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NBD: Epiphone Embassy Pro

#61
Mine (from the previous issue) is right, like the photos above: the bottom screw on the bridge is close to exactly aligned with the closest pickguard screw, just a little forward of it.

I really, really regret to say this, but the photo at zZounds (mouseover to zoom in) shows what might be the bad spacing: the lower bridge screw is noticeably forward of that pickguard screw.

This is a question that must get answered. Very, very sorry to see this. I apologize to you if I'm wrong about it too.
 
#62
This is very interesting to me. The photos in posts 56, 59 and 60 suggest a bridge location in same position as my former Embassy, yet no intonation issues.:eyebrow: I tried to intonate with stock strings as well as a fresh set of TI flats with no luck. I was under the assumption that the "proper" bridge location for accurate intonation should be where the saddle section is mounted about 1/2 inch closer to the tailpiece section than in these 3 pictures. Does anyone own one with the other mounting position?
 
#63
When i ordered mine,the bridge issue (and other qc issues) were already known.
These are new instruments from big retail outlets that want you to be happy with your purchase.
If mine had arrived with any objectionable problems, I wouldn't have hesitated to return it.
I talked at length with a Sweetwater rep before i ordered mine, and voiced those concerns.
 
#64
LetItGrowTone said:
Mine (from the previous issue) is right, like the photos above: the bottom screw on the bridge is close to exactly aligned with the closest pickguard screw, just a little forward of it.

I really, really regret to say this, but the photo at zZounds (mouseover to zoom in) shows what might be the bad spacing: the lower bridge screw is noticeably forward of that pickguard screw.

This is a question that must get answered. Very, very sorry to see this. I apologize to you if I'm wrong about it too.
Click to expand...

Looking at ZZ's stock photos compared to the rigs posted here, it also looks like the "claw" is not as far back on the product photos vs the ones here
 
#65
It is as though - I said "as though" - somebody took the rejects from the first run and refinished them. Couldn't be, eh? Epiphone itself wouldn't do that, right?

Makes me nervous that neither Epiphone nor anybody else (Sweetwater) shows this bass.

One last factoid:
I'm not accusing anybody of anything, and I also regret to inform you of this, but the neck of my Epiphone EB-0, purchased from zZounds, is short. Posted about it in another thread. Don't remember exactly but the scale length (nut to center of 12th fret x2) was about .9 inches short. I asked about it in the EB/SG forum but nobody replied.

Lastly, despite all of the above, if you accept all of the praise for this model and especially for its pickups, it could be worthwhile to buy it and move the durn bridge/tailpiece if necessary.
For me, the good news is that it has very good pickups (reportedly a good copy of real '60s pickups), and it has an upper horn, unlike a TBird. That's why I bought it.
 
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#66
BassDaddy77 said:
This is very interesting to me. The photos in posts 56, 59 and 60 suggest a bridge location in same position as my former Embassy, yet no intonation issues.:eyebrow: I tried to intonate with stock strings as well as a fresh set of TI flats with no luck. I was under the assumption that the "proper" bridge location for accurate intonation should be where the saddle section is mounted about 1/2 inch closer to the tailpiece section than in these 3 pictures. Does anyone own one with the other mounting position?
Click to expand...
I have 3, one had the bad bridge location, I had my luthier relocate it. Must not be too difficult, he didn't charge me for it. Of course, he did put this together for me after I got the parts:
20200804_192502.jpg
 
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#70
LetItGrowTone said:
It is as though - I said "as though" - somebody took the rejects from the first run and refinished them. Couldn't be, eh? Epiphone itself wouldn't do that, right?

Makes me nervous that neither Epiphone nor anybody else (Sweetwater) shows this bass.

One last factoid:
I'm not accusing anybody of anything, and I also regret to inform you of this, but the neck of my Epiphone EB-0, purchased from zZounds, is short. Posted about it in another thread. Don't remember exactly but the scale length (nut to center of 12th fret x2) was about .9 inches short. I asked about it in the EB/SG forum but nobody replied.

Lastly, despite all of the above, if you accept all of the praise for this model and especially for its pickups, it could be worthwhile to buy it and move the durn bridge/tailpiece if necessary.
For me, the good news is that it has very good pickups (reportedly a good copy of real '60s pickups), and it has an upper horn, unlike a TBird. That's why I bought it.
Click to expand...
 
#72
LetItGrowTone said:
It is as though - I said "as though" - somebody took the rejects from the first run and refinished them. Couldn't be, eh? Epiphone itself wouldn't do that, right?

Makes me nervous that neither Epiphone nor anybody else (Sweetwater) shows this bass.

One last factoid:
I'm not accusing anybody of anything, and I also regret to inform you of this, but the neck of my Epiphone EB-0, purchased from zZounds, is short. Posted about it in another thread. Don't remember exactly but the scale length (nut to center of 12th fret x2) was about .9 inches short. I asked about it in the EB/SG forum but nobody replied.

Lastly, despite all of the above, if you accept all of the praise for this model and especially for its pickups, it could be worthwhile to buy it and move the durn bridge/tailpiece if necessary.
For me, the good news is that it has very good pickups (reportedly a good copy of real '60s pickups), and it has an upper horn, unlike a TBird. That's why I bought it.
Click to expand...
I think my Epi EB0 bridge was off a bit as well (but long since sold).

As for the Embassy, i am guessing only the bridge needs to be relocated.
 
#76
When I contacted Epiphone about this back in early 2019 they were totally aware of the problem. They had no intentions of doing a recall though. They just adviced me (by email) to wait until the faulty batch had sold out before buying one. How's that for poor business ethics? So no, I wouldn't be surprised at all if they've got a warehouse full of faulty ones they are spraying in fancy new colors.

The pics of the red bass in post #59 and the white bass in post #60 seem to have the bridge in the correct position vs the seemingly faulty ones on the zzzounds website. The telltale sign is the position of the stopbar tailpiece. On the ones with the bridge in the correct position the tailpiece should be very close to the edge of the body. If there's a bigger gap than approx. 1cm between the edge of the body and the tailpiece it's a faulty one. This is quite easy to spot if you compare pics of the good ones and the bad ones. Good ones: Gap slightly below 1cm. Bad ones: Gap closer to 2cm.

I purchased mine online in 2019 but I specifically asked the dealer to check this. Like a typical clueless online dealer they messed it up and sent me a faulty one without checking. They did however agree to cover most of the cost to have the bridge+tailpiece moved by a luthier. It's not quite as easy as moving a Fender style bridge as it will require filling some big holes and re-spraying the finish. It's not something I wanted to do myself on a brand new bass under warranty. I had to cover part of the cost myself but I got the bass on sale so it was worth it in the end. Mainly because the pickups are AMAZING. The rest of the bass (neck, fretwork, hardware, general craftsmanship) is just an average cheapo bass but the pickups really punch above their weight.

Still, it's shockingly poor from Epiphone if they still knowingly ship out the content of their rubbish bins (or at least what SHOULD have been the content of their rubbish bins) to paying customers.
 
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#77
LetItGrowTone said:
It is as though - I said "as though" - somebody took the rejects from the first run and refinished them. Couldn't be, eh? Epiphone itself wouldn't do that, right?

Makes me nervous that neither Epiphone nor anybody else (Sweetwater) shows this bass.

One last factoid:
I'm not accusing anybody of anything, and I also regret to inform you of this, but the neck of my Epiphone EB-0, purchased from zZounds, is short. Posted about it in another thread. Don't remember exactly but the scale length (nut to center of 12th fret x2) was about .9 inches short. I asked about it in the EB/SG forum but nobody replied.

Lastly, despite all of the above, if you accept all of the praise for this model and especially for its pickups, it could be worthwhile to buy it and move the durn bridge/tailpiece if necessary.
For me, the good news is that it has very good pickups (reportedly a good copy of real '60s pickups), and it has an upper horn, unlike a TBird. That's why I bought it.
Click to expand...

Just out of curiosity: The EB-0 with the slightly shorter neck... Are you talking about a relatively new one or is it an older model? Because I've got one of those extremely poor quality EB-0s from around 20 years ago and the scale is totally weird. It's slightly shorter than it's supposed to and also slightly shorter than the later (and condiderably better) EB-0s I've seen. Still, I've modded mine like crazy, including a Curtis Novak EB-BSx that cost about twice as much as the entire bass, lol. It a total BEAST now and one of my favourites for recording when I need an INSANELY fat tone.
 
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#78
woodyng2 said:
Guess they stopped doing the ebony-look fretboards on later runs.
I like those knobs....i attempted to remove the ones that came on mine,but they're not budging.
Click to expand...

Mine is pao ferro. It's one of the bad ones from late 2018. It's a really beautiful piece of pau ferro though. Not the pale orange kind. If I didn't know better I would have sworn it was rosewood. But then again, maybe it IS rosewood. After all, specs don't seem to matter much at Epiphone...
 
#80
woodyng2 said:
Nice!
Wonder what 2 of these pickups might sound like in a Rick?
Click to expand...

I bought my 3rd Embassy with the known problem dirt cheap to put the PUPs in a Fender body, but it was such a nice bass I just couldn't do it. Instead I bought another pair of Chinabuckers, because the first pair sounded so good in my Jazz. I have no doubt the Embassy PUPs, reportedly better than the Chinabuckers would sound great in a Rickenbacker.
 
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