1954 Epiphone FT-210 Deluxe Cutaway

Here's a rare bird!

Epiphone's Deluxe Cutaway

Here's a very cool 1954 Epiphone FT-210 Deluxe Cutaway.  This was Epiphone's competition to the Gibson J-200 and was actually 3/8" wider at 17 3/8" at the lower bout.  This ladder braced, long scale flat-top featured flame Maple back and sides and beautiful inlays on the neck and headstock.  The compensated Rosewood saddle would not have been my choice but is certainly an interesting addition by Epiphone.

Tone

This flat-top derives much of it's construction and aesthetics from Epiphone's line of archtop guitars.  The arched back of laminated flame Maple lends a punchy response when plucked and strummed.  The large, ladder braced top adds a dark and open timbre with medium volume.  

The compensated Rosewood saddle attempts to improve intonation problems with straight saddles.  This guitar currently needs a neck reset so I can't remark how much it helps.  Theoretically, the compensation is a good idea.  The Rosewood, however, doesn't seem to transfer vibrations to the top as well as a traditional bone saddle.  

Do you have one of these that you would like to sell?  I'm looking for another.  Please email me about what you have for sale.

Mahogany Topped Blues Guitar: 1930 Epiphone Model 0

Pre-Gibson Epiphones have weighed heavy on my mind lately.  I bought this one off the Craigslist in my parent's hometown of Galatin, TN from a bluegrasser.  He didn't have much use for a guitar like this.  I didn't even haggle!

This is a C. 1930 Epiphone Model 0.  If it is the first one that you have seen then that makes two of us.  It is constructed of solid Mahogany throughout and features X-bracing with a single tone bar, 13 frets to the body and a deep V shaped neck.  It has a light build and is very resonant.  The bridge design is interesting but works very well.  It makes sense to be able to move the saddle around to adjust for intonation.

Dating an early Epiphone flat-top

...can be difficult.  To be honest, I don't know the exact build year but I have had some help narrowing it down.  It doesn't have a label but does have a hand written serial number.  There are a pair of fellers that are cataloging pre-Gibson Epiphone flat-tops and working on a good way to date them.  They've contacted me regarding a couple of other Epis that I've had and I am excited to hear that they are working on publishing their findings.  

It seems like only super guitar nerds (like myself) end up liking these guitars.  I think that it is a shame that they aren't held in high regard by the general guitar public because they are of very high quality and rarity.  Maybe the information gathered by these Epi fellows will spark some well deserved interest in New York and Philadelphia (pre-Gibson) Epiphones.

How does this guitar record?

I have a friend who is working on his first full length album.  He has a 1951 Gibson J-50 that I am fond of and is kind enough to bring it over every once in a while to drink beer and play the blues.  This Epiphone is a good sidekick for his recording because it can do the fingerpicking (without picks) much better than a larger guitar.  Since you don't have to use picks to get great tone from her then you also don't get the pick slap or click.

Pre-war Epiphone Flat-top: 1940 Epiphone FT-50

I say 1940 but I don't really know.  A friend on the Unofficial Martin Guitar Forum concluded that this was built by Epiphone in 1940 or '41.  There were very few of these ever made.

This one popped up on the local Craigslist.  I don't think that many people on there knew what it was.  Of course, this is no asian made Epiphone.  This was made before Gibson purchased the Epiphone brand in 1957.  They moved the production of Epiphone branded instruments overseas in the 70s tarnishing the name.  The American made Epiphones were very fine instruments.

This Epiphone lived a sordid life.  It came to me covered in soot with two stickers and a name carved right in the top.  The seller was the nephew of the schizophrenic aunt that owned it (last).  The soot and stickers came up fairly easily with some Naptha and elbow grease.  The name, "Kelsi" is there to stay.  It features an Adirondack Spruce top, Walnut back and sides, and what looks like a very dark Rosewood fingerboard.  It has feaux tortoise shell binding and a very nice pearl inlay on the headstock. The tuners have been changed.  It still has 4 of the original Bakelite bridge pins.

 The FT-50 started showing up in the 1941 but it says that they had Mahogany backs and sides.  It also shows a model FT-45 that had Walnut but also white binding.  This may have been pre-catalogue before they really nailed down what was what.  The label with the model number and serial number is badly torn so we may never know if this was a 45 or 50.

The Epiphone researcher that I spoke with on the forum said that since this was X braced and lacked the metal cover for Epiphone's "thrust rod"then this was probably pre-war.  His research indicates that the model line was reduced during the war and this was one that was cut.  They start reappearing a couple years later with serial numbers indicating 1945.  After that, the FT-50 was cut for good.  

He is currently compiling serial numbers, pictures and catalogues into a database so he can offer a better understanding of Epiphone's past.  Do you have a guitar like this?  Please email me and I will pass the information along to him.  

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The One(s) That Got Away

Half the fun of vintage guitars are their history and the path they took to get to me.  Some of the guitars I have bought came with pictures of the original owners and stories about how all those scratches came to be (most have to do with the owner drinking a lot).  Sadly, the sellers are rarely the ones that owned the guitar for so long.

I'm not always successful in my pursuit of vintage flat-tops.  Sometimes it will get snagged by someone else or the owner decides not to sell.  Here are a few of the ones that got away.

I was really upset about this one.  This is a mid forties Gibson Southern Jumbo.  The seller didn't really know what he wanted for it but invited me to come take a look.  It was in Knoxville, TN which is quite a drive from the school I was attending in Tuscaloosa (Roll Tide).  Long drives have rarely gotten in the way of a me and a guitar so I was planning to leave after my last class that day.  I called the seller back after class let out and it was sold.

This was the only picture I had of it but it was all I needed to know this was a real banner Southern Jumbo.  The split parallelogram inlays on the neck told me it was a SJ and not a J-45.  The belly down bridge combined with the lack of binding on the neck told me that this was most likely wartime (meaning is has the desirable banner on the headstock).  I should have skipped class!!

 Yes.  You are seeing this correctly.  This is a 1958 Gibson Les Paul with the original case.  This one was in northern Florida and I couldn't believe my eyes.  Most of the pictures you see of these floating around without a price tag of 200k+ are fakes.  This one was not.  I spoke with the owner and she said that she had already sold it by the time I even saw the ad.  She was working on taking the ad down and was having trouble.  Figures.

There was a musician who passed away in Cullman, AL in 2008.  His family was ready to sell off his collection of 10 instruments but they didn't know anything about any of them.  I had found a picture of this guy online that showed him holding a late 30s Gibson J-35:

I was a bit disappointed when I showed up to take a look at the collection.  It was pretty much all junk.  There was no J-35 or anything close.  There was a jacked up parts telecaster, a squire strat, a plywood parlor guitar.  That was the best of the lot and I was not really interested.  I thanked old lady that survived the man and on my way out the door she handed me this picture:

I turned to her and asked politely, "Where is this guitar?  We need to find it."  She didn't know anything about it.  Supposedly there was a blackface deluxe too but it wasn't there.  I figured that all this stuff had been picked over long ago and I was too late.  WRONG.  I was too ill-informed!  A year or two later I found this picture that I had taken:

With the help of my buddy Keith we came to the conclusion that this is that blackguard tele!!!  But how, you ask?  The neck is changed, the pickguard, hardware, all changed.   Take a look at the screws.  There are 5 old screws and one new one.  The holes are in the right place for a black guard Telecaster.  The body has been poorly refinished but I would be willing to bet that this was that telecaster- right before my eyes and I missed it!  Who knows what parts of the electronics were original.  Maybe none, maybe all.  I called the lady back and she said she had sold it a while back.  Still kicking myself.  The moment that you think you know what you are doing is when you find out that you really don't!

 

I would be impressed if you knew what this was just from the picture.  I sure didn't.  All I knew was that this was not your typical Asian made Epiphone.  This was a pre-Gibson buyout Epiphone flat top which have been aptly described as "rare as hen's teeth."  After a bit of research I found that this was the presursor to the Gibson-made Epiphone Texan.  This was a 1943 Epiphone F.T.-79.  Good luck finding another one of these at any price.





Having little knowledge of Epiphone flat-tops, I posted this picture on the Gibson guitar forum that I am a part of.   There was a guy on there that is a fellow vintage guitar guy that told me what it was and how uncommon they really are.  They are especially uncommon in this good of shape!



A buddy of mine agreed to come with me on the road trip but I decided to call the seller one more time before we left.  He had just sold it to a buyer in California.  I posted on the forum on how it had sold and the guys were giving their condolences when all of the sudden there was a new member on the forum.  It was the buyer in California!  He was a very cool guy and certainly deserved this fine, rare bird. 




Of course, there were a few scores that I didn't expect.  One of them was this little number:

 

This Epiphone is from roughly the same time period (WWII).  It sort of fell into my lap.  It had been through a house fire and ownership by a someone who decided to carve her name into the top.  She apparently like stickers and glue as well.  Strangely enough her name was "Kelsey".  This happens to be my wife's first name.  Strange how that works out.