.

The Ugly

All you need to do is buy some Epiphone ProBucker pickups for it, and… oh, that’s right – Epiphone doesn’t normally sell the ProBucker pickups directly.  I once saw them on the Epiphone site for $180 for a pair, which is reasonable, but the last time I looked, they were gone.  Still, it never hurts to look.  OR you can buy yourself some Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates pickups, but a pair of them will set you back $240, half the price of the guitar.  It’d be nice if Epiphone had some better low end pickups, but they don’t.

Conclusion

Do NOT take my word for it when it comes to pickups – go try some yourself.  Also remember that your amp is like 80% of your sound anyway.  If there’s one thing I’ve learned on my YouTube channel, it’s that your amp is the most important part of your sound when it comes to gear.  You might buy this SG, play it through your amp, and think it sounds great.  If that’s the case, awesome.  If not, well… it’s the pickups.  If you don’t have the money now, swap them out later.  One at a time.  I look forward to seeing this guitar used for about $320.  At that price, I’ll snap one up.