Recently the ever flamboyant and self proclaimed comical Will Jones, also known as Dr Epiphone flew into Melbourne to present a clinic featuring Epiphone’s new range of guitars and basses. For those of you who have never attended a clinic hosted by Dr Epiphone, it is hard to describe just how excited this lab coat wearing ambassador for guitars can get about his job. But let’s just say he is a little more enthusiastic than most people in the industry.

Will has been in the role for 11 years, with five years of international touring under his belt too. This year he has already seen 12 different countries as he roams the world spreading the news about new Epiphone products and educating people about the company’s 133+ year history. The night was held at The SoundLab, centrally located in the back streets of Prahran, which offered a great space for the event. The open plan layout of the new teaching school allowed plenty of space for the guests as well as enough room for dozens of guitars to be on show for all to see and play. This place is a bit of a hidden treasure, combing teaching with the most up to date of technologies, and somewhere that you should check out if you have a moment to spare and are in the area.

On show for the evening were a number of current model guitars from Epiphone, as well as new models just released or on their way. As well as this, new models from Kramer guitars were on display too. The new Zenith bass from Epiphone really got me excited. A slimline hollow body design, with ‘F’ holes and classic styling, this not only looked great, but played great too.

Coil tapping seems to be the big thing at the moment with a lot of Epiphone models. So, for those of you who love the solid sound of humbuckers but also want the flexibility of single coil pickups, the Epiphone range is going to be a lot more desirable now. And I can’t finish without mentioning the guitar that Dr Epiphone favours from all that were on display, the worn cherry finish Wilshire model. This light weight, mahogany body has great upper fret access with the distinctive cut-away design and two mini humbuckers that offer a different tone to most other Epiphone guitars. Much more was on offer for the night, but if you want to play or see any of the new guitars, I guess you are just going to have to drag yourself into an authorised Epiphone dealer and see if something tickles your fancy.