Epiphone SG G-400 Guitar

June 29, 2007 by Jo Minor 


If you have always dreamed of owning a Gibson SG, but just couldn’t seem to justify laying out the cash, you need to check out Gibson’s subsidiary company, Epiphone. Epiphone makes the same models as Gibson under Gibson’s supervision, and the Epiphone SG G-400 is just one of the many fine guitars they make.

The story of the SG line of guitars starts with the classic Les Paul guitars made by Gibson. These favorites are made with a single cutaway and usually a couple of humbucker pickups. When competition from Fender and other companies picked up, Gibson came out with a new version of the Les Paul that had two curved horns forming two cutaways. The guitar was hot and futuristic looking, but the only problem was, Les Paul didn’t like it and didn’t want his name on it. This was about 1961.

Since they couldn’t give it another Les Paul name, Gibson came up with the moniker, SG, which stands for “solid guitar.” The SG was a big hit. It’s a little lighter than the Les Pauls, so a lot of people prefer them.

When cheaper guitars began selling better than Gibson, Gibson acquired the Epiphone company for making a lower price line of their most popular styles. Epiphone had been around for many years. Many guitarists have found that Epi’s, as they are affectionately called, are just about as good as their Gibson counterparts, but at about a third of the price.

One way Epiphone saves money in the factory is by using a polyurethane finish on their guitars, as opposed to the nitrocellulose lacquer used in the Gibson factories. The poly is much less time consuming to apply, and therefore saves money, but a purist would say that the nitro produces a better sound.

The G-400 electric guitar was originally released by Gibson in 1962. It has a slim tapered neck made of mahogany. The Epi version, which is a faithful reissue model, retails for $499.

Advantages: The neck is slim and fast, and the fretboard easy to get around on, as well as easy to access because of the double cutaways. It’s also silky smooth. The SG G-400 makes a good growl when the tone is on the low treble setting. The humbucker pickups provide a thick, fat sound that fits the way a lot of rockers play. They are richer sounding than the single coil pickups some electric guitars are equipped with.

The guitar sounds good either distorted or clean. It’s a good choice for a beginner or intermediate, and some guitarists feel it’s even high quality enough for experienced pros.

The selector switch allows you to choose which pickups you wish to be using for a particular sound, so you have a certain amount of flexibility when playing this guitar. If you’ve ever played any of the Les Paul models, you will notice that the SGs tend to be a bit lighter. The Epiphone SG G-400 comes with a limited lifetime warranty against defects in workmanship or materials.

When compared to a Fender Strat (like comparing apples and oranges!) the Epiphone SG G-400 is much more capable of hard edged rock than the Strat.

Disadvantages: Most guitarists have found that the SG design is a little bit neck heavy, so that you have to hang onto the neck all the time with you left hand. This is not as much of a problem with some people as with others, but it takes a bit of getting used to for anyone.

The sustain isn’t the greatest, and you might want to upgrade the pickups if you are planning to do lead solos. One player found that the pickups produced a buzz when the guitar was not being played, unless the volume was turned all the way down. The factory set up is a little high, so you might want to have it lowered. Like any product, it’s possible you might get a lemon. Some buyers have had problems with the toggle switch, knobs and other features.

Specs:

  • Mahogany double cutaway body
  • Slim tapered, single piece, set mahogany neck
  • 24.75 inch scale
  • 1.68 inches at the nut
  • Rosewood fingerboard
  • Available in cherry or ebony
  • Black pickguard
  • Black numbered knobs with silver trim
  • Two tone knobs
  • Two volume knobs
  • Two Alnico magnet humbucking pickups
  • Chrome hardware
  • Tune-o-matic bridge
  • Available in a left handed model
  • Pearloid trapezoid inlays

Here’s an article, followed by a lot of comments, addressing the issue of making modifications to your Epiphone electric guitar in order to upgrade it.

For some basic info about the history of the Epiphone electric guitar manufacturers, check out this article.

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