Why This $150 Epiphone Is All You Need, Maybe We All Just Make Excuses?

My mantra is, " no matter how many guitars i buy, my playing never improves",

I picked this guitar up when it first came out in 2017, when it was $99. It ended up being backordered for over a month despite the website saying it was in stock, so Sam Ash gave me a $20 refund, bringing the end price to $79 plus tax. I still have it, and it's still one of my favorites to grab and play. I kept it stock until about 2020, when I put about $120 worth of mods into it (GFS "Brighton Rock" pickups and wiring harness, Wilkinson tuners, a preslotted bone nut, and an intonatable wraparound bridge). It was a fun guitar before I modded it, but now it's a genuinely excellent instrument. I absolutely love it

"The blues aren't supposed to be played on a a $3,000 guitar." Wisdom. That yellow color is sweet, especially with the painted neck and headstock.

Epiphone needs to start putting P90s on more budget (sub 400 dollar) guitars and I’ll be a customer again.

Geez! The 5 string lesson was a simple and easy to follow as anything I've seen. Actually easier. More of that kind of content Phil. Thanks for all you do for the guitar geeks and future geeks too.

"The blues aren't supposed to be played on a $3000 guitar!" YES! I like my blues on a rusty resonator or maybe a shovel with a few strings on it. I believe you've got the blues if you're playing a shovel.

I’ve always felt a guitar is a tool for creativity. As long as it plays great and stays in tune I could care less what it cost.

Every player needs a guitar like this to experiment with open tunings or slide guitar, something you can leave set up & that makes you keep persisting with those things which are often hard after playing standard tuning. Great video Phil.

Thanks, Phillip! We love diving into the geeky stuff too - thanks for teaching us all!

When my wife and I made the trip last year for my Birthday to sweetwater, I used the exact same room you did when trying out instruments. It was fun seeing you unbox a guitar in the same room I unboxed and tried instruments in. I am still absolutely thrilled with my Fender Lead iii in purple. Loving humbuckers and the color purple, it was an obvious choice for me.

I have one in sea foam green. I put a Gotoh bridge on it, Fender Noiseless pups, bone nut, reset the neck, filed the fret ends, leveled and polished the frets, added 500k pots, upgraded the selector switch and replaced the tuners. Plays great!

This channel's method for inspecting and setting up guitars is the very best I've seen in my 40 something years of playing guitar. Thank you for all you do!

Really appreciate the content. I agree you don't always need to have a $3000 guitar, you can easily find a gems in the lower price points. Bottom line if you can get a guitar you just love to play consistently, then you have come out a winner. Keep up the great work Phil!!

Well done Phil for showcasing what is possible when things look & feel hopeless after receiving your chosen guitar. You were able to turn a very ordinary example into a guitar that a budding musician would love to play. Cheers ✌️🎸

My recently-departed friend had a 60s Gibson version of this guitar with a set neck in aged tobacco sunburst and over time it became his #1 “go to” practice and performance guitar. Had individual on-off slide switches instead of the 3-way switch and large vintage caps and pots. His widow keeps it around the house for visitors.

Bought one for my son in law. Stacking a few washers under the bridge to help with the wobbly stuff. Than change the strings. Made a world of difference. I’m thankful for these kind of guitars. Great gifts!

Love your videos because you keep it real and show viewers a lot of handy knowledge that guitar players should know. And growing up a poor southern boy, I've always gravitated towards the budget, bluesy kind of guitars that are probably like a throwback to the old catalog guitars and parlor guitars of a century ago that were favored by many blues musicians. Trying to get the most out of them is both challenging and rewarding when it sounds right. I got an old budget Warlock guitar that's a beater type like that Epiphone but mine has the tune-o-matic bridge on it. I'd rather have a bridge like on that Epiphone. Plug n play! Thanks for sharing your wealth of knowledge and keep it up!

I've been eyeing the Epiphone Melody Maker as an affordable addition to my collection. It's definitely a basic but stylish instrument at a great price point. Thank you for the wonderful review, introducing me to the CMA Music To My Ears series, as well as giving us all the opportunity to win this guitar.

Phil, great points, inspection and open G demo! My most used guitar currently in my AIO SG-style which is my least expensive but sounds and plays amazing!

I bought one of these for my Granddaughter from Sweetwater about a year ago and I've played it for about a week now. I really like the guitar enough to buy one for myself, so it would be a great thing to win this give away. Thanks for the review Phil. You explained and helped me get hers where she's gonna want to play it!