The Steel Guitar Forum

Have Any Forumites Purchased The New "Epiphone Electar Lap Guitar"??

Opinions Please.

Roger

I don't think it's available yet. It was supposed to be out in August. I teach at a music store that has two on order and they haven't shown up yet. One will be mine.

All the major online retailers who say anything about this lap steel model say "expected October 2016" at this time.

I hate to sound like "Captain Cranky" but I was fairly excited when I first saw this guitar.
An interesting instrument at a good price. I would have bought it that second.
When was that, last year some time?
I spent a lot of time looking for a place to buy one. Always advertised, never available.
I gave up.
If you are going to advertise a product at least have the courtesy and business sense to have it available.
This drawn out titillation with ads for a product I can't buy gets old very fast.

I did, however, find two other guitars I could buy, and did.
So it all worked out............

First it was June, then August, and now October. I have no problem with the company making sure they get it right, but I do have a problem with on line retailers who advertise and take money now for an item that is not yet available.

American Musical Supply claims to have this Epiphone Electar guitar in stock. ??

Roger

I see no indication on their site that it's actually available. I would bet if you try to buy it they'll tell you it will be shipped in October.

zZounds.com is advertising it as "IN STOCK" "Ships Today" ...don't believe it.

AMS claims it is in stock now, too! Ships today!

One showed up at my house today. Sound is good. String spacing at the nut is a bit funky, but other than that it has a good cosmetic finish. Very light weight. Hard to complain about much considering the low cost.

This one was ordered in May from zzsounds.

Well that's it. It's official! Looking forward to getting mine.

Edwin, does that pup cover come off? What does the pup look like...?

Terry VunCannon wrote:Edwin, does that pup cover come off? What does the pup look like...?

I was just going to ask the very same thing.

Cool that those are finally out in the wild and shipping. Interesting choice on the Jazz Bass pickup. That will certainly limit any swapping out or modding.

String spacing at the nut is a bit funky

As in too tight of spacing? Hard to tell, but it looks like there is a little bit of room to widen it out some.

The string spacing at the nut is not consistent from string to string. It is a little hard to see in the picture but strings are closer together in the middle of the nut.

This is what you kinda hope for when the pickup is described as a "blade".

This is a picture of my "everything is perfect Clinesmith." I know, a totally unfair comparison.

The Electar is a good steel for the money. It will be relatively easy to fix the nut string spacing on my steel.

Well... yesterday I was blasting dealers for advertising the Electar before it was available and today Mine arrived!

I made a short demo today. I'm playing the Electar through a Fender tweed Deluxe amp (15 watts), mic'ed with a RODE usb mic, also using a Holy Grail reverb, no volume pedal.

---click it---> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkCZbCcFzy4

Doug: you would make anything sound good! How about your opinion!
Joe Elk

Thanks Joe, I think the guitar is fine for what it is... a low price, entry level lap steel. It can't be compared to the more expensive, high quality steel guitars. I have no complaints though. I like how it sounds through my old Fender tube amp. I haven't played it though a solid state amp yet. The guitar has a bright, clean tone, a modern tone IMO. The upper strings sound strong and bright. The wound strings sound "acceptable" (as Jim Cohen would say!) but the wound strings don't seem to sustain as long as the more expensive lap steels. All in all, I'm glad I bought it. I got for teaching lessons mostly, but I would be comfortable playing this guitar on a gig. I'm going to leave the E tuning on it because I have a couple of students playing that tuning now.

Joe Elk wrote:Doug: you would make anything sound good!

The man could play a 2X4 with strings on it and sound good!

Has anybody tried the 18 watt tube amp that matches it?
It looks like a good combination.

It looks like they're using a Jazz Bass pickup? That would be easy to replace or modify. I need a C6 six string to have a grab and go guitar other then the console, so I may pick one up.

Thanks for the video, Doug.

It's the Epiphone 500B "Blade" humbucker pickup according to their website. I agree, though - looks like a repurposed bass pickup to me.

I was wondering about that. The pickup is not wide like a humbucker, but it sounds like a humbucker, smooth, strong, even tone IMO.