New Epiphone Prophecy Guitars: A Modern Overhaul for the Riff Machines

Epiphone’s hard rock and metal-oriented Prophecy guitars have been kicking around since 2008 but they’ve certainly needed some love to reignite excitement in the range. Gibson’s working players’ brand have come out swinging with major updates to the Prophecy look and feel, bringing these instruments in line with our expectations of quality specs at prices that won’t make our eyes water.

These are serious, pro-grade instruments kitted out with an extensive list of features standardised across the Collection. You get the likes compound fingerboards, thermally-aged necks, 24 stainless steel frets and Fishman Fluence pickups custom-designed especially for Prophecy. Your choice of Les Paul, SG, Flying V or Victory Prophecy is sure to be a beast at both riffing and soaring lead playing, and lends itself to all-round versatility in addition to the cutting, aggressive tones. All this packed into s sleek new satin style with cool colours and figured maple veneers.

Let’s look at the headline features.

Browse Epiphone Prophecy guitars

Custom Fishman Fluence pickups

Fishman Fluence pickups provide a staple sound in modern metal and rock: a hi-fi, active sizzle that handles high gain with aplomb. Digging in for crushing palm mutes and huge chords sound hugely satisfying. Fishmans are used by countless names in the current scene, ripe to mix it in a recording or live performance. You’ve got your heat delivered by the standard Fishman setting, but you can also switch over to a glassy single-coil sound on the next voicing – yes, you change change between completely different sounds with Fishman pickups.

The great thing about the Fishman Fluence pairing in these Prophecy guitars is the exclusive custom-made setting, which recreates the vintage warmth and thickness of the traditional PAF humbucker. Sure, a Prophecy is going to nail metal tones, but it can do so much more for the modern musician. Even if you’re set on bringing heaviness the PAF voicing is going to offer a different vibe to your standard metal-catering guitar.

Hyperglide neck

Other brands specialising in cutting edge design have really pushed the boundaries of how the guitar feels to play. Epiphone have needed to keep up in this respect and they’ve done so with several major changes.

The introduction of the Hyperglide finish is a welcome one: it’s a completely non-stick surface making for effortless movement. You’ve also got a compound 10-14-inch radius ebony fingerboard providing a rounded feel for chords at lower frets and a flat, open space for leads from the 12th fret upwards. The regular 22 frets have been increased to 24 for four complete octaves helping you soloists out there. Stainless steel frets feel super smooth under the fingers and bring outstanding durability for years of extensive play without the need to adjust action or refret, which you may have to do with old school nickel frets.

Extended scale length and baritone model

Gibson and Epiphone guitars usually stick with the traditional 24.75-inch scale length on pretty much everything they make. This has been extended a touch to 25.5”, with the small difference having a positive effect on string tension for those of you wanting to tune lower. You also get the option to delve into the depths of a baritone model an octave down from your standard guitar tuning. The Les Paul baritone again extends scale length to 27” to handle huge low notes while retaining string tension.

Thermal ageing and graphite rod reinforcement

Prophecy mahogany necks have undergone a thermal ageing process to extract excess moisture and resins from the wood, strengthening them against seasonal weather changes or travel through different climates. The secondary benefit is a bit of weight relief, as they’re not quite as heavy as they were before the process (SG neck dive finally combatted). Graphite rods are also here to protect against warping while allowing Epiphone to create a thinner shredders neck profile. Prophecy guitars are road-ready for working musicians.

Grover locking tuners and semi-hollow style string-through-body

All hard tail models come fitted with a Locktone Modern bridge to hunker down on consistent tuning and intonation while staying in place when changing the strings, so you never accidentally throw your action out of whack. Keen-eyed guitarists may notice these string-through designs take influence from the Epiphone Frequensator, an archtop bridge from the ‘40s that still excels in optimising a balanced tension across all strings.

At the headstock, you’ve got Grover locking tuners making restringing laughably easy with no extra turning post winds required, as well as contributing towards greater tuning stability.

Floyd Rose systems on select models

The likes of the latest Victory shape come fitted with the classic and widely celebrated Floyd Rose 1000 bridge, a low-profile version of the Original giving you ability to pull of deep vibrator dive bombs and extreme trills.

Les Paul weight relief

Les Paul lovers are going to be over the moon to find out these Prophecy models benefit from Ultra Modern weight relief, which cuts pockets out of the often very heavy body of the classic single-cut. Playing live feels much less like a workout and gives you more freedom to perform. It’s much easier on the shoulders thanks to the reduced weight.

Protector Ultralite case

Nothing against battered and bruised guitars, but I think most of us guitarists with modern inclinations like to keep our instruments looking untarnished as long as possible. A Protector Ultralite case is included with every guitar for when you do occasionally bump into something and want to pack in all your essential accessories.