Fancy an Epiphone dot studio

[Greggo]

As above, seen one of these in a local music shop (well two in fact - one is satin ones gloss). Didn't have chance to play but will as soon as I can.

Anyone got any thoughts or experience on these? I want something with humbuckers on to compliment my other guitar (a squier cv telecaster).

I like the fact they are a cleaner looking dot with simpler controls.

[ahpook]

A friend of mine has an Epiphone Dot and it's plays very nicely - if the Studio's similar it should be a good-un.

The only downside was that the pickups were a bit microphonic, so he did end up replacing them.

[NancyJohnson]

I've put a shot up of mine on the guitar porn page and reproduced below. It was stupid cheap at the time - from memory, including a hard case it was under £250.00.

Word(s) of warning though, while for the money you get a fairly solid guitar/piece of wood, the stock machines are awful and the pickups lack a bit of clarity.

I installed Sperzel locking machines (these just dropped in with minimum fuss) and it also needed a long throw bridge as the original had been set a few mm off, so it never properly intonated. By way of experimentation, I tried a Wilkinson humbucker in the bridge position, which was a definite improvement. I rarely use the neck pickup, so that's still stock (at some stage I may well just remove it completely, which will effectively transform the pickup selector switch into a kill switch).
P

Edited April 25, 2014 by NancyJohnson

[RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE]

Ted nugent used these ( I think )

[Greggo]

[quote name='NancyJohnson' timestamp='1398421989' post='2433899']
I've put a shot up of mine on the guitar porn page and reproduced below. It was stupid cheap at the time - from memory, including a hard case it was under £250.00.

Word(s) of warning though, while for the money you get a fairly solid guitar/piece of wood, the stock machines are awful and the pickups lack a bit of clarity.

I installed Sperzel locking machines (these just dropped in with minimum fuss) and it also needed a long throw bridge as the original had been set a few mm off, so it never properly intonated. By way of experimentation, I tried a Wilkinson humbucker in the bridge position, which was a definite improvement. I rarely use the neck pickup, so that's still stock (at some stage I may well just remove it completely, which will effectively transform the pickup selector switch into a kill switch).
P


[/quote]

Thanks! that's useful information. I intend on having a good test drive at my local store before deciding whether or not to begin putting a deposit down etc

[Bassnut62]

I was hankering after a Dot for a while too and got great advice from Xperience Guitars in Nottingham who do set-up, repair, modification work on my guitars and basses.

The best advice I got was to hunt down a Korean Dot made in the Peerless factory, which if I remember right means that the serial number will start with an R or a P.
Everyone says get a Korean one, not a Chinese one; but within the Korean ones, quality is not always consistent either and that the factory with highest quality and consistency of work was the Peerless factory.

Having got a nice natural Peerless Dot now, I agree with everything said above....great necks and bodies; but bad machinery, nasty pups and cheap nut.
I am switching out for Nickel covered Seymour Duncan 59 & JB pups and will have them both coil-tapped and replacing all machinery with quality nickle gear, plus a bone nut.
It played great as it was, but sounded poor and didn't stay in tune; now i can't wait to get it back, much improved and up to quality of a good £2k Gibson!

[edstraker123]

I've just sold one, it was a lovely looking guitar and really nice to play but I thought the electrics in it were pants so my experience was also in line with everything stated above. Pick one up for cheap and get it upgraded.

[NancyJohnson]

[quote name='Bassnut62' timestamp='1398767311' post='2437323']
The best advice I got was to hunt down a Korean Dot made in the Peerless factory, which if I remember right means that the serial number will start with an R or a P.
Everyone says get a Korean one, not a Chinese one; but within the Korean ones, quality is not always consistent either and that the factory with highest quality and consistency of work was the Peerless factory.
[/quote]

Mines an EE serial, which Wikipedia tells me mine was born out of China/QingDao. I know there's a lot of conjecture over far-eastern factories, but to be honest, I don't really buy into it. Decide what you want, play a few of them and haggle if possible. These aren't luthier built products, they're made on a production line like fridges. You're bound to get the odd hooky one, maybe I've just been fortunate.

Edited April 30, 2014 by NancyJohnson

[Matt P]

not played the dot but as a foil to a telecater a 335 style guitar is fantastic, i've got a mex tele and a mid 90's tanglewood cs-2 and between them they cover pretty much everything i need (i do have a couple of superstrats as well but the tele and semi get a fair amount of the use)

play as many as you can before handing over the money and don't discount other brands and models, my tanglewood had a price tag of about 500 quid new and i only paid about 220 for it a few years ago, it's a cracking guitar for the money, no mods required. Vintage make some nice examples as well.

Matt

[Bassnut62]

[quote name='NancyJohnson' timestamp='1398847573' post='2438109']
Mines an EE serial, which Wikipedia tells me mine was born out of China/QingDao. I know there's a lot of conjecture over far-eastern factories, but to be honest, I don't really buy into it. Decide what you want, play a few of them and haggle if possible. These aren't luthier built products, they're made on a production line like fridges. You're bound to get the odd hooky one, maybe I've just been fortunate.
[/quote]

I'm sure you're right about that; the techs I use have just found the Peerless ones to get it right most consistently, in fact almost invariably. I think it is true to say that buyers pay a bit more for the Peerless ones though, which must mean something.