Epiphone 1964 Sheraton II 'John Lee Hooker' Signature Model

The John Lee Hooker Sheraton II essentially reprises aspects of the original Epiphone Sheraton and the Gibson ES-345 (a fancier take on McCarty's ES-335), with some significant differences. Whereas today's ES-335s employ traditional maple-basswood-maple laminate construction throughout, the Sheraton II employs a 5-ply maple-birch-maple-birch-maple back with a 3-ply spruce-maple-spruce top - the latter contributing a touch of sweetness and harmonic complexity while slightly softening the attack.

While the one-piece mahogany neck, rosewood fretboard and gold-plated parts echo standard Gibson parameters, the Sheraton II's fancy leaf-and-vine Epiphone peg-head logo is derived from the company's original flagship archtops, while the mother of pearl rectangles intersected by abalone triangles on the fretboard are an elegant touch borrowed from the Guild Artist Award.

From a tonal perspective, the Sheraton II reprises the original Alnico V Mini-Humbuckers. Their magnets are a special blend of aluminium, nickel and cobalt, and these pickups are hot - good hot, maintaining excellent tone throughout their volume range ( even when rolled off for a mellower jazz tone), with a very warm bottom end, rich midrange detail and exceptional high-frequency clarity and bite.

While the Epiphone 1964 John Lee Hooker Sheraton II carries a not inconsiderable price, the elevated quality of its construction, performance parameters and aesthetic appointments warrant serious consideration by guitarists seeking class, value and a distinctive sonic signature all their own.