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Epiphone Newport looks like a winner.

#42
350125g0 said:
The bridge pickup on this one looks much further away from the bridge than in the photos on Canada's primary music retail chain's website... I am very confused.

Looks like a "wait until I can play it" kind of thing.
Click to expand...
I think the initial stock photos had the bridge scooted towards the bridge more. I just unboxed it, looks just like the picture!
 
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#51
My Calif. Coral Newport arrived yesterday so I unboxed it today and after tuning up here are some first impressions.
  1. The one I got is 7 lbs. 15 oz per Sweetwater. No problem there.
  2. Looks fantastic in person.
  3. Very nice fit and finish. I assume if I look hard enough I will find a flaw but nothing so far.
  4. The neck is outstanding. Ultra-smooth fret ends, looks and feels great in every respect.
  5. The bridge and I are not destined to be best friends. You can't adjust individual string height, instead just tilt or raise/lower the bar for all four.
  6. It sounds pretty much like other short scales with stock roundwound strings. Reminds me much of the sound of the EB-0 before I swapped strings and pickups on that guitar. The pickups aren't very loud. But...
  7. The E string sounds weaker than the others. Looks like this is mainly due to the pickup being slanted downward. Twisting screws alone helped a bit but it's going to require taking the strings off, unscrewing the pickup and giving it a bit more padding of some sort underneath, in order to raise the E-end a bit.
  8. The neck pickup is the same size as the one on the EB-0.
  9. Noisy controls but a bit of turning back and forth cleared that up.
  10. Tuners seem sloppy but probably not to the point of replacement.
  11. Bridge pickup is appropriately far from the bridge and it sounds okay (I won't use it much).
Looking forward to any advice, comments and other experiences!
 
Last edited:
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#52
Pearcga said:
My Calif. Coral Newport arrived yesterday so I unboxed it today and after tuning up here are some first impressions.
  1. The one I got is 7 lbs. 15 oz per Sweetwater. No problem there.
  2. Looks fantastic in person.
  3. Very nice fit and finish. I assume if I look hard enough I will find a flaw but nothing so far.
  4. The neck is outstanding. Ultra-smooth fret ends, looks and feels great in every respect.
  5. The bridge and I are not destined to be best friends. You can't adjust individual string height, instead just tilt or raise/lower the bar for all four.
  6. It sounds pretty much like other short scales with stock roundwound strings. Reminds me much of the sound of the EB-0 before I swapped strings and pickups on that guitar. The pickups aren't very loud. But...
  7. The E string sounds weaker than the others. Looks like this is mainly due to the pickup being slanted downward. Twisting screws alone helped a bit but it's going to require taking the strings off, unscrewing the pickup and giving it a bit more padding of some sort underneath, in order to raise the E-end a bit.
  8. The neck pickup is the same size as the one on the EB-0.
  9. Noisy controls but a bit of turning back and forth cleared that up.
  10. Tuners seem sloppy but probably not to the point of replacement.
  11. Bridge pickup is appropriately far from the bridge and it sounds okay (I won't use it much).
Looking forward to any advice, comments and other experiences!
Click to expand...

Sounds like a great bass for the $$!

How's the balance sitting down and on a strap? Any neck dive?
 
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#53
Several years ago a local shop had an original 2x2 version that I loved the sound of. I would visit the store just to play it. I always wanted it but couldn't afford it so I settled for an early Epiphone EB0 I found very inexpensive at a yard sale that was close enough on tone.

I'm definitely going to try one if they ever get one in stock at a local shop.
 
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#54
madscientist said:
Sounds like a great bass for the $$!

How's the balance sitting down and on a strap? Any neck dive?
Click to expand...
It seems pretty well balanced. When I sit down and rest it on my leg, it might have a slight tendency to neck dive but not much at all. It's close to neutral. By comparison my EB-0 wants to do a pronounced neck dive when seated without a strap. I put a strap on it and while standing, with a cloth strap while wearing a cloth shirt, there is no neck dive. Haven't tried a poly strap.

Part of this is probably because unlike the EB-0, the Newport has a strap button on the end of the top horn, which isn't really an option on the EB-0 due to its "pointy" design.
 
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#55
I spent some time with mine, so far I dig it. I think I’m gonna upgrade the pickups eventually. I really like the whole vibe. The blend knob has a center detent which is nice. Had to take the knob off and place it back on where pointing up is at detent.
It definitely differs tone wise from an eb3 as it sits. The bass is absolutely solid construction wise and I’m probably gonna put clover or lollipop tuners on it, (I don’t particular like the y keys) and a model one and a lollar.
I got a 4 hole tone monster preamp (volume, blend, stacked bass/treble and output) sitting around, temping to throw it in here!
 
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#56
I was torn between the pacific blue or the cherry but this California coral was calling to me. It should hit my doorstep on Wednesday.

D55A2B8D-C9BD-4DC6-B22B-5A015C37FF1C.jpeg
 
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