Would You Spend $1699 For A New Chinese-Made Epiphone Firebird V Solidbody?

[gorch]

On 2/28/2024 at 11:38 PM, kizanski said:

Find the odd in Kiz’ pic. His guitar doesn’t have a pickup. He’s hiding the hole with his hand.

[kizanski]

7 hours ago, gorch said:

Find the odd in Kiz’ pic. His guitar doesn’t have a pickup. He’s hiding the hole with his hand.

You think THAT's the odd??

[gorch]

On 3/1/2024 at 2:58 PM, kizanski said:

You think THAT's the odd??

The influencer showcasing Epiphone guitar looked even to me.

[velorush]

On 2/29/2024 at 3:28 PM, HSB0531 said:

No wait....Alan Arkin playing guitar...yes, that's it!

 

[scottcald]

To answer the thread question: Not when I can get perfectly good Hamers (and others) for that money. 

[hamerhead]

These have been on CL for awhile now (without pictures. The guy finally added one ).

https://madison.craigslist.org/msg/d/schiller-park-epiphone-bonamassa-duo-new/7720841026.html

Not sure if they're chinese but they seem a little spendy for wall art, even with Joe's sig.

[tomteriffic]

On 2/29/2024 at 9:14 AM, cmatthes said:

No.  I bought mine for $550 shipped from Canada after a guy had it for a month and realized he couldn’t bond with the shape.  They were $649 new, and $799 on Joe Bonamassa’s merch site (link still exists), but his came with a “hand-signed certificate of authenticity”.  Some sellers may have asked those prices a year or two ago, but they usually sell on Reverb for @$1,200 or so.  
 

I was honestly expecting these new Epis to be in the $750-$800 range when a few pics got leaked online last summer, but this is just silly.  I strongly suspect that these will end up like the Epiphone Korina Vs and Standards they released last summer for $1,299.  After the first batch got snatched up by the PreOrder Fanbois, I’ve seen many dozens sitting for 6-8 months unsold, and dealers dropping the prices to well below $1,000 for those.  I suspect we’ll see something similar here.  
Mine is honestly a great guitar…especially for an Epiphone, but it’s no Gibson.   

I've always had a soft spot for FB's, particularly via johnny Winter's V and Steve Stills' 1.   and when these FB 1's showed up I got all excited, but not *that* excited.  The banjo tuners have always made me leery too.

[JGale]

[crunchee]

3 hours ago, tomteriffic said:

I've always had a soft spot for FB's, particularly via johnny Winter's V and Steve Stills' 1.   and when these FB 1's showed up I got all excited, but not *that* excited.  The banjo tuners have always made me leery too.

I remember hearing many years ago (IIRC, at least as far back as the '90's), that the plant that made the banjo tuners for Gibson USA Firebirds burned down, and Gibson seemingly didn't bother to try or couldn't find a new source for those, as they didn't show up on any USA-made Firebirds afterwards that I know of.  Maybe Murkat knows?  Anyway, who knows what the quality of the banjo tuners is like on the Epis? 

[tomteriffic]

I know it's like putting lipstick on a pig but IF I were to spring for one of these, I'd also spring for a set of Steinberger tuners.

[crunchee]

I had checked the DGS website earlier today, and they had a used Chinese-made Epi Firebird in a transparent Tobacco Sunburst (IIRC, a '21 I believe, with two Firebird-style PUs, no trem, and regular Grover tuners) in for $495 with case.  It disappeared off the website within an hour.  Pity, as I much prefer the ones with a transparent finish vs. 'custom color' ones, as an opaque paint job can hide a multitude of sins.