Epiphone and Gibson share the same parent company. Originally released in 1986 the Epiphone Dot guitar is a lower cost version of Gibson’s ES-335 semi-acoustic guitar. For review, we’ve selected a vintage sunburst model manufactured in 1999 and fitted with Fender 150L strings.

The guitar is a dual cutaway ‘neck through body’ construction offering good access to the higher registers. Each of the two Humbucking pickups has it’s own volume and tone control and a three position switch selects bridge, neck or both. . The TunOMatic bridge has individual saddles for intonation. Two screws on either side of the bridge permit the action to be raised or lowered. The Grover machine heads are tight and responsive and the frets are well fitted and have no rough edges. The finish is flawless and the vintage sunburst colour is deep and rich.

The action on this guitar is not quite as low as the Gibson original but it plays well and fast. The neck profile lends itself well to both jazz and rock styles. With our amplifier set on ‘clean’ the Gibson Humbucking pickups deliver a satisfying full jazz sound. When our amp is cranked up the sound approaches Les Paul tonality and sustain.

This is a fine guitar - the quality, standard of playability and sound raise it far above others in it’s class and with a typical street price of £350 the Epiphone Dot is an excellent all rounder that represents real value for money.