Surprise NGD! Epi Flamekat

[FrankenFretter***]

I am a daily reader of my two local Craig's Lists, and as I've said in another thread, there's rarely anyone who wants less than 85% of retail for their stuff. It's stupid. But I guess it must be working for them, because most stuff isn't listed for that long. Yesterday morning I found a treasure, though...an Epiphone Flamekat semi-hollow, with tuner, picks, an extra set of strings and a cord. I have tons of strings, picks and cords, but the price was reasonable, and the guitar was definitely a head turner (although I realize it's not for everyone). I emailed my fiancee the ad, simply so she could see the cool guitar. To my surprise, she said, "Why don't you go look at it after work?". She was a very capable enabler on this one, and I realize how lucky I am in that respect.

I did go and check it out, and the young man who was selling it was the original owner. He had given up on guitar, and was trying to raise some rent money. After checking it out on his Marshall combo (also for sale), making sure that the switch and pots were all in order, and the frets weren't too worn, I was pretty much sold. There is (or was) some noticeable corrosion on the tuners, bridge, and frets as well as on the hinges of the hardshell case. I offered him $50 less than his asking price and he agreed. I think I could've offered him even less, but the guy is struggling to make rent and it's a great guitar.

I unstrung it almost immediately, as the strings were in bad shape. I've been working on cleaning up the corrosion before I restring it, so I haven't had a chance to play through any of my amps, but it sounded good when I tested it. Pretty beefy for mini-hums. After removing the cover on the back of the master volume, I think it should be replaced. It's a tiny import pot, and it's the only one I can access easily, so I'll replace it eventually. For right now, everything works, and as soon as I get some steel wool for the frets, I'll give it a good shakedown.

And now the required photos:

[Commodore 64***]

OMG that thing is F'ing awesome. It's so cheesy, it's awesome.

Wanna trade it for a '68 CHamp?

[LeadedEL84]

Cool guitar! I want one. Please post a follow up when you finish cleaning it up and plug it in.

[Eric***]

Wow. That's like the Andrew W.K. of guitars.

Congrats on the score!

[Kazz]

Love the dice fret markers....that is one sweet Epi man...congrats. Ole Kazz has a new guit on the way too.....can't wait for it to arrive so I can take pictures and post the good news :-)

[FrankenFretter***]

Thanks, guys! C64, yes it is a bit cheesy, but I like cheesy zombie movies and goofy things like that. I also like the Kustom Kulture art, so this is right up my alley. As tempting as that trade may be, the amp and the guitar would be a good pair together, but I don't think I'd want the amp by itself. Thanks though.

I will post more info as it becomes available. Going to get some steel wool soon, then I'll string it up with 10s. This is one that I won't really try to mod, since it's too much of a PITA to work with a semi-hollow.

By the way, the guy also sold me an old Zoom 505 for $15. I haven't had much time to play with that yet, either.

Stay tuned!

[Tig***]

Sweet!

Oh man, do I have the car for you!

[Heywood Jablomie]

Yeah, FF, I saw that one, too. Even though I'm not really looking to buy any gear, I still peruse CL to see what folks are selling. The Kat's paint job would look right at home on a '57 Chevy. Epi semi-hollows are great - I think you'll enjoy it.

[ZMAN]

Thanks, guys! C64, yes it is a bit cheesy, but I like cheesy zombie movies and goofy things like that. I also like the Kustom Kulture art, so this is right up my alley. As tempting as that trade may be, the amp and the guitar would be a good pair together, but I don't think I'd want the amp by itself. Thanks though.

I will post more info as it becomes available. Going to get some steel wool soon, then I'll string it up with 10s. This is one that I won't really try to mod, since it's too much of a PITA to work with a semi-hollow.

By the way, the guy also sold me an old Zoom 505 for $15. I haven't had much time to play with that yet, either.

Stay tuned!

Those were a stock epi item a few years ago. They are similar in size to an LP about the same thickness as a Dot semi hollow. They are quite a nice guitar.
I also have a 505 and it is fun to play with. I got mine new back in about 98.
They are quite noisey though.

[guitarhack]

Very cool guitar. Nice grab!

[Monkus]

sweeeet!

[Katastrophe]

That is one kickass lookin' guitar!

Good find, FF!

[ZMAN]

Samick makes a similar size semi hollow body. It is called the Royale. I would bet that the Kat series was made by Samick.

[FrankenFretter***]

After spending hours on Friday cleaning the 'Kat, including a great deal of time spend polishing the frets, I finally got to plug it in to my "big" amps up in the music room yesterday afternoon. My initial impression is that it suits the Vox Night Train well, and the Marshall...not so much.

I happened to have way more sets of 9s than 10s, so I strung it with the set of Ernie Ball Super Slinkies that came with it. I've been using 10s on my Lesters, and now 9s just feel wimpy. I think it's time to stock up on 10s and restring this Kat. I don't really like the way that these XL strings feel on the beast, and I'm pretty sure it'll sound better with 10s, too.

The New York mini-humbuckers sound good, but they're not for Metalheads. Trying to get a metal sound out of this guitar is probably an exercise in futility, and I don't know why I even bothered except for the sake of curiosity. It sounds great clean, and even very good all the way up to a heavy crunch, but add too much drive and it kind of craps out, sounding like a $50 department store guitar. For blues, classic rock and good old rock n roll, it's excellent. Probably decent for country too, but I couldn't tell you for sure. I imagine that it would also be a good surf guitar. It definitely has that semi-hollow boom to it, lots of bottom end. The minis also have that "jangle" factor going. As long as it's not overdriven too hard, it's extremely articulate. The neck pickup has a really nice mellow tone, but also enough beef to get the job done for heavier stuff. If I knew how to play jazz, I'm sure it would be great for that. The bridge pickup is brighter and has a bit more growl to it. Both pickups together make a really nice balance, and having individual volumes and a master volume means you can totally tweak the tone until you find what you're looking for. The tone knob doesn't do much, other than when it's either full on or full off, which is pretty typical. Speaking of knobs, those dice knobs look cool, but they're far from ergonomic. That probably goes without saying. Do they bother me enough to replace them with standard knobs? That remains to be seen. I'll leave them for now. The die on the switch knob doesn't want to stay there, so that may be a problem.

So far I'm loving this new member of the family. She sounds as good as she looks, and she plays as easily as either of my Lesters, but without all the weight.

From what I've learned from the limited info I've been able to find when researching this guitar, I know it's made in Korea and it has a mahogany body with a maple top and maple neck. The rosewood fretboard is so dark (even more so after applying lemon oil) that it looks like ebony. I also have heard that there were a few different incarnations of this 'Kat during the brief time it was produced, including models with a genuine Bigsby unit. I don't know much about the pickups, which I'd like to learn more about.

That's it for now, my lunch break is over. I may post more at the end of the week, if I have time before I leave on my vacation.

[FrankenFretter***]

Sweet!

Oh man, do I have the car for you!

Sweet hot rod, Doug! Is that yours?

[LeadedEL84]

Sweet!

Oh man, do I have the car for you!

I was at a big pawn shop I used to frequent and I saw a tuck and roll Kustom amp. It looked similar to the one below but the entire top was tuck and roll and the grill cloth had red,orange, and yellow flames. It would match the guitar and the street rod so well. Not sure of the model but it was a tube amp with 1x12. Not sure if the grill was original or a customization. I looked for a pic of one like it on the web but couldn't find one. Add some dice knobs and it would be a perfect match to the KAT.

[Tig***]

Sweet hot rod, Doug! Is that yours?

I wish!
Actually, I'm not a fan of most flame jobs, as they are a bit over the top.
I like a subtle ghost style...


However, this one looks cool...

[Brian Krashpad]

Samick makes a similar size semi hollow body. It is called the Royale. I would bet that the Kat series was made by Samick.

Sfaik, they are made in more than one Korean factory, and some, maybe most, are not Samick. My WildKat was made in the Unsung factory.

Here are the reported Epi factory codes:

Korea
I = Saein
U = Unsung
S = Samick
P or R = PeerlessChina
DW = DeaWon
EA = Gibson/QingDao
EE = Gibson/QingDao
MC = Muse
SJ = SaeJung
Z = Zaozhuang Saehan
BW = ChinaJapan
No letter or F = FujiGen
J or T = TeradaCzech
B = Bohêmia Musico-DeliciaIndonesia
SI = SamickChris

Congrats FF!

[FrankenFretter***]

Sfaik, they are made in more than one Korean factory, and some, maybe most, are not Samick. My WildKat was made in the Unsung factory.

Here are the reported Epi factory codes:

Korea
I = Saein
U = Unsung
S = Samick
P or R = PeerlessChina
DW = DeaWon
EA = Gibson/QingDao
EE = Gibson/QingDao
MC = Muse
SJ = SaeJung
Z = Zaozhuang Saehan
BW = ChinaJapan
No letter or F = FujiGen
J or T = TeradaCzech
B = Bohêmia Musico-DeliciaIndonesia
SI = SamickChris

Congrats FF!

Thanks, Brian! It looks like mine is a Samick. Good to know.