Epiphone SG Special P-90 Sparkling Burg

Okay, let's be fair. I had the Gibson SG Special. I only sent it back because it was out of my budget. But there's just literally no comparison. The Gibson had a butter smooth action. Excellent hardware. Everything about it was perfect. The Epiphone Special SG pales in comparison. It just feels in another league. Yes, it's $1,000 less, but you can feel the difference for the $1,000. It feels like a mass-produced, cutting corners type of guitar. Any aspect you want to look at, from the tuners, to the neck, to the frets, to the pickups, the bridge especially, all just feels cheap. That's why it's $1,000 less. Plus, the one that I received had finish issues. There was a scratch on the back side and on the neck, there was a stain, a blemish. Unacceptable for a new guitar. And the intonation screws were basically falling out of the bridge. Nobody even bothered to screw them in. Obviously, the guys in China are on a clock to crank out guitar after guitar. And there was basically no setup…. hardly minimal. I tried to bargain with Thomann. They offered a €15 discount. So funny I forgot to laugh! To be fair, they're also on a budget. They don't check their guitars. They don't set up their guitars. They don't even unbox them and control them. They just pass them on. And therefore, pass the responsibility to the factory. Which I don't think is a great policy. Because other internet dealers, Sweetwater in USA, they look at every guitar and set them up. In this day and age where people need jobs, it would be a great idea if Thomann would pay people to open the boxes, do the quality control, and do a brief minimal setup. They'd get many fewer guitars returned. For a beginner, this is probably an okay guitar. You're not going to know the difference anyway. You might have to take it to somebody to set it up for you. Otherwise, it doesn't come close to the Gibson. Of course I sent it back. On that note… Take pictures of your guitar as soon as you take it out of the box, even take a video as you take it out of the box and control it because I sent back that Gibson I was speaking about. I didn't do anything to it. Then lo and behold, Thomann sent me pictures that I had made scratches and even a pretty deep ding, which I didn't do, but I had no recourse. So if you're going to send it back, do the same. Take pictures, take a video. that way nobody can accuse you of damaging a guitar. They charged me 200 euro for that. I'm still not happy about that.

The frets were still sharp on the ends so not smoothed, there were a couple of high frets, the bridge was set way high could not be adjusted for intonation on the higher three thicker strings for the higher frets. The bridge ran out of range and could not be pushed further forward for the low strings to intonate. Was bought for playing Paranoid which starts on the 3 low strings on frets 12 and 14. So had to buy a new better bridge. Looks the part but needs work to make it play. And on Gods Earth why those thick 10s strings??? The normal gauges for rock music and these guitars in particular is 9s down to 7s. The 9s are considered thick strings by rock guitarists standards.

The Epiphone SG Special P-90 in Sparkling Burgundy is simply fun to play. It is light, comfortable, and the neck profile makes chords and bends feel very natural. The P-90 pickups are the star of the show: they have a bright, open sound with plenty of midrange punch, so it cuts through a mix but can still clean up nicely with the volume knob. Fit and finish are very good for this price range, and the sparkling finish looks even better in person than in photos. It holds tuning well and feels reliable enough for both home practice and rehearsals. Overall, a stylish, no-nonsense rock machine with a distinctive voice.