The Epiphone Dot is a semi-hollow

archtop An archtop guitar is a hollow electric or semi-acoustic guitar with a full body and a distinctive arched top, whose sound is particularly popular with jazz, blues, and rockabilly players. Typically, an archtop guitar has: * Six strings * An ar ...

electric guitar manufactured by

Epiphone Epiphone is an American musical instrument brand that traces its roots to a musical instrument manufacturing business founded in 1873 by Anastasios Stathopoulos in Smyrna, Ottoman Empire, and moved to New York City in 1908. After taking over his f ...

, a subsidiary of

Gibson Gibson may refer to: People * Gibson (surname) Businesses * Gibson Brands, Inc., an American manufacturer of guitars, other musical instruments, and audio equipment * Gibson Technology, and English automotive and motorsport company based * Gi ...

. It was introduced in 1997Fynn Callum
My Love for the Epiphone Dot
Red Dog Music, 5 February 2013 as a more affordable version of the

Gibson ES-335 The Gibson ES-335 is the world's first commercial semi-hollowbody electric guitar, sometimes known as semi-acoustic. Released by the Gibson Guitar Corporation as part of its ES (Electric Spanish) series in 1958, it is neither fully hollow nor fu ...

, at the high end of entry-level pricing. Reviews describe it as a robustly-constructed, versatile guitar with a smooth, powerful sound, suitable for

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

, blues and some

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

styles, but lacking the high output required for heavy metal.Epiphone Dot vs Casino vs Sheraton
Gig Gear, 26 June 2013Mick Taylor
Epiphone ES-335 Dot Review
Music Radar, 17 July 2009

Construction

The Dot has a semi-hollow body made of laminated maple. Two hollow "wings" with

f-hole A sound hole is an opening in the body of a stringed musical instrument, usually the upper sound board. Sound holes have different shapes: * round in flat-top guitars and traditional bowl-back mandolins; * F-holes in instruments from the vio ...

sEpiphone Dot review
, Which Electric Guitar, retrieved 16 July 2015 sit on either side of a solid block of mahogany or maple on which the pickups, bridge and tailpiece are mounted, which makes it less prone to feedback than a fully hollow-bodied guitar. It has a glued-in neck of mahoganyArt Thompson
Epiphone Dot Guitar
''Guitar Player'' magazine, February 2000 (before 2008, maple) and a rosewood fingerboard.Epiphone Dot Archtop Review: A Player’s Take on a Vintage Axe
Guitar Adventures, retrieved 16 July 2015 The name "Dot" is in reference to its fretboard markers, which are simple dots, unlike other Epiphone archtop guitars such as the

Casino A casino is a facility for certain types of gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos are also known for hosting live entertai ...

or the Sheraton, which have more elaborate block inlays. It has two

alnico Alnico is a family of iron alloys which in addition to iron are composed primarily of aluminium (Al), nickel (Ni), and cobalt (Co), hence the acronym ''al-ni-co''. They also include copper, and sometimes titanium. Alnico alloys are ferromagnetic, ...

humbucker A humbucking pickup, humbucker, or double coil, is a type of guitar pickup that uses two wire coils to cancel out the noisy interference picked up by coil pickups. In addition to electric guitar pickups, humbucking coils are sometimes used in ...

pickups, each with its own volume and tone control, a three-way selector switch allowing the player to choose one or both pickups, a Tune-o-matic bridge and a stop-bar tailpiece. Formerly made in

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

, since 2002 the Dot has been made in Epiphone's factory in Qingdao, China.Michael Molenda
Epiphone Dot Studio
''Guitar Player'' magazine, June 2005

Variants

Also available is the Dot Studio, described as a "stripped down" version of the Dot, with a body made of laminated mahogany, one volume and one tone control, uncovered pickups, no pickguard, and no fretboard markers. Models formerly available include the Dot Deluxe, with a

flame maple Flame maple (tiger maple), also known as ''flamed maple'', ''curly maple'', ''ripple maple'', ''fiddleback'' or ''tiger stripe'', is a feature of maple in which the growth of the wood fibers is distorted in an undulating chatoyant pattern, produ ...

laminate top and gold-plated hardware; the Dot Super VS, with a flame maple top and

mother of pearl Nacre ( , ), also known as mother of pearl, is an organicinorganic composite material produced by some molluscs as an inner shell layer; it is also the material of which pearls are composed. It is strong, resilient, and iridescent. Nacre is f ...

block inlays (2006); and the Dot Royale, with gold-plated hardware and a pearl white finish.

Notable users

* Nathan Amundson (

Rivulets Rivulets is the stage name of minimalist singer-songwriter Nathan Amundson. Biography Rivulets was the first artist signed to Low's Chairkickers Union record label in 2001. He then released his first, self-titled album in 2002 and DEBRIDEMENT ...

) *

David Bazan David Bazan (; born January 22, 1976) is an American indie rock singer-songwriter from Phoenix, Arizona who now resides in Seattle, Washington. Bazan is the lead singer and creative force behind the band Pedro the Lion and was the lead singer ...

* Mary Halvorson * Josh Homme (

Queens of the Stone Age Queens of the Stone Age (commonly abbreviated QOTSA) is an American Rock music, rock band formed in 1996 in Palm Desert, California. The band was founded by vocalist and guitarist Josh Homme, who has been the only constant member throughout mul ...

) *

Lee Ranaldo Lee Mark Ranaldo (born February 3, 1956) is an American musician, singer-songwriter, guitarist, writer, visual artist and record producer, best known as a co-founder of the alternative rock band Sonic Youth (guitar and vocals). In 2004, ''Rolling ...

( Sonic Youth)Lee Ranaldo - Epiphone Dot
on Equipboard, retrieved 21 July 2015

References

{{reflist Dot Semi-acoustic guitars 1997 musical instruments 1997 in music