Thread: Epiphone Masterbuilt Series

Had an AJ-500R and to be honest with you a very nice guitar it was. The only problem I had with it was the bridge lifting on it and some other folks had similar problems with the bridge lifting in one of the corners. I ended up giving her to one of my students and he has played it like it was a old Martin ( played and not stored ) and a few other folks I know who have had one or the other all really liked theirs also, for the price and construction I don't think you can go wrong with one of these, just remember that once it cross's the border it carries only a 1 year guarantee.louis

Had one sounded great but did not like our Canadian winter at all

I regret not buying the solid back D-style they had at 12th Fret years ago. Simple, but beautiful sound. Bought a Guild jumbo instead which only has one volume level: loud.

When I was shopping for a new off-shore dreadnaught a couple years ago, both the Epiphone Masterbilt series and the Guild GADs were on the list to check out. I found the Epis to be merely okay, nothing bad but nothing that stood out in any way. Final purchase was the Blueridge BR-160. The Epiphones were a distant third out of those three brands. The only other guitar that came close to the Blueridge in my opinion at that time was an Aria AD-80.

I've tried several Epiphone Masterbuilt acoustics. They are beautiful, play well and I really like the finish. However, they are overbuilt and sound stiff. Given the price-point they are ok guitars. But don't kid yourself, they're not comparable to a high-end guitar.

Well after I saw a preview video on You Tube I was pumped to try a few and was excited when I found a few to try months later. I've only tried a couple and even then they may not have been the high end of the masterbuilt collection. My overall impression was that although they might be a step up from low end acoustics they still were not a great quality guitar. They had a plastic and cheap wood look and feel to them, they sounded dull and lifeless and I was pretty bummed about the whole experience honestly. I think you'd do better to buy a Seagull or S&P. You'd pay around the same a get a way better instrument.