Epiphone Emily Wolfe Signature Sheraton
T
he support guitar brands
show rising playing
talent is vital, and it also
sends a message. Seeing
Epiphone go from the
endorsement of Emily Wolfe to
a full signature model here is
a statement that it not only
believes in her obvious talents as
an inspiring musician, but also
that it’s open to the design input
of contemporary players.
It’s worked with Lee Malia, Matt
Heafy and Jared James Nichols
before, and the two parties here
have created a truly stunning
looking Sheraton. We’ve long cast
envious glances at the Gibson
Memphis satin range of 339s and
335s, but this is a black aged gloss
that lies somewhere in between,
taking on the look of a well played
nitro without any of the relic’ing.
The idea of pairing it with gold
hardware risks going too showy for
a guitar billing itself as ‘stealth’,
but the ‘lightly aged’ gold stays
classy and consistent with
the aged binding.
The unique features continue
with diamond holes inspired by
the Trini Lopez model and lighting
bolt inlays that give the aesthetic
a subtle rock ’n’ roll edginess.
Wolfe’s own signature touches
strike a careful balance – her
signature on the back of the
headstock is literally stealth-like
as it’s only visible at certain angles
in the light. The tattoo-style gold
wolf’s head below it is more
conspicuous, but we’re not
complaining. This is undoubtedly
one of the most badass-looking
Epiphones we’ve seen, and there’s
been some strong output lately on
that front with the Prophecy
series. Wolfe has described it as
“elegant and aggressive”. We like
that. And if Darth Vader had
become a BB King cover act, he’d
have liked it too. It’s also a heavy
guitar – 9lbs gives it a solid heft for
a semi. It feels very comfortable to
play, though, with a spot-on setup
that really sells the Indian laurel
‘board; it’s fast and coupled with
the 60s slim taper profi le neck
here we’ve got a very positive fi rst
impression plugged in. The string
slack is in the goldilocks zone for
us – springly for expressive
bends but fi rm enough for
heavy rhythm.
The neck humbucker really
sings with sustain, and drenched
in fuzz and reverb it’s a treat.
The bridge is warm too and it’s
comfortably voiced for blues and
classic rock, with the volume
controls proving sensitive for
cleaning up. But like Wolfe’s
music, this will confi dently stride
between the world’s of Albert King
and Josh Homme: when things get
gainy there’s broad low string heft
complemented by open higher
end articulation for chords that
wins semis so many fans. As this
guitar deserves to do, too.
Rob Laing
ONE OF THE MOST BADASS
LOOKING EPIPHONES WE’VE SEEN
EPIPHONE EMILY WOLFE
SIGNATURE SHERATON
A Wolfe in stealth clothing
1
2
3
£749
AT A GLANCE
FEATURES
SOUND QUALITY
VALUE FOR MONEY
BUILD QUALITY
PLAYABILITY
OVERALL RATING
SUMMARY
Photography Phil Barker
1
CONTROLS
Wolfe decided
against a second tone
knob as she struggled
to reach it onstage,
leaving one master
tone knob.
2
PICKUPS
The choice to go
with lower output
pickups here was
influenced by
minimising feedback
– diamond f-holes
reportedly create
more at higher levels.
But the transparency
means you’re also
hearing more of the
natural resonance of
the guitar which is why
many players end up
coming back around
to lower output
humbuckers.
3
HEADSTOCK
INLAY
The headstock’s Tree
of Life inlay isn’t
actually a Wolfe motif
but a vintage Epiphone
Sheraton II feature.
BODY Maple
NECK Mahogany,
60s Slim Taper C
SCALE 628 mm
(24.724”)
FINGERBOARD
Indian laurel
FRETS 22
PICKUPS 2 x Epiphone
Alnico Pro Humbuckers
CONTROLS 2 x volume
controls and 1 x CTS
potentiometer
tone control
HARDWARE Lightly
aged gold-plated
Epiphone LockTone
Tune-o-matic bridge,
StopBar and Lightly
aged and Grover
Rotomatic tuners
FINISH Black
Aged Gloss
CASE EpiLite case
CONTACT
Epiphone,
www.epiphone.com
JULY 2021 TOTAL GUITAR
REVIEW
93
TGR346.gear_epi.indd 93TGR346.gear_epi.indd 93 19/05/2021 15:2419/05/2021 15:24