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.
New York
Always tasteful, elegant and understated, the Gretsch G6134B Black Penguin is the top of the Gretsch line of chambered Jet models. The first Gretsch Penguin models appeared in 1956 as an adaptation of the Duo Jet to the aesthetics of the unexpectedly successful White Falcon. Before it was discontinued in 1964, only a few dozen were built. There were no Black Penguins built.
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.