Epiphone Slash J-45 Acoustic Guitar - November Burst Reviews

It's my first acoustic so I don't really have anything in comparison. But the guitar sounds amazing and came pretty nicely set up. There are some tiny bits of blemish underneath the clear coat and some small tool marks on the fretboard but I'm not that picky.

The strings it comes with are very high quality. I've changed them over to other budget strings like ernie balls earth wood, which don't sound as warm and rich as the original ones.

There's not a whole lot more to say, other than this is just simply a beautiful guitar. It is beautiful to look at. It is beautiful to pick up. It is beautiful to play. It sounds beautiful. It rings like a bell and is full of rich harmonics. There is no way I could justify paying $ more just to have Gibson on the headstock. Besides, I kinda like taking the stage with my Epiphone guitars. Shows I'm more about the sound and the instrument than I am about my vanity. I am extremely pleased with this J45. The Inspired By Gibson line of Epiphones is truly setting a new high bar for affordable guitars. I bought an IBG Epiphone Les Paul Jr earlier this year and am very pleased with that guitar also. Thanks to Collin Blue for helping me order. And a Special HUGE thanks to Adrian Ramirez for helping me with a glitch. Totally outstanding service.

Very playable and has great resonance even when unplugged. Already used it at gigs.

So, I normally don't write reviews for any gear I buy but honestly this deserves it. I went to my local guitar shop and tried several Gibson J-45's and they sounded great, but when I picked this up I just couldn't believe the sound quality and feel for the price. I simply could not justify spending $ on a Gibson when the Epiphone was 99.9% as good. It has the perfect balance of low, mids and highs. Now that Epiphone is making all solid wood construction guitars, it's going to be tough to justify paying 3 times as much for a Gibson :)

Honestly I would give this 6 stars considering the quality versus the affordability. Stunning [flawless] November-Burst, nicely finished frets, sturdy solid build, but most of all…it is LOUD! This guitar projects. It has a little bit of boom and a nice dose of sparkle. It's just too much **** fun. Plus, I don't gotta worry about bangin' it up a bit here n' there, cuz it wasn't $3-4K! Did I mention you get a double-tuff hardshell factory "Skully" case? Well…you DO! It's a killer value and a kick butt sound machine. Get two of ya' can!! Ha ha.

I'm not entirely sure when or exactly how, but Epiphone has TRULY brought their A-game lately.
I bought one of these guitars in November burst when the price dropped, thinking: "what the heck, I need something to being around anyway!?"
But daaaaaaaang! I was caught completely off guard by the level of care and craftsmanship that went into this affordable little acoustic. I can't find a single thing wrong with it. And I was looking hard. This beautiful instrument also plays wonderfully. It's got sort of a V-neck, and a nice flat 16" radius laurel fingerboard. Really easy to chord with. The sound has a nice lower end, but plenty of brightness to balance things out. It's just an all-around well-made rock solid acoustic. You don't have to be a Guns N' Roses or Slash aficionado to appreciate this guitar. I don't own one top hat, but I do wish I had purchased two of these guitars!!!! Seriously.

Extremely satisfying instrument. Sat it right next to my Gibson Original SJ-200, and this Slash Epi-J45 looks every bit at home next to a guitar that cost 7-times more. *(see pic) This Slash model is exceedingly playable with its "Custom Rounded C-Shape" neck not too dissimilar to a '50s style Les Paul neck, but with a more "V" feel to me. The fingerboard is a flat 16" radius made from a surprisingly rich Indian Laurel, and the frets are nicely finished.
I sorta feel bad saying this..but, I have enjoyed playing this J-45 more than my Super-Jumbo, & it's quite possibly louder than the SJ. Not only does this Slash acoustic project, but it does so with a bassy (yet crispy) degree of clarity.
The November Burst is lovely to behold up close as well. Really leaps out of the case when you pop it open. And I cannot locate a flaw at the neck joint, or nut, or...anywhere. The only thing I might change is putting some genuine bone string pegs at the bridge. But that's it. Otherwise, this is an amazingly well-made guitar for a very affordable price. I'm really considering getting the vermilion burst too...hmmmm.

Right when I opened this J-45's case, the November Burst jumped right into my eye sockets!! It was SO much richer in person, & the finish was totally flawless. Buuuuuut...I hadn't played it yet, & I was nervous that there was no way a guitar this affordable was gonna sound or play as good as it looked.
I'm overjoyed to report that there was zero disappointment in this guitar's big sound! It has a beautifully bright mid-range that resonates through the whole room. The frets & action are smooth, and mine arrived perfectly intonated. The neck claims to be a "C" but feels more like a "V" profile. This is cool by me, in fact I've grown to completely love it.
Oh...and the case is awesome too. Rugged and plush!!
Sometimes, you just know when you hold a guitar that it is a keeper. This is that guitar.

Really great guitar , sounds incredible, plays and chords very well !!! If you want a really great guitar at a reasonable price this is it !! The case is nice also

I just received this guitar yesterday and was truly impressed when I unboxed it. It looks beautiful and, more importantly, sounds unbelievable. I have been playing guitar since I was twelve and am about to turn sixty-four, so I am no stranger to guitars. I own several Martins(including a D18 and a 1930 0-18), a 1968 Gibson, Taylor, Gretsch, Washburn etc. It is too early to tell yet, but this one may become my favorite. I have short fat hands and was worried that Slash's thicker neck might be a problem. No problems there. The guitar plays comfortably and is easy to chord and note. I don't need one, but thinking about one in Vermillion. Epiphone hit a homerun with this one. One last note, Sweetwater was fantastic to buy from. From browsing, to purchasing to shipping they were fantastic.

Absolutely love it. Big, bold, balanced tone played acoustically or plugged in. Booming lows, balanced midrange and very sweet, delicate highs. Recommend getting a set up as intonation was off a bit. Now it rings like a $5,000+ Gibson. Fit and finish outstanding with no sharp fret ends whatsoever. It comes with a behemoth of a hard shell case and even a sound hole humidifier. I got a Blackstar AC30 amp with it as this is my first go around with an acoustic electric. The two pair very nicely together. Don't say "You could be mine" and get yours soon. Enjoy.

I've owned two Gibson acoustics (J45 and a J15), while both sounded great I think this Epiphone sounds just as good, if not better. It has incredible volume and the thicker neck on this Slash sig. feels great. I haven't played it through an amp yet, but acoustically this thing sounds amazing.

Not really a Slash fan...but must admit that I really like his impact on this guitar. The November Burst finish is beautiful and the Grovers and tusq saddlwe/nut make tuning rock solid. I thought the neck shape might be an issue for my short fingers but I really like the feel of the slightly thicker neck profile and can still use my thumb on the low E and playability is easy and precise all the way down the neck. The sound/tone is warm, clean and balanced string to string with very nice sustain and projection. I applied a little Dunlop fretboard conditioner (lemon oil) on my first string change and the Indian Laurel darkened up nicely - looks and feels great! Every guitar is different and a few tweeks are almost always needed on any new guitar but my research on recent Epiphone models indicates they are upping their game and building consistently high quality instruments, especially the "Inspired by Gibson" line. This all solid wood guitar is one that will only improve with age. Thanks to Sweetwater for giving us such great choices/selection at fair prices and to Ryan Haines, my sales engineer and friend - they make music a lot more fun!

As always Sweetwater (and Ben Elder) exceeded my expectations; ordered on Friday afternoon, delivered to my home in the Columbus, Ohio area on Saturday afternoon!

The guitar is really nice, the upgraded nut, Grovers, pickup, etc are all really nice enhancements. As suggested in the description, this guitar is going to impress playing first position chords. Just fine the rest of the way down the neck just especially big in first position by comparison.

Fit is excellent, no sharp frets or issues, good intonation/set up out of the box. I was a little disappointed in the buffing job the factory did on this one as I could still see buffer marks but easy enough to fix if I cared enough to do so. The finish feels a little thick and plastic-y but honestly that also makes it feel a little more bullet proof, particularly if you are dragging this around.

Plugged in to an amp this guitar is really great too.

Nice hard shell case and you get a free humidifier.

Pound for pound/dollar for dollar I see no reason to spend 2.5 times more for a Gibson J45 with the quality and play of this Epi. My long held wish for a J45 has been met. If you are in the market for a J45 I recommend you consider this model, not because it is the Slash signature model but because the upgrades make this superior to the standard Epi and make it as good as any Gibson version I have found in store. Killer J45 sound, seems like a good decision to me.

This is a pretty nice guitar, but there was a couple of initial problems with it. First off is the battery for the onboard electronics. Just a wire hanging down but no obvious place for the battery to sit. So it turns out that the battery holder is a small fabric holder that is velcroed to the the top slightly in front of the neck joint. Would have been nice if they mentioned that in the documentation.

If you're playing a gig and you need to replace the battery, then you will need to detune the bottom 4 strings in order to be able to reach into the sound hole to pull out the battery. It will take several minutes to replace the battery, and there is no warning indicator that the battery is low. Also, the volume and tone controls fell off in the process, they're only held on by a piece of double backed tape. I purchased a demo model and it appears that this had happened previously as there was virtually no stickiness left in the tape. I peeled off all residual tape and was able to reattach it with some Gorilla double backed tape.

I found the strings that the guitar ships with to be really hard to play - relatively heavy gauge strings, the action in the upper frets was really high and difficult to chord. After I replaced them with a set of ELixir light gauge strings and did a minor tweak to the truss rod, I really started to enjoy playing it.

It has a rich, warm, balanced tone (with the Elixir strings) and they eliminated the boominess of the heavier gauge strings. The flat radius of the neck takes a little getting used to as well. It's a fairly chunky neck with a slight V profile near the nut and more of a C profile in the upper register. All in all, it's a pretty nice guitar after making these changes.

I almost returned it because it was making a strange rattling sound under the bridge. Turns out the strap button right where you would plug in was loose. Once I got that fixed she was playing quite well. I didn't get this because of slash but because I liked the neck shape and wanted a J45 sound.

I played a Gibson J45 at a store after receiving this, and actually prefer the sound of this. It has more low end thump and is awesome for big strumming. Probably less dynamic range than the Gibson on the highs, but I wanted something with throaty low end. I have the inspired by gibson hummingbird too, but this is now my favorite acoustic. Has a more mellow and earthy sound than s hummingbird.