You might want to be careful about what you say about Epiphone, because Gibson will hear you, and with the 1962 Epiphone Wilshire Reissue, Gibson teams with Epiphone to put an end to all this rubbish about how Epiphone guitars are just budget guitars for those who can't afford real Gibsons. However, Epiphones manufactured between 1959 and the early 70s are catching the keen eyes of some collectors, and obscure Ephiphones from the era -- including the Wilshire -- are selling like hotcakes on the vintage market. They're selling like $12,000 hot cakes.

With this in mind, Epiphone is teaming up with Gibson Custom Shop USA for the first ever Epiphone Historic Custom USA collection. That means Nashville-made Epiphone guitars that'll cost as much as Gibsons. Hey, why not? It's getting harder and harder to distinguish a high end Epiphone from a low end Gibson anyway.

"But J. Irving-Giles," your inner monologue whines as you read this. "How come no famous people play Epiphone Guitars?"

"Oh yeah?" I handsomely retort. "What about guys like Johnny WInter, Paul Gilbert, Jimi Hendrix and the most famous people of all time, The Beatles!"

That's right, folks. If some Epiphone players are bigger than Jesus, one could only assume that the Christmeister, if he were around today, would rock an Epi.

The solidbody Wilshire is actually not too dissimilar tonally from a Les Paul. This is somewhat ironic as the Wilshire was intended to be a Strat rival. The original Wilshire from 1960 packed in two P-90s, a three-on-a-side headstock, a solid mahogany body and a one-piece neck. At this point, Epiphone had been recently acquired by Gibson and the annexation added Gibson features like their intonable ABR-1 bridge and stop tailpiece.

The return of the Wilshire comes with more than just accurate recreation. It includes an original style hardshell case, a numbered Certificate of Authenticity (there are only 100 of these being made), a vintage-style guitar cord, commemorative picks, a T-shirt and a '62 style leather guitar strap. The last thing it comes with is a suggested retail price of almost $5,000.