The arrival of new gear is always a highly anticipated event for everyone here at Sweetwater. Typically, once a product is actually shipping, we all get together — usually with a factory rep or product specialist — and give it a good once-over. Of course, for those of us who are guitar players, well, we tend to come in early or stay after hours and check out any new instruments that may have arrived the day before. Believe me, there’s nothing like walking into our cavernous warehouse and seeing a whole palette of new Gibson or Epiphone guitars and basses fresh off the truck.

Unlike most guitar dealers, where every instrument is hanging in the showroom (just waiting to be dinged or even dropped by accident), all our guitars get checked to make sure they match our purchase orders, then are given a thorough inspection to make sure the instrument wasn’t damaged in shipping and to check that it was properly set up at the factory. Finally, each one gets placed back in the original shipping carton and is set safely out of harm’s way in the warehouse’s huge guitar section.

There’s nothing quite like that first moment when the case slides out of the shipping carton, gets laid on our plush checkout area and finally gets opened to reveal the (usually stunning) guitar within. And yes, most of us get off on the heady aroma of fine wood and lacquer. More than one of us has had to put out a hand to steady himself (or herself, of course) when a particularly gorgeous flame top Les Paul is in the case, or one of the hand crafted acoustics that literally cry out “For goodness sake, take me home and play me!” Thankfully, none of us has an unlimited source of ready cash, otherwise we might never let many of these guitars leave our sight. But we do feel better knowing that they’ll find good homes with musicians like you. Where are we headed here? Well, we just received a shipment of brand new Gibson and Epiphone acoustic and electric guitars and basses and there are some real beauties in this bunch.

Everyone knows about Gibson and their incredible history and legendary status in the guitar industry. What some of you might not know is that at one time, Epiphone was also one of the most prestigious names in the business. But when the company fell on some hard times, it got sold to Gibson and Epiphone guitars were built in a facility right next to Gibson’s in Kalamazoo, Michigan. This was in about 1957.

Eventually, to make a long story short, for a variety of reasons Epiphone guitars ceased to be made by Gibson and were being built overseas and imported by CMI, which was then Gibson’s parent company. While quality at that point didn’t match that of the Gibson instruments, neither did the prices, and Epiphones were known as a solid deal: A good guitar at an affordable price. But as the people who built the instruments got better at it, and as soaring sales allowed new woodworking equipment to be purchased, quality started going up dramatically, to the point where many of the current Epiphone guitars are as good or even better than the originals.

Today, Epiphone is even designing and building its own line of limited edition and signature instruments. For example, the Jack Casady Signature Bass ($1311 list – pictured at the top) is a long scale (34"), semi-acoustic electric bass. The tone is so pure that Jack himself dares you to compare it to any other bass on the market. The low impedance JCB-1 bass pickup, hands-on designed and developed by Jack in conjunction with Epiphone R&D, is capable of producing a truly natural bass tone that cannot be achieved using normal high impedance and active pick ups. It is finished in classic metallic gold (think Les Paul “goldtop”). The Jack Casady Signature bass is just one of 16 basses in the Epiphone Y2K collection. Best of all, it’s in stock in very limited quantities right now!

The Zephyr Blues Deluxe ($1724 list – pictured at the right) in natural finish is a gorgeous instrument by any standard. It combines classic styling with modern production techniques to bring you incredible tone at a fantastic price. The guitar is equipped with three P-90 pickups (with the middle pickup wired in reverse polarity) mounted on a flame maple body with a natural finish (just beautiful) and has a set (glued) neck and gold hardware. Other features include a 25.5-inch scale, a maple neck and a rosewood fingerboard with pearl block markers. The headstock sports a classic Epiphone floral vine design inlay for a touch of real class. This is an instrument that any guitar player would be proud to own.

Need a superb acoustic without spending a small fortune? How about the Texan Limited Edition ($908 list – left) with a solid spruce top, flame maple body, mahogany neck with a rosewood fingerboard and parallelogram pearl inlays. Other features include a 25.5-inch scale, chrome hardware, body binding and a flawless vintage sunburst finish. This is a great-looking acoustic with a very pleasing tone that records well.

Naturally, we have other quality Epiphones in stock, including some exceptional Les Pauls that you’d swear were Gibsons. So give your Sweetwater Sales Engineer a call for a complete rundown on our complete stock of Epis and your special low pricing

The original Gibson Explorer of 1958 was even more radically modernistic than its famous cousin, the Flying V. Unfortunately, both were so far ahead of their time that, back then, dealers almost couldn’t give them away. Since then, both have been rediscovered by other generations of guitar fanatics and the originals command truly astronomical prices. The Explorer was actually reissued in 1976 and now Gibson has released a tribute to that instrument in the form of the Explorer ‘76 in Ebony ($1621 list). Sporting two humbuckers (a 496R ceramic in the neck position and 500T ceramic in the bridge), chrome hardware and a Tune-o-matic bridge with stop tailpiece, it also features a mahogany body and neck (with a comfortable rounded profile) topped off with a rosewood fingerboard and dot markers. Two volume controls, one tone control and a three-way selector switch complete the package.

A much bigger success in 1958 was the ES-335 dot neck, which brought hollowbody tradition and solidbody performance together in one package and it is still one of the all-time classic guitar designs. Our ES-335 Reissue ($4971 list) features a classy natural finish with laminated figured maple top and back plus two sweet ‘57 reissue humbucking pickups, single-ply top, back and fingerboard binding, plus a mahogany slim taper neck with rosewood fingerboard and (of course) dot markers. True to the original, all hardware including the ABR bridge and stop tailpiece are made of nickel. These babies are hard to come by, so if you’ve always wanted a 335 dot neck, call now.

While many have always thought of Gibson as a manufacturer of the highest quality electrics, they forget that the company got its start building acoustics. And one of the best-selling acoustics was the SJ-200. Featuring historic 1950s details and a super jumbo body style, we present the SJ-200 Reissue ($3999 list), also known as the “King of the Flat-tops." The top is solid spruce with solid flamed maple back and sides. The fretboard and bridge are real Madagascar rosewood over a maple neck with real mother-of-pearl crown inlays. The finish is a creamy antique natural with gold keystone tuners. If you’re looking for a prestige acoustic with incredibly balanced tone, hey, this is the one!

Over the years, the Gibson J-45 Southern Jumbo has appeared on thousands of recordings. Our reissue J-45 ($2049 list — see bottom photo) comes with such features as a “round shoulder” jumbo body style, solid spruce top with solid mahogany back, neck and sides. The bound rosewood fretboard is topped off with real mother-of-pearl inlays. There’s even a mother-of-pearl headstock inlay, along with white button tuners. The finish is a gorgeous vintage sunburst.

The name says it all. Hummingbird: the original and famous honey-toned beauty since 1960. Our reissue Hummingbird ($2999 list) comes complete with that distinctive “Hummingbird design” pickguard, a square shoulder body style, solid spruce top with solid mahogany back, neck and sides. The rosewood fretboard sports real mother-of-pearl parallelogram inlays. Finally, a MOP headstock inlay and heritage cherry sunburst finish complete the package.

Of course, we always have some of those classic Les Paul Standards in stock, including one in our favorite finish, honeyburst. We also just received a cherry red B. B. King signature “Lucille” from Gibson’s Classic Series with gold hardware and those famous sweet-sounding humbuckers.

For more information on Gibson and Epiphone guitars, along with your very special Sweetwater pricing, call your Sales Engineer today. Keep in mind that our stock changes as guitars are sold and new ones arrive, so if you’ve spotted something you want here, call right away!

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