Yep, there is Epiphone mojo with me.
Epiphone seems to have been doin two things. They maintain a line of very good guitars, their LP and Casino for example; and they make entry level to medium-quality guitars as well. I think their LP Special is one of their entry level guitars and the one I played recently felt like a toy.
You may know that thier history has been premium guitars...and that's where their mojo's at. In fact Gibson bought Epi in the late 1960s because Epi quality was too serious a threat to Gibsons. After the purchase, Gibson tried to preserve the Epi reputation by continuing to make excellent quality Epi models but Gibson also targeted the mid-price market with other Epi models so the Gibson name wouldn't be compromised.
My best guitar of five is my 1963 Epiphone Casino. A superb player, light, with great feel, and a wide range of tones, made of course when Epi was a premium builder.
So Epi has evolved to represent different levels of quality over the years but I think they still make some very good guitars and have not lost thier mojo...it's just that the mojo's not in every Epi.
Doug
