Epiphone J-45 EC Studio NA

This review is written after about 10 days of usage.
I was in for a big surprise upon reception of the guitar. Well, I thought that I would get a rather low-end sounding guitar but, as for other reviews, my ears have been delighted. Even the strings are very good, I still did not change them.
The neck is a delight by itself.
The note accuracy is impressive for this budget !
The pickup is crap to my taste, thus I would rather have taken the model without pickup and spent my euros otherwise.
The setup was ridiculous (string height about 5mm!) upon reception. I removed the bridge to find the pickup sensor just below it. SInce I hate the pickup, I simply removed the sensor, this alone brought a height gain of about 2mm. It seems the bridge is not designed to be on top of this sensor... Anyway to finish it up I just had to file down approx. 1 mm of the bridge. Now the setup is good to go.

This guitar is a very good choice for beginners and even to someone who is more experienced but has not much money to spend. I personally love the sound of it because it sounds more bright, more "metallic", but it always has to do with the personal taste and the strings have influence on that to. Again personally, i find it very beautiful and it has a very soft wood, very comfortable to grab.

The biggest but i think minimal counter is that the epiphone icon unsticks and it where loose even when i opened it. I took it off and i think it even looks better but it is in fact a slip from the epiphone .

This acoustic guitar is perfect for acoustic/semi-acoustic use for both beginners as well as professionals.

I have had this guitar for more than a year now. My use has been from live performances, jamming, casual playing as well as home studio recording.

Pros:
- the sound is clear, loud, non-shrilly rounded.
- the Shadow pre-amp/pick-up system equally good.
- The feel of this guitar is extremely good. It's really comfortable to play and the satin neck (with Elixir strings) makes you never want to put it down.
- The finish of this guitar is almost perfect. I did not find any flaws even during close inspection.
- packaged perfectly and delivered swiftly by Thomann !

Cons:
- nothing major, but the plastic Epiphone logo on the scratch guard is not the best addition in my opinion and takes away from the look. Can easily be peeled off though.

I've had this guitar for a little over a year. I purchased it from Thomann for ¤100 less than what it is listed for now. All and all I am very pleased with the guitar. It has great intonation up the neck. The build quality is absolutely flawless. I can't find any blemishes whatsoever. The smooth neck is a treat to play. The guitar came with very good string action so I saw no need to have it professionally setup. The sound is great. It was a little tight at first but has really opened up the more I've played it. If I have any complaint it would be the built in tuner. I don't find it that great. I use a d'addario clip on tuner instead. I find it much more accurate. That being said I think the pickup sounds great.