Review: Epiphone FlameKat LE
While I was in the process of getting this guitar's cousin, the AlleyKat, this rather florid axe did catch my eye and got a cursory workout. I decided on the AlleyKat at the time, but recently have revisited getting a FlameKat or WildKat.
One reason is that used ones are finally hitting the market at a nice price, in the 300.00-400.00 range, which for what you're getting is a good deal.
After a lengthy tryout with a prospective seller, I did have to pass, as I couldn't get past the dice and flame motif, but was surprised at how my initial impression of the guitar had changed.
This pretty successful series of semi-solids didn't come out of thin air, it's sort of a cross between some of the old Gretches and the Les Paul ES model (which I'm surprised isn't kept in at least a limited edition release by Epiphone, as it was a very nice guitar).
This particular model has a mahogany body, with a maple top and neck. Pretty much your archetype electric archtop. It of course has that hard-to-ignore flame motif, with red dice for knobs. Sort of a takeoff on the hot rod with the dice hanging on the mirror thing I guess.
The guitar also has a VibraTone Bigsby and two mini “New York” style humbuckers. It has fast-tuning chrome button-style tuners, which you'll need if you want to yank away on that tremolo bar. I've heard a lot of complaints about the guitar going out of tune when using the Bigsby, but I didn't notice it being a real problem.
The fact is, a tremolo bar will yank your guitar out of tune if it's pulled on too hard and often. Especially if you've got new strings on. If it's used in the traditional manner, to bend notes and create effects, the stress on the strings isn't that bad. If you want to be Link Wray on it, then by all means keep your chromatic tuner handy.
Another surprise was how mild the pickups could be. It has the least smooth clean tone of the three (oddly enough, the WildKat seems to be the jazziest if you want it to be), but it's strikingly jazzy. Certainly a more versatile guitar than its image suggests.
I didn't realize that the first time I tried the guitar, as the flames and dice just made me assume that it was supposed to be played at high gain. I did, and like most mini humbuckers, I found it has a high, cutting tone, but a bit smoother due to the semi-solid body style (as opposed to a solid body Firebird, which also uses minis).
Another thing that struck me was that the dice knobs may be cool, but the square shape does make it a bit harder to make fine adjustments. Takes getting used to. Also, of the three guitars in this Kat series, it has the least comfortable neck. The action and setup were fine, but the taper towards the nut felt odd, and playing on it felt slightly awkward.
Obviously, judging a neck is a subjective thing, but it would make me advise you to try this one out before buying unless the mail-order company has a good return policy. That's if they have one, it has been discontinued, which doesn't say anything in terms of its success, it was always a limited edition model.
The interesting thing is that except for the neck and flame paint, I liked the guitar. That's probably why I ended up with an AlleyKat, which also has a mini-humbucker up front (and no tremolo bar, which is OK, I don't need one).
So, in a sense, I did like the guitar and bought it, but without the dice and flame job. Also, I think the '57 pickup that the AlleyKat has in the bridge position works better than a mini anyway.
From a sound standpoint, guitarists who will find this guitar attractive are those who play surf, vintage 50's rock, and in particular, those who want a guitar that adds some cool on a live stage. It was made to be posed with, if you know what I mean.
It can sound silky, and then ramp up into some very lively rock and roll, and in terms of performance, it's as good a guitar in its price range as any. If it was a guitar that could take off its stage makeup and put on regular clothes at home, then it'd be sitting in my closet right now with the rest of my six-string buddies.
-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.
COMING IN MAY
