review
Epiphone Elitist Sheraton
Epiphone was one of the first guitar builders to embrace the emerging jazz scene with a full line of hollowbody f-hole guitars in the 1930’s. They continued to refine their jazz guitars throughout the decade thanks to fierce competition from rival Gibson. Many top jazz players of the day made Epiphone their first choice. In 1957 Gibson purchased Epiphone, and in 1958 introduced a new breed of semi-hollowbody guitars. The semi-hollowbody design allowed players to play at louder volumes without the feedback that plagued hollowbody instruments. The Sheraton was the first semi-hollowbody offering from Epiphone and was well regarded.
While the Sheraton’s popularity was eventually eclipsed by the similar Gibson ES-335 introduced the same year, it still won praises from many popular players in both jazz and blues circles. The Sheraton was discontinued in 1970 and later revived in the late 1980’s as an import model. In 1994 the Sheraton II was released as a less expensive model geared for the masses. The Elitist line of guitars was introduced in 2003, designed to find a niche between the inexpensive mass-market models and the more expensive Gibson offerings. The revived Sheraton is one the Elitist line’s offerings.
The Elitist Sheraton
Semi-hollowbody guitars are common nowadays and the familiar body design of the Sheraton has become a classic, as popular now as ever. However, Epiphone has taken the Sheraton to a new level of style and quality with the Elitist version. This striking instrument is every bit a professional musician’s guitar. It comes with a deluxe hardshell case.
Quite Jazzy
While semi-hollowbodies are popular in blues and rock, the Sheraton seems designed with the jazz musician in mind. From its gold hardware and cream binding to its Abalone and Mother-of-pearl inlays to its mini humbuckers and Grover Imperial tuners, the Elitist Sheraton oozes elegance. The model I received for review has a natural finish. It also comes in a vintage sunburst finish. The only design detail I would change is the large Epiphone “E” logo stuck on the otherwise attractive marbled pickguard. Of course this purely a matter of opinion, but I think it slightly “cheapens” the appearance of the guitar.
Construction
The top, sides, and back are 5-ply Maple with striped cream binding. The neck is a one piece Mahogany neck with a Rosewood fretboard. The combination of the light, natural Maple top and dark Mahogany neck creates an unexpected “chocolate and vanilla” vibe that I wasn’t sure I liked at first but have grown to appreciate it. The historical “V-Block” neck inlays are rectangles with triangles intersecting them, and the headstock has the classic 1935 Epiphone “vine” inlay. The back of the neck has a tasteful red Epiphone Elitist logo where the headstock meets the neck. The bound neck has 22 medium size frets that are bit flatter than usual, which makes for a very fast neck. All the fretwork was smooth with no rough edges or dead spots anywhere on the neck. It has a bone nut.
The historic 1935 V-Block inlays.
All the hardware is gold plated. The tone and volume knobs are gold colored plastic with metal pointers. They are very smooth with a healthy amount of tension when you turn them. If you want to do fast, pinky volume-swells with the volume knob, you may be disappointed, but you won’t be accidentally turning your volume off when you play.
Surprising, with the otherwise flawless construction, there was excess glue, visible through the f-soundhole, along one quarter of the center block inside the guitar.
Playability
Being a semi-hollowbody, the Elitist Sheraton is reasonably light, well balanced, and comfortable to play whether sitting or standing. The action came set low and fast, still there were no string buzzes to be found. The somewhat flatter than usual frets made moving up and down the neck a breeze. It also made slides, a common jazz technique, effortless.
Tone
Acoustically, the Sheraton is not as loud as a hollowbody jazz box, but it is loud enough to practice with in a quiet room. The center block of Maple gives it plenty of sustain, allowing notes and chords to ring out nicely. Plugged-in, the USA NY mini humbuckers are clean and articulate allowing you to go from smooth, warm jazz tones with the neck pickup to biting blues tones with the bridge pickup. In fact the bridge pickup proved to be quite versatile. Even with a considerable amount of amp gain, notes and chords remained fairly well defined — quite a feat for a semi-hollowbody. Of course, with just a hint of overdrive, Beatles-like tones were easy to achieve.
While the Sheraton is not quite as fat sounding as a full size hollowbody jazz guitar, it is much fatter sounding than a solidbody and more than up to the task as a jazz box. I had no problem coaxing jazz-worthy tones from it, even with its fairly light gauge round-wound strings.
A deluxe hardshell case is included.
In Use
At home, I played the Sheraton through both of my tube amps (Mesa/Boogie Mark II, Traynor YCV20) and a PODxt with equally good results. But the real test was a two-week gig I had playing jazz arrangements of Christmas songs and originals. The group consisted of piano, bass, drums, flugelhorn/trumpet, and me on guitar. I alternated playing rhythm and lead parts along with unison parts with the flugelhorn and piano. Since it was part of a large production, we were playing on a side stage, mainly using amps. Only the piano and horns were miked and sent through the PA. The room was a large church auditorium that is usually set up with 1400 chairs, so I needed a fair amount of volume to cover the room. I was originally going to use a hollowbody jazz guitar, but feedback became a problem at the required volume. Thanks to the semi-hollowbody design of the Sheraton, though, I was able to reach the desired volume without the unwanted feedback. The Sheraton handled the gigs with ease and was a joy to play. I received many compliments on its sound and looks.
Final Thoughts
Epiphone pulled out all the stops with the Elitist Sheraton. It is a beautiful looking guitar that plays like butter. While I tested it mainly as a jazz box, it is an organic sounding axe that could probably find a home in most types of popular music — shy of metal or shred. If you are in the market for a quality semi-hollowbody, you owe it to yourself to try an Elitist Sheraton. You may be pleasantly surprised.
Reader Comments
Better Guitar encourages your input. Agree with this review? Think I’m crazy? If you have played an Epiphone Elitist Sheraton, email me your comments and I’ll post them below. The more opinions we have available, the better our buying decisions will be.
L Leon Sands
I picked up my Elitist Sheraton at an Epiphone Yard Sale in Nashville when I was there on long engagement. Interesting thing is that a batch of cases didn't fit correctly, and it's Epiphone policy on these that the guitar be returned with the case. They sent the music store another guitar with a new case, so this guitar ended up orphaned and was made available in the Yard Sale. I picked it up for $400 — I was astonished. It's flawless except for the word "USED" stamped on the back of the headstock. Epiphone does this on their Yard Sale inventory so the guitar won't find its way into the retail chain as a new guitar.
This guitar is amazingly easy to play, is perfectly accurate, and sounds 100% as good as any ES-335 I've heard. The wood is beautiful and of high quality and beautiful grain. The finish is actually better than many Gibsons I've seen at big-chain guitar centers. You know the Japanese have been competing successfully with U.S. luthiers for a couple of decades now and this represents one of their finest. I am so glad the guitar's original case didn't fit and more glad of Epiphone's policy on the returning the guitar. This is one of those "finds of a lifetime".
Leon, It's a good thing you got one when you did. Unfortunately, Epiphone has discontinued the Elitist Shreaton. - Mark
Luke Edwards
This is a brilliant review and extremely accurate. I was going to get a Epiphone Custom Alpine White but then I saw this in the shop and had to get it. It is one of the all time greats, and undervalued by many guitarists.
Gary "Gator" Millhollon
Very good article. I played my first Sheraton Elitist last week and felt exactly the same as you. I have played for 40 years, play professionally, and absolutely loved this guitar. I could find no difference in the feel, look and quality of the equivalent Gibson. I plan to buy one in the next month or two.
stats
- • Top: 5-ply Maple
- • Back/Sides: 5-ply Maple
- • Neck: 1-piece Mahogany
- • Fingerboard: Rosewood
- • Nut: 1-11/16" bone
- • Inlays: Mother Of Pearl
- • Scale length: 24 3/4"
- • Number of Frets: 22
- • Neck Pickup: 60NYR (USA NY mini-HB)
- • Bridge Pickup: 60NYT (USA NY mini-HB)
- • Controls: 2 volume, 2 tone
- • Pickup Switching: 3-way selector
- • Hardware: 24K Gold
- • Tuners: Grover Imperial
- • Tailpiece: Stopbar
- • Finish: Natural (Vintage Sunburst Available)
- • Built in Japan
- • Case: Hardshell
Positives
- Elegant looks; fast neck; great sounding pickups.
Negatives
- None significant.
Rating
- Performance: 10
- Sound Quality: 10
- Construction: 10
- Overall: 10
Ratings Key
- 0 = Worthless
- 10 = Excellent
Estimated Street Price
- Discontinued
Company
- Epiphone