Review of: Epiphone SG Special Guitar

by Brian Lamacraft

Tones
0%
Playability
0%
Hardware
0%
Value
0%
30
%
Overall

• Very attractive looking guitar
• Features two humbuckers for rock and roll sound
• Easy to pick up and play
• Lower cost instrument

• Missing some of the features of a full SG style guitar
• Not for advanced players

The Epiphone SG special is an excellent guitar that has almost everything at the regular Gibson SG does but at a lower price point. This is a very affordable guitar so it’s suitable for beginners as well as intermediate players or just anyone at that wants that SG sound. You will get a lot of value for your dollar when you purchase this instrument. It sounds and plays amazing.

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Full Detailed Epiphone SG Special Review

Gibson is a well-known guitar brand and they have many different models including the Les Paul, and another very popular guitar called the SG. This guitar is a rock and roll powerhouse and it’s perfect for many styles of music. 

If you’ve always dreamed of owning one but couldn’t afford it, Gibsons lower-cost brand Epiphone has a lot upgrade SG guitars that you’ll want to play. Here is my Epiphone SG special review, so let’s dig in and have a look at this instrument.

Epiphone SG Special Tones

This instrument will give you SG-like tones. The thing to remember that this is a basic beginner style guitar so it’s not going to have the full sound that the regular Gibson SG does but it does produce some very nice tones. 

This guitar is suitable for rock, blues, country, metal, and many other guitar styles. 

It’s simple to pick up and play and you will be able to get plenty of nice sounds out of it just not the full rich sound that the regular Gibson SG produces. 

Through a decent amplifier, I was quite satisfied with the sounds I was able to get out of this guitar and you will be too.

Epiphone SG Special Playability

This guitar is quite easy to play although you might have to set up the action a little bit when you get it out of the box because you’re going to want the guitar to meet your individual preferences. 

The neck on the guitar is nice and smooth and you can easily access the higher Frets thanks to the SG style cutaway. The perfect instrument for playing rhythm guitar as well as lead guitar and it excels in both categories. 

It’s also a little bit smaller and lighter than the Les Paul style guitar so it’s perfect for smaller players that want an easy guitar to play. 

Despite the lower price point, Epiphone has produced a nice beginners instrument that is much easier to play than some of the guitars you get from other manufacturers.

Epiphone SG Special Hardware

While this guitar has decent hardware, it lacks in a couple of areas. The main area that it lacks is it doesn’t have the extra tone and volume control that the regular Gibson SG does. This really isn’t much of a concern for beginner players because they’re not going to be as interested in their tone as someone that has been playing for a longer time. You still get a volume, tone control, and a pickup selector switch to switch from your neck to the bridge pickup and then back again.

One of the nice features on this instrument is called the KillPot. This saves you from having to flick your toggle switch back and forth to create various sounds which were made popular in the 1960s. This switch allows you to get to the effect switching your toggle switch back and forth while playing your guitar. 

There is also a Tune-O-Matic bridge to stabilize the tuning of the instrument. 

The pickups include a 650R humbucker in the neck and a 700T humbucker in the bridge which produces nice tones.

You also get the standard SG style pickguard to help protect the guitar from pick scratches.

Epiphone SG Special Value

In this Epiphone SG Special review, I also looked at the value of this guitar. For the amount of money you pay, you get very good value. Especially if you’re a beginner. 

This guitar will let beginners and intermediate players get a  lot of nice sounds out of their guitar without breaking the bank in the process. 

It could use a couple of other features but for the price you get more than some other lower priced guitars provide so this guitar has a high-value rating and well worth the price.

Who is the Epiphone SG Special Guitar Suited For?

Think of  Angus Young of AC/DC, he is a smaller player but has always preferred the SG style guitar. So if you’re a little bit smaller than average, this is the perfect guitar for you. This instrument is a lower cost guitar for a beginner or intermediate players. 

I wouldn’t recommend it if you have been paying for a few years as you will probably want a guitar that has a bit more. 

For the average beginner, this guitar is well worth it because it’s easy to play and sounds really nice at this price.

Epiphone SG Special Review: Build and Finish

This Epiphone SG special is built to a decent standard. 

The finish on this guitar is smooth and I didn’t notice any blemishes or other problems with it when I took it out of the box. It’s nice that Epiphone has designed these basic guitars to look as well as sound great. 

While this guitar isn’t built as soundly as a regular Gibson SG, you get a lot of value for your dollar since you’re only spending a couple of hundred dollars on this instrument. 

It has a mahogany body and the neck is made out of Okoume. You can get this instrument into basic finishes one is Cherry and the other is ebony.

Epiphone SG Special: Feel and Action

This guitar feels great when you play it and it’s going to be very easy to play for beginners. 

Since it is a smaller size instrument it fits in your hands easy and it’s not heavy when compared to other guitars such as the Les Paul. This makes this instrument perfect for younger players. 

The action on the instrument is set up quite nicely right out of the box but you may want to change this according to your preferences. 

Most beginners probably won’t have to change the action on the guitar but you can if you want by adjusting the bridge to lower or raise the string height to how you like it. Please see guitar professional if you don’t know how to do this because it can be tricky to do at first. 

You’ll probably want to go with a set of nine gauge strings because this will make it easier for you to play the guitar.

Epiphone SG Special: Overall Sound

The overall sound of this guitar is perfect for beginners or intermediate players. If you’ve been playing for a little bit more than that you might want a little bit more but this guitar is still quite nice-sounding despite the fact that it is very low cost. 

Most players will be able to get a wide range of tones out of this guitar and recreate the sounds of their favorite songs. 

The guitar will probably sound better with a decent amplifier which will further help enhance the sound and you might consider buying a couple of guitar pedals like a distortion pedal which will probably make this guitar sound a little bit better.

Conclusion

This concludes my Epiphone SG special review. You get value with this instrument and it is worth the small price that you’re going to pay. I was able to start playing the guitar right out of the box and it sounds pretty good. 

While it lacks the full Rich sound of a Gibson SG this is still a very nice SG style guitar which is going to enjoy playing. 

It has the sound that you’re looking for as a beginner or an intermediate player. You won’t struggle with this guitar to make decent sounds with it as you might with other beginner guitars. 

Epiphone has created a guitar that has great value and for that reason, I highly recommend it for beginners who want to start playing the guitar.

Image Credit:

Epiphone.com

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