The Emperor's New House

[Newc]

Got the Joe Pass Emperor today:











I don't see any "Joe Pass" sig on it - dunno if it's supposed to have one or what?

Anyway, I like it. Needs a Floyd, though

Seriously, I'll leave it alone

Haven't plugged it in yet, but it sounds nice acoustically; A bit like a Classical, which is good.

And the buzzing sound appears to be the pickup mounting springs. I'll detach the pickups completely to test that.

It's in great condition, IMO. The seller must have been looking for a showpiece, because the dent in the back is very light and very small. It's got a few nicks and finish/binding dents/scrapes here and there around the sides, but the overall structural integrity seems to be perfect.

It appears to have an ebony bridge on a rosewood base. I wonder how the tone will change with a metal bridge?

It's Korean-made, and the inlays appear to be somewhere between MOTO and straight-out plastic. Fully bound body, head, and neck. The headstock logo and inlays appear to be MOP.

The tortoise shell pickguard is poorly printed (I can see dots in it, man, dots), and isn't cut properly at the pickup height adjustment screws (what don't you guys get about CNC, or even pierce dies?)

I haven't adjusted the neck or action yet - letting it settle in to see what it needs.

[Guitardude86]

Lovely If I was able of playing jazz I'd buy one to!

[jim777]

Get a pair of GFS humbuckers for it, the stockers suck. It's a great cheap upgrade. Mine is identical, though it says "Joe Pass" on the truss rod cover. The serial starts "S94...." so a shot in the dark says Samick made it in '94
EDIT: Nope, mine's not identical, mine has the three way in the Les Paul position. Maybe mine's not an Emperor, but a plane Jane Joe Pass. Other than that it looks the same.

[Bengal65]

Very nice Glad you recieved it OK! Let us know how she sounds

[Riscchip]

Nice--that's always been the best sounding Epiphone model in my opinion. Entirely decent jazz tones and a great feel from those guitars.

Now forget the floyd and go straight for the Steinberger transtrem mod. It will totally work great on that guitar.

[Newc]

Plugged it in and it doesn't sound bad at all, of course I'm hearing the acoustic tone mixed with the amplified tone.

I have a metal TOM bridge but the post spacing's off, so it won't work

I lowered the action and it's a decent player. Hammer-ons and pull-offs are effortless, though I'm sure the tone might be taking a hit due to minor contact with the other frets, but I can live with it.

I should mention the case looked like a standard chipboard acousic case in the listing, but it's actually a big hard case like a Gibson.

The tuners are nice and smooth, too. I'd expect a Korean model to have some slightly sticky/jerky tuners, but these are smoother than the Kluson Deluxes on my LP Standard.