Like the Epiphone AlleyKat and the FlameKat, the WildKat features the small semi-hollow body. And they’ve added two Alnico V P-90s for classic tone and now featuring a Licensed Bigsby Vibrato. What a sound! The WildKat also features a set maple neck, a flame maple top, and a mahogany body.
Pickups: 2-Alnico-V P-90’s
Hardware: Chrome
Scale: 24.75 in.
Nut Width: 1.68 in.
Neck: Set
Neck Mat: Maple
Fretboard/Inlay: Rosewood/Block
Body Mat: Mahogany
Top: Flame Maple
Tailpiece: Bigsby
  |
Very good to excellent P90 tone. The sound brightened up considerably when the polepieces were raised and balanced, as is typical with P90s and other pickups.
The tone quality really jumped when I replaced the aged (blackened) strings with 11-50s.
Nice fat P90 sound, ballsy on the neck pickup lower strings (no mud). No need to change the pickups out.
I found out the (unpotted) P90s squeal when switching effects. This is not normally a problem for me, since I don't use overdrive, but I may pot the pickups anyway, to eliminate any microphonics.
Made in November of '03 (bought at Daddy's Junky Warehouse sale for $320, because it has a postage-stamp-sized stain under the finish on the upper bass bout).
Flamed Antique Natural top with Mahogany sides and back, Grover tuners, Bigsby, and "Designed-by-Gibson" P90s.
Everything you need.
Excepting the one blemish, was virtually perfect (I lowered the nut on the top two strings a bit). Neck is arrow-straight, fret ends smooth (actually rounded). Bridge was properly located and nut spacing correct (unlike a Casino I tried recently).
No experience with this guitar. My experience with Gibson has been very good overall (mostly excellent; a little bad).
JackGuild (09/23/2005)
Great tone for an Epiphone! Very versatile. A cross between an SG Junior and an ES-330 or Casino. Epiphone P-90s are definitely better than Epiphone humbuckers. The master volume is very useful; All the way up and you get a mild overdrive, or you can turn it down and get a very clean and jazzy tone. 7 or 8 is the sweet spot ? You get a blues tone that slightly breaks up when you really nail the strings. You can back off each pickup?s volume to get a little more brightness, or put them all the way up to darken the tone. The tone knob doesn?t do a whole lot?I would change the tone capacitor or completely replace the pot.
2003, Korean made, 22 fret, plywood top w/ flame maple veneer, volume for each pickup, master tone and master volume, two single coils (Epiphone Alnico 5 P-90s), passive, low grade mahogany body with ribbon mahogany veneer on the back, maple neck, clear gloss polyurethane finish, thinline body style, tune-o-matic w/ Epiphone Bigsby, Grover tuners, 24 3/4" scale, jumbo frets, ebonized rosewood fingerboard, thin, fast neck, comes with short junky cable, case is $70.
This is Epiphone?s version of a Thinline style guitar. It is not a true semi-acoustic with bent sides: It?s a solid body that has been routed out about ?? from the edges except for a solid area from under the bridge rearward and the areas under the master volume and pickup switch. Both pickups are floating over air, though, not set into solid wood.
No case (like all Epiphones except the Elitists and John Lennon/John Lee Hooker models), no pickguard, and master tone control instead of one for each pickup, so it gets a 7, which is still good. But it does come with Grover tuners and a very useful and uncommon master volume control (some old Gretsches had it), so that brings the score up two notches…pretty danged good for a Samick-built guitar.
This guitar has a great neck that is good for bending and left hand vibrato (a la Mr. Soul by the Buffalo Springfield), and is a natural when it comes to chunky rhythm. The fretboard is ebonized rosewood. I would prefer the frets to be lower and more flat, but hey, that?s just my preference. The neck shape and fret width used by Epiphone is much more to my liking than the new Gibsons, however. It comes with 9s, like 99% of new guitars, but I think it would play even better with anything up to 13s. I have a custom set of .011" to .054" Gibson strings on mine, although all my other guitars have Ernie Ball skinny top/heavy bottom except my Strat, which has .015" to .062". I think I like the Gibson strings better, actually, so I might start using them on my other guitars as well. It is still great for lead, even with these relatively heavy strings. Switching to heavier strings really brings out a much better tone from the woods and pickups, and makes the guitar noticably louder and more stable as far as tuning goes.
Epiphone?s quality control is inconsistent. With Epiphone, one guitar can be a hot rod off the line with no visual defects, and the next will be unplayable with messed up binding or finish imperfections. They are not usually horrible, however. I got a great one with only one slight flaw: A little bit of the mahogany stain bled onto the maple top by the neck joint. It took me a day of ownership to even notice it. It was also set up just fine in stock form. I was able to lower the action a lot thanks to the heavier strings. It's still an Epiphone, but it's a killer Epiphone the way I have it set up right now.
The vibrato arm looks really cool, but isn?t extremely useful for the stuff I play. Unfortunately the only way you can get this body style with P-90s is with a vibrato arm. One thing I?m upset about is that the picture on Music 123's website, and on the Epiphone website shows ?Bigsby? on the vibrato, but the vibrato on the actual guitar says ?Epiphone.? I don?t know if it?s specially made by Bigsby for Epiphone, or if it?s an Epiphone copy of a Bigsby. Whatever it is, they should sell exactly what the picture shows.
The finish is very nice for an Epiphone. The ribbon mahogany veneer on the back is a little cheesy because it doesn't match the sides and is very obvious, but you?re the only person who sees the back. Also I could do without the yellow tinted polyurethane on the natural finish model. I prefer a pure clear finish on a natural finish guitar. I?m splitting hairs here?this guitar looks AMAZING! It gets tons of compliments and lots of looks.
No experience with them. 1 year warranty on defective materials, void if modified in any way.
Keith (12/22/2003)
|
Get ready for some serious Twangin’ up ahead, because this stylish guitar has the vibe and tone that will make you dancing the Twist until 2 a.m. Don’t let the price fool you, because these are serious professional guitars with such features as newly designed Gretsch dual-coil pickups, adjustable bridge, chrome-plated die cast tuners, and wicked cool colors!
Model Number: 250-5811-(Color#)
Series: Electromatic Collection
Category: Hollow Body Guitars
Bdoy Style: Single Cutaway
Scale Length: 24.56 in. (624mm)
Top: Laminated Maple
Bracing: Parallel Tone-Bars with Sound Post
Back and Sides: Laminated Maple Body, 16 in. Wide, 2.75 in. Deep
Laminated Maple Body, 16 in. Wide, 2.75 in. Deep
Neck: Laminated Maple
Pickups: 2 Chrome Covered Dual Coil Humbucking Pickups
Pickup Switch:
3-Position Toggle:
Position 1. Bridge Pickup
Position 2. Bridge and Neck Pickups
Position 3. Neck Pickup
Controls: Volume 1. (Neck Pickup), Volume 2. (Bridge Pickup), Master Tone, Master Volume
Width at Nut: 1-11/16 in. (43mm)
Fretboard: Rosewood
Bridge: Rosewood Based Adjusto-Matic Bridge
Tailpiece: Bigsby Licensed B60 Vibrato Tailpiece
Hardware: Chrome-Plated
Finish: Gloss Urethane
Case: Optional G2162 Gig Bag, P/N 0996458000
NO. of Frets: 22
Machine Heads: Chrome-Plated Die-cast Tuners
Unique Features
Neo Classic “Thumbnail” Inlay Position Markers
Black Headstock Overlay
Pearloid Gretsch and Electromatic Headstock Inlays
Bound Top and Back
Bound Fingerboard
Clear Plexi Pickguard
Knurled Strap Retainer Knobs
Adjustable Truss Rod
|
As beautiful a Gretsch sound as a person can expect. Whether you play blues, country, rock or jazz, the 5120 will knock the crap out of virtually anything else out on the market. I play mine either through a Fender Stage 112 or the Line 6 Duoverb(2×12). Either way, it sounds truely amazing. I am presently gettting a tiny bit of string buzz midway down the neck on the G string, so a minor set-up of the bridge must be done.
For the price, these Gretsch 5120's cannot be beat. True Gretsch sound delivered through a pair of Gretsch humbuckers. The superb playability is enhanced by the thin neck. And how can you beat the beauty of the 5120 in Vintage Orange, As other reviewers have mentioned, the only negative that I have is with the quality of the tuners.
The guitar was professionally set-up by the dealer. It arrived at my doorstep ready to play. As mentioned aerlier, the slim neck was one of my favorite pluses to this fine instrument. The woodgrain is so sharp on the orange body that it makes for an appearance of a $3000 guitar.
Well, Fender and Gretsch would not have been around this long if it weren't for customer service and, most importantly, quality.
G. Meilleur (08/26/2007)
When I first had it, thought it was pretty cool sounding. Then, bought a Ibanez RG350MDX, a Hagstrom F20T, an Epiphone Les Paul Standard Plus a Rogue Triple Lipstick and finally got an older Samick Strat copy H-S-H in mahogany that I restored and I quickly found the Grestch sitting on it's stand all the time. It just didn't have the kick I was looking for.
Finally bought a Digitech GTX3000 and pumped the Greatch through, WOW, new guitar. Can replicate that Dire Straits sound and a lot of others. Makes those humbuckers shine. No wonder so many posts talk about changing out the pickups. But I had to spend a few hundred more to get it to sound right?? Come on…
It plays nice – it sounds stable – has a pretty good blues sound – does everything nice. Just nice. I find it to be a great beginner guitar, (even for $500), but now that I am starting to make the transition to more difficult playing, I just don't get the sounds or kick out of it anymore unless I am willing to pump it through my Digitech.
Never really got a handle on the wiring of the sound and volume knobs – actually downloaded the diagram, but you find yourself fiddling with knobs until you just get disgusted and turn everything on full and use only the master volume. I understand what knob does what, but they interact. Confusing at best. And no numbers or indicators on the knobs, you never know where you are. I know that there are some great blues sounds on those pickups if you can find the right arrangement of the knobs. Why not put at least Volume and Tone on the doggone knobs?? I've thought about taking the old Les Paul tophats I took off my OLP 6/12 and put them on this Grestch so at least I know where I am at!!
Overall, kind of like a typical four-door sedan. Nice, gets you there, but nobody remembers it.
Mine is the standard limited in black, with the clear pickguard. All the standard features, no reason to repeat them here after over 40 reviews.
Twin humbucker, so on and so on.
Flawless finish!
No bridge problems like many others.
Bigsby is the only tremelo that keeps tune, including my Edge on my Ibanez. The Bigsgy is the best.
Action was too high, had to make truss rod and bridge adjustments. Took the strings to 10 GHS boomers, made it louder and better. Intonation is a breeze since the bridge will move, but on the other hand, it will move! But my playing style has a couple of fingers on the pickguard and my picking is above that, so I don't get close to the bridge. The oversized fretboard was nice when I was a total beginner, now I am favoring more of a traditional 43MM electric fretboard.
Still, neck is OK, little thick but hey, this is a big ole' country guitar, in essence, so the neck is wider, hence has to be a little thicker.
Have noticed that after a few months, a bit of slop has come into the mechanisms of the tuners. I tune up before I play each instrument, so I can see it getting worse.
Fit and finish is flawless, and the set neck where the bonding color meets the back neck color is perfect in every sense. The back shines like a mirror, and a little Skank juice and a soft cotton cloth can make this unit shine like the sun.
I don't mind the clear pickguard, but it does get fingerprints on it fast, and you cannot get the dust off the backside without taking it off. Wish it was a color of any sort.
Overall, for a Korean made $500 guitar, not bad, but there is better out there.
Never dealt with them. Bought it from GC, who I am officially finished with save for looking at units for evaluation. There is no such thing as a "new" guitar at any GC store in this country, unless you pry one from a box in the back, and I've never had that happen.
At least from the online stores it's new, and you can set it up at your pleasure.
Also, their pricing is getting to be strange, sometimes higher than I like. Plus, places like Music123.com routinely offer you a one year additional guarantee for pennies, and you save the tax.
The Grestch company on the other hand, I have no experience with. They might be the greatest in the world.
Tennessee (10/01/2008)
|
