# NGD Epiphone Zenith



## Mooh (Mar 7, 2007)

Epiphone Masterbilt Zenith.



















Played this one at L&M Stratford before Christmas, then hit L&M London north this morning and played 3 other models from the same model line. Returned to Stratford to find the one that grabbed me in spite of still having the packing foam under the bridge. Nice sounding pickup for a saddle mount, not the quack one might expect. Acoustically it's pretty good but with light amplification it has the nice smooth chop I like for swing rhythm without the exaggerated bark some guitars suffer. Single notes have a nice warm tone but it will take some playing in before I know just how good it will be. Not sure how or when I'll use it for gigs, but at least for home use it gets my archtop quest rolling.


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## Mooh (Mar 7, 2007)

Epiphone Masterbilt® Zenith™ Classic Acoustic/Electric Guitar


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## Kerry Brown (Mar 31, 2014)

Please come back and update us after you've had it for a week or so. I'm thinking seriously about getting one from the series. Not sure which one but I've been leaning toward this one.


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## Mooh (Mar 7, 2007)

Kerry Brown said:


> Please come back and update us after you've had it for a week or so. I'm thinking seriously about getting one from the series. Not sure which one but I've been leaning toward this one.


I liked them all, but found the largest one a little awkward, an issue I've developed in recent years with larger acoustics...rotator cuff discomfort mostly. The smallest, cheapest, and most comfortable to play was the Olympic, it had great kick to it. From the little I could discern in the stores, the round hole Zenith was a little less choked sounding than the f-hole one. 

Time will tell. I will try to post an update later.


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## Gimper (Jan 14, 2016)

Very nice, classy looking guitar. Love the body shape/size.

That has a floating bridge right? I have no experience with those. Maybe this is a dumb question but, is that something you tweak until you find the right spot, or is it set-it and forget-it?


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## Steadfastly (Nov 14, 2008)

Well, there is certainly nothing wrong with it in the looks department. I'll look forward to your review, as always.


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## Mooh (Mar 7, 2007)

Gimper said:


> Very nice, classy looking guitar. Love the body shape/size.
> 
> That has a floating bridge right? I have no experience with those. Maybe this is a dumb question but, is that something you tweak until you find the right spot, or is it set-it and forget-it?


Not dumb at all.

Floating bridge, held on by string pressure, so if you change the strings one at a time it'll stay in place and won't need to be tweaked. Mostly a set it and forget it thing. However, it is possible for them to shift minutely with use, or require very slight repositioning with different string gauges, or with changes in geometry brought on by age, wood movement, or atmospheric changes. It's dead easy to check by making sure the fretted notes up the neck play in tune when the open strings are tuned, the octave at the 12th fret is the obvious one, but in rare instances one needs to average between fretted notes if the frets aren't crowned or positioned true. I have a Gretsch that suffers a little from a shifting bridge, likely because of the Bigsby and palm pressure...not really a major deal. Fwiw, the Epiphone's bridge wasn't positioned exactly as it sat in the store...but by no means would such a thing be a deal breaker or a concern.


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## zontar (Oct 25, 2007)

Mooh said:


> Floating bridge, held on by string pressure, so if you change the strings one at a time it'll stay in place and won't need to be tweaked. Mostly a set it and forget it thing. However, it is possible for them to shift minutely with use, or require very slight repositioning with different string gauges, or with changes in geometry brought on by age, wood movement, or atmospheric changes.


Or if the ball end gets stuck & you have to remove the other strings to get to it--like happened on my AF95 archtop...

Enjoy!


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## Lord-Humongous (Jun 5, 2014)

Congrats! These are so cool. I played one at my local L&M and almost walked out with it.


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