Vintage Epiphone ID

yorkio

I’ve owned this guitar since I was 18 and have never really known what it was and seeing the current Coronet thread has brought it to mind again. 

I bought it used from Holiday Music in Leytonstone in 1983 and whatever it started life as, it had clearly been hacked about substantially, although I don’t think that really occurred to me at the time.

At first glance, (well, maybe second, in my case) it’s pretty obviously a righty that’s been converted to a lefty guitar. Or is it? It’s definitely a right-handed body and the batwing is now facing up but the control cavity on the back is clearly in its original position and there’s no sign on the front of the guitar that the controls have been moved. And all the solid body Epiphones I can remember seeing had their jacks mounted on the front face too, whereas the jack for this one is on the side.

Apart from that, I’m guessing that the wafer thin frets and barely functioning mini humbucker in the neck is original but from the look of it, it’s about the only thing that is! Lord only knows what the bridge pick-up is but it still sounds pretty great. At various times in its long and hard life, it’s been secured by a combination of blu-tak and gaffa tape but somehow it’s still hanging in there!

The pickguard has clearly been hacked up with a blunt Stanley knife to accommodate the bridge humbucker and the original bridge is long gone too, although there is a random plastic strip to cover up the screw holes that once held it in place, which I don’t think I even noticed at the time.

So what on earth is it? Like I said, I bought it in the early 80s and it certainly had a few miles on the clock even then. I had wondered whether it could have been an early seventies Japanese guitar but all the Japanese Epiphones I’ve seen from that era have had three a side headstocks so the batwing suggests that it came out of Kalamazoo some time after 1965 or thereabouts. Whatever it is, despite practically zero maintenance it still plays incredibly well, although it's been out of favour for some years due to its implausibly skinny neck, which I found such a delight at the time but which now feels like I'm playing a ruler!

Any ideas?

ICBM

It's bizarre because the body shape is right-handed, but the control positions and bridge angle are left-handed, and it does look like it was made like that. The switch and bridge are Japanese, which may indicate the rest is - although it's possible they've been changed.

Do you have more photos? - of the back, inside the control cavity etc would all help.

Funkfingers

Is the neck joint set (glued) or screwed on?

The latter would explain how an ostensibly left-handed guitar could have a right-handed headstock.

A full handing conversion would leave a redundant control cavity, cover plate and holes for the original pots and switch.

What is underneath the narrow plastic plate between the bridge and tailpiece? Three screw holes and circular flat spots in the finish would suggest a short Vibrola tailpiece.

yorkio

Brace yourselves…

Interestingly, there are side fret markers on both sides of the fretboard, only the righty ones have been varnished over.

And what the hell is the deal with that plastic plate?

MattNovak

Intriguing! Finish looks a bit plasticky, could be a re-body using the original as a template?

Funkfingers

Looks to me like an almost original, intentionally LH guitar, assembled from RH wooden parts. The kinda thing that happens towards the end of a production run to satisfy demand and use up inventory. 

Apart from the aluminium foil, everything in the control cavity looks original.

EDIT: The lines in the finish, across the neck, where it flares into the headstock are intriguing. Are they due to shrinkage or evidence of a headstock graft repair? (I think I can see a scarf joint beneath the finish.)

yorkio

Those lines have been there forever, so no idea.

I've also always been intrigued by the scratchplate, which follows the contour of the larger horn very nicely, but the other side with its pointy bit just seems like it's come from another guitar entirely. 

ICBM

From the thick polyester finish with typical cracking it's Japanese, probably early 70s, and factory-made - the control cavity is too neatly routed to be an amateur job. 

The plugged holes look like they're from a different tailpiece - whether it was fitted there by mistake or a different type I'm not sure, it looks too close to the bridge to have been the intentional position of a stopbar.

The bridge pickup may be a DiMarzio - clearly painted black over the cream bobbins - I thought that from the external appearance, but the loosely braided shielded wire is also typical.

Funkfingers

The larger pickguard looks correct. The smaller, unnecessary one looks like an afterthought.

Where does cable from the neck/Rhythm pickup pass through the body? If there is a partial channel routed beneath the larger ‘guard, there may also be an unused RH one under the smaller ‘guard.

yorkio

The two pickguards looks very much like it was all part of a single piece - it's hard to see from the pictures, I think, but the colour and the angle of the edging is exactly the same on both pieces.

No idea how the cable is channeled though the body though, I'm afraid. I know I've had the humbucker before out but that was year ago. And the screws on the neck pickup are completely rounded off so I've gone near that!

yorkio

Hang on a minute…

guitargeek62

Funkfingers said:

Looks to me like an almost original, intentionally LH guitar, assembled from RH wooden parts. The kinda thing that happens towards the end of a production run to satisfy demand and use up inventory.

This feels right to me - easier to re-purpose an existing neck and body than make new templates & jigs for a lefty. Everything else is straightforwards to swap over.

@Yorkio - do the fingerboard side dots look like they’re the same material and quality?

yorkio

Yes, I’d say the side dots look exactly the same on both sides, once you’ve managed to find them under the varnish.

yorkio

I think one of the many things that confuses me most is the placement of the controls and the jack socket - I can't see any other Epiphones with them placed like they are on mine. Actually, now that I come to think of it, I can't see any other two pickup Epiphones with just three knobs either!

guitargeek62

yorkio said:

I think one of the many things that confuses me most is the placement of the controls and the jack socket - I can't see any other Epiphones with them placed like they are on mine. Actually, now that I come to think of it, I can't see any other two pickup Epiphones with just three knobs either!

Flying Vs and Explorers would have - though I don't think they were making them this early!  I suspect this is just an oddball/one-off that was produced in the Epi Japan factory, likely late-70s to early-80s.

ICBM

yorkio said:

I think one of the many things that confuses me most is the placement of the controls and the jack socket - I can't see any other Epiphones with them placed like they are on mine. Actually, now that I come to think of it, I can't see any other two pickup Epiphones with just three knobs either!

If they didn't have a left-hand template for the control cavity they probably just used one from a different model, and made the control layout fit.

I think Funkfingers is right as to the back story - it looks like a special order left-hander made from whatever right-handed parts they could convert.

PhilKing

It looks like a DC Les Paul Special control rout and backplate.

Funkfingers

ICBM said:

I think Funkfingers is right as to the back story - it looks like a special order left-hander made from whatever right-handed parts they could convert.

In my hypothesis, the only thing “special” about the order is that a dealer probably requested a left-handed guitar after the supply of LH wooden parts had been exhausted.

There are examples of Gibsons and USA Epiphones with fret position dots along both edges of the fingerboard.

ICBM said:

The bridge pickup may be a DiMarzio

The combination of hex screw and protruding rod polepieces reminds me of those OEM pickups DiMarzio used to supply to Hondo and S.D. Curlee. 

ICBM

Funkfingers said:

In my hypothesis, the only thing “special” about the order is that a dealer probably requested a left-handed guitar after the supply of LH wooden parts had been exhausted.

Or they may have never offered a LH one as a stock item at all.

Funkfingers said:

The combination of hex screw and protruding rod polepieces reminds me of those OEM pickups DiMarzio used to supply to Hondo and S.D. Curlee. 

Aha! Yes, I was trying to remember which guitars those were fitted to - it was S.D. Curlee I was thinking of.

PhilKing

ICBM said:

Funkfingers said:

In my hypothesis, the only thing “special” about the order is that a dealer probably requested a left-handed guitar after the supply of LH wooden parts had been exhausted.

Or they may have never offered a LH one as a stock item at all.

There are left handed examples on the internet though they all have left handed bodies and headstocks

yorkio

@PhilKing Funnily enough, it was my teenage obsession with Johnny Thunders's double cut that inspired the purchase of the Epiphone in the first place!

Thanks, all. I still have no real idea what my guitar actually, but at least I know that probably no one else does either!