[Guitarplayer_PR]

Originally Posted by steelarts

Hmmm, I'm not sure I'd agree with that statement. I think this is where Epiphone owners go wrong. An Epiphone is not a Gibson despite trying to be one cosmetically. The Masterbilt series is good, indeed, very good, but they're no way in the same league as a Gibson whichever way you cut it but it has it's own unique character. For the money they are hard to beat and in my opinion are one of the best guitars you can get if you're on a budget; so much better than similarly priced Taylors and Martins and in fact I'd go as far as to say better tonally than any Taylor from 3XX down.

But owning an Epiphone Masterbilt just gave me a hankering for the 'real thing' and when I got my Gibson it showed that the Epi was just a good guitar and not a great one. Don't get me wrong, it was a fabulous instrument for what I paid for it and, as I said in another thread, it's the only guitar I've owned that I truly regret selling. The Masterbilt's really are great sounding and could easily be used by a gigging pro (they are THAT GOOD!) but a Gibson they aren't and, as a Gibson owner, I can now see why a Gibson costs 4x as much as an Epiphone Masterbilt (which was something I found difficult to do when I just owned my AJ 500 RE).

BTW, a Masterbilt AJ-500M WILL blow away an Epiphone Hummingbird!

Gibsons are Gibsons, but I've played several Gibson acoustics which feel and sound awful. And I mean awful.