2009 Epiphone AJ-100BK Dreadnought Guitar

This J-45-shaped, plywood import special is what many guitar players out of our rarified spaces drag to campfires, jams, and dorm rooms around the world. I'm still floored by what $200 or so gets you brand-new these days. While this doesn't sound like a J-45, it still sounds mighty good for the low price (free and used-n-stickered) its owner got it for.

Where these low-cost instruments start to fail bad is at the neck -- where the devil's-in-the-details bits pop-out loud and clear via truss rods that don't adjust quite right or adjust and leave a slight twist in the neck, fretting that isn't accurate or seated correctly, or odd S-curves tuned at tension down the length and stuff like that. I honestly can't complain about the body build (it's ply overall but braced in a simplified iteration of bracing that resembles the weight and style of '50s Gibsons), but the necks will always be squirrely on these. Fortunately, they can be teased into compliance to get them to play pretty well.

This one was in for a bridge reglue and setup and I thought it might be nice to get a sucker-punch to the pride before moving-on to the next bit of guitar-art.

Specs are: 25 1/2" scale (if only they'd done 24 3/4" scale!), 1 5/8" nut width, 1 3/8" string spacing at the nut, 2 1/8" spacing at the bridge, 16" lower bout, 11 1/2" upper bout, and 4 7/8" side depth at the endblock. The neck has a slim, C-shaped profile with a ~14" radius to the board. Action is spot-on at 3/32" EA and 1/16" DGBE at the 12th fret. Strings are 54w-12 lights.