- Excellent, ahead of its time guitar design
- Extremely comfortable and easy to play instrument
- Accessing higher registers is matchless
- Pickups sound very open and excellent for gain stacking
- Fretwork was mediocre and got even worse in time
- Although the looks are great, this is a sign of using mediocre materials
Hello there, back again with another excellent guitar review for you! This time, we will look at one of my recent favourite guitars, the Epiphone SG Custom Ebony. I have been able to get back to having as many guitars as possible for all my needs, being very spoiled and grateful as well! 🙂 As many of you agree, there’s no such thing as too many guitars! Scale length, pickups, and tonewoods…make a huge difference in how we feel while playing our guitars. On top of that, if you also want to play your favourite songs by various bands and guitarists, you might always need another guitar to at least get close to the original tones and vibes of the songs.
Table of Contents
I really needed a guitar with a 24.75-inch scale and passive dual humbuckers so I could play some generic rock and blues songs, as well as experiment with drop tunings and started researching a new guitar. I was even considering waiting for longer and saving a lot of money to purchase a high-end guitar such as a Gibson, Eastman or an equivalent segmented instrument. But I noticed it would bust the bank badly, so I gave up and looked for affordable instruments. In my opinion, guitar players in this era are the luckiest people ever! There are so many affordable yet extremely well-built instruments. Epiphone was always one of my favourite brands while I was working in the musical instruments industry. Even their most affordable guitars would sound and play great, almost right out of the box. 
About Epiphone
For those who have never heard of Epiphone, here’s a quick introduction! Epiphone is a well-known guitar manufacturing company that traces its origins back to the late 19th century. The company was established in 1873 by Anastasios Stathopoulos in Smyrna, Ottoman Empire (now Izmir, Turkey – interestingly, this is my hometown! :)). Initially, Epiphone focused on making traditional Greek instruments, but it eventually shifted its focus to guitars. In the early 20th century, the company moved to the United States and gained a reputation for producing high-quality, affordable guitars. Epiphone guitars became popular among musicians for their craftsmanship and sound. Over the years, Epiphone has manufactured a wide range of guitar models, including archtops, solid bodies, and semi-hollow bodies.
One notable aspect of Epiphone‘s history is its association with Gibson, another prominent guitar manufacturer. Gibson acquired Epiphone in 1957, and since then, Epiphone has operated as a subsidiary of Gibson. This collaboration has allowed Epiphone to benefit from Gibson’s expertise and technology while maintaining its distinct identity. Epiphone guitars are widely used by musicians across various genres, and the brand is known for offering instruments that provide good value for their price. The company continues to produce a diverse range of guitars, catering to the needs of both beginners and experienced players. Epiphone guitars are recognised for their versatility, making them a popular choice in the music industry. Epiphone was always one of my favourite brands while I was working in the musical instruments industry. Even their most affordable guitars would sound and play great, almost right out of the box.
Check out my Epiphone guitar reviews
With the extremely high level of competition in the musical instrument industry, guitar brands have been putting significant effort into improving the quality of entry- and mid-level guitars. Recently, Epiphone has also put a lot of effort into making really cool guitars under their “Inspired by Gibson” series. This means that the Epiphone company (owned by Gibson) releases Les Pauls and SGs that are almost exact replicas of the original legendary models, with some step-back features. 
Epiphone SG Custom Ebony
Epiphone SG Custom Ebony has been released to provide the opportunity for people who are really craving a Gibson SG Custom Ebony but can’t afford it! Of course, they belong to different segments; however, Epiphone has successfully delivered the feel of it with its very cool look and outstanding traditional SG sounds.
Before I provide my review, I would also like to feature a great YouTube channel, Guitaristas! Here, you can watch an insightful in-depth review video of the Epiphone SG Custom Ebony.
Tech Specs
| Epiphone SG Custom Ebony | Tech Specs |
|---|---|
| Body | Mahogany |
| Construction | Set Neck (Glued In) |
| Neck | Mahogany, Slim Taper |
| Scale | 628.65mm (24.75 inches) |
| Fingerboard | Ebony |
| Pickups | Epiphone Alnico Classic Pro |
| Controls | 3-way Pickup Selector, Separate Tone and Volume Pots (CTS Pots) |
| Radius | 304.48mm (12 inches) |
| Frets | 22, Medium Jumbo |
| Bridge | LockTone ABR Tune-O-Matic |
| Nut | Graph Tech |
| Nut Width | 43mm |
| Tuners | Epiphone Deluxe with Ivory Plastic Button |
As you can see, it’s a classic design featuring a mahogany neck and body, ebony fingerboard, dual Alnico Classic humbuckers, separate volume & tone controls that are CTS branded, Graph Tech nut and a cool 60’s style headstock with split diamond inlay! Looks and feels fantastic! On top of the tech specs above, I would like to add the pickup measurements as well as the weight.
Weight: 2.95kg
Epiphone Alnico Classic Pro: Bridge 8K / Neck 7.75K / Middle: 3.95K
I have also prepared a review video in which I play random stuff and attempt to provide as many guitar tones as possible using my ENGL E570 tube preamp, ENGL Cabloader, along with a touch of Valhalla Vintage Reverb. 
Sound Demo (no talking)
Review
I ordered this guitar at the beginning of November 2021 while it was out of stock and waited for a couple of months. Finally, Thomann arranged a split delivery, and it arrived right after that.
It comes in a standard guitar box without a case. The box includes a bunch of stickers and leaflets, as shown below. Mine didn’t come with an allen key or anything. I looked for it everywhere but couldn’t find it. Maybe it wasn’t really included at all. But I remember that every Epiphone came with an allen key back in the day. Not a big deal anyway!
Headstock
SG Custom Ebony comes with the 60s Kalamazoo headstock featuring a traditional LP Custom ‘Split Diamond’ Inlay with 5-ply binding. In my opinion, it makes this guitar pop out a lot from its understated yet cool black finish.
While photographing this headstock and the inlays, I noticed nice colour shifts from various angles, as demonstrated below. With the gold tuning pegs, this combination of colours is so attractive!
Tuners
SG Custom Ebony comes with the Epiphone Deluxe tuners with Ivory Plastic Buttons. It definitely has the classic look and feel. Based on my experience with these guitar tuners, I can confidently say I have never had any issues. They don’t feel like the best quality tuners, but they do the job perfectly fine.
Neck and Fingerboard
SG Custom Ebony features a very comfortable mahogany neck with a 24.75″ scale length and a SlimTaper profile. I don’t exactly recall what an SG standard neck feels like, but many people claim that standards have a chunkier neck than SG customs. So, basically, SlimTaper is more comfortable for players who prefer slimmer necks (It doesn’t mean it’s better, just personal preference).
I really like how this neck feels and plays, one of the best! The fingerboard is made of Ebony. Although it’s an ebony fingerboard, it doesn’t exactly feel like one. In my opinion, it’s a way cheaper ebony than what I have experienced so far.
It’s definitely a lot lighter in colour and doesn’t have the consistency. Below you can see a photo in which the fingerboard looks pretty much black all around. But note that this happened after God knows how many times I applied Sandberg fingerboard oil and MusicNomad F-One oil during string changes.
Of course, these are cosmetics, and nothing to do with the performance of the fingerboard. However, there’s a more important thing about the fingerboard, which you will find out about in the article. This guitar comes with 22 medium jumbo frets, and initially, the craftsmanship was OK. But in time, this changed. You will see the whole storyline of this and how Thomann handled it in this article, as well as in my bonus article on Thomann’s guitar service.
Pickups and Electronics
SG Custom comes with a pair of Epiphone Alnico Classic Pro. As I mentioned, these pickups are on the vintage side of the output spectrum. The readings are Bridge 8K / Neck 7.75K / Middle: 3.95K, and it reminds me of my Ibanez Super58 pickups.
While restringing and maintaining the instrument, I had to take the chance to photograph all these details below. You can hopefully clearly see the backplates and model numbers, which are ACPGHBB-4-2 and ACPGHBN-4-2.
These pickups sound great to me. They all allow stacking multiple overdrives while using my Mini Plexi amp. This way, you can really customise your guitar tone and make it unique. These PAF-style pickups always have their thing with traditional gear and really give you a pure playing experience. As you can also hear from the demo videos I present here, these pickups are capable of anything when combined with overdrives and booster pedals.
Here you can see the electronic cavity. As you may know, Epiphone/Gibson decided to use these connectors on the pickups, switches and pots. I think it’s doesn’t look and feel great when you look into it. But actually, this is a very practical way to speed up the wiring process. Wish there were a standard among pickup manufacturers regarding these sockets, so you would never have to use a soldering iron for guitar pickup wiring.
Epiphone didn’t hesitate to use CTS pots on this guitar. For those who don’t know, CTS pots are used in Gibsons as well, so it’s a top-quality, potentiometer brand.
The Pickup Selector
While talking about electronics and parts, I also wanted to briefly mention the pickup selector switch. As I had some experience with the Epiphone SG Custom Ebony before the LP Custom Ebony, I was expecting a switch that was of the same or similar quality between these guitars.
However, the switch on the LP Custom Ebony was pretty bad, even though I ordered a guitar service on a brand new guitar from Thomann. The switch was very sensitive and sometimes would give me some crackles or simply wouldn’t function. The switch on SG Custom Ebony (probably out of luck!) was very good, never caused me any issues.
Pickguard
As you may know, the O.G. Gibson SG Custom Ebony features a smaller pickguard than the SG Standard. As the Epi version is a Gibson-inspired one, they used the same small pickguard. I used to like the smaller pickguard, but I sometimes like the bigger one too. Can not choose!
In order to show you some of the love bites, here’s a shot of my pickugard. When I see similar patterns on any of my guitars with a pickguard, I’m happier because these are the signs of love! 🙂
Bridge and Tailpiece
The bridge and tailpiece on this guitar are both Epiphone-branded LockTone ABR Tune-O-Matic. The only annoying thing about the bridge is that since they use the vintage-style one, there’s a thin metal piece that keeps the tension of every saddle there. In my opinion, this is an outdated design as it makes a lot of random noise due to resonant frequencies on the instrument. It’s not that difficult to eliminate it, but it’s annoying for sure!
Also, just for FYI, the gold colour definitely fades away in time. 🙂
Verdict
This guitar was made in China in 2021 and comes with the usual stickers behind the headstock showing it passed quality controls. However, as stated by many users, the factory setup was terrible! The first thing I did was to do an in-depth check on cosmetics and any manufacturing errors, such as cracks. However, I was really surprised that I found almost nothing wrong with this guitar. Fret ends were super smooth on both sides, and the nut was cut nicely with some plastic chips left here and there. I only found a little bit of stain on the sides near the output jack, which you can see in my inspection video.
Sebepsiz Savaş Guitar Cover
I also came across some glue and tooling marks around fret ends. But I must say they did a perfect job for the money! The binding was almost perfect, completely smooth around the fretboard. The tuners feel great, but it sometimes feels like there is a little gap when turning the pegs. But it’s a really, really tiny bit of annoyance. It has never given me any tuning problems, though. The factory setup was very bad, as I have mentioned. The string action was extremely high out of the box. The neck needed a bit of tightening for sure. First, I added some tension to the neck by tightening it, and then I lowered the posts at the bridge. 
Before I did this, I tuned it up and tried to play for some time. But it sounded terrible. Especially with chords. There was clearly an intonation problem with the guitar right out of the box. Then I checked it, and three strings were giving me 30% sharp at the 12th fret. I think I had this extreme result because of the terrible neck relief and string action, as I had to press harder just to make that note sound. After I set it up, the intonation was already better, but still needed a lot of correction. I kept playing and tuning it up along the way. Surprisingly, tuning stability was way better than I expected! It already sounded very good to my ears with my current setup, and I couldn’t stop playing for hours already! And this was even before I attempted to change the factory strings, which are 10 gauge.
In the meantime, I checked all the frets and was pretty surprised by the fretwork and craftsmanship. They sounded and felt extremely well, just as good as they should be on a proper instrument! I would also like to share my inspection, restringing and instrument care video here.
Restringing & Instrument Care
As you can see from the video, the factory strings don’t have colour-coded ball-ends, meaning they are unlikely to be a standard D’addario set of strings. I believe these were cheap Chinese strings. Right after I restrung my guitar with Pyramid 10-46 strings, adjusted the intonation again and played, I noticed a huge amount of clarity when I played some chords! So I suggest you also do the same and get rid of these stiff factory strings immediately! If you have ever played an SG, you are already aware of the fact that they are pretty unique and extremely comfortable in a way that no other guitar can really make you feel this way. Your alignment with the instrument is completely different due to its construction. 
I also attempted to play my Epiphone SG Custom standing up with a strap, and it felt really weird but also comfortable. 🙂 As every SG lover does, I also checked the neck dive, and there was just a bit of neck dive, but since the way it fits your body makes it so comfortable to play, you will not even realise anything wrong with it! It’s a very light and perfectly balanced instrument in my opinion. The ebony fingerboard looks a bit cheap, as you can imagine. My Schecter Hellraiser Hybrid PT-7 also features an ebony board, but they are completely different. Not to mention, Schecter costs twice as much as Epiphone! The ebony fingerboard looked and felt really dry out of the box. So I suggest you use a natural essential oil such as Sandberg Fingerboard Oil and let it soak in some.
1st Update: As you may know, I always update my review articles unlike any other music gear review blogs do! So you have real, transparent and long-term reviews of the products I feature here. Epiphone SG Custom Ebony served me pretty OK and I even used it on a cover video (see below).
At the time of recording that video, I was using Elixir Nanoweb 11-49 strings with Drop C tuning and kept it that way for a very long time (1 and a half years same set of strings which I never do!).
I felt like it was high time I took care of my SG and went for a full-blown restringing and instrument care session for it, paying attention to all the details. Once I was done, I got honestly excited to play it again through my Marshall JVM401H, however, I noticed about five frets on the A string were lifted slightly and caused weird rattling issues.
I was pretty upset as this meant extra cost for a particularly affordable model. Before I brought this to my luthier, I took a chance and contacted Thomann as it was just over 2 years for the warranty (Thomann offers an extended warranty of up to 3 years!) and they told me to send it back for repair!
So I’m waiting for my SG to arrive here and I will be updating you with the results. I’m also planning to document my entire experience with Thomann’s Guitar Services and publish a separate article for you guys!
As I promised, I always keep it transparent with you and just wanted to update you as you may experience similar issues with Epiphone guitars (this is not the first time for me with Epis!)
2nd Update: My Epiphone finally got taken care of by Thomann in the nicest way possible. Although, it took a while and I had to go through a lot of challenges with them, they eventually resolved this! So, I wanted to record another no-talking sound demo. You can have a look at the video down below.
Check out my Thomann Guitar Service review here
Thomann PLEK’ed – Epiphone SG Custom Demo
After having this wonderful guitar PLEK’ed by Thomann, it’s been one of my favourite instruments, and I often find myself playing it! Just to document that, I made another no-talking style demo video of my Epiphone SG Custom here.
This time, I used my Marshall JVM410HJS, Two Notes Torpedo Captor X, Boss SD-1 and Ibanez TS Mini as well as my RME Babyface PRO FS audio interface and Genelec 8020DPM monitors. I only used PSP SpringBox as my reverb plugin.
It’s never been so fun to play this before the Thomann PLEK service! I’m considering this service for most of the guitars I would be purchasing from Thomann! Overall, I would recommend the Epiphone SG Custom Ebony to anyone reading this! I think Epiphone has done a fabulous job and has been able to deliver this killer value, full of mojo guitar! Just be prepared to do the initial setup, maintenance and care with a new set of strings. Also, as I updated the article with the current affairs about my SG Custom, I suggest you go for a Thomann PLEK service while you are purchasing the guitar. This way, you will make sure all the issues on the fretboard and frets will be resolved from the beginning.
Check out PLEK service by Thomann here
I like the SG so much after the Plek process that I wanted to get a proper one! 🙂 So, I pulled the trigger and got myself a Gibson SG Standard ’61! You can check out my quick comparison video below.
Also, you can check out my Gibson SG Standard ’61 review here
Epiphone SG Custom vs Gibson SG Standard ’61 Comparison
Pricing & Availability
As I mentioned in the article, I got mine from Thomann back in 2021. I believe Epiphone released different variations of SG, as well as the SG Custom series with different colours, a gigbag and different pickups. Although the Epiphone SG Custom Ebony is still actively manufactured, you may not always find it on Thomann. But Thomann will always beat any other company with their prices, so you’d better check it out there.
Check out Epiphone SG Custom options here on Thomann
You can also check out Reverb, as there are many resellers as well as individuals listing their Epiphone SG Customs. You may find really good deals if you are patient enough! Brand new and used ones are available there.
Check out Epiphone SG Custom options here on Reverb
I hope you have enjoyed this real guitar review article and materials. Thanks for visiting my blog and supporting me so far! I will hopefully see you in the next review here!
