What kind of epiphone this is ?

jasonparent · Joined: 22 Jul 2007 Posts: 8

Does anybody know what kind of guitar this is? has anybody ever seen an epiphone like this before? this is what i know about it.

1) the bolt-on neck states that it was made in japan. therefore, it's c. 1970-1975.

2) there is neither a model number nor a serial number. the only number on the guitar is a "#1412", written in typewriter writing, and glued onto the inside of the back rearguard protector.

3) the headstock is a batwing, which positions it in the late 60's. but the made in japan part makes that impossible.

4) it doesn't really look like an epiphone - it looks like a strat! i know that epiphone was making strat copies in the 60's, but i thought they stopped doing that before the plant moved to japan?

5) the two double coil pickups suggest that this was not meant to be a strat copy, unless they were added in later.

so, needless to say i'm confused by this thing. i have one of two theories:

a) this is some kind of early 70's epiphone made strat knockoff, but with two humbuckers, no pick guard and a batwing headstock......making it not really a strat ripoff....

b) somebody somewhere in some garage put this together from a spare epiphone neck and some extra parts.

i need further opinions, as i'm looking to get apartment insurance and need to know how much i should put this down for. if it's a legit epi from c. 1973, well, that means it's getting close to vintage, now, doesn't it? if it's something somebody tossed together in their basement, that doesn't make the guitar any less enjoyable to play, but it does mean i'll be claiming it for less, i would think.

unless somebody thinks the body is worth more than the neck.

legit epi or homemade frankenstein?

lee_UK · Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2007 10:05 am Post subject:

Looks like a very nice guitar.

glw

jasonparent wrote:

1) the bolt-on neck states that it was made in japan. therefore, it's c. 1970-1975.

Why do you say that? There were Epiphones coming out of Japan in the 1980s.

lee_UK · Posted: Tue Jul 24, 2007 4:04 pm Post subject:

I think he's just trying to prompt it along a bit glw, get back in yer cage, we will give you a prod with the electrode when you are needed.... Very Happy

jasonparent · Joined: 22 Jul 2007 Posts: 8

glw is right - there was a typo in the original post. it's c 1970-1985. 1986, i think, to be technical.

some more research into the guitar has led me to believe that it may be possible that the body was made in japan, and not necessarily the neck. the metal plate is actually not located on the neck, and could have come from the guitar, or even from a spare metal plate that was hanging about. it's there to cover the bolt-on job.

although the more i look at it, the bolted metal plate may have actually been to reinforce. the neck may have been glued on first as there's a bit of residue.

there's no chance that i'm unscrewing it to find out.

the neck would more or less be either a c. 1965 american made coronet/wiltshire/etc neck or a 199x korean made reissue, although i've been unable to locate an actual picture of a korean made reissue with the logo in the same place.

the logic behind this is that (to my knowledge) epiphone did not make batwing necks like this while they were making guitars in japan, only before they moved to japan and after they moved to korea when they reissued a number of models from their pre-japanese days.

hence, this guitar is definately a frankenstein, probably with a very old neck and a completely unidentifiable body, other than that it's some kind of strat-like body with an input jack where an sg's should be, and sg-positioned humbuckers.

i've been arguing with a few online appraisers that can't grasp why anybody would put such an old neck on such a body, as that doesn't make any sense from a reseller's standpoint. the bluebook guy [zach whatever] thinks somebody put a decal on it - which is not impossible, and would be about the only answer if a guitar is just a piece of furniture with no value other than it's resale value. the decal would be to boost the price from that of an aria to that of an epiphone, or maybe to trick somebody into thinking it's older than it is.

i'm getting an error when i add the last three paragraphs about a forbidden word that i can't identify, so i'm going to post this now and the last three paragraphs in a few moments.

jasonparent · Joined: 22 Jul 2007 Posts: 8

the first forbidden phrase is:

arrr-deee to

as in rd (...).

why?

i'll swap absurd with bizarre and see if that helps...?

jasonparent · Joined: 22 Jul 2007 Posts: 8

but, from a player's standpoint, it's not that bizarre to think that somebody wanted a guitar that was shaped like a strat and had an sg/paul-like neck and pickups put in. if you want a strat shaped guitar with a gibson neck, there's no other option but to build it yourself. and anyone who plays guitar can absolutely understand why a strat shaped guitar with a gibson neck may be appealing!

if it's an old neck and not a reissue, then the tuning heads were unquestionably redone at some point, which makes perfect sense if the guy spent enough time on it to swap the neck, change the pickups and possibly even to redrill the input jack.

i never got any kind of serious response from anybody, only a lot of vague guesses that i don't think really make sense. the only thing i'm convinced of is that the guitar was probably put together from parts by a rather talented tech who wanted to put together a half decent guitar [possibly for his kid] for a low price, and that the neck is probably from an original coronet or an original wiltshire, despite the fact that this makes little sense from a reseller's POV.

jasonparent · Joined: 22 Jul 2007 Posts: 8

a second forbidden phrase is

see-aitch-eee-eh?-pee.

odd.

jasonparent · Joined: 22 Jul 2007 Posts: 8

glw is right - there was a typo in the original post. it's c 1970-1985. 1986, i think, to be technical.

some more research into the guitar has led me to believe that it may be possible that the body was made in japan, and not necessarily the neck. the metal plate is actually not located on the neck, and could have come from the guitar, or even from a spare metal plate that was hanging about. it's there to cover the bolt-on job.

although the more i look at it, the bolted metal plate may have actually been to reinforce. the neck may have been glued on first as there's a bit of residue.

there's no chance that i'm unscrewing it to find out.

the neck would more or less be either a c. 1965 american made coronet/wiltshire/etc neck or a 199x korean made reissue, although i've been unable to locate an actual picture of a korean made reissue with the logo in the same place.

the logic behind this is that (to my knowledge) epiphone did not make batwing necks like this while they were making guitars in japan, only before they moved to japan and after they moved to korea when they reissued a number of models from their pre-japanese days.

hence, this guitar is definately a frankenstein, probably with a very old neck and a completely unidentifiable body, other than that it's some kind of strat-like body with an input jack where an sg's should be, and sg-positioned humbuckers.

i've been arguing with a few online appraisers that can't grasp why anybody would put such an old neck on such a body, as that doesn't make any sense from a reseller's standpoint. the bluebook guy [zach whatever] thinks somebody put a decal on it - which is not impossible, and would be about the only answer if a guitar is just a piece of furniture with no value other than it's resale value. the decal would be to boost the price from that of an aria to that of an epiphone, or maybe to trick somebody into thinking it's older than it is.

but, from a player's standpoint, it's not that absurd to think that somebody wanted a guitar that was shaped like a strat and had an sg/paul-like neck and pickups put in. if you want a strat shaped guitar with a gibson neck, there's no other option but to build it yourself. and anyone who plays guitar can absolutely understand why a strat shaped guitar with a gibson neck may be appealing!

if it's an old neck and not a reissue, then the tuning heads were unquestionably redone at some point, which makes perfect sense if the guy spent enough time on it to swap the neck, change the pickups and possibly even to redrill the input jack.

i never got any kind of serious response from anybody, only a lot of vague guesses that i don't think really make sense. the only thing i'm convinced of is that the guitar was probably put together from parts by a rather talented tech who wanted to put together a half decent guitar [possibly for his kid] for cheap, and that the neck is probably from an original coronet or an original wiltshire, despite the fact that this makes little sense from a reseller's POV.

jasonparent · Joined: 22 Jul 2007 Posts: 8

but, from a player's standpoint, it's not that bizarre to think that somebody wanted a guitar that was shaped like a strat and had an sg/paul-like neck and pickups put in. if you want a strat shaped guitar with a gibson neck, there's no other option but to build it yourself. and anyone who plays guitar can absolutely understand why a strat shaped guitar with a gibson neck may be appealing!

if it's an old neck and not a reissue, then the tuning heads were unquestionably redone at some point, which makes perfect sense if the guy spent enough time on it to swap the neck, change the pickups and possibly even to redrill the input jack.

i never got any kind of serious response from anybody, only a lot of vague guesses that i don't think really make sense. the only thing i'm convinced of is that the guitar was probably put together from parts by a rather talented tech who wanted to put together a half decent guitar [possibly for his kid] for cheap,

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