The Delta Snake Review: Musical Gear Review & Article Archive: Review: Epiphone G-400 Custom SG (3 PU)

Review: Epiphone G-400 Custom SG (3 PU)

I have to admit, this was one guitar that almost triggered a major GAS attack, and on that day, I was going to buy it on sight. Luckily I didn't, although not for the reasons you might think.

It's a guitar that nowadays you can get for around 450.00 on sale in most places, and it never did replace the standard two-pickup SGs or even dent its popularity. I'm not sure why, from a distance, it's an imposing and impressive guitar. Big, mean-looking, three gold humbuckers, everything about it says turbo-charged SG.

The problem is, when you play it, it's obviously a nice guitar, but it doesn't necessarily give you a compelling reason to buy it over the traditional SG.

The traditional SG is a light guitar, easy to play (except for being neck-heavy due to its lighter body). It has a wonderful tone, warm, but biting, and it's one of the classic rock guitars. Also, it has a more unknown, but very definite presence in the classic blues. One of Muddy Waters' guitar players used an SG for example, as did one of the Blues Brothers band.

Right off the bat, you notice the guitar's weight. The Custom is a heavier guitar, which compared to the Les Paul is nothing, but given that it's an SG model, perceptions tend to count. The neck is a good one, a bit thicker, but very playable, and the tuners are just fine.

Also, the pickups are good, but whether it's the cost of putting on three instead of two, these don't seem to be as good as Epiphone's top-of-the-line SG model. This may not be a fair comparison, as the reason you have three pickups isn't necessarily to sound like a regular SG.

The key to all three pickup guitars is the middle pickup. It can be combined with the bridge or neck pickups to give you a bigger range of tones. By itself, like most middle pickups, it's supposed to give you the most "acoustic" of all the settings.

The problem here is that the pickups are very close to one another and come close to being there just for show. I did notice some sound differentiation in the various combinations, but the louder I got, the less it showed (and let's face it, most SGs are played loud).

Earlier I mentioned how attractive it was at a distance. That wasn't a casual remark. When you look at it up close, the cutaways look stubbier and less graceful. The extra thickness and weight make it a more awkward guitar to handle than the more traditional SG.

In stock condition, it's still a pretty good buy at 450.00, and I see some used ones selling in the 350.00-400.00 range. At its original price point years ago, I probably wouldn't have recommended it. When a guitar has extra features (like a third pickup), you always have to ask yourself, what did they take away to keep the price down? Better two good pickups than three not-so-bad ones, for example.

To be fair, it isn't a pure SG and taken as that, there are positives. It is a unique offshoot of a classic design, and it has an attractive finish. Its sound isn't quite up to Epiphone's best SG, but it's not bad. The clean tone is its strongest suit.

Also, at its lower price point, it can be a good upgrade model. Given that the pickups are a bit too close, one can upgrade with different types instead of three of the same.

Try maybe a Duncan '59 as the neck pickup, experiment with the middle, and put maybe a '57 classic or hotter type in the bridge. Since it's pre-routed for three pickups, the possibilities are endless, and it's a solid piece of wood to mount it all on.

I don't say that to mitigate the review, but sometimes a guitar finds a second life when it's older (and less expensive, DeArmonds being an excellent example), and this guitar has possibilities of a regular SG or lots of other two pickup models don't have. If it were up to me now, if the price point hit a sweet spot, I'd buy it in a second over a regular SG type.

Guitars are interesting things. One person can look at one and not like it, or see it as a bad fit for their style of music. Another can look at the same guitar, and see it as a vehicle to get that unique sound that keeps sounding in one's brain.

The G-400 Custom started life as what some might see as an overvalued guitar. As the years have passed, and as its price drops and used ones keep hitting the market, its value goes up for what it is, and what it can be. Funny how that works.

- Al Handa

2006

Note: This review first appeared on the ePinions.com site in 2013. 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