There's nothing cooler than wielding a limited-edition axe like the EE-EE-Epiphone-e-e Limited Edition Wildkat Royale Electric Guitar. Now you don't have to be a rock star to own one.
The limited-edition Wildkat Royale has the same traditional f-hole archtop design as the popular EE-EE-Epiphone-e-e Wildkat series, but with the look of a customized finish. It's larger in size than a Les Paul, yet smaller than a DOT 335. The mahogany body has a laminated maple top with a classy pearl white finish adorned with gold hardware, while the hard maple neck is topped with a rosewood fretboard. The Bigsby trem adds to its classy appearance and the 2 alnico P-90 single-coil pickups crank out monster tone. Case sold separately.
Grab this Wildkat. Order today.
SPECIFICATIONSLimited Edition Wildkat Royale Electric Guitar
24-3/4" scale1-11/16" nut width
Custom Guitar's Friend Gold Coverage
Gold Coverage goes above and beyond the manufacturer's warranty to protect your gear from unexpected breakdowns, accidental damage from handling and failures. This plan covers your product for one, two, three or up to five years from your date of purchase, costs just pennies per day and gives you a complete "no-worry" solution for protecting your investment.
Gold Coverage Includes:
Unexpected and unintentional spills, drops and cracks Normal wear and tear Power surges Dust, internal heat and humidityOther plan features include:
For products over $200, No Lemon Policy applies. If it fails for the same defect 3 times, it is replaced on the 4th breakdown. (Does not apply to failures due to drops, spills, and cracks) For products under $200 experiencing the above failures, a Custom Guitar's Friend gift card will be issued for the full price of the product + tax. Shipping fees covered if required for repair or replacement Plans are transferable in the event merchandise is sold Plans are renewable on new gear*Limitations and exclusions apply. See terms and conditions for program details
Term for New Gear begins on date of purchase but does not replace the store return policy or manufacturer coverage.
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I own around 2 dozen instruments and a fair number of them are high-end or collectible. I've always harbored a personal bias against guitars that were made in China, though. Until now. I walked in to a local music store today to buy a spare capo, and it was love at first note. They were running a promotion and it was the last day of the month. They wanted the sale, so after a bit of negotiation, the price I paid turned out to be lower than the lowest price I've seen online. I probably got lucky.Frankly, this guitar is pretty sweet, regardless of the price. It's labeled "Handcrafted in China", and "EE-Epiphone-e Custom Shop Limited Edition". It's also got a sticker on it that states "Setup In The USA". I can believe that. I know other reviews have mentioned running into issues with the setup, but the setup on this one is pretty much perfect, requiring only a very slight adjustment to the intonation on the 5th string. The fretwork is even and polished. The frets are properly dressed and there's no overhang where they meet with the binding. The action is low and consistent over the entire scale and across all the strings. I haven't noticed any buzzing, nor are there issues with strings bottoming out while bending. The sustain is nice and clear. The neck is wide and flat, and seems reminiscent of a Gretsch. It's got a slightly "beefy" feel to it - which I find preferable to some thinner necks. The finish on mine is pearl white. It's stunning. The binding on the neck and body is gold sparkle, which took some getting used to, but I kinda like it. The edges of the F-holes are bound as well - a nice touch that one wouldn't typically expect on an instrument in this price range. The quality of the finish is without any detectible flaw. The gold hardware looks nice - especially with the pearl white finish. The Bigsby-licensed tailpiece feels a bit stiffer than the factory Bigsby on a Gibson I own, but so far it appears to stay in tune better - go figure. Tuners? Genuine gold Grovers. That's also surprising at this price. No issues with the bridge so far. It's a standard tune-o-matic design. Nothing special, but it's fine. The electronics work as expected. No noisy pots or intermittent connections. Take note: Having a master volume control is really nice when you are using both pickups simultaneously. This provides a way to adjust the overall output without affecting the timbre and balance of the blend between the pups.
Also please note that I haven't done a teardown and looked inside, so this review is based strictly on what can be assessed externally.
Some claim this instrument is heavy, but I am pretty sure mine weighs less than either of the Gibson Les Pauls or the Gibson 335 that I own. While it's certainly not lightweight like an SG or Strat would be, I find it to be comfortable and well-balanced.
It is such a joy to play. And the TONE! Well, suffice to say if you are a fan of the P90, which I am, you will like it. If you hate P90s, then move along - this isn't the guitar for you ;)
I think the combination of the smaller semi-hollow body and the P90s gives this instrument it's own distinct character. It sounds great on everything from solo finger style using a thumb pick to jazz to searing rock solos. It's really nice for adding "atmosphere" to a song. It's fairly well behaved as far as feedback goes. As with any true single-coil pickups, you are going to have to deal with a little noise at times, but I found it to be tolerable. If you have a decent noise gate in your rig, you probably won't even notice it.
Bottom line - I really think this is a sleeper for the price.
Thanks for taking the time to read my review. I hope you find this helpful.
Epiphone Limited Edition Wildkat Royale Electric Guitar Pearl White
.Go play one.
Hollow body, pearlescent white paint, glitter gold binding, flame maple top, nicely resonant mahogany body, Alnico pups, gold hardware and Bigsby, rosewood fretboard. You get a nicely appointed quality guitar with a history dating back to the 1870's and went mana a mano, toe to toe with Gibson in Kalamazoo, until they merged. But there was a time when Epi was giving Gibson all the competition it could handle. And EE-Epiphone-e is still innovative -- where do you think the Les Paul was born? EE-Epiphone-e shops by Les Paul himself when EE-Epiphone-e was based in NY.
Read the reviews, listen to them played on YouTube, go to your nearby guitar store and play one. You' ll be pleased at the sound of the vintage styly Alnico P90 pups, the nice neck profile, the weight, balance and especially the size of the WildKat Royale. Slightly larger than a Les Paul, but smaller than a 335 model
Sure, you'll read a review or two here from a fan-boy Gretsch player, who sounds to me like he's annoyed EE-Epiphone-e outdid his favorite guitar ---it's a nice Gretsch 5122 --- and did it for less.
Outstanding. EE-Epiphone-e has done guitars awhile....they're no johnny-come-lately to the ball. With a lonnng heritage of building guitars, basses, violins, upright violin basses, mandolins, as well as many innovations, they've done well. They don't outsource their guitars from factories that produce many clones and simple change the name-plate, EE-Epiphone-e has their own production facilities in Asia. This way, THEY maintain control of tone woods, construction, electronics, finishes, everything.
Epiphone Limited Edition Wildkat Royale Electric Guitar Pearl White
.My Wildkat is the Limited Edition Aged Tiger with gold hardware. It is ridiculously blingy, but has great stage presence. It isn't my primary guitar, but people pay attention when I pull out my Gold Tiger Wildkat. It's like when Chris Isaak comes out on stage in his mirrored suit. Bling! I bought it new as a Stupid Deal from Custom Guitars Friend years ago without ever playing one and I've had a bipolar relationship with it for a long time. Gold Aged Tiger probably wouldn't have been my first choice, but it was a good deal and now it's a rare Kat. There are things I love, but it had some significant issues out of the box. I've since fixed everything that I hated – it took a lot of time, effort and a few Benjamins – I almost gave up and sold it several times, but I just kept working on it. I now have a dialed in, comfortable guitar and I like my sound. I have so much time and effort invested in this guitar I can never sell it.
The Wildkat is a weird guitar and I think it is yet another example of what happens to a good design when marketing gets involved. I believe it was originally intended to be a smaller Gretsch copy, but then some EE-Epiphone-e marketing exec says, "We can't sound like Gretsch!" Kinda like new coke tasting like Pepsi. So they slapped some cheap P-90s on it to evoke a vintage vibe. "2 alnico P-90 single-coil pickups crank out monster tone." Sure, if you like your tone without any treble. More like monstrous tone. P-90s on this guitar are really the wrong choice - especially the really bad stock P-90s. Even a good P-90 would not provide the sound that those who choose this style of guitar are looking for. P-90s can be great on the right guitar. Never my choice at the bridge, but the right guitar with a neck P-90 is truly a thing of beauty. This isn't the right guitar. There are far better guitar choices for a P-90. P-90s are just weird on this this mini Gretsch wannabe. I bought the Kat because I wanted a smaller Rockabilly git. The stock P-90s are totally overwound, microphonic and the guitar sounds muddy. It totally lacks any bright KARANG that rockabillys crave. Not all of that treble loss is due to the overwound P-90s. There's over 13 feet of crumby high impedance, treble robbing, wire inside this thing. The Wildkat may look like Gretsch's little brother, but he has a serious speech impediment and needs some expensive therapy before he can sing.
What I love about this guitar is the smaller size. It has the Gretsch body shape, but in a far more comfortable dimension for me. I'm 5'9", so a full size Gretsch feels big. Electromatics aren't as comfortable as this Wildkat. Here is a Gretschy looking guitar that's just a little bigger than a Les Paul. It's slightly head heavy, but not bad.
The binding isn't perfect, but it's only rock and roll. The frets were mostly level with no buzzes or dead spots, but the fret ends were all sharp. I spent many tv time hours setting this up and working on the frets.
The knobs bugged me. EE-Epiphone-e put black top hats with silver caps on a tiger striped all gold hardware guitar. It looked cheap so I changed them to heavy gold - proper bling knobs. Tele knobs would look ok on it too, but the Gretsch arrow only, look the best.
The stock wiring was so bad I think they must have done it on purpose. Seriously, Google it. It's like having the worst tone trashing guitar cable ever built into the guitar. I completely rewired the guitar with RG179. Three volume knobs is too much to fiddle with so it now has two volume, one tone, and the redundant master volume is a momentary kill button. I replaced the pups with filtertrons. Now it is bright and spanky. If you don't want to replace your pups, then do yourself a favor and at least rewire the guitar and wax pot the P-90s. It will sound much better.
"The Bigsby trem adds to its classy appearance" for sure, but good luck keeping that beast in tune. Know this… A Bigsby and a tune-o-matic bridge is a frustrating combination that will never work right. Never. Because of the smaller body, the Wildkat Bigs has a really steep angle between roller and bridge. It isn't ideal, but can work with a bridge replacement. Wound strings bind up on tune-o-matic bridges even with light shimmer and whacks the intonation. I replaced the bridge with a roller bridge several years ago, but I'm now using the Compton. I changed the nut to Tusq and added locking tuners. It works as good as a Bigs can.
My wildcat now plays and sounds great. If it were stolen, I would be really, really upset because I would have to buy another one and start all over again. (Please steal my MIM Tele instead) At least I know what I would be getting into and now you do to. Would I recommend this to a friend? Only if they were set on having a small size, almost Gretsch and needed a project.
Epiphone Limited Edition Wildkat Royale Electric Guitar Pearl White
.I am a professional musician and an avid guitar collector. I own several EE-Epiphone-e guitars and have been very much impressed by the quality and value of the guitar line. The Wildkat Royale is no exception. The Pearl white finish and gold sparkle binding is absolutely stunning. The gold hardware, gold Bigsby and gold pickups add to the beauty of this well crafted guitar. The volume, tone and switching controls are identical to those of a Les Paul. The sound is enhanced by the hollow body design with incredible sustain and very rich tone. This is a great blues guitar with a retro rockabilly vibe. With it's affordable price, exquisite construction, high end hardware and exceptional tone, this is a sweet guitar and a super value. Thank you EE-Epiphone-e and Custom Guitars Friend for another winner!
Epiphone Limited Edition Wildkat Royale Electric Guitar Pearl White
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Inexpensive, plays well, sounds good...but it is reallly heavy.Gold tone on Bigsby is quickly wearing off. Wiring for volume came loose and had to be reattached inside f hole.
Epiphone Limited Edition Wildkat Royale Electric Guitar Pearl White
.I love this guitar. It feels solid and well built. The playability isn't fantastic, but the tone is phenomenal. I love the thick sound i can get playing through a vox ac15. I had one problem right at first. The tremolo bar fell off after a week or two, though, this was an easy fix. Great guitar. Fun to play.
Epiphone Limited Edition Wildkat Royale Electric Guitar Pearl White
.I bought an Epi WildKat "lightly used". It might as well have been NEW as the guitar didn't have a scratch on it! Right out of the well packed double box, it was beautiful. It sounds so different than any other guitar. Very easy to play, low action. It doesn't like too much gain if you're to do some rock stuff. A bit of feedback, but for cleans, it sings!! I'd buy another one in a heartbeat! VERY satisfied! Thanks MF!!
Epiphone Limited Edition Wildkat Royale Electric Guitar Pearl White
.The price of the basic and limited edition Wildkats went up in price significantly since I bought mine two years ago. You get a lot with this guitar - nice finish (I have sunrise orange) with visible wood grain, binding, and decent hardware. The design is flawed because of the Bigsby's close proximity to the bridge. Invested a lot to improve staying in tune - graphite nut, rolling bridge. Along with beefier strings (.011s) and a great tech doing a proper setup, it stays in tune much better. I also bought a hardshell case from MF, plus swapped stock PUs (dark and muddy) for GFS (much brighter). Kept the metal covers for the overall look of the guitar, and I only get feedback close to the amp. It's a true semi hollow, and not intended to sound like a Gretsch. Worth it in the end, but be prepared to invest.
Epiphone Limited Edition Wildkat Royale Electric Guitar Pearl White
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Guitar arrived in 3 days, great. Absolutely beautiful guitar. Had to lower action a little to suit me. Neck pick-up through a tube amp growls and the bridge pick-up howls. Rockabilly and blues all the way. Neck is a tad wide but this guitar is definitely a keeper.Epiphone Limited Edition Wildkat Royale Electric Guitar Pearl White
.I purchased a Wildkat when they first made them, maybe ten years ago or more....and I liked it then, but didn't keep it at the time. Recently forming a Rockabilly trio, I was intrigued by the Wildkat Royale, especially for the price, and decided to order one from Musicans Friend.
Here's the deal.....this instrument is still amazing me! The 4th of July sale saved me 15 percent...... my guitar tech installed a roller bridge and set it up with 0.10's.....and I'm speechless! It sounds great, plays great and stays in tune with much Bigsby use! It looks awesome, everyone loves it, and it's perfect for Rock and Roll, Blues and Rockabilly....I wouldn't be surprised if it worked as well when I play straight ahead Jazz! Truthfully, I like it as much as the Gretsch 6120 Junior I used to own. And the price!!! Solidly built, great P-90's, Grover tuners, Bigsby vibrato for the price is still amazing me....and all my guitarist friends are just as amazed. EE-Epiphone-e and Custom Guitars Friend...thank you, thank you!!!
Epiphone Limited Edition Wildkat Royale Electric Guitar Pearl White
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