Wow! I just purchased the eppie elitist byrdland from MF for 1759 and couldn't be happier...it seems gibson is forcing eppie to stop production of these beautiful terada made repros. Got it yesterday and can't stop playing!!
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Gibson forcing Epiphone? Isn't that one and the same company since 1957?
I understood that the Elitist were difficult to sell, because they were twice as expensive as the Korean Epiphones, like the Broadway etc.
Making them was a Gibson decision.
The only reason for Gibson to turn back the clock, is when there's no turnover or no profit made. That an Elitist could keep some customers from buying a Gibson USA had been calculated in before the decision was made.
Several players will ALWAYS buy a Gibson USA, no matter what.
A friend of mine had the top of the line Yamaha jazz box (L-5CES model) and it sounded better than a real Gibson L-5CES.
And look what he's playing now: a Gibson ES-335, a Gibson ES-175 and Gibson Tal Farlow.
He sold all of his Japanese jazz boxes, I think mainly because they told him that Gibson axes were a better investment.
For most of his Japanese axes I can confirm that the sound was less full than a real Gibson's, but I still find that he should have kept the oldest Yamaha.
That one beat an L-5CES of an American jazz player in my presence, but it had one issue: a deteriorated bound tortoise pickguard, which he had replaced by a custom made white pearl one. We picked up a NOS reissue from Taiwan in Belgium with a brand new pickguard. I would have switched them and kept the older MIJ axe.
The main points of this story is 1) to give an example that trying to sound like people like Wes Montgomery etc. leads to players who ALWAYS choose Gibson USA because "the master played Gibson" and 2) also to prove that MIJ jazz boxes CAN sometimes be better than a Gibson USA.
This of course nonsense for the laminated spruce tops of the Ibanez replica collection. But when the top was carved and tuned AND the pickups are really good, then the result CAN be as good as a real L-5CES.
Yes, I would have wanted that axe, but I guess it was part of a trade.
I never thought he could be convinced that he should trade it for a Gibson. That guitar WAS his sound, that's why we picked up a second one, just in case.
Btw, when we did, the seller showed us a REAL Gibson Byrdland Sunburst, which was NOT for sale.
Ginger
