| Matt "FatFingers" Clapper from Colorado |
| nihilist74@yahoo.com |
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| Subject: | Great for punk, blues, rock, jazz, country. |
| Quality:
| It seems like its really well made and solid. The double black binding on the body feels seamless and looks great. The wood and word finish on the body also looks great for what it is. |
| Sound:
| Has good tone for humbuckers which i prefer over single coils any day. A little on the high end i suspect because its semi hollow. I get a great blues rock, punk sound out of it. I used it with an ibanez tube king, boss superoverdrive, boss bass chorus, boss flanger, boss noise suppressor, ibanez weeping demon wah and a fender frontman 212. I love the sounds of it as an electric. I was hoping it would ring out more so i could also use it as an acoustic. Unfortunately it does not ring out much more than a solid body. |
| Reliability:
| I just got it but it seems to be well made and sturdy. |
| Overall:
| I wanted to trade in this applause acoustic i didn't like because the action is too high at the xxxx. I had my eye on the epiphone dot because its cheap. I was hoping it would be like an acoustic that plays like an electric. It plays and sounds great through my amp and effects. I tried it in the store and it felt great especially for the price. |
| Playability and Feel:
| The action, the neck and strumming feels great. I can play fast leads and rythm. The only complaint i have is the cutaway. The cutaway is not deep enough or wide enough. Its hard to play the higher notes without hitting my knuckles on the horn. I can still play the high notes fast but its something i have to be aware of. I have very big hands though(andre the giant size) so most normal size people may not have problem with this. Because my hands are so big i love the wide neck on the guitar and the thickness of it. The neck feels a lot like a les paul neck. The scale of the guitar also feels like les paul (short scale). The neck has a really smooth and fast oiled feel to it like a finish wasnt put on it. |
| Tone:
| I think it has good tone, haven't played it loud yet though. It doesnt have quite as deep a tone as a les paul. It has more of a higher end tone like a fender with humbuckers. The strings it had one when i brought it home were dead and could barely stay in tune. I put some new d'addario super light strings on it and it sounded great. I stayed in tune well enough after stretching the strings. |
| Finish:
| The worn finish looks good for what it is. I would prefer to get one of the epiphone dots with the shinny finishes. I bought the brown one because it was 30$ cheaper than the red one. I thought the red one looked a lot sharper though. I would have prefered it at least had dots on the neck (it does one the side of the neck). |
| Action:
| When i brought it home from the store the action was set high. I lowered it and it plays great. The neck feels like a les paul neck, wide and thick, which i prefer because i have real big hands and fingers. |
| Skill Level:
| Semi-Pro |
| Do you own this product?:
| Yes |
| Date submitted:
| 07/04/2009 |
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| Uncle Geoff from Inner Rings of Houston, TX |
| widzbiz@gmail.com |
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| Subject: | One year with the Dot Studio |
| Quality:
| The Dot Studio does appear to be a well made product. It is great quality for the price. For the $229 I paid, I don't see you getting a better guitar. If you are a beginner, this guitar would be a good one to start with. If you are a long time player without a lot of money (like me), this guitar would also work for you. |
| Sound:
| The tone is pretty good. You have to be careful, because on clean tone the mids can be overpowering. Also, as with any guitar in this price range, the tone leaves a little to be desired. It gets the job done if you put in the work to know your sound, but this is by no means going to be anybody's dream guitar. With some aftermarket pickups, however, this guitar would probably sound really nice. As it is, the sound is a little weak and slightly cheap sounding. But again, when you look at the price range, I think you get a lot for your money sound-wise. |
| Reliability:
| I keep mentioning how reliable this guitar has been. The only issues were related to the horrible factory setup. I'll discuss this more below, but basically the volume knob was coming loose inside the guitar and making the sound crackle. The guitar tech I went to fixed that by tightening the base of the volume knob with a wrench. Aside from that, the cheap plastic volume knob fell off and will not stay on, so I played the last two shows with no knob. I think the volume knobs had just had it. I play rough with it sometimes. |
| Overall:
| I have the worn vintage sunburst. The first thing that caught my eye about this guitar was the finish. It reminds me of furniture, but I like it. I bought my guitar in July 2008, and have played in a band the whole time I have owned it. We've been gigging for about six months, and I have used this guitar exclusively. We have a funk/jazz type sound, and this guitar suits it well on the clean tone. You can crank up the distortion and it sounds nice as well. I also like it through my effects. This guitar has been reliable and I have put it through a lot of hours of work. I only paid $229 for mine at the GC. It is a great, great guitar for the price. If you have the money, go nicer. Always get the best you can afford, at least! |
| Playability and Feel:
| The controls are well enough placed where they are easily accessible without having to look down, and they do not get in the way when you strum. The guitar is a nice weight, not too heavy or light. The neck is decently fast for a rosewood neck. It is not ideal, but it works well for me. |
| Tone:
| The clean to is nice a bassy, with a lot of bluesy feel to it. You can get a range of clean tones from something near The Meters to something more bassy like SRV. Distortion on this guitar has a lot of chunk. You may find yourself wanting to jam some Nugent riffs. I play this guitar through a Big Muff Pi and an Electro Harmonix Electric Mistress, and the sound is real warm and fat--very vintage. |
| Finish:
| The finish is what caught my eye, because I have always liked natural wood finishes. I have a low key playing style, so this guitar fits me perfectly. I bought the vintage sunburst, and like I said before I would compare the finish to an antique dresser. It looks like it was made from furniture. I really like the look of it. |
| Action:
| The action was okay, but the setup was awful. The intonation was completely wrong, which affected our rehearsals a lot! Like I mentioned, the volume knob was also having issues. I spent $50 on a set up and got the guitar back the next day, and it was perfect. That was nearly a year ago, and the setup still seems really good. I tune to open strings and harmonics every time, and there are no problems. That method did not work pre-set up. Do yourself a favor and get a good set up on every new guitar. It is well worth it!!! |
| Skill Level:
| Semi-Pro |
| Do you own this product?:
| Yes |
| Date submitted:
| August 14, 2008 |
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| Joseph from California |
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| Subject: | Epiphone DOT, Pro and Cons |
| Quality:
| Very decent guitar out of the box, however, I upgraded a lot of the parts, bridge, saddles and tuners. The frets were a mess and I had my guitar tech dress and polish all the frets. These guitars are mass produced and the frets are pressed on so there were lots of inconsistencies in fret height. In addition, there were quiet a few frets that had not bitten into the fret board and were not flush to the board. These were reglued. Overall, to get this quitar to sing cost and additional chunk of money. The DOTs are diamonds in the rough. |
| Reliability:
| Seems to be pretty consistent, but no major defects over time found other than the initial issues around the frets |
| Overall:
| Priced right for customizations, ie., if you buy this guitar you should be ready to drop an additional 3 to 4 hundred dollars to really bring out the qualities of the guitar |
| Playability and Feel:
| Plays quite well and the neck is very comfortable |
| Tone:
| Great tone with new tuners. The pickups are very good for such a budget instrument. Epiphone pickups tend to be pretty dark and almost muddy. This is not the case with these pickups |
| Finish:
| Finish was fine |
| Action:
| the set up suffered due to the poor fret work at the factory, however, after having the frets recrowned and polished and my guitar tech set it up, it plays like a dream |
| Skill Level:
| Semi-Pro |
| Do you own this product?:
| yes |
| Date submitted:
| 11/29/2008 |