The Delta Snake Review: Musical Gear Review & Article Archive: Review: 2005 Epiphone Zephyr Blues Regent

Review: 2005 Epiphone Zephyr Blues Regent

The Zephyr Blues Regent was at one time the “top of the line” hollow body for the sub-thousand Epiphone range. The price since it's been discontinued has dropped and it's more common to find it in the 700.00 range.

It's based on the old, and huge, Gibson ES-5, and some say it inspired Fender to come with the 3 pickup strat. However, take that factoid with a grain of salt. It was a big sounding guitar then, with 3 P-90 pickups, and blues greats such as T-Bone Walker made it a legend.

This guitar is certainly an excellent reproduction in terms of detail and its playability is as good as I've ever seen on an Epi. One modification, in order to get the modern P-90s on more securely, the top wood slab under the top is nearly an inch thick, much more than the original. This radically changes the sound, and some have commented that the tone often resembles that of a solid body more than an archtop.

This isn't entirely true, but its utility as a jazz guitar in some styles is limited for the above reason. However, any archtop with three P-90s is going to be good at something. In this case, it's a fine blues and rockability machine, and will give you some old-time rock and roll sounds to boot.

One problem (or nice feature) with the pickups is that the volume controls are separate and another is that like any dog-eared 90, you can't adjust the height very much. That's a problem, because the fretboard is set pretty high. One solution I've heard done is to use black wood or foam braces to raise the pickups.

Although the woodwork is superb, you need to look closely at the pickups when you buy. I've seen one where the bridge and neck pickups were accidentally reversed (probably by someone who bought it and reversed one to get a humbucker effect, then returned it. However, that’s on the store for accepting it back.

The Epiphone P-90s are excellent, with a fine vintage tone, and replacement isn't an automatic option. You might find these just fine for your tastes. Though not as good as a Gibson version, it's really close, very much so.

If you can find one, it's definitely a guitar to seriously consider if you play blues or rockabilly. It has the look, it has the sound, and you'd have to spend thousands more to get an original ES-5. A real deal.

- Al Handa

2006

Note: This review first appeared on the ePinions.com site in 2006. This and other reviews were short takes that accompanied the link to a business that sold the guitar. As a rule, the guitar had to be at least examined and played by the reviewer (and ideally owned). In my case, a severe case of GAS made it possible to have at least owned the reviewed instrument for a short while. I'm reprinting these as having another source on a guitar never hurts, even if the reviews aren't definitive. Other than minor corrections, these short takes are unchanged from the original text. I figure that it might be helpful to keep the older perspective.

The Quitturz by Al Handa