Epiphone ES-295 (Update: NGD ES-175 Premium)

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Epiphone ES-295 (Update: NGD ES-175 Premium)

Post by tdksa90 » Tue Jul 19, 2022 5:44 am

I remember passing on a clean Epi ES-295 at an antique mall about 5 years ago. Asking price was around $500.

Now they are $1200+ on Reverb.

Should I bite the bullet now, or wait and see if Epiphone makes more (if they make more)?

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Re: Epiphone ES-295

Post by Sauerkraut » Thu Jul 21, 2022 12:35 am

If they’re anything like the ones they made in the early 2000s, $1200 is way too much for these. It’s too much for almost any Epiphone really (imo). My girlfriend paid $300 for her used ES-295, which was a great deal, and I think it’d also have been well worth $500. They’re fine guitars, but not built with the greatest attention to detail. We had to replace the pickups, which were stupidly hot and had weirdly short bar magnets, and then raise the new ones significantly to get them anywhere near the strings (with shims, cause dogears). The setup and intonation also required a little more time than usual, as the bridge came misaligned with the nut, but its previous owner might’ve caused that.

Sounds great now, but it did require investing another $200. At $1200, it‘d better be perfect. Frankly, unless it has Lollar or Gibson pickups or something, it’s wildly overpriced. Even then… it’s worth $700-800 tops in my opinion. Whatever you do, don’t buy without inspecting it first or having the option to return.

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Re: Epiphone ES-295

Post by tdksa90 » Thu Jul 21, 2022 8:01 pm

Sauerkraut wrote:
Thu Jul 21, 2022 12:35 am
If they’re anything like the ones they made in the early 2000s, $1200 is way too much for these. It’s too much for almost any Epiphone really (imo). My girlfriend paid $300 for her used ES-295, which was a great deal, and I think it’d also have been well worth $500. They’re fine guitars, but not built with the greatest attention to detail. We had to replace the pickups, which were stupidly hot and had weirdly short bar magnets, and then raise the new ones significantly to get them anywhere near the strings (with shims, cause dogears). The setup and intonation also required a little more time than usual, as the bridge came misaligned with the nut, but its previous owner might’ve caused that.

Sounds great now, but it did require investing another $200. At $1200, it‘d better be perfect. Frankly, unless it has Lollar or Gibson pickups or something, it’s wildly overpriced. Even then… it’s worth $700-800 tops in my opinion. Whatever you do, don’t buy without inspecting it first or having the option to return.
Thank you, this is exactly the kind of feedback I was looking for. Hopefully prices will come back down...
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Re: Epiphone ES-295

Post by Sauerkraut » Fri Jul 22, 2022 5:40 am

It’s likely, though, that the one you saw 5 years ago was one of those earlier ones, like that of my girlfriend. I did a little searching, and the newer ones, which I think have been in production for less than 5 years, are of the „premium“ series. These have Gibson P90s, and from the pictures it looks like the pickup shims are actually thick enough for the pickups to get within normal distance from the strings. So it looks like they’re better built and spec‘d guitars. Still not sure I’d pay $1200 for one, but it would explain the big price difference.
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Re: Epiphone ES-295

Post by Larry Mal » Fri Jul 22, 2022 5:42 am

You can buy shims for that kind of pickup, it's kind of the only way to do it, and I had to do that on my Gibson ES-330.

I'm sure this is a good guitar, however, $1200 is "spend a little more get a lot more" territory.
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Re: Epiphone ES-295

Post by Sauerkraut » Fri Jul 22, 2022 5:58 am

Yeah, shimming the pickups is easy enough.

My advise if you want an Epi ES-295 at this time and you’re mainly interested in playability/tone over collectibility/resale value and vintage accuracy is to try to get a good deal (<$500) on one of those shabbier late 90s/early 00s ones. Buy some new pickups and then spend an afternoon installing and shimming them and doing a thorough setup.

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Re: Epiphone ES-295

Post by tdksa90 » Fri Jul 22, 2022 6:04 am

Sauerkraut wrote:
Fri Jul 22, 2022 5:58 am
Yeah, shimming the pickups is easy enough.

My advise if you want an Epi ES-295 at this time and you’re mainly interested in playability/tone over collectibility/resale value and vintage accuracy is to try to get a good deal (<$500) on one of those shabbier late 90s/early 00s ones. Buy some new pickups and then spend an afternoon installing and shimming them and doing a thorough setup.
Thank you, I’ll look for an earlier model.

I’ve been listening to a LOT of Geordie Walker lately, obviously. 🤣
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Re: Epiphone ES-295

Post by tdksa90 » Mon Jul 25, 2022 6:19 pm

I ended up finding a 2014 Epi ES-175 Premium for a good price.

I love it. I might replace the Classic 57 pickups with a set of BG Pure90s.

NGD thread coming soon…. Thank you all for your feedback!
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Re: Epiphone ES-295

Post by Sauerkraut » Wed Jul 27, 2022 12:56 am

Cool! That's a smarter way to go about it than I suggested. Looks like it's basically the same guitar with more easily height-adjustable pickup covers.

Congratulations!

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Re: Epiphone ES-295

Post by tdksa90 » Wed Jul 27, 2022 7:43 am

I might as well make this my NGD thread!

2014 Epiphone ES-175 Premium. The back of the headstock was stamped "USED", so this was initially B-Stock from Epiphone. It must be the checking of the finish, which frankly I don't care about!

I was going to put Pure90s in this, but damn these Classic 57s sound amazing. This is the first time I've bought a guitar and decided not to mod it.

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First thing I did when I left the shop was to have my regular luthier check it out. He moved the bridge back into place and inspected it... and gave it the thumbs up. I'm going to play it for a few weeks then bring it to him for a new nut and setup.
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Re: Epiphone ES-295 (Update: NGD ES-175 Premium)

Post by Flurko » Wed Jul 27, 2022 10:51 am

This looks great! I really enjoy the 175 in opaque colors with a contrasting guard like this, it looks less like a piece of furniture and more like a "cool electric guitar" than the traditional Gibson sunburst style .

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Re: Epiphone ES-295 (Update: NGD ES-175 Premium)

Post by tdksa90 » Wed Jul 27, 2022 12:46 pm

Flurko wrote:
Wed Jul 27, 2022 10:51 am
This looks great! I really enjoy the 175 in opaque colors with a contrasting guard like this, it looks less like a piece of furniture and more like a "cool electric guitar" than the traditional Gibson sunburst style .
I agree, wholeheartedly. :)

What’s weird is that all the photos I’ve seen online of the 2014 Premium, no matter the finish, have black pickguards. I wonder if they just decided to throw something else on when they realized it was B-Stock, or perhaps it was just the choice of the previous owner.
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Re: Epiphone ES-295 (Update: NGD ES-175 Premium)

Post by Sauerkraut » Thu Jul 28, 2022 1:57 pm

Looks great! Personally, I like it better than an ES-295. They’re a bit kitschy, with all the gold and the flowery pickguard. This looks classy. Also, you’re right; if you like the pickups, keep them.

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Re: Epiphone ES-295 (Update: NGD ES-175 Premium)

Post by tdksa90 » Mon Aug 01, 2022 11:21 am

Sauerkraut wrote:
Thu Jul 28, 2022 1:57 pm
Looks great! Personally, I like it better than an ES-295. They’re a bit kitschy, with all the gold and the flowery pickguard. This looks classy. Also, you’re right; if you like the pickups, keep them.
I dunno, Geordie Walker always made it look cool to me. :)
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That said, I'm super happy with the ES-175. I feel bad neglecting my Jag, but such is life. I played a short solo set over the weekend, using a borrowed Fender Princeton, and I was in heaven.
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