Epiphone Coronet Review: Rockin Reissue

The Coronet is one of Epiphone’s first original solid body electric guitars. It was first introduced in 1958 and was a very popular instrument.

The new and latest reissue brings back many of the original features! Things like the double cutaway and P-90 pick up. This guitar is a rock and roll machine and is vintage in almost every way.

Features

Let’s take a look at some key features.

• Solid mahogany body.
• Gloss finish.
• Medium C profile neck.
• Indian laurel finger board.
• 22 Medium jumbo frets.
• Epiphone P-90 PRO Dogear single-coil.
• Glued in neck.

Sound Performance

This is a super affordable essential rock machine! While it is a simple guitar, the vintage rock feel when in your hands brings out the primal urge to have fun!

A single P-90 high output pickup like the one loaded in this guitar just provides an experience all its own. It responds amazingly well and is sensitive when digging in.

The sound is rich and sparkling, but will growl when you really get into heavy picking. It is quite articulate as a P-90 should be and adds good girth to the tone. If you’re not familiar with a P-90, they land in between a single-coil and humbucker pickup. So the tone is bright with a heavy mid-range.

Although on the Coronet, it’s more spanky and thick. This is because of the construction and design. They add a bit of unique to the mix. And all without any muddy tones.

The guitar has a great sound and is quite fun to play, the glued in neck really adds to the tone here! The video below will put it into perspective for you. Check out the sounds for yourself!

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Body Construction

The Coronet body is solid mahogany and is a reissue of the original guitar. The pick guard on the body is incredibly eye catching, especially with the E logo. It is a very specific body style that just screams vintage rock.

The wood grain and cherry gloss look great from the well finished instrument. The double cut away are not only convenient but give the instrument a great look.

On the rear of the body you will find the strap button well-placed for great balance. The guitar is pretty light. So it’s comfortable hanging from your shoulder and easy to maneuver.

Body Colors Available

The Epiphone Coronet is available in two beautiful finishes:

• Cherry.
• Ebony.

Both options look great, but if you are looking to see wood grain, then cherry is where it is at! If you are looking for black and simple, Ebony will get it done.

Weight

The Coronet is a very light guitar. In fact, it is incredibly comfortable, weighing in at 5 pounds! This is perfect for new players who are just getting used to a guitar in general.

It’s pretty well-balanced on the lap or hanging from the shoulder. It can be worn for hours thanks to the lightweight. The neck is slightly heavier, but it’s fine.

Neck

The Coronet has a mahogany neck that is glued onto the body. This construction method not only makes the instrument very sturdy, but it also feels more dynamic.

The neck and body resonate wonderfully and is great for a rock machine like the coronet. The neck itself is a medium “C” shape and is quite comfortable. The frets are medium jumbo and every one of the 22 can be accessed quite easily.

While this neck shape is not modern shred friendly, it is a rock and roll guitar and does this incredibly well. Some of the features of the neck include:

• 22 frets.
• 24.7″ scale length.
• Neck shape: Medium “C”.
• Indian laurel fretboard.
• Radius: 12.01″.
• Mahogany material.
• Nubone guitar nut.
• Dot inlays.

Benefits Of A Glued Neck

While a glued in neck to some means hard to replace, the benefits out weigh this. The ability to keep tune and the feel of a rigid instrument are hard to beat. A guitar neck that loosens up over time on a cheaper instrument is all too common. You won’t find that here.

Hardware

The hardware on the coronet is quite impressive. The P-90 pick up is quite good and provides wicked tone in conjunction with the control pots. The controls are CTS potentiometers. These are great quality units with awesome accuracy and smooth feel.

The nut is a Graph Tech Nubone synthetic unit, which is great to see here in place of plastic. Further, up, we find Ivory tuning buttons. This is a 3 on a plate press in bushing vintage style design. They are of good quality and held tuning well.

The nickel finish on the hardware looks really sharp! Especially on the lightning bar wrap around bridge.

Custom P-90 Pickup

The Epiphone Coronet comes with one legendary P-90 high output pickup. This unit cuts through the mix very well with a raw, powerful sound.

They are fully wax potted to prevent microphonic feedback. They also offer braided two conductor wiring. Can’t get more vintage than that.

Electronics And Strings

• Volume And Tone resistance: 250K CTS Potentiometers.
• Tone capacitor: .022 uF.
• Strings: 10-46 gauge.

Playability

The neck is really easy to get around on and the action is great. I really dig the quality of the instrument, it’s a solid machine for sure.

The one piece guitar creates a really cool vibe and feel in your hands.  Depending on what amp you are plugged into, this guitar will resonate like crazy. You are sure to be inspired to rock and roll. 

When you move up the neck towards the body, it feels great! It’s almost a handful, to be honest.
The fretboard widens and actually becomes pretty comfortable with low action. As I anticipated, the growl level and tone come alive as the strings get closer to the P-90.

Verdict

The Epiphone Coronet is a solid, well-made guitar and a darn close reissue of a vintage classic. The Iconic tone and look for under five hundred bucks really cannot be beat. This guitar even has the old school Epiphone bikini logo on the headstock!

If you don’t have a guitar with a P-90 in it, this would be the one to add to your arsenal for just the quality alone. The neck is comfortable and easy to play, hardware is rigid and sound is spot on.

The guitars being released today are improving in quality. All while remaining low in price. This is another example of great instruments for less and simply cannot be beat!