A poor man’s White Falcon? Meet this sexy limited edition Epiphone P93.
I first saw one of these about a year ago
on eBay and remember drooling over it.
Man, what a guitar! It seemed to have it
all: cool white finish, three P-90 pickups,
Bigsby vibrato, gold sparkle binding, and
gold hardware. It looked spectacular.
With all its ornamentation, this Epi
reminded me of a ’60s Gretsch White
Falcon. The only problem was, it was also
kind of pricey. These guitars were going for
around $550–$700 on eBay. I already owned
a similar P93 in a dark wine red finish that
had set me back $325, but this white one left
mine in the dust. I knew I had to own the
white model, so I did a daily search for one
on eBay and got outbid time after time.
The locking Kluson keystone tuners are
a sweet upgrade to an already sweet guitar.
The P93 boasts a trio of P-90 single-coil
pickups and an innovative wiring scheme.
This model has gold sparkle binding on
both the body and fretboard.But I was diligent and after almost a year,
my daily searches finally paid off. I saw this
beauty, which had two nice upgrades—a hardshell
case and gold Kluson locking tuners—and a buy-it-now price of $350 or best offer,
plus a flat $20 shipping fee. Even though I
should have just hit the buy-it-now button for
$350, I was feeling lucky that day and decided
instead to offer $330. The seller immediately
emailed me back with a counter offer of $340.
I was lucky he was at his computer, and I
immediately made another counter offer of
$335. Within a few minutes he accepted and
the guitar was mine! That really made my day.
With shipping I got it for $355 total!
I was excited when it arrived and after
inspecting it thoroughly, I was
relieved to see that it was undamaged
and not stamped as a factory
second. There seem to be a lot of
these models floating around on eBay
with cracked necks and broken headstocks,
likely from a cargo shipping container
that was dropped by a crane.
Bottom Feeder Tip #2,793: When buying
an Epiphone guitar, always check the
back of the headstock and make sure it’s
not stamped “Used.” That stamp means it’s
reconditioned or a factory second, and typically
will have a resale value of 15 to 20 percent
less than a pristine model. Thankfully
this guitar was not stamped with that. Whew.
So how does it play and sound? Amazing!
The seller had his guitar tech set it up for
him and it really showed. The action was
great, nut slots nice and low, and intonation
dead-on. What’s really cool about these guitars
is how you can use the 3-way pickup
selector switch to choose either or both of
the two outside P-90s, and then gradually
bring in the middle pickup with its own
volume control to subtly blend sounds.
With this wiring, I’ve found you can create
unlimited tonal shadings. I love the sound
of the guitar, the way it plays, and especially
the way it looks. It’s a keeper for sure.
Will Ray
is a founding
member of the
Hellecasters guitar-twang
trio. He also does guitar
clinics promoting his
namesake G&L signature
model 6-string, and produces
artists and bands at his studio in
Asheville, North Carolina. You can contact
Will on Facebook and at
willray.biz.