Epiphone Masterbilt Frontier Acoustic-Electric Guitar - Iced Tea Aged Gloss Reviews
Epiphone’s Masterbilt collection serves up a meticulous re-creation of the very rare Epiphone Frontier. The Masterbilt Frontier acoustic-electric features a solid Sitka Spruce top with the iconic Frontier ”Rope and Cactus” pickguard, a bone nut, and state-of-the-art Fishman Sonitone electronics for accurate acoustic tone when plugged in. The guitarists at Sweetwater are knocked out by the Masterbilt Frontier’s amazing tone, playability, looks, and value. We’re confident you will be, too!
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Highest Rated Reviews
Awesome in every way
I have owned two Taylor guitars. This Frontier is far better. The sound is rich and full, the trebles are bright, loud. I can't get over how good this guitar sounds. I bought it used and added a hard case. Very happy with it. This guitar makes playing much more fun.
Another unbelievable Masterbuilt, WOW
This Masterbuilt series from Epiphone is just unbelievable. They have spent all their money in all the right places.
Has to be one of the prettiest guitars I've ever seen. All solid wood, bone nut and saddle. Stays in tune and sounds
GREAT! Another hard to put down guitar.
Epiphone has really outdone themselves with the Masterbuilt's. You won't be disappointed with this guitar. The only way you could be disappointed with it is, if you don't get it and one of your friends does and lets you play theirs.
enjoying music
Epiphone has come through once again. Not my first masterbuilt. I like buying from Sweetwater because of their inspection of the instruments they sell. You don't end up with defects from buying on line. The first thing I do when unboxing is to grab my inspection mirror and look at the interior of the guitar. Thats where you will find true quality controll. there were no glue spots and the scallop brasing was spot on. After doing adjustments to the action and a good tuning this thing plays easy and rings like a beautifull bell. I have a few high end guitars and this one can run with the best of them. I started playing when I was sixteen with some really bad guitars to the point where I gave up playing for over 20 years. I am now 80 and love to play a quality guitar. The fingers have slowed and the ears have faded but when I play this Epiphone you can feel it in your gut and know that it is good.Thanks again Sweetwater for taking the guesswork out of buying on line.This is my first maple and spruce guitar and glad that I did. Once again I got lucky.
Great guitar
This guitar has classic shape, sound, and looks to go with it. This is the first nice acoustic guitar that I have purchased from Sweetwater and as usual my sales engineer Tad was great he is knowledgeable and very helpful whenever I have questions about any product.
Love
I didn't have the highest hopes and bought it just on looks alone. I HATE buying guitars I haven't played yet, let alone an epiphone, but, I love this guitar. LOVE this guitar. It's resonate and just feels so good. This is my new number one.
Piece of art !!
I took a chance & bought a demo model with some buff marks & minor imperfections & I'm glad I did. This is now the nicest acoustic I own & I have some nice ones.
Until you hold one in your hands it is hard to actually describe the quality of this guitar. I had the Sweetwater luthiers set mine up with low action & it showed up perfectly intonated. It stays in tune for days & plays real nice, plugged or unplugged.
The artwork on the pick guard is actually engraved / grooved into the guard & will be there forever. It truly is a piece of art. I imagine any of the Masterbilt series acoustics are fine guitars. These were made in Indonesia.
I was seriously considering the Epiphone J200 Jumbo , but this is one fine guitar & I'm super happy with this purchase.
As always, shout out to my rep Cody Kraus & all the fine luthiers at Sweetwater.
Plays great
This guitar sounds great playing on my couch or plugged in live with a band. So happy that I got it.
Very impressed! High quality!
This Frontier is perfect in every way. Plays great- sounds tremendous. The Sweetwater team did the setup. Perfect! Electronics the best sound ever. What a guitar!!!
Worth the wait!
This guitar was back ordered when I bought it but it was absolutely worth the wait. This guitar plays just as good and in some ways better than my Gibson J45. Ive not yet giggled with it but it sounds great in my small studio PA plugged in. The finish is incredible the neck and frets play great, you won't find a better guitar at this price point! You will not regret this purchase. Fantastic guitar all around.
It's back after 50 years.
I waited and it was worth it. It arrived yesterday courtesy of Myron Fett at Sweetwater,I also bought the EpiLite Case for this. Absolutely gorgeous, excellent sound and performance. The originals were Made In USA at the Gibson factory in Kalamazoo Michigan between 1957-70. Epiphone was then outsourced.Now,50 years later, Epiphone Masterbilt reissued this beauty. Epiphone is now building in the USA and although this is a Masterbilt Frontier (Indonesia) Epiphone USA has reissued the Texan and Casino. I won't be surprised if Epiphone USA Frontier will be out there. This is special,and a most welcome addition to my collection.
Frontier tastic
Waited several months for this guitar and I will have to say it was well worth the wait. Build quality it very nice, finish is nice. Projects very nicely and very clear. Great balance of lows and highs with the maple back and sides. Nick at Sweetwater was great to work with and kept me up to date while it was backordered. When it arrived at Sweetwater, they went through it, set it up nicely and sent me high res pics before shipping it out to me. Thank you guys for the great experience.
Awesome Epiphone
I was skeptical about buying an Epiphone. I have to say this guitar is inspirational! I play it all the time! I love it! You can't find a solid body guitar of comparable quality in this price range!
Overall a very good guitar
I missed the square shouldered guitar in my collection. I also missed an Epiphone. It did not have to be expensive.
This is why I chose this instrument (made in Indonesia), which is a few times cheaper than even more affordable guitars made in the US by renowned manufacturers.
This Epiphone definitely has the looks! The aged gloss finish makes you think of an instrument that is a few decades old. Its flame maple back adds a lot of character.
It came from Sweetwater perfectly intonated and set up with low action. The sound and performance are simply excellent. It stays in tune for days and plays fantastic both unplugged and plugged (it is equipped with Fishman Sonitone pickup). The great sound I get when it is connected to my amp (Vox VX50AG 50-watt Acoustic Guitar Amp) has been my biggest surprise, so far. Better than more expensive instruments.
Two minor gripes though. 1. The tuning machines were not positioned perfectly in their respective lines. 2. The joining of the two parts that make up the back of the guitar does not run perfectly through its center. Both things have no effect on playability and the sound of the guitar, but even for the $900 instrument, the manufacturer should really try harder. Especially a brand with such a great tradition and history.
Very Surprised
Very Surprised with this guitar. I have been playing for 30 years, mostly just a flat picker. I can say the neck on this guitar was great, right out of the box, with no setup. It is right !!! The mids are crisp, and cut through fantastic with that Gibson sound, Great Volume, no fret buzz, and great sustain. My wife is a Bb singer, So I regularly use a capo, and its great for capo playing as well. Also try to use Joseph Butcher as a product/sales guy, he is amazing and always takes time to answer all my questions, if something has ever been wrong, he has fixed it. Would have been 5 stars but a few of the tuning keys were slightly loose, quick but I am nitpicking.
Very Underwhelmed
I guess I should have expected this... an Epiphone acoustic made in Indonesia. I should say first that Sweetwater is a quality outfit that did an excellent job getting my guitar to me in a timely manner, and the sales technician did a fine job answering my questions and getting the ball rolling. Now, to the guitar itself. I was not impressed at all with the looks out of the box. No flash, no glitz, no chills, just meh. The playability was awful. The action was ridiculously high; both the nut and bridge are way too high. I get that having these things too high gives the buyer a opportunity to adjust as they see fit, but there is no way you should expect that the action will be right out of the box. The neck is a little larger than I like, but that's me. There is no reason that this guitar wouldn't be appealing to anyone who likes a medium to thicker neck. The sound is soft, the volume low, and there is not much character, texture, or density to it. That said, I have not amplified it, yet, so I expect I'll be happier when that happens, though I did not buy it to play plugged in. The build quality seems good, and I have not noticed any flaws so far. the neck has a very slight relief, which is what I like.
I will fix the issues with the bridge and nut, myself, and change the strings, and fiddle around with it. But, at this point, I'm thinking I made an $800 mistake. Anyone considering this guitar, play one before you buy it and compare. My problem is that the closest brick and mortar store to me is over an hour and a half away, and they don't even stock Epiphone acoustics.
