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.
Slope Shoulder
The Martin D12 20 was a slope shouldered, 12-fret 12 string guitar built from 1964 to 1991 with a Sitka Spruce top and Mahogany for the sides, back and neck. Here we’re looking at a Martin D12 20 dating to February of 1968 and built at the Martin plant in Nazareth, Pennsylvania. As a ’20’ model, it is very close to an ’18’ and the key differentiating component is the ‘zipper’ back strip. The top is Sitka Spruce – Adirondack Spruce had been overharvested during WW2 and it would still be decades for recovery. The sides, back, and slotted-headstock neck are Honduran Mahogany and, by the time this post-1967 guitar was built, Indian Rosewood was used for the head plate, bridge and unbound fingerboard.
This instrument has sold
MORE →The Taylor 517e Builder’s Edition uses of the company’s newest body shapes, the Grand Pacific. This is a round shoulder dreadnought design, paired with Taylor’s new V class bracing system. This marks a new sound for Taylor guitars inspired by classic acoustic guitar recordings and the sonic improvements of their V class bracing. The tone is warm with powerful clear bass and round full notes that smoothly blend together to create a unified harmonic voice.
The new Taylor 317 uses one of the newest body shapes from Taylor guitars, the Grand Pacific. It is a round shoulder dreadnought design, paired with Taylor’s new V class bracing system. This marks a new sound for Taylor guitars inspired by classic acoustic guitar sounds and coupled with the sonic improvements of their V class bracing. The tone is warm with powerful clear bass and round full notes that smoothly blend together to create a unified harmonic voice. These guitars can work exceptionally well as accompaniment to a voice
Built from 1936 to 1942, the Gibson J-35 round shoulder model, formally known as the Jumbo 35, replaced the more expensive Jumbo, whose sales were poor due to the ongoing Great Depression. The very first models were named the Gibson Trojan. In 1942, the Jumbo 35 was itself replaced by the very successful J-45 model. The Gibson J-35 round shoulder jumbo and the J-45 have many visible and structural similarities. Both feature a Jumbo body with Spruce top paired with Mahogany for the back, sides, body blocks and neck, with Rosewood for the bridge and fingerboard.
This instrument has sold
MORE →Showing strong influences from the classic American Slope Shouldered dreadnought line, the Eastman E10SS/V uses all solid woods and a very nice Antique Varnish finish. The earliest dreadnought guitars were built by Martin for the Oliver Ditson company during 1916, and used the round or slope shoulder format seen here; When Martin finally put the dreadnought into production in 1931, the upper bouts or shoulders were squared.