This Epiphone Zephyr Deluxe was built around 1947 based on the middle-position pickup type and location, control layout and the serial number. The serial is ‘75194’ with the 75 being a prefix for this model and the ‘194’ its production rank; this serial scheme was used from 1944 to 1950. The top is Laminate Spruce, the back and sides Laminate Maple and the neck a five piece layup of Maple and Walnut.
Epiphone
From the days when giant archtops ruled the earth, the Epiphone Emperor was one of the largest at 18.5 inches across.
Here is a wonderful rarity – Epiphone FT27 steel string flat top, built around 1937 as one of Epiphone’s earliest forays into flat top guitar designs. Epiphone as a brand name first appeared in 1924, though the Stathopoulos family had been building instruments for decades in Smyrna, Turkey. Persecution caused Anastasios Stathopoulos to move his family to the USA, landing in New York City; Anastasios died in 1915 and his son Epi took over.
The Epiphone Texan FT79N – the N indicating a Natural finish on the top rather than Sunburst – was built as a slope shoulder dreadnought from 1958 to 1970 when Epiphone production ceased in the USA. The Epiphone FT79 was originally built from 1941 to 1958 as a square shoulder dreadnought with Walnut back and sides until 1949, and then with laminated Maple until the company was sold to Gibson in 1958.
The Epiphone by Gibson Sheraton II appeared with the ‘by Gibson’ logo for only two years or so, ending around 1988; these were built in the Samick shops in Korea and are excellent instruments. The original Epiphone Sheraton was built from 1958 to 1970, and Gibson had purchased the remains of Epiphone 1957. Their introduction was concurrent with the launch of Gibson’s new ES-3×5 line, a revolutionary design that added a solid center block to a thin-body electric archtop.
This instrument has sold
MORE →