Epiphone J-45 Acoustic Guitar - Aged Vintage Sunburst Gloss Reviews

After watching JP Cormier's reviews on the Inspired by Gibson series Epiphone guitars I called my trusted and highly respected Sales Rep AJ Becerra, and he confirmed what a very special guitar these are.

The build quality is as good as it gets - solid mahogany back and sides and Sitka spruce top. Fit and finish flawless and comfortable to play right out of the box.

I don't use the built in pickup - I Mic the guitar mid - side using an Aston Origin and R1A Ribbon Mic and get exactly what I wanted - full range sound without muddied lows.

My other guitars are Godin 5th Avenue - P90 Archtop and T Armond, and WOW, the full acoustic sound of the J-45 combined with playing lead with the T Armond is EXACTLY what I wanted my sound to be.

Thanks AJ, Sweetwater and JP Cormier!

The j-45 "inspired by Gibson" Epiphone is an unreal value. All solid wood and quality construction yields a guitar with a great voice. I played countless guitars in this price range before settling on the ISG J-45.

Okay for the sake of giving some feedback on these, I was looking to get a prop guitar that I would still enjoy playing that could fit the role of both an Elvis and Beatles tribute that I do. Elvis did play this instrument in several movies etc. The Beatles played something similar looking with the Gibson J160e which there is also an Epi version of. Other Epi's I've played in the past really were terrible in comparison to something like a Yamaha FG830 which blew the Epi's I played away, but I can't vouch for the Epi J160e, never played it. But I was curious about how the Inspired by Gibson line would sound and play. Loved the J45 look etc. So I sold a Guild DS240 I had because the color didn't look the same and it was more of J45 faded look. I turned around and bought this used Epi Inspired by Gibson J45 after playing it at a local store. I have to say it beats the Guild in term of sound. Playability is comparable, Guild is probably more nicely finished but its not solid wood back and sides like the Epi is. I like the chunkier neck on the Epi as well. The thing most people don't like about these, is sometimes the neck and bridge plate can look way too pale and they look so much better when they are black, like on a real J45. So I dyed the neck with some Higgins #46030 ink and it came out awesome. Check out the before and after photos. If you can't swing getting the real J45 then man this guitar is a huge value for the money. Super highly impressed. So nice to be able to get that authentic look without breaking the bank and have something so very close to the real thing from a sound and playability aspect. Yes the pickguard is a bit thick but that could be replaced as well if it bothered you. But it certainly doesn't hamper its great sound and boom on the low end. Playability fret work, beautifully finished and Solid Woods! You can't go wrong, buy it!

I am 72 an knew from previous purchases I could trust Sweetwater to deliver. Not enough funds for Gibson but dared a less expensive Epiphone (Orange Sticker). I actually drove 2.5hrs, walked into your magic world and not more than a half hour I was approached by a very polite Quentin who volunteered to search my j45 out as there were none. Wasn't long and he returned with just as I was looking for! I do not sell, so demo was fine as I examined it was so impressed with Quinton and his quick effort to find my guitar!
The Epiphone IBG J45 IS EVERYTHING they say noit is. Have it any way you want. I'm one happy ol' dude! Thank you, Quentin and thank all Sweetwater. Loved my visit

WOW! WOW! WOW!

Folks, it is very important to note the "Inspired by Gibson" orange sticker in this guitar. That separates it from a Epiphone J-45. This was made in the custom shop in Indonesia and it is quite a guitar for the money. It does not sound like a Gibson J-45, which is a different experience from the Inspired by Gibson Hummingbird, as it sounds very close to a Gibson Hummingbird. That said, the IBG J-45 sounds like a mini cannon. It is solidly in that mid section of sound. It's not too deep and not too bright. Mine almost sounds like an Adirondack spruce top. It is quite powerful. For the money, you better believe it is worth it. The pickguard for mine was replaced with something smaller and the electronics were taken out and the saddle was shimmed with bone. It is pretty amazing and I suspect pulling the pickguard helped that, since the one that comes with it takes up a lot of real estate. I don't like active pickups, because the way they have to mount it really interferes wit the sound, in my opinion. A great buy for the money, but I would recommend pulling the pickguard and removing the electronics. If you have to have a pickup, install a K&K or something passive like that.

I've owned a handful of standard Martins, a couple pretty high end Taylors, a Bourgeois, and a Santa Cruz PW OM....may be missing one. Anyway, I had not owned a nice acoustic since I sold my last Martin 35. I bought this upon just trying it out one day. Is it as good as the Santa Cruz or Bourgeois?..well no. Is it a great guitar? I think it's unbelievable for the price. What it is?...It's a beautifully built 45 that has great "recorded acoustic" natural EQ to it. I would be happy with a Gibson Std 45 that sounds like this!

This guitar is incredible. The tone is very very close to a Gibson J-45. If you put it side by side, you only may hear the slightest difference, but frankly the Epi stands up. It has the essence of a J-45. That tight midrange, not boomy, wooden tone. The neck is fantastic too if you like a thickish D profile. I got small hands and cowboy chords feel very comfortable.
Fit and finish is A+. The thin poly matte finish looks better in person than these photos can reveal. It has a vibe, it certainly isn't shiny like a nitro gloss, but I prefer it to a gloss poly. Definitely a finish for someone who just wants to enjoy playing without worrying about nicking it like a nitro finish.
For this money it's kind of insane this guitar exists. Sure for twice as much you could get a really good Eastman slope shoulder, but there is something about it being an official Gibson copy.
Frankly, I may buy the other 2 inspired by acoustics at this rate.

I was very pleasantly surprised after receiving this guitar from Sweetwater. I have a Gibson Hummingbird Pro and a Martin DCME, both magaony back and sides which is a sound I love. This J45 has the best warm tone with tons of volume and ambience.
The mid range tones will fire out of this unit, especially with the tone knob turned up a bit. For using a pick it has a great tone with the tone knob turned all the way to the mild or bass end of the spectrum. I'm playing through a JBL Eon 1 with a 12 channel Yamaha mixer, which I suggest to give you even more tone control and pre-amp. The playability is great too with a very nice neck. In sound tone controls limit this unit a bit since I have a Kyser feedback buster which unusable with this placement of the controls. I highly recommend this inspired by Gibson guitar for solo players!

This is a fantastic guitar for the money. It plays and sounds great! The pickup is usable but a bit quacky. This guitar does everything you would need it to do, it's a great tool for making music! I also own a Gibson J15 which is on a whole different level. The Epiphone is perfect to take to places I wouldn't want to take the Gibson!

You're either in the market for a $3k guitar or a more reasonably priced guitar. If you're in the market for the prior, then by all means, check out the Gibson J45 (I would). But.... I'd suggest you look at this Epiphone J45 first. I own a Martin HD 28 and love it. It will never leave me. But it's not the guitar that I just want to knock around everywhere. And I decided I wanted a gibson strummer for when I sit out on deck in the high heat/summer humidity and tool around on. Then I decided I did not want to have $6k invested in two guitars for which neither should be exposed to extreme elements. So I decided to look at the epiphone strictly bc of price. Wow...what a secret weapon this guitar is. It just sounds amazing. The all solid wood construction is apparent from feel and sound. The aged finish (although poly) looks great and gives an immediate mojo look. But the real deal is that I find myself playing this guitar much more than my martin. Just bc I spend most good weather outside. And it sounds every bit as good to me. And I'm not worried about one single scratch or dent. And out of the box, the action was perfect, neck was perfect. Flawless finish. Anybody who tests this blind against a gibson j45 and says that they know it's not the true feel of a gibson is already biased bc they will know immediately what they are holding bc of the poly vs nitro finish. That's all nonsense. This epiphone holds up to not only its gibson counterpart, but other American manufacturers like Martin and Taylor (own a Taylor as well). This epiphone J45 is my most played guitar, although I did not intend it to be. And I have 12 guitars.

This is my 1st review, so here goes, this is an amazing guitar, compared next to two Gibson J-45's that I tried they were almost identical each having it's own sprinkle on top if you know what I mean. Very comfortable neck, smooth playability, great action, and the balance across the strings just amazing. As you can see I took off that huge bat wing pickguard more vintage looking seems to have a little more resonance maybe it's just me. Also had a custom thrust rod cover made for a cool vibe, I also put pictures of the products I used to get the Indian Laurel neck darken and more Rosewood looking, pic don't do justice it really makes it look nice. Is this guitar one of the Diamonds in the rough I don't know but I would give this guitar a try, a whole lot of guitar for the money. I want to give a big shout out to my guy of 5 years now Dave Brow, amazing guy if you need anything give him a ring he will take care of you.

James

I'm blown away by this guitar's looks and tone. I own a 2016 Gibson J45, that is my third, and best one I've owned. It has nothing in the tone department on this guitar! This is the best import guitar I have ever owned period. Not sure if this is a fluke or if this is how Epiphone is doing all of them now but this guitar is a permanent part of my collection from here on.

My guitar arrived in perfect condition. It was packaged very well. The action was great and I am able to dig in with a pick and still no buzzing. I love the sound and feel of this beautiful guitar. I would highly recommend this one. I ordered a gator hard case for it and it fit perfectly.

I received this new instrument this week. I did leave it in the box for 24 hours per the instructions on the label.

Looked great coming out of the box. I'm really impressed at the fit and finish. It's flawless in every respect. I wasn't too sure about the description of the finish. It's not a true gloss finish, kinda subdued. Its absolutely beautiful. The craftsmanship is top shelf. The fingerboard material is unlike any other that I have ever seen. I don't usually look very closely at the fingerboard, but this one is exquisite.

Let me be clear: it's not a GibsonJ45. I have a 2004 Gibson, and there are many reasons why it costs what it does.

However, my new Epi is awesome in every way. It's beautiful, plays effortlessly, and sounds great. The new addition of the Fishman pup was the right move to make. Sounds great through my Vox AC 30. I travel a lot, and this one will go with me and I can leave the Gibson at home, safe and sound.

This is a great guitar at this price point. It's a rare case where it is a lot better than the price would indicate. A lot better.

You will not be disappointed with this guitar.

It is truly amazing how great this guitar sounds. And plays. The bass is more powerful than my Gibson and the fit and finish equals or exceeds my J45 and my J15. I play it thru a Fishman Loudbox and it sounds great- great balance across all strings.
I had Sweetwater do a set up before they shipped and they really did a great job matching my specifications. Thanks Mike Winebrenner for making the whole process so easy.
Glenn

I have had this guitar for 9 or so months and I have had time to break in with it. Overall I'm very happy with it. It sounds so good unplugged in any room. It is very inspiring to sing over. Has super awesome vibes. I got the limited edition wine red with white pickguard because it was cheaper and I wanted to be different. It chords nice bit if you want to pick or solo, it cant fatigue the hand a bit. I have other guitars for that though. I'm not too impressed with
The electronics. The low end of the guitar is too boomy and causes feedback and at the same time, the higher end strings get lost and thin when plugged in. The electronics render it very unbalanced and it doesn't offer the eq capabilities to solve the issue. I throw a removable soundhole pickup in and it sounds tons better so not too upset. Not worth getting rid of it over. I definitly recommend if using a pickup or for recording for sure.

When Gibson introduced the J-45 in 1942 it sold for $45 USD. Accounting for inflation that's roughly the cost of $ today, which is what the Epiphone IBG J-45 is priced at. The USA built Gibson J-45 is $. Our grand parents and great grand parents could have never afforded what Gibson charges today for the modern J-45. In an age where manufacturing has been sent overseas for everything, with guitar's there's a super premium to manufacturing in the US. The iconic models by Martin, Gibson and others are luxury goods often priced out of reach new for gigging musicians. The Inspired by Gibson J-45 really fills the void... I own a 2001 Gibson USA J-45, so I have something to compare it to and I will say the name "Inspired by" is appropriate. This Epiphone J-45 is its own thing for sure, but it lives up to the J-45 name in that it's a very mid-range focused instrument. A bit more balance and a little less thump on the low E and A strings than the USA J-45b, but it delivers as a songwriters tool. Songs just pop out of this thing! I own four other full size acoustics. Almost all of them cost more than my IBG J-45, yet this Epiphone J-45 has become my go-to guitar. In a quiet room it's just an amazing guitar to play and sing over and super comfortable to play. It's not a loud instruments, the best J-45's aren't that loud. It's about having a richness in its subdued tone. It never will compete with your vocal, but someway always helps make you sound good.... Two problems 1.) mine had scratchy frets at the 10th and 12th string. Easy to polish out using Lizard Spit's fret polishing syste ($.. excellent product... might as well add to cart if you buy this) other issue is with the pickup. I hate the Fishman Sonitone and just wish they would have gone without electronics in these. The case is NOT included, but Epiphone builds an excellent case for this guitar. Talk to your Sweetwater rep and see what kind of deal they can work for you on the case!

The fit finish and playability of this guitar is fantastic. The folks at Epiphone did a great job of providing specifications of a late 50s Gibson J45 to the fine folks at Samick in Indonesia. The Samick factory builds very nice guitars depending on what the parent company asks of the OEM supplier. The neck profile is very similar to the 3 vintage 50s Gibsons I have. The bracing is the same as a J45 and the sound is very similar. The bridge plate is rosewood. The Wilkenson tuners work ok but are a slight step below the Kluson or Gotoh version of "3 on a plate" tuners. The tuners also have a "double line" where vintage correct would be a "single line". No real need to upgrade these. Bridge pins are plastic and benefit from a bone or tusq upgrade. The pickup is the lowest end Fishman available and sounds fine, but not great, plugged in, and is of the coaxial cable type UST which mutes the acoustic sound of the guitar slightly. I may upgrade this pickup system in the future, if nothing else to provide a more direct contact between saddle and bridge. The Indian Laurel fretboard was pretty dark on mine and darkened up further with fret board oil. I get lots of complements on this guitar when showing it to other musicians. Gibson is competing with themselves by selling this great guitar at a great price.

The guitar came from sweetwater in perfect condition, in-tune and ready to play. The guitar sounds great, plenty of volume with a full warm tone. I'm thrilled with this purchase.

This guitar holds its own with a MIA J-45 but be careful when comparing them because this year alone Gibson has produced 11 different models of the J45/J50 and every one of them sounds different, one from another. So, to me this is just another version of the J-45 and it has its own sound but that sound lives utterly and completely within the J-45 family. Most of the critics of this guitar would be falling over one another to buy it, if it had a Gibson headstock.

The guitar is resonant and to my hands and ears feels like a better approximation to original than does the Masterbilt version and I think the Masterbilt guitars have a pre-Gibson Epiphone sound, meaning they are a little more boomy and have a pronounced mid-range scoop, of course this would vary example to example. This "inspired by" model sounds very tight and has very good separation of sound, not muddy or boomy at all.

The biggest difference between this and the Gibson is the finish. Would I prefer nitro, yep, but this is the best poly finish I have ever seen and it does not seem to color or deaden the guitar as do the thick glossy finish does on less expensive imports.

Expect to by a case, no unless you can do a full setup in this yourself then get it pleked or at the very least get a luthier to knock down a few minimally high frets.

Put a nitro finish on this and a better factory setup and you get a full 5 stars, as it stands it is almost there and makes sense to spend the extra on a case and setup rather than buying a MIA that is at best marginally different not necessarily better.

Only reason I didn't give this guitar a full 5-Stars is because it isn't a Gibson. Nevertheless, my Epiphone J-45 sounds rich & full. I was not expecting this guitar to sound as good as it does. I put on some Woodtone "Country Series" strings which was a perfect compliment to a already wonderful sounding instrument. Buying a guitar online (without playing it) is always a gamble, but the J-45 is a winner! Thanks to my sales engineer Jed Elliott.

I never liked the satin finish of the Masterbuilt J45, so when I heard about this new "Inspired by Gibson" line, I was immediately interested. The guitar took forever to get to me (Sweetwater, PLEASE dump Fedex) but was fine once it did. And SW always packs a box inside a box, so you know it will be safe. This guitar really looks just like a real J45. Until you get up close and notice the "Epiphone" across the headstock, that is :) All solid woods puts this in the same category as most other Masterbuilt guitars. Pros are that it plays, feels and (for the most part) sounds like the real J45 (minus the extra $). Cons are, the crappy Sonitone pickup (switched it out for an Anthem SL), the Indian laurel fingerboard (would have preferred rosewood) and the slightly smaller nut size (1.69" compared to 1.72"). Also the neck radius is 12" as compared to the J45's 16", but that doesn't really bother me. It's very comfortable to play and came without needing any further tweaks to the action. No buzzing anywhere up and down the neck. Oh yeah, the tuners are the button style vintage tuners and not the grovers you see on current J45's. I thought I might replace them with grovers to match better the real J45, but these are growing on me. The buttons are definitely easier to fiddle with than the mini grover knobs. All in all, this is a nice quality guitar and a lot for the price. If you can't afford the 2.5K for a real J45 Standard, this would be a great choice. For a few hundred more, there is the Eastman E10SS, but I think this one looks more like the real J45. So until I can save up enough for the real thing, this will do nicely.

I've played this and the Gibson version of the guitar. You can't beat this Epi for the value! It plays great and has that J45 sound! I bought this model. Why pay the Gibby price when you get pretty much the same exact thing for way less? I highly recommend this guitar. The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars is the 3/4 inch plywood thickness pick guard! It's super thick. But that's an easy fix. I used a hair dryer and removed the pick guard. Sounds even better now with out it choking the vibrations of the top. This is a great guitar for the price!!!!

Recently received one of these from Sweetwater. I'm very impressed with the quality of the build, the finish and the tone. The tone of this guitar is quite Gibson-esque in my opinion. It has the bass that seems unique to Gibson. That's what I was looking for. Besides, I've become enamored with slope shoulder designs; this is my third one. Anyway, for an all solid wood guitar, all things considered, this is a highly impressive instrument. Plus, it has the Kalamazoo headstock. If you've considered a slope shoulder but are just not ready to lay down Gibson cash, in my opinion you will not be disappointed in this guitar. And, as always, Sweetwater customer service was top notch!

Inadequate string angle on high E string.

Pros:
Vintage warm sound.
Comfortable neck.
Nice fit and finish.

Cons:
Cheap tuners.
Cheaper Fishman volume tone controls.

I did not like it, and I returned it and bought a used J45. I tried to like it! I mean if I could get something that sounds like a J45 for less that half the price I would buy it. I did and was very disappointed. The sound was brash and toneless. As far as finger picking goes it was fine, and plugged in it was very tolerable. Strumming was another thing entirely, the sound was muddy and lacking in tone. Granted it could have been because of the strings, which had been on for some time, but still. I listened to reviews on youtube but they all sounded the same, with the sell point being that they were priced $1000 or more less than a Gibson. Another thing, I noticed every reviewer played the Epiphone J45, sitting down without a strap. Maybe this was because the end pin it too large for a regular straps hole, and I ruined two of my straps trying to fit one on. Maybe this was a ploy to get every one tryout and then go with a Gibson. worked on me!