Endorsements and Reviews of Eric’s Guitars

Dear Mr. Eric Joseph,
I recently purchased a single cut away guitar from you and I must say that I am way beyond pleased with it. This guitar is a work of art., I absolutely love your use of domestic and imported hardwoods. I could never ever hope to own a finer guitar., unless I am someday able to purchase another one of your outstanding guitars. It is indeed my highest honor to play an instrument of such superb quality. If you ever need a contact in northwestern Pennsylvania to help sell your guitars, I would be more than happy to help you out for free. I think this is the least I could do for you after you built this guitar and let me purchase it. I am amazed there is not a long waiting list. There are quite a few shops in the surrounding area that would probably be very interested in your work. Again thank you so very much for making such wonderful guitars. I would be lost without your guitars. I wish you all the best and if there is anything I can do to help please let me know. Your work more than deserves the extra attention.
Best Regards
CJK

P.S. The free case and free shipping were very much appreciated.

Eric Joseph Guitar Review by Josh Smitchens, Guitar-Muse, June, 2011

(For the full online video review plus extra still images visit http://www.guitar-muse.com/category/guitar-reviews/)

Because I feel like my natural personality really flourishes by the powers of text I’m following this video review up with a text summary. The guitar is a hand-built Eric Joseph Nigerian Movingui on Yellowheart. The neck is hand-carved of Mexican granadillo with a matching granadillo fretboard. The frets are medium jumbo nickel silver and are complimented with a bone nut.

The gold hardware is very complimentary to the natural hue of the wood. The strings are tethered down with a Tune-O-Matic bridge and Wilkinson tuners. Both pickups are Seymour Duncan humbuckers, the bridge being an SH-PG1 Pearly Gates and the neck being an SH-1 59. Within the neck is a Hot Rod double-action truss rod, and the guitar has a penetrating tung oil and carnauba wax finish. The guitar weighs 8 lbs. 6 oz, and comes with a Gator brand hardshell case.

The neck of the guitar took a mere matter of minutes go get used to and the more I played on it the more I loved it. The neck has a very smooth, very comfortable shape to it that probably felt more natural than any other guitar I’d played. And no, I’m not just buttering things up. This guitar is incredible. A well built neck is something to behold and Eric Joseph knows what he’s doing. I don’t know what it is but there’s something satisfying about bending and sliding around on the strings across this neck.

I’d spent a good few hours playing around with all sorts of different effects, distortions, and overdrives and the overall consensus was it I enjoyed the neck position with anywhere from delicate overdrives to thick distortions compared to the bridge pickup which I preferred mostly just overdriven.

The only authentic complaint I could think of was a gripe about the location of the strap buttons. It’s on the topside of the guitar and when standing the strap is in a position apt to peel off, so I’d recommend switching to strap-locks off the bat unless you always sit. To be fair all of my straps are worn out around the opening, so I didn’t have the resources to test with a brand new, still durable strap.

But considering that’s the worst thing I could spot on this guitar that’s passing in flying colors. It’s a beautifully crafted, very comfortable guitar and considering it costs $1195.00 that’s all the more enticing. A lot of household name brand guitars off the factory line cost $1200, like my Gibson SG for example. There isn’t one aspect of this guitar I didn’t prefer to my SG. Sorry, Gibson, but Eric Joseph made a believer out of me.

Rating: – Comfort – 5

Rating: – Tone – 4.5

Rating: – Quality – 5

Rating: – Build – 4.75

Rating: – Fixed My Crummy Sense of Rhythm – 0

Rating: – Overall 4.81

“For over 35 years, Eric Joseph has worked as a sculptor and designer.
His love of music and his appreciation of beautiful handcrafted musical instruments, helped to lead him into the realm of guitar design. His fascination with the integral relationship between the art and science of electric guitar and bass design was also an important factor.”

Eric has been working out of his shop and studios in the beautiful Oxford Hills region of south-central Maine for over 25 years.

Boutique Guitar Resource November 6, 2010
http://boutiqueguitarresource.com/category/eric-joseph-guitars/

"Eric Joseph guitars are built with exotic domestic and imported wood species from sustainable sources,resulting in unconventional and stunning wood pairings."
Joseph says, "A well-made, handcrafted guitar can be played and enjoyed for more than the lifetime of the original owner. I can't think of a more worthy legacy for my work than that."

PREMIER GUITAR™
November 2009

Heather Pierson’s Review of her EJ Unique Design-American Sycamore and Rock Maple Double Cutaway Electric Guitar:

“When I first walked into Eric's showroom, I was immediately struck and drawn in by the unique aesthetic beauty of his guitars - the choices of colors, shapes, woods and designs. After a well-spent afternoon playing many different instruments, I chose this one because of its versatility. It offers a huge palate of sounds with its active and passive pick-ups, and as a songwriter and composer, I find that wide spectrum very inspiring! I look forward to many years of happy music making with my new guitar!”

Bill Clow’s Review of his EJ Multi-Species Double Cutaway Electric Guitar:

"I just received my double cutaway Eric Joseph guitar. This is a great instrument, I have always dreamed for a guitar that paid homage to the traditional SG body style, that was bolt-on neck construction, with a 25 1/2" scale. This instrument is that and much more. The woods used to make this guitar are dense, and give this guitar a lot of snap to the initial tonality, and the chambered construction of the body add warmth and smoothness (and much less weight) to the overall tone. Dr. Joseph has created a work of art with this guitar."

Gratefully yours,
Bill Clow