Rich Recommends: Epiphone Wilshire PRO

People know me as a Fender guy (a Squier guy more specifically), so why am I recommending a Gibson brand Epiphone Wilshire PRO?

Because it's the best thing Epiphone is making right now at the best possible price.

A quick rundown of the Wilshire PRO

I'm going to call this guitar what it is: It's a Gibson SG in a Strat-like body with extra added features.

As for what this guitar sounds like it, it sounds like an SG - but also can sound like a Fender Telecaster and I'll cover that in a moment.

As for what the guitar feels like, the body feels like a Strat and the neck feels like Gibson. And yes, the neck has the same glued-in neck joint, just like a Les Paul does. While I personally prefer the bolt-on, some like the glued-in design, and if that's what you prefer, the Wilshire's got it. Concerning the body, there's a nice large scarf cut in the back (similar to a Strat's "contour cut"), and trust me, that's a good thing.

As for how the guitar is controlled, it has four knobs just like an SG or a Les Paul would. They're in "non-standard" positions, but seriously, who cares? You'll get used to it quickly and easily. Also note the pickup selector is at the bottom, which is proper for a Strat-like shape.

Now here comes the reason why you should buy one of these (other than the amazing price): It has coil-tapping. Yes, you can coil-tap both pickups with the push/pull knobs to easily get Telecaster-like single-coil sounds out of this thing. You can get this feature on very-expensive Les Pauls or SGs, but on the Wilshire it can be had for so cheap it's ridiculous.

The Wilshire PRO is what I consider the "Strat guy's SG", or a "Gibson player's Strat". This guitar has everything where it counts. No, it does not have a vibrato system, but then again neither do stock Les Paul or SG models.

Wilshire PRO is a great guitar, and why these things are hardly selling is a complete mystery to me, because they truly do have it all. Strat body feel, Les Paul neck feel and SG + Telecaster tone. What more could you want?

It should be selling for $750+, but it's nowhere near that. Get one.

Published 2012 Sep 19