The Epiphone Wilshire

At 349.00 dollars, this vintage guitar reissue could be considered an upper-end beginner guitar. It has an interesting take on the double-cutaway silhoutte, deviating from the commonly-replicated strat style headstock with a "bat wing" headstock that has a section which is colored the same as the body. Like most Epiphones, the neck ends when it meets the headstock, with a total of 22 frets, giving you 2 octaves per string.

 Jimi Hendrix played this guitar during the early stages of his career. It certainly has a vintage vibe to it, with the wider and less pronounced wings and the Rickenbacker-esque pickguard. The block inlays on the rosewood fretboard look excellent, and is unified with the Alnico Classic Plus 4 humbuckers with chrome covers, and of course, the stop tail bridge. The extended controls allow for more options to tailor your tone.

There are several different colorways, including sunburst, pelham blue, alpine white, and ebony with gloss finishes. Although it is a Chinese-made guitar (and consequently cheaper than Epiphone's higher-end Wilshire), it is exceptionally faithful to the original and an overall good guitar for the money.

Epiphone Wilshire at MusiciansFriend.com