Epiphone WILDKAT Semi-Hollowbody Electric Guitar [2023 Review]

We were blown away by Wildkat’s high-quality hardware in this ‌Epiphone Wildkat ‌review‌  and general build quality, especially given the price tag of less than $500. Epiphone is recognized for producing well-made, cheap guitars, but this one blasts the competition’s Gibson-style stock out of the water.

A strong tonewood combination and this guitar produce a wonderful sound that works well for blues, rock n roll, and country, but it may be too noisy and sensitive to feedback for guitarists using high gain amps or distortion.

You have discovered your perfect match if you are seeking for a 50s style guitar that excels at 50s style music. If‌ ‌you‌ ‌are‌ ‌interested‌ ‌in‌ ‌this‌ model,‌ ‌keep‌ ‌reading‌ ‌our‌ ‌Epiphone Wildkat ‌review‌ ‌for‌ ‌more‌ ‌information‌ ‌below.‌ ‌

Epiphone WILDKAT Semi-Hollowbody Electric Guitar

Epiphone’s Wildkat is an archtop semi-hollow body guitar that promises to give the vintage feel and sound of a 1950s guitar while maintaining current build quality and playability – all for less than $500.

Semi-Hollow Body

Although you may be familiar with hollow-body guitars, this one is a semi-hollow body. This indicates that it is not completely hollow on the inside. Instead, it features a solid core with hollow chambers on both sides. This has an impact on the sound, which we will discuss shortly.

However, this means the guitar is lighter than a solid piece of wood while simultaneously being more durable than a completely hollow body according to this ‌Epiphone Wildkat ‌review‌.

Now comes the semi-hollow section. This design produces a lot of resonance, which implies that the sound is projected well. You can get some sound out of this guitar if you strum it without connecting it into an amp, much like an acoustic.

The issue with entirely hollow bodies is that they tend to have too much sound bouncing around inside them, which might result in some clumsy noise when playing with effects.

As we mention in this ‌Epiphone Wildkat ‌review‌, the semi-hollow shape of the Wildkat minimizes the messiness and produces a well-projected, clean, clear sound.

Tonewoods

Let’s start with the timbers used to construct the guitar body. Mahogany and maple are the tonewoods used to make the Wildkat. The top (or front) is constructed of maple, while the rear is built of mahogany. This combination is well-known for producing a sound that iswarm, rich, and smooth.

The Wildkat’s body is compact and simple to handle, unlike many other guitars of similar type from the 1950s. The only thing that could be a concern is that because the body is hollow, much of the weight is concentrated in the neck.

Playability

You will not have any trouble playing this fantastic Epiphone guitar. It features the silky feeling neck that Epiphone guitars are known for. The frets are medium jumbo type, making them easy to play, and there are 22 frets on the guitar, giving you a wide spectrum of tones.

We really appreciate in our ‌Epiphone Wildkat ‌review‌ how this guitar has a little cutaway wave that allows you to reach the highest frets with ease. The guitar is a little heavier than usual, so you will have to adjust to its greater weight and size, but this should not be too difficult for you.

Sound

One of the first Epiphone models is the Epiphone Wildkat semi-hollow guitar. Epiphone, in addition to producing inexpensive Gibson-designed guitars, also produces unique designs dating back to the company’s beginnings.

To get a luscious smokey electric blues tone, choose the neck pickup, add a dash of overdrive, and a touch of reverb to taste. When you get to the bridge, the bite increases, but the overall tone stays strong and Gibson-like, despite the guitar’s Gretsch appearance according to this ‌Epiphone Wildkat ‌review‌.

Open tunings combined with the bridge pickup made for an excellent slide platform, with the Bigsby vibrato allowing for ghostly shimmers.

Although there is a boisterous edge throughout that screams rock ‘n’ roll, the solid center block does an excellent job of avoiding unpleasant feedback, and the Wildkat remains relatively well behaved even when subjected to excessive driving.

Build Quality

The workmanship on most semi-hollow and hollow guitars is extremely intricate, which is why they are so costly as we mention in our ‌Epiphone Wildkat ‌review‌.

A semi-hollow guitar, for an instance, has two chambers beneath its body that are separated by another piece of wood. The notion of mass-producing semi-hollow guitars is almost non-existent because these chambers are generally hand-crafted.

The Wildkat, on the other hand, brings a strong case to the table according to this ‌Epiphone Wildkat ‌review‌. It offers the same degree of workmanship at a lower price point, making it accessible to a wider audience who may not have previously been able to purchase one of these guitars.

Conclusion: Epiphone WILDKAT Semi-Hollowbody Electric Guitar [2023 Review]

This is a great semi-hollow body guitar for around $500 as we mentioned before in our ‌Epiphone Wildkat ‌review‌. This Epiphone Wildkat guitar is well constructed from high-quality tonewoods and features hardware that would be found on a much more costly guitar.

It has everything the classic 50s aesthetics and sounds that surf rock and rockabilly players could want. This guitar provides a wide range of sounds, from smooth country and blues to jagged, buzzsaw rockabilly tones.

Although this is not the most difficult semi-hollow body to play, players familiar with contemporary solid body guitars may find it difficult at first. We highly recommend getting it if you are looking for a good guitar. We‌ ‌hope‌ you‌ ‌liked‌ ‌our‌ ‌Epiphone Wildkat ‌review‌ ‌and‌ ‌it‌ ‌was‌ ‌helpful.‌