Epiphone Review: Broadway

History:

Purchase: I purchased this Guitar from Music 123 on the internet for $750 plus $85 for the hardshell plush lined case. They were having a special with free shipping for orders over $99. I wanted an Archtop Electric for good clean tones and the ability to play without an amp if I so choosed. From my own experience and others opinions the neck is better on some of the Epiphone's than alot of Gibsons.

What I Like About This Epiphone Broadway: It is a beautiful natural maple color with a wonderfully straight neck and lots of detail. It comes with 2 gold Humbucker's and a gold frequensator tailpiece. It has the dot inlays on the upper side of the fret board for instant identification of the pertinent frets. The rosewood finger board comes with large "pearl" inlay. The headstock is black with beautiful design "pearl" inlay and gold mult-turn shaller keys for ultra fine tuning. Its tone is gordeous electrafied and nice by itself. There was no fret buzz on the one I purchased. I love the action of this guitar with slightly lighter guage strings than the original .013-.056 that it came with. The sound of the original strings were rich and vibrant.

What I Do NOT Like About The Epiphone Broadway: Intonation was slightly off making it a little difficult to tune without a tuner as it came to me from the manufacturer. This was due to the one piece wooden bridge saddle with no adjustment execept for string height. I easily corrected this by purchasing a gold metal bridge saddle with adjustable saddles for $19 plus tax at Guitar Center. As with most gold plating care must be taken to keep it from wearing off at some point in the future. As with all hollowbody electrics they will tend to feedback readily if too close to the amp with higher volumes. I have read where one can purchase "f" hole covers to counter act this inherent problem. Personally I had to really crank the amp up while playing in my bedroom to achieve feedback.

Epiphone Broadway Quality Rating: The construction is laminated maple on the sides and back with spruce on the top. The neck is solid maple with a rosewood fingerboard. The Gibson's are typically solid wood while the Epiphones are laminated. Most likely one of the reasons for the lower cost. This is a subsidiary of Gibson, though assembled in Korea the setup is in the USA. Unlike a solid body electric that can take lots of punishment, one must take precautions not to drop or bang this guitar around. With proper care and maintence it should give many years of pleasure to the owner.

Review Summary: This is an excellent value for those who wish to purchase a wide body archtop electric. Very good for Jazz, Blues, country, or pop. I would recommend a solid body for rock though.

Rating of this Epiphone product: 5

This Epiphone Broadway Electric Guitars Review Submitted By: Gary A.

Review Date: 2001-08-01