Epiphone SG Special Satin E1 Electric Guitar - Ebony Reviews

First of all , Thanks Damien Hyde you're the Man !!
The epi sg E1 for my first sg has me playing every day learning different genres from my norm.
I Love the guitar and have upgrades coming for its in my opinion a "SWEET" deal and Sweetwater is great

I bought mine with the intention of using it for rock and a little metal music and it has been a great addition. It's surprisingly lightweight and it doesn't seem to take away from quality. The pickups sound great, the lightweight build makes you feel way more free to move around, the ebony finish looks awesome and it's just a great deal on a pretty rocking guitar. I would personally recommend!

Hard to beat for the money. Really pleased.

Easy to play nice sound lightweight compared to my Squier Strat good guitar for beginners or others wanting a inexpensive entry level guitar that rocks

So glad I bought the SG guitar. It is now my second favorite guitar of the six I have of various brands. I do like my Carvin better but it may be because I bought it new back in the 80's and I have a sentimental attachment. The purchase of this guitar was painless and very easy. Mitch was very helpful and kept me informed all along the way. The hardest thing was having to wait a day after I received it before unpacking it to let it adjust to the house temperature. I would highly recommend this as a wonderful guitar for the price and for all skill levels.

Asked for this for Christmas, got it and not gonna lie at a $ price tag I thought it'd just be a okay side guitar to have. Boy oh boy is this guitar great sounding. The feel is great, it's comfortable, light and sounds incredible! Very very very happy with this and recommend to beginners intermediate or advanced guitar players. This guitar is fantastic.

I received this guitar a few weeks ago. I've spent a week & a half on it. Light to hold. Feels natural in my hands. Its a joy to play. Nice addition to my collection.

Nice begginner guitar !

Admittedly, I've been spoiled over the years playing vintage Fenders, Gibsons, Martins, etc. That being said, I was highly impressed with the quality of this guitar out of the box. After changing to a heavier gauge set of strings, I was pleasantly surprised to discover the truss rod only required minimal adjustment for low action and great playability. The intonation was almost perfect along with the pickup height. When played through a Class A tube amp, it sounds very similar to a vintage solid body guitar. Furthermore, there was no hum or grounding issues I could detect. There are some downsides though. The fretboard does not feel the same as an ebony fretboard. I also had to polish the neck due to the finish being a little rough. The lack of separate tone and volume controls for each pickup is somewhat limiting, but for the price it's to be expected. Overall, it won't replace my Gibson Les Paul, but I bought it primarily for use as a lightweight practice guitar. A role in which it excels. I would highly recommend this guitar for a beginner or practice instrument.

For this price you can't beat it! This guitar feels great and is light. When it arrived at my door I thought they forgot to put the guitar inside. haha. That's how light it feels. The fretboard feels perfect for my hands and I have smaller playing hands. Overall, it sounds great too, been recording with it. Great craftmanship by Epiphone on this one, budget friendly and you get that classic SG look while you are at it.

This is only the 2nd electric guitar I've ever bought new in my 20+ years of playing. I highly recommend the guitar, and to do all your business with Sweetwater. Their customer service is profound and their prices are fair. There is no comparison to the customer service I've received on my last 3 purchases. Saving up for a new amp and won't even consider buying one anywhere else.

First, the fret edges were very smooth. Perhaps it is just Epiphone, but years ago when I bought a Squire strat, I had to finish the fret edges to avoid being cut, especially on the inside of my thumb. I play technically incorrectly with thumb-over. It is even better than a Les Paul that I have. Actually, I bought this guitar because I wanted a short-scale light weight guitar. This fit the bill.

Ok first I want to say THANK YOU SWEETWATER!

This review is for everybody considering this item..
But first a brief background on myself. I put my Gibson down over two decades ago and went off to places in the world that make hell look like the Hilton! I had to go to the sand box and play for keeps with some bad boys after that day the world changed on 911. I was getting ready to come home for good and let the new guys carry my torch. I saw a flash and it was months later I woke up in a hospital with tubes coming out of me. Its been a experience. I'm one of the lucky ones to say the least. But nothing is the same and its been difficult to deal with a broken body and resulting changes! I have survived because of fam, friends and music! Black Sabbath and Dio have been at full volume many sleepless night and throughout grueling therapy sessions as I recover. I did not have any idea what I was going to do with myself? Then I remembered how good playing the guitar was as a kid..
Going to the local music store was not a option so I went online looking for something to try and get back into things at a price that I can afford if it dosent work out.
Sweetwater was the choice after a lot of research, reviews and investigation. This is a solid American company that I am happy to recommend!
Now to the Epiphone SG Special VE!
The guitar is absolutely worth every penny! It arrived well packaged in perfect condition. So did my amp and a number of other items. The entire ordering process/payment, tracking, delivery was exceptional. This Epiphone SG sounds like a 3000$ Gibson and its under 200$!!!
The humbuckers simply ROCK. Even the strings are good to go! It was perfectly in tune and all the hardware is tight and solid.
I have no complaints.
The ebony vintage finish is just awesome. I expected this to be a lot less of a instrument and I cant put it down. My fingers are about raw and I'm loving it!
The guitar is better than described in the product info and true to specs. I recommend trying it yourself.
I will be purchasing my next guitar and products from Sweetwater. The prices are exceptional. Besides the SG, I got nice amp, strings cords etc. at a killer savings! I dont feel the need to change a thing. This ax is ready to grind straight out of the box.
Sweetwater you guys ROCK. Thank you again and I will be back.

In new to guitars, (just learning) so I did lots of research to see which one I should buy. My Epiphone SG exceeds my expectations!

Ok, I bought the VE just to check it out. I mean… how good could it be?! I heard from my Sales Engineer Joe Schafer (who has always been there for me through the the years at SW). He understood my reasoning, and wanted to be sure and let him know how it turned out. I have a Gibson SG, and wanted to see how Epiphone's copy was. It's amazing!!! I mean it's not a Gibson SG, but it plays well, holds tune, good action, ok, the pickups don't have the same depth, but for an electric guitar... it sounds good; it's fabulous!!!

I got this guitar as a Christmas gift and the packaging was super nice. The headstock was secured very nicely. Just a great guitar in general. Humbuckers sound amazing and I have a Les Paul so they are like twins. Great guitar.

Just helped a friend pick out a rig for his daughter. Guitar+Apm+Accessories. Played all the epiphone and squire instruments in the $200-$350 price range. Even played a MIM stray, then decided to give this one a shot. Blown away. Best thing in the store under $300, let alone under $200. Ended up setting them up with this and a Boss Katana. Awesome rig for a beginner.

I've been playing guitar for a lot of years. Now that I'm retired I can indulge my passion a little more, but I still have to start at the bottom of the price list. I'd always wanted an SG and so a few weeks ago I bought a Special VE. You know how a lot of times you buy a 'cheaper' guitar and it's OK, but you feel like you need to change the tuners, or the pickups, or whatever. Then, every once in a while you pick up a guitar and it's perfect! Stunning! It sounds like angels. I swear, I must have gotten the pick of the litter, cause a "less than $200 guitar" isn't supposed to play this well. But there's not a thing I want to change. Nothing. I don't even want to change the strings. It sings that well.
I am blown away by the range of this guitar as well. I set up one pickup for a loft jazzy tone and the other for a cutting tone and switch back and forth. It sounds amazing. How can you go wrong with a guitar this good and how can Epiphone produce something this great for such a low price? It leaves me speechless...

This guitar was just what I needed at an incredible price. I've been looking for a good deal on an SG as a dedicated slide guitar and Sweetwater's cyber Monday deals served one up for me. Here she is, with my own version of a "Rossington rod" in place. (RIP, Gary, I'll be thinking of you when I play "Free Bird"). Thanks again to my gear coach, Andy Miller. Happy New Year to all Sweetwater fans out there. Mark in Portland

I ordered this guitar for my wife, so she could finally have one of her own instead of having to use mine. We settled on an SG because she liked the feel and weight of it. This came in on time (FedEx was predicting the following week). The SG seemed two pounds lighter than my Strat, and half the weight of my Les Paul. Not exactly a Slim Taper neck, but not a chunky neck either. My wife said she was very happy with both the neck and the fretboad radius.
I got it set up, and ended up playing it for over an hour. Nice, singing quality to the leads. The satin finish on the neck made the guitar easy to play and at this price, it's a Modder's dream. We're going to "murder it out", to use the car show's term for replacing chrome parts with black. This is easily the nicest beginner's guitar I've ever played.

When I had a bunch of gear get water-damaged, and decided to buy a cheap guitar to practice on while waiting for insurance to pay out, I decided to give the Epiphone Special Satin E1 a try. I'd never had an SG before, but knew the history, that they're sometimes prone to neck-dive, etc.

My copy of this guitar is just amazing in terms of tone and playability. The finish is quite nice, especially as the neck is also satinized. I had no fret issues, and quickly lowered the action a bit without undue buzz. It plays and sounds GREAT, with no neck dive.

A couple of minor nits:
* The pickup selector switch feels low-quality and like it may need tightening in the foreseeable future.
* The tuners are a bit mushy. (I called Gibson and they're PMH-020B/PMH-020T, whereas the upgraded ones on the Epiphone SG Standard etc. are PMH-034B/PMH-034T.)

The neck is bolt-on and body made of poplar, but those don't bother me. I'm looking forward to getting some heavy sounds out of this pretty little guitar. (Right after I upgrade the tuners to something with an 18:1 ratio.)

I bought this for my little brother as a birthday gift, and while I haven't sent it to him yet, I can already say that he's going to love it. I don't typically play SGs, but I really like it for the price. Solid electronics, decent hardware, and a really nice looking finish. My only real gripes are that the tuners are a little bit jumpy, it picks up fingerprints like crazy, and there were a couple very small dings in the body and on the headstock. But overall, I really dig it, and I'm tempted to buy one for myself.

Was pleased to be able to add this to my collection as a project guitar at a decent cost. Upgraded the strings to 9's, roller bridge, and new locking tuners without even playing it. All of those plus a light fret top and side deburr sanding as well as fretboard dressing oil helped this to become a player.

All guitars need some sort of truss rod and bridge intonation adjustments, and these were done by me and at minimal overall cost.

Although it shipped upside down, it was fairly well packaged with a triangular box within a squared box. No hex wrench adjustment tools were included, but I have all of them (and don't need any more).

The fretboard is a dark orange colored wood and not actual rosewood, however, it darkens some after a fretboard dressing (like F-One Oil or Mineral Oil).

Neck is super straight. This is a becoming a favorite due to its lightweight body as my go-to for desktop practicing.

A great modification platform for an experienced player or great starter for any beginner to learn on.

I may/may not upgrade the pickups and low budget electronics in the future, although in an ideal world this would be necessary.

Have fun and get one!

Over all I can't complain even though I think they need to check check the accuracy of where the fret wires are inserted. I have the lower gauge saddles moved almost as far back as they will go. I play the low E then the 12th fret harmonic is dead on. But when I fret the note at the twelfth fret the E A and D strings play flat. I tape measured from the nut to the twelfth fret and it looks like that fret wire is not quite where it should be...approximately just off by under a 16th of an inch. Also playing a note on either of those lower strings and playing an octave higher on the higher strings is off some... It is close but I can hear the imperfection...For the most part it is not so bad that it makes the guitar unusable because for almost everything I play in the higher register now sounds passable...It is $ new guitar which I use for jam sessions where young children and dogs with wagging tails use guitar stands as if they were pylons for drivers education...It could be better but it could be lots more expensive too. My new Epiphone Studio LV is supposed to arrive today and I will test the intonation and fret placement on that. I also have an Ibanez AX120 copper coming either tomorrow or Monday. I will test the LP against the Ibanez. I want to see the difference between the two as far as the fret spacing and intonation goes.

Over all I Just changed the strings from the 09's it came with to 10's and lowered the bridge a bit. The nut slots were cut close to the right height but the strings were hanging up even with the 09"s it is doing it now in most of the slots...I have to take it to the guy with the right nut files...That was expected. The fingerboard is nice and the neck a touch on the wide D size but it is comfortable for me to play. The fret wires are dressed nicely kudo's to Epiphone for that. It has very close tones to my early 1960's Epiphone Monarch. You can tell it is like a Gibson / early Epiphone tone clone. At my age I am not too sure those ceramic pickups will become an issue in my lifetime. The machines feel a bit floppy like they are not tight but hey! The fingering is better on this guitar than on my Mex Strat limited edition...The only reason I took off a half star is beware of guitar finish bleeding out onto your clothes if they get damp from, sweat or a water splash. I have the ebony which is blue if it bleeds out. But that being said over all for the price it is a really nice instrument made to be very playable. This would be a very good choice for a starter guitar if they all come like mine did.

My epic phone SG was my very first guitar and I still use it to this day 3 years later without realizing I'm starting to find out how much I really love this guitar.it's light and sounds great.i lowered the action it a great guitar

The Guitar arrived quickly and in perfect condition, thanks to Sweetwater, who was there every step of the way. The guitar has some tricky plastic coverings on the pickups that I had a bit of trouble peeling off, but other than that, It's amazing! The Humbuckers can handle a ridiculous amount of gain without any noise at all. The strap lock on the back of the neck is a bit awkward, but after some adjustment, it works. I would recommend strap locks with this guitar, it helps a lot. The only real problem I have with the guitar is the fact that the volume knob is right where my hand moves to strum, so sometimes I'll accidentally bump that. It's a sturdy guitar that stays in tune after a bump or two and the vintage finish looks great in ebony. I would highly recommend this guitar to anyone, on a budget or not. This was my first time using Sweetwater for an online order, and I was incredibly impressed. Their people stayed with me every step of the way and then some. Great guitar, great experience!

It's a really great guitar for its price. My only negative view is that it was much lighter in weight than I thought it would be. But overall it has a good tone and an easy all round playability.

It's a really great guitar for its price. My only negative view is that it was much lighter in weight than I thought it would be. But overall it has a good tone and an easy all round playability.

Purchased this as a first guitar for a 14yo. She loves it. Looks great! Plays well for a first guitar. I would definitely not purchase it for a seasoned player. Pay the extra money for the better quality.

Very average quality with a cheap finish. Plays well for the money.

its playable, fret work is decent. thats the good. #1 the fret board is not rosewood, not even close. huge disappointment in that. tuners are garbage. extremely difficult to get it in tune, and keep it there. pickups are decent, just dont put much gain through them or they get noisy. big sticker on the bag the guitar comes in says important information and tools included... not in the one i received. id save a few bucks and buy the next level up if you can afford it, unless you want a project. 3 stars is being generous, its really a 2.5 on a good day.

This guitar is what you should expect for the price but if you just change out the tuners, and strings, and adjust set up you have a very nice SG for very little money. The pickups aren't the best but sound pretty good for what the guitar costs.The main thing is to replace the tuners
I changed out for Graph Tech locking Keystone type. Look great, work great but not as quick and easy as advertised.Some drilling involed, but well worth the effort. I just did that, filed the fret ends, oiled fretboard and adjusted the action and now have every usable SG for not much $. The guitar is very light and super comfortable. Would recommend if you don't mind doing these upgrades. Especially the tuning machines

I'm a Fender guy, but wanted a chunky-sounding humbucker guitar to add to my collection. This SG special has that classic lightweight SG body and chunky sound at a great price, so I took the leap. Unfortunately, for the first time ordering ordering online, the guitar was almost unplayable upon arrival. It is physically painful to move your hand up and down the neck. The frets cut into my hand - rough finish extending out beyond the fretboard. The strings that came with the guitar were of the lowest possible quality as well. A complete top-to-bottom pro set-up, restringing, and a file generously applied to the frets took care of most of the issue, but I'm still scratching my head why Epiphone would ship out a new instrument in such bad shape.