Best SG of 2019? Epiphone 1961 G-400 in Metallic Gold

I'm a sucker for gold guitars, what can I say.

Today is the last day of 2019. End of the year and end of the decade as well. Hope your new year is a good one. And you might want to ring in that new year with this gold beast.

I don't have any yellow guitars right now, but at some point I'll get another one. If I had the cash, I would get this Epiphone 1961 G-400 PRO right now.

This SG style guitar hits all the right marks.

Where appearance is concerned, it's not just the gold finish but the fact the keystone style tuners are used on this particular model. This Epiphone definitely has the correct vintage SG look.

And yes, this guitar is gold all around. Front and back. But it smartly doesn't have any gold hardware. If it did, that would be too much gold. There's enough black and chrome bits throughout that breaks up the main color and it really works well.

Bring this is a PRO model, yes the humbuckers are split with push-pull pots. The SG is already a bright sounding guitar to begin with, so the split sound may be a bit "pingy", but then again it's totally optional whether you want to use it or not. If you don't like it, just don't use it and go with the full dual coil sound all the time. Not an issue.

The only part of the guitar that bothers me - and this is only a styling thing - is the truss rod cover. It says "SG PRO" on it and looks a little tacky because the font is a few points too large. But that's easily fixed just by ordering a blank cover off eBay. Again, not an issue.

Again, I would totally get this if I had the cash for it. PRO is the best of the line from Epiphone, so it's not a bargain basement guitar. But you get a lot of guitar for the money with this one.

And it's frickin' gold. How cool is that? Yes, there are the Cherry and Silverburst finish options, but c'mon. Go for the gold. I would.

The absolute best accessory a guitar pedal addict can have

If you like pedals, you need this.

The one thing that's more annoying than anything else about pedal effects is powering them.

The absolute best way to power a pedal is by 9-volt battery because it eliminates a ton of noise in places where electricity isn't regulated that well. 12-packs of 9V batteries are readily available.

An alternate solution is to use a power supply adapter station with isolated DC outputs.

But what about power cables?

Oh, they thought of that. This thing has you covered.

This thing comes with a power supply and cord (obviously), ten DC power cables and two polarity reversal cables.

In other words, this one thing comes with everything you need to power all your guitar pedals, all at once, with one little box.

And if you're one of those weirdos that runs more than 10 pedals, well, I guess you'll need to buy two of these. Otherwise, this box powers all the pedals quite nicely.

Yes, it has short-circuit and overcurrent protection built in. Yes, it has noise filtering. No, it does not need an external power adapter just to run it.

In all honesty, it doesn't get any better than this if you're the type of player who prefers separate pedal effects.

Also, given the fact there are many mini pedals out there now that can only be powered by wire and not battery, a power supply adapter station is a must-have thing.

On going 100% Stratocaster

It's been a very long time since I've done this.

As of now, I only own 3 guitars, all Strats. A busted '93 USA Fender, my '89 Squier II (first guitar) that needs some work done to it, and now the 2019 Squier Classic Vibe '50s. This guitar needs nothing since it's new. In other words, the new one is my main guitar.

The last time I had only Strats and nothing else was most likely when I was a teenager. Probably when I only had the '89 Squier and '93 Fender.

Aside from my very early days of guitar playing, I always had guitars other than Strats whether they were played regularly or not. But now I've gone full 100% Stratocaster.

Am I okay with this? Yes.

Do I feel I'm missing out by not having something else? No. And the reason I can answer with a no is because over the years I've owned almost every guitar type that I wanted to try. Strat is what I came back to and I'm okay with this. But that doesn't mean my guitar journey has stopped. There are still a few types of electrics I want to try out.

Rather than list off all the stuff I've owned, I'll instead talk about what I've not owned yet and whether I'll ever get them or not.

I'll be listing these by type.

SG

The Ibanez GAX30 and AX120 were the closest things I ever had to an SG. When I had them, they were nice, but the necks didn't not agree with my fret hand so they had to go...

...but once you get a taste of that SG flavor, you can get hooked on it.

I would at some point like to get myself an Epiphone G-400 PRO. That's the one that speaks to me the most. Right look, right sound, and a correct SG.

Does it have neck dive? Of course it does. But I still may get myself one at some point.

Explorer

If I ever get one of these, it will be the Schecter E-1. I've talked about that model here before, and I sincerely do believe it's the best Explorer style guitar made right now - if you can even find one.

ES-335

I've owned a semi-hollow before with a Squier Telecaster Thinline, but never a "full size" 335 shape.

This shape, for the moment, really doesn't speak to me. But then again I've never really sat down with one for more than a few minutes.

For the longest time I was actually afraid of the 335 shape because it just looks massive. It's not. The guitar just has the illusion of being this giant thing when seen hanging on a wall at the guitar store. The shape is actually quite playable. Again, Epiphone would be my go-to here. They make a proper 335.

Mustang

I have a specific Mustang I want, the Squier Classic Vibe '60s Mustang. That's the model with all the old-school Mustang stuff on it, which includes the big vibrato plate and the slider switches above the two pickups.

I've done the Jazzmaster and the Jaguar. I tried the Duo-Sonic a while back and didn't care for it. I also tried the Squier Mustang HH but didn't care much for that one either, even if it is an awesome bargain.

Yamaha Revstar

To date, I've never seen one of these in a guitar store. Would love to play one, but nobody ever has them in stock.

Which Revstar? Any. Single-coil, humbucker, whatever, I don't care. What I want is to know how the body and neck feel and then listen to it plugged in after that.

The coolest looking Revstar is, of course, Japanese Denim. Very classy, and a nice reserved design. If I were to pick one, that would be it.

Do I plan on getting any of these guitars soon? No. All of these are just nice-to-have and not need-to-have.

Right now I'm just fine with my new black Squier Strat. And I'm not saying that as "It's okay but I wish I had something better". This black Strat is as good as it gets not only for a Squier but for a Strat in general. It needs nothing and no upgrades are required.

The guitar plays and sounds great. I feel no need to "upgrade" to a "better" guitar, because I don't have to.

There is also something to be said for just going with one guitar and sticking with it. Concentrating on just one puts more focus on making actual music (the whole point of having the guitar in the first place) instead of constantly bouncing around between instruments and not getting anywhere musically.

I think this is part of the reason I was okay going 100% Strat. Having a bunch of different guitars was different and cool, but served to be more of a distraction than anything else.

Yeah, I want other guitars. Of course I do. I always do. But right now I'm in Strat town and staying there because I want to get more music done.

The good and bad of the Squier 2019 Classic Vibe '50s Stratocaster

This is my full review on the guitar.

Now that I've had the guitar for almost a week, I can now give a proper review of this thing. (If you would like to hear me playing it, I made a video.)

"Classic Vibe" is the top-of-the-line series for Squier electric guitars, and this concentrates on '50s model. There are also the '60s and '70s models.

What makes a '50s Classic Vibe Stratocaster a '50s?

The '50s is the only model with a pine body, single piece all-maple neck and circle string retainer on the headstock. It is also the only one that has a single ply pick guard that is 100% white with no black "sandwich" stripe in the middle.

The best feature of the electronics...

...is that there is tone control wired to the bridge side pickup.

Traditional Fender Stratocaster wiring has tone control wired to only the middle and neck side pickups. Leo Fender, inventor of the Stratocaster, designed it that way. Ordinarily, Squier Strats will always have this wiring setup - but thankfully this one does not.

I say thankfully because the #1 electronics modification Strat owners do is wire in tone control to the bridge side pickup. With the new '50s CV you don't have to. Actually having tone control there when on the bridge-pickup-only pickup selector setting is so nice to have.

The weight...

...is light. My guess is that the guitar weighs somewhere between 7 to 7.5 pounds, which usually is the just-right weight for a Strat for most people, myself included.

Strats don't exhibit any neck dive when playing the guitar standing, but when you have one that's the right weight, playing comfort when standing gets even better.

With the previous generation of Classic Vibe Strats, some were very heavy. I once tried one, and when I picked it up, that thing must have weighed close to or over 9 pounds. This new CV is nowhere near that weight and it's a very welcome thing.

The sound...

...is probably the most "true" Strat tone CV has ever had. The pickups used all have alnico magnets (it is unknown if they are alnico 3 or 5), and they have an interesting stagger. High-E and B are flat to the pickup cover, G and D are raised, and A and low-E are flat to the pickup cover.

While true this isn't the vintage-correct Fender pickup pole stagger, the fact the CV even has one that isn't the usual follows-the-fingerboard-radius arc is definitely different. And I mean different in a good way.

2019 Squier Classic Vibe Stratocaster acquired

I bought one.

If you read my stuff regularly, you probably guessed I was going to get one of these. And if you did, you guessed right.

Does this mean the Schecter is gone? Yes. Traded out. As much as I wanted to connect with that guitar, it just wasn't happening. Great axe, great sound, great everything, but it just didn't have what I was looking for.

Does this mean I now own nothing but Strats again? Yes.

My main reason for getting the new CV '50s is that it is for all intents and purposes a new version of my original 1989 Squier II Stratocaster (my first guitar which I still own). And it just so happens that the new one has every upgrade I would have done to it otherwise.

My '89 has a gloss Dakota Red finish with no metallic, plywood body, one piece maple neck with 12" fretboard radius, single-ply pick guard, is urethane finished, the electronics have been changed so I get tone control on the bridge-alone 5-way selector, has ceramic magnet pickups, and the tuners changed to vintage slotted style.

The CV '50s has a black finish with no metallic, pine body, one piece maple neck with 9.5" fretboard radius, single-ply pick guard, is urethane finished, the electronics are stock but it does have tone control for bridge-alone setting on the 5-way switch, has alnico magnet pickups, and the tuners are already vintage slotted style.

In other words, the CV '50s as-is has all the stuff I wanted in a Strat.

Why black?

The four colors offered are Vintage Blonde, Sunburst, Fiesta Red and Black.

Originally, I was going to get the Blonde, but then upon seeing various photos of it... no. I was hoping it would have more yellow in it but it doesn't.

Sunburst on a Strat to me looks best with a dark wood fretboard, and the '50s has the all-maple neck. Squier does in fact make a dark fretboard sunburst as a '60s CV model, but it doesn't have that cool circle string tree on the headstock.

Fiesta Red is a gamble I wasn't willing to take because I was buying the guitar sight-unseen. This color, depending on how it's mixed, can either lean towards being pink-ish, purple-ish or orange-ish. If you do a Google Image Search for "stratocaster fiesta red", you will see exactly what I'm talking about. Lots of variations. Had to skip this option.

And this leaves black, which is what I went with.

Sight unseen?

You'll notice at the time I write this in December 2019, nobody else has this guitar. Not yet, anyway. This is because I preordered it from Guitar Center back in late November.

Again, at the time I write this, this guitar can't be bought from Guitar Center until January 2020. If you plan on buying this, that might be a good thing because by that time you'll be able to see the other colors in person.

I wasn't willing to wait. I wanted it now. :)

Full review?

I'll do that for my next article. Watch for it.