I grabbed one on a special sale from MF a week ago to replace a poorly made new Fender Jaguar Classic Player Special HH, a MIM disappointment to say the least, but of course MF took it right back with a full refund, no problem. I got this guy as a consolation and I was curious to see if there was an improvement in the Indonesian made Epiphones, after a disappointing experience a few years ago with a Korean made Epi Joe Pass Emperor II and a Broadway. I am NOT disappointed, this time!

This guitar has zero defects, needed nothing more than my usual setup routine, and I love it, it's a keeper. The fret job is excellent, no sharp ends, no high or low frets, I was able to get the action very low without an issue. (I also swapped the Tune-O-Matic bridge for a compensated ebony saddle. That dropped the acoustic volume a bit, but made the tone warmer.)

Granted, it doesn't have the pretty flamed maple veneers of the Gibson, nor the cut-around the fret ends of the newer Gibson's bindings, but it's every bit as good as any early Gibson ES-175, and the pickups are strong and even. The acoustic tone is surprisingly loud and mellow. For roughly 1/10th the price of it's American counterpart, it's a no brainer. If you want a good archtop hollow body workhorse that sounds and feels great, this is it, look no further.

Over all, the Epi ES 175 is a quality smooth sounding and smooth playing guitar.

It arrives seteup fairly well, except for the action being just a tad high for my tastes. The full hollow body produces a bassy low end with a woodsy flavor(perfect for comping and extended bass runs). But watch the feed back on this hollow beast (play with yer settings a bit)

I think the strings that come with it are 11s but just the usual fodder guitar companies use, so i recommend changin em, I did.

The grover tunners are a welcome addition on this guitar, i often use alternate tunnings in my blues playing and these babies turn smooth with no slipping.

The first day i had her the neck felt a bit dry to me (was delivered during a heat wave), but after a few hours of playing the oils from my hands and fingers greased her up nice, and slides got real silky feeling.

Like all the other reviewers have noted my Epi logo sticker wont stay put on the pickguard either.

The guitar is a beauty! the vintige sunburst paint job is very nicely done (found no flaws). The split bar inlays in the fretboard are set nicely and look great as well.

Epiphone has hit a home run with the this model! I say, if your looking for something to play smooth jazz, or blues with, buy this one. A steal in todays guitar market. One of the times in your life you'll actually get more than you pay for!

Picked it up today, going to use it exclusively for chord melody work. It's a reissue of the Gibson ES-175 and have to say Epiphone has really gotten my attention with this one. Special ordered it because I don't wanna take my Gibby ES-335 out (yeah, I'm chicken). Wasn't expecting much, figured if it sounded and played okay then what the heck. Think I have enough experience to not gush like a little girl with a new toy but the reality of this instrument has me gob-smacked! Judging by all the normal criteria of a good guitar this puppy more than impresses. The newest incarnation of these have recently had the manufacturing moved to Indonesia and all the usual detail signposts are there: flawless and beautiful finish, straight neck, flawless fretwork, nice binding, etc. You know the drill, even the knobs are level. Sweet. The grover tuners work well, I've just been playing the guitar for three hours straight and it did not go out of tune at all. Factory setup was outstanding, nice low action with perfect intonation. Now for the sound: UNBELIEVABLE! The humbuckers are clear and I can really get that sweet jazzy sounding full hollow body woody sensation. Just jaw-dropping! Played it through my DRRI, Blues Jr. and a small Marshall 30-watt solid state with 10-inch speaker and through each amp this ES-175 spills it's guts with a rich velvety tone I haven't heard through guitars selling for thousands more. If you've been looking for a REAL quality hollow body jazz box without buying into all the B.S. and hype that surround the marketing and pricing you normally see on jazz guitars I strongly urge you to take a good hard look at the Epiphone ES-175.

I am just AMAZED!!

I just picked this up the other day with a store discount of 25% and added a case as well, saved a TON of money. However, had this not been on sale, I STILL would have wanted this guitar. I play mostly if not all Beatles and have many Beatles guitars, but I am always on the lookout for something unique and different. THIS guitar has excellent stock humbuckers, I don't see the need to swap them out. They really crank ( but being a hollowbody, watch out for feedback) the neck is nice and easy/creamy to play. The finish is amazing, the weight is nice and sits on your lap very well. For me, this makes for an all around nice spare guitar that sits outside you main playing stable.

Let me say first that I'm a great Epi fan. I own 8 at the moment, and were it not for Epiphone creating these great quality guitars at such a great price, my guitar collection would be much, much smaller. I happened on this little jewel by accident. I'm not much of a hollowbody player, but found this ES-175 very inexpensive as a one year old, unplayed guitar that a lady just needed to get rid of. My intent was to turn it on ebay for some quick cash. But after playing it for a while, I am hooked on this baby. its become a guitar I pick up every day. Great tone, quality workmanship, awesome looks and it plays so sweet to boot! All you Gibson snobs take heed; this is a sweet deal! A Gibson will cost 4-5 times more and not deliver that much more!