AJ-100 Review

This beautiful dreadnought style guitar has a mahogany body with rosewood fret board, with an ebony hard top finish.

Features:	9
Sound:	9
Action:	8
Reliability:	9
Impression:	9
Overall rating:	8.8
Users rating:	8.2
Comments:	11

overall: 8.8

Reviewed by: ZigZag667, on july 10, 2009

Price paid: A$ 190

Purchased from: New Zealand Rockshop

Features: This beautiful dreadnought style guitar has a mahogany body with rosewood fret board, with an ebony hard top finish. It has 20 frets which are generously spaced on a Tune-O-Matic style bridge. It was made in china and I am completely stumped what year it was made. The tuners are non locking and I wouldn't have a clue as to what brand they are but everything on the guitar is still factory standard and it didn't come with any form of electronics or accessories. All the extars had to be purchased seperately. // 9

Sound: I play very different genres of music and this guitar is purely amzing when it comes to playing any sort of mellow song or accoustic on. Accoustic guitars have never been really good at doing fancy sound work eg. Pinch harmonics, tapping et... thats for the electric guitar, but just the plain old stumming and picking. I use this guitar with D'Addario EJ11 strings. The light gauge and bright sound add another dimension to this stunning guitar. // 9

Action, Fit & Finish: The guitar was fairly good from factory, the only flaws I found were 2 of the tuners were REALLY tight to turn and made me think my strings were going to break most of the time and the action was a litlle low and most strings buzzed quite badly no matter the gauge but lighter strings don't buzz anywhere near as bad or as often. Apart from that there wasn't anything that was poorly assembled or finished. // 8

Reliability & Durability: This guitar has taken hard knocks and keeps on playing, its withstood several Live performances and I would happily use it again in any situation without a back up. The Strap buttons are really good and strong and the finish is really good apart from some wear around the sound hole but other than that the finish is fine. // 9

Impression: If this guitar was stolen or lost I would most certainly buy another one, it fit's how I play and what I play really well so I don't see point in buying a guitar that I wouldn't be certain about. I've been playing for nearly three years now and this was my first guitar, I own a Squier Strat SE100 pack with about 6 pedals and a Marshall MG50DFX and I am most pleased with the accoustic sound I get from my AJ100. There was lots of comparing guitars from Aria through Ashton to Gibson and Taylor and I didn't like any of them compared to the Epiphone. There's nothing else I wish I hadve asked on purchase, Great guitar all round. // 9

Comments

[Pedalist]

Sounds good. Looks good too.

[Shinamura]

Ok, I own Epiphones, Squires, and a Takamine (my fave), but I know that when it comes to quality, you can't compare an Epiphone to a Gibson or a Taylor. That's apples to oranges, simply put. But for the price, I'm sure the AJ-100 is a nice deal, but still, not in the class of Gibsons and Taylors.

[Oosh.]

Not a fan of the shape, i think its a bit rounder but less curvy than a traditional dreadnought, it's just me though.

[sparkeyjames]

Inexpensive guitars of this caliber may be useful for learning or gigs where they can expect a bit of rough treatment. For my money I would go for a mid level guitar. Say a low end Martin, Taylor or a Breedlove. Save those pennies and spend a grand and you will get a good guitar not a great one but a good one.

[Kikuta]

One thing you need to keep in mind with acoustic guitars in this price range is that, like all guitars, there tends to be a varying range of quality for any manufactured model. One person's AJ-100 may sound a lot better than another AJ-100, simply due to the manufacturing process. That said, you can find some real gems - and duds - in the low end guitar range.

Still, nothing compares to a James Goodall guitar.

[busted_hater]

Ok, I own Epiphones, Squires, and a Takamine (my fave), but I know that when it comes to quality, you can't compare an Epiphone to a Gibson or a Taylor.

WRONG! The consistency of quality from gibson is shocking! I have an Epiphone Les Paul Standard it is hands down better than any modern Gibson Les Paul. It is simply down to the fact i had it professionally set up. I don't mean your local store set up i mean a proper one. Done by a guy who is part of the guild of master craftsmen. It plays better than any Gibson les paul, standard, custom or whatever! The sounds is incredible too! It is not quite Gibson pick up sound. But i could replace both for about £80 each.

So to some up £250 Epiphone (second hand) + £85 set up + 2 GIbson Pickups £160 = £495!

Thats a lot cheaper than any Gibson! Plus better as i said plays better easily! Sounds as good! Why would you want a gibson?

DO NOT BE FOOLED BY BRAND!

[Philly080]

Why would anyone want a Gibson? You have me stumped..>_>

[xDeathxMetalx]

Ok, i agree that some guitars lack qualities of other guitars. but ive never had problems with Epiphones; my first guitar was an Epiphone Special II and i still have it in perfect condition and it still plays the same.

It doesnt matter about the guitar honestly, it depends on the guitarist, if your a shitty guitar player then obviously its gonna sound like shit, a great guitarist can make any guitar sound good.

I Think this guitar is great for its price, i would buy it no doubt.

[sk8blind4life8]

ya i no my first guitar was some shit brand called rocker but surprisingly sounds so much better than my friends 800 dollar fender
and i got a new epiphone les paul standard the other day replaced the pick ups and sound like gibson les paul now:P

[witmachine]

I've got this guitar and i've used it at gigs and just playing around... I've had other guitarists use it for a gig and they've complented on its sound... So I guess i got lucky

[kevlarmusicmojo]

i find epiphones to feel and sound cheap. gibsons are nice but overpriced if you ask me. i'm more into fenders for electrics and found a nice walden acoustic for only $250 at a local music shop. never heard of them before but it sounds really nice.