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Epiphone Wildkat

 

Review of the Epiphone Wildkat by The Man in the Jar 

Do you believe in love at first sight. I do; ever since I laid eyes on this little wildcat...

Features of the Epiphone Wildkat

Tuners - Sealed mini Grovers with kidney shaped chrome knobs which work very smoothly.

Headstock - Wide paddle headstock with three-a-side. There's a big chrome badge that looks like it comes from the bonnet of a vintage car. I had hoped it said "Wildkat" but instead it says Epiphone. The truss-rod cover also sports the Epiphone 'E'. 

Nut - The white plastic nut abuts the fretboard and is tidily finished.

Neck - The set maple neck has a definite Les Paul feel to it which fits the retro styling of the Wildkat perfectly. The width of the fretboard compliments the neck perfectly and the whole makes for a satisfyingly positive playing experience.

Fretboard - The smooth rosewood board has traditional dot markers in plain white abalone. Antiqued (nicotine coloured) binding finishes the whole thing off very nicely. 

Frets - Medium frets with a semi-flat profile, nicely polished for easy bending.

Action - Decent action out of the box that was easily lowered with adjustments at the bridge.

Body - This looks like a Les Paul with slightly fatter and rounder lines. The semi-hollow mahogany body is topped with a flame maple top that lurks quite discreetly under the translucent black finish. The top is carved to create a delicate arch that offers up the pickups to the strings in a sultry, belly-dancer kind of a way... if you understand what I mean. Two prominent F-holes open into the hollow wings; the interiors of the wings have been thoughtfully painted black. The F-holes and the body's top are finished in the same antiqued bindings.   

Bridge - Only slightly smaller than the average artillery piece, the Bigsby Vibrato hunkers down on the bottom of the Wildkat's body behind the standard tune-o-matic bridge. The bridge has the usual individual saddles for intonation, action is adjusted via a screw at each end of the bridge assembly. Once over the bridge the strings dive steeply under the chrome bar at the front of the Bigsby. From here they zoom up and over the roller bar. (It is the roller bar that is attached to the substantial lever of the vibrato arm.) The strings are anchored on the lower surface of the roller by means of six little capstans over which you slot the washer at the ball-end of the string. Very novel.
The vibrato arm sits on a chunky spring which gives enough resistance to allow a casual resting of the playing hand without altering pitch, but has enough sensitivity to hit trills and tone bends spot-on after only five minutes acclimatisation.
It must be remembered that the Bigsby is old technology and it doesn't employ modern tricks such as a locking nut. So in order to get the very best performance it needs to be set up properly (but this is true of any vibrato [or tremolo] unit due to the fact that they all mess about with the tension of the strings). Basically, on the Bigsby, you need to ensure that the string path is as straight as possible from the retainer capstan on the roller, under the bar and over the bridge. Any deviation from a perfectly straight path will cause the string to slowly straighten itself as you use the vibrato and consequently slightly drop out of tune. You can also do yourself a favour by "locking off" the strings on the machine-head capstan when you re-string.
The vibrato arm swivels round freely to a comfortable playing position but has a raised stop that prevents it from encroaching over the strings. When not in play or when the guitar is in the case, the arm swivels right back to rest against the tailpiece.    

Pickups - Two Alnico P-90's sit on the archtop in all their fat, chrome loveliness. There is no height adjustment for these pickups, they are screwed straight into the top of the body. But each pickup does sport a single row of adjustable pole pieces.  

Controls - There's a volume control for each pickup and a master tone that all live down below the Bigsby. On the lower horn there's an extra master volume. This really useful if you need to change volume when the vibrato arm is in the playing position (which obscures the standard controls). It's also a great way to change or kill the output without altering the mix setting you've made with the individual volume controls. The three-way Les-Paul-type pickup selector sits on the upper horn.  

Strap-buttons - Medium sized buttons live in the usual places. The one on the bottom edge of the body helps anchor the tailpiece. 

Output Jack - On the lower edge of the body in an oval plate.

Finish - Excellent throughout. This is a gorgeous guitar, the translucent black finish mixed with the maple of the top produces a subtle, almost dark green glow. Very stylish.

 

Sound of the Epiphone Wildkat

Wow!

Jazz, Rock 'n' Roll, Rockabilly, Punk, Beatles, Blues...  What more do you want?  (If you said Heavy Metal, please leave the review now!  No... just go!)

This little guitar is the spunky, punky nephew of a Gibson 335; the aggressive edge of those lovely P-90's rediscover and redefine the sonic territory once trod by the all-but-forgotten pioneers of electric music. The neck pickup offers a dark, sultry jazz and a warm, fat blues depending on your control settings and where and how you strike the strings. The bridge pickup is pure, ecstatic, Proto-Billy-Rock 'n' Roll of the proper old school. Running the two together fills out this classic sound beautifully and the dual volume controls means there are stations at all points en-route.
Running clean the Wildkat has an exquisite voice that is clear and distinct. Run it gritted up through a valve amp and the little Jazz Kitten you've been stroking suddenly bears its fangs.    

Overall Impressions of the Epiphone Wildkat

If you play old-school Rock 'n' Roll you'll be hard pressed to find a better guitar outside of the Gretsch family. That's not to say the overdriven voice of the Wildkat wouldn't serve well in all types of rock music, it's just that the character of this little guitar, with the effortless authority of the P-90 voicing, almost obliges you to get a quiff and practice your duckwalk.
The Bigsby Vibrato is a joy to use and, once the string path is correct and the strings have been properly stretched, it holds its tuning well. But if Bigsby's held their tuning all night they wouldn't have invented locking nuts and all the other serious engineering that underpins any Floyd Rose type of vibrato. The Bigsby will deliver spot-on vintage sound and heaps of on-stage kudos, all it asks in return is that you keep an eye on the tuning as the night wears on.
For Rock 'n' Roll or Jazz niche players the Wildkat makes a statement that's hard to ignore. Personally I'm completely sold on this little baby. So much so that the Wildkat has been added to my collection.   

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