Epiphone Dot Deluxe VS
The Overview
The Epiphone Dot Deluxe VS is the Gibson ES 335 copy that won’t break the bank. The design of this guitar stays true to the classic and traditional hollow body archtop look, with a solid center block to bring the best of the acoustic and electric world together in one instrument.
On the used market, you’ll find these guitars selling for as low as $300 and upwards of $500. Considering that these retailed at $450 – 500 new, this guitar is holding its value very well, and there’s little wonder why! The Epiphone Dot is impeccably built and feels great in your hands.
Features
The Dot Deluxe comes with a flame maple top in a variety of colors, all with a high gloss finish. Today’s model that we’re going to demo comes in a sunburst finish. As you can see in the photos, the lacquer gives the Dot a smooth glassy look. The hardware is all gold which adds a touch of high class to this guitar. It includes a Tune-O-Matic bridge and a stop bar tailpiece. The pickups are ’57 Classic Alnico style, and the controls are standard for a two-pickup Epiphone or Gibson. Two volume and tone knobs, one set dedicated to each pickup, and a 3-way switch with bridge, bridge/neck, and neck positions.
The neck is fantastic on the Dot. It has a big beefy profile, which helps add to the guitar’s sustain and overall tone. The rosewood fretboard with “dot” inlays feels great in your hand, and the jumbo-sized frets and make the guitar play like butter. The neck’s 24.75″ scale is typical of Gibson & Epiphone guitars and adds to the warm sound that the Epiphone Dot delivers.
The headstock is fairly simple, with an Epiphone inlay and a large “dot” inlay. It comes with Grover tuners and the truss rod cover plate is labeled “Dot” in cursive. When you turn the guitar round, there is an “Epiphone Limited Edition Custom Shop” decal. Thes Dot comes standard with a black plastic nut. The guitar we’re demoing today had the nut replaced with a bone nut, which you can see in the photos below. See the “Modifications” section for more info.
How Does It Sound?
The Epiphone Dot Deluxe VS is an extremely versatile guitar. Whether you want to play classic rock, jazz, or blues the Dot will step up to the plate and deliver for you. When you plug it in, the Dot opens up and gives you a huge tonal range that will keep you entertained for hours.
For the demo, I used a Fender Champ. I recorded audio clips using a clean setting with the amp turned up to 3.5 to start, and progressively turned the volume up. On the guitar itself, we’ll start with the switch in the neck position, move to the middle, and then to the bridge position. All volume and tone knobs on the guitar are turned to 10. I recorded this sound bite using Presonus Studio One Artist 4, Presonus’s AudioBox iTwo, and a Shure SM7B microphone.
Clean
Here we go! First up, clean tone with the Epiphone Dot Deluxe VS!
Amp Breaking Up
Next, let’s turn up the volume to where the amp just starts to break up and we start hearing a little bit of natural compression from the amp. You’ll notice that when two or more notes are played, the amp begins to distort naturally, but when you hear single notes, the amp cleans up a bit. I like how bluesy and fat the neck and middle positions sound.
Crunch Time!
Then to finish, we’re of course going to crank it to 10 so you can hear the amp’s natural distortion and compression. The Dot gets a great crunch tone for all of you classic rockers out there. This a powerful sound, and the best part is you don’t need any pedals to recreate this tone. All you need is a guitar and an amp turned to 10!
The Wrap Up
The Epiphone Dot gives you a huge variety of tone in one simple to use package. It’s really hard to beat the tone and the feel of this guitar. You get a lot of bang for your buck.
Did I mention this is a custom shop guitar? You can tell the moment you pick it up and strum your first chord. I’ve played other Epiphone Custom Shop guitars and they’ve left something to be desired, but the Epiphone Dot Deluxe VS is a guitar that the folks at Epiphone should be proud of.
Action & Intonation
The action on the Epiphone Dot Deluxe VS is very low and extremely comfortable. Combined with the thick meaty neck and jumbo style frets, you’ll forget that you’re playing an Epiphone. It feels smooth to play, and it’s so easy to switch between musical styles that it’s hard to put this guitar down.
I had no issues with the intonation on the guitar I demoed. See modifications for why this particular guitar was setup so well.
Modifications
The guitar demoed for this post was almost all original. The seller had taken this guitar to a Luthier named Mike Lull, who is a custom guitar builder in Bellevue, WA. Mike replaced the original black plastic nut with a new bone nut. I had never heard of Mike Lull prior to buying this guitar, but after playing it, I’m impressed. If you’re in the Bellevue area of Washington, I would recommend Mike Lull’s work. This Epiphone Dot plays like a dream.
Final Thoughts
The Epiphone Dot is an all-around fantastic guitar. If your budget is tight like mine, the Dot Deluxe VS is a really good deal at $300 – $500. It sounds even more reasonable when you compare that to $2,999 for the Gibson ES 335, the Dot’s big brother.
Find one. Play one. Have fun!
Other Guitars to Consider in the Same Price Range
I’m a big fan of the Gretsch Streamliner series. Check out the Gretsch G2655T Streamliner as an alternative hollow body style guitar with a center block. Different tone, but I found that the Gretsch played really well. Depending on your style, you may like the Gretsch tone better!
Higher End or Better Sounding Guitars
At the moment, we haven’t reviewed the more expensive hollow body style guitar with a center block. Stay tuned for more reviews, or subscribe to our email list to get updated whenever a new post is made!
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