Epiphone Wilshire P-90 Ebony

Incredibly pleased with my Wilshire - very difficult to imagine a better guitar for the money. Generally it sounds great and exactly what I was looking for.

My only gripe - I have no idea why they didn't put the front strap button on the top of the arm like on a strat or tele instead of by the neck. Where it is (flat near the neck) it puts a twist on the strap and also makes the guitar slightly neck-heavy. I might actually re-drill mine so it's where it should obviously be!

With the two pickups the sound is really versatile, and after a little bit of easy setup tweaking with the intonation and string / pickup heights, it's a joy to play.

First of all this is the same P-90 model Jimi Hendrix used in 1962 with the King Casuals band and it is one of the few original designs of Epiphone. This has the same specs as the Epiphone SG Special P-90 without the 60´s SlimTaper profile and the wrap around bridge (which comes with the nightmare of intonation). The Willshire was actually created 2 years before the SG so if you want the original, here it is.

Sound: You can get many sounds from this if you experiment with the tone controls and switch, the P-90s really shine on the clean channel and the overdriven sound is gritty and punchy much clearer than humbuckers. I used the same settings on my amp with different guitars the Epiphone really blows everything away. It is really versatile and you get almost no hum at all for a P-90. The sound is full and has some great midrange.

Playability: The neck is a bit more chunky than the SG's slim taper, but has a great feel to it. It's not uncomfortable and it doesn't feel too big, don't expect a Fender style neck though. Almost no neck dive for me as I use an Ibanez Designer Collection strap and the whole guitar is not too heavy.

Setup: The finish is good, I found some kind of blemishes in the bottom but nothing too serious, the action is not too high or low, it came pretty good straight out of the box. The frets could use some work for sure but they're not that bad, you won't cut your fingers but you'll feel some kind of sharpness. The tuners feel okay, somewhat of a 90% responsiveness.

Overall a great guitar for its price, and while I've heard some horror stories of Epiphones and their quality control this came out just right. I will give this a 10/10 because I was worried that I would have work to do but it came out great. I am not sure this would be the case with the Epiphone SG. The Willshire is a P-90 guitar that is original, has a history and provides the same as a copy of a Gibson but with attention to detail. It is something you need to have if you've only used single coils and humbuckers. For me this is great for gigging and practicing. Amazing sound and really good wiring.