NGD -- Epi 50th Anniversary Sheraton

[midwayfair]

I was pretty set on getting a Casino, but I couldn't bond with the playability of one. Then I ran across this on Craigslist. It plays perfectly and sounds spectacular.

I used to have a particularly good Korean Sheraton II from 1997 that I sold when we were saving up to buy the house. This is many times the guitar that one was.

Plus it's red. That makes it go faster.

[jimilee]

Vroom vroom.hows the new room working out?

[midwayfair]

hows the new room working out?

Very nice! Still need to decorate more, but I have obtained some stuffing for the ceiling. Work in progress still.

[jimilee]

Great to hear.playing guitar without the cops showing up is a luxury for us homeowners anymore.

[pickdropper]

I need a semi-hollow or hollowbody.  I miss my old Ibanez Artstar 120.

[midwayfair]

I need a semi-hollow or hollowbody.  I miss my old Ibanez Artstar 120.

Apparently this disease is communicable (I caught it from the 335 thread on BYOC).

[alanp]

Plus it's red. That makes it go faster.

Not quite... it's too tidy and beautiful to be proppa orky (/wh40k)

Lovely looking thing. Picked up a Vintage LP yesterday, new guitars are always fun, finding out what you can get away with on them

[pickdropper]

I need a semi-hollow or hollowbody.  I miss my old Ibanez Artstar 120.

Apparently this disease is communicable (I caught it from the 335 thread on BYOC).

It was made worse this week when a friend of mine bought a 1964 Gibson ES-330.

[whitebread47]

Nice NGD!  I typically don't like red anything, but it's a rather charming hue on hollow bodies.

I've longed for something like this for some time, but have not been able to physically get along with the ones I've played (Dot, 339, & Casino thus far).

[jubal81]

That's just stunning! Congrats & play it in good health.

[gingataff]

Very pretty, looking forward to hearing her in your demos.

[T_MBaker]

Gorgeous guitar!!

I was eyeing off a 50th Anni Sheraton with the tremotone yesterday.
Unfortunately, common sense took hold.

How do you like the mini humbuckers?

[pryde]

She is nice midwayfair. Are the Sheratons MIJ? 

[midwayfair]

She is nice midwayfair. Are the Sheratons MIJ? 

It's unmarked, but I'm fairly certain it's MIC. The 50th anniversary ones seem to really be a cut above ... I've played several American Gibsons with far more flaws than this one. The quality is definitely much higher than the Sheraton IIs and higher than Squier's Vintage Vibe series (both of which are very good MIC contruction). The neck is quartersawn, with basically perfect grain. There's a single 1/4" knot on the neck but I can't find any flaws in the grain otherwise. The maple top isn't AAA by any means, but it's not sloppy either (and they simply wouldn't have been given any wood for construction that could pass as AAA in this price range). The binding is almost perfect: There is maybe an 1/8" at the very end on either side of the neck where the red dye bled over, but so far as I know this is normal. There's no bubbling in the finish anywhere. The electronics are solid.

Honestly, after playing this ... I knew Korea had basically caught up to non-boutique MIJ guitars, but if there are factories in China that can produce stuff like this in quantity (in addition to the other "high end" Epiphones and the VV Squiers), then China's not too far behind. Of course "in quantity" and "consistently" are the real tricks here. The 50th anniversary guitars weren't massive quantities. Someone on BYOC said it was less than 2000 of each model.

How do you like the mini humbuckers?

Love them! I like them much better than full buckers. They're brighter than PAFs even, almost like single coils (in fact, the neck is brighter than my strat's N+M position), but still with a lot of the throaty midrange of buckers. And the output is only slightly hotter than my strat (about on par with my tele with Kinman Broadcasters). It's nice not to have to change up any gear. I'm not even sure I'll want to put a treble bleed on this.

[GhostofJohnToad]

Nice!  That has a really interesting bridge...