Home E-mail Ordering/Contact Info

PRS Fender Gibson Ibanez Acoustic & Ac/Elec Misc Electric Archtops Basses Lefty

Amplifiers Misc Instruments Guitar Effects Keyboards Pro-Sound Parts Links Repairs

MISC ARCHTOP GUITARS

(Others may be located on Gibson/Epiphone pages, Ibanez, Misc. Electrics, etc.)

Accessories:

· 1953 Epiphone Zephyr Regent Archtop, (front-1 front-2), (label), (back), (headstock/neck), (side), (pickup).  Nice old jazz box and the more desirable cutaway (Regent) Zephyr model.  The Zephyr Regent was a mid-line model featuring a single New York pickup, large 17 3/8" lower bout, laminated maple top, back, and sides, trapeze tailpiece (Frequensator style on early models), bound body and neck, and notched block fretboard inlays.  As nice as it looks now, this one was quite a project, coming to us in rough shape (before-1, before-2), with loads of dirt and grime - appeared to have never seen a polishing cloth - and the binding chipped and/or pulled away over most of the top and back.  Martin reshaped the binding and reattached original binding where possible, and installed a few new sections where it had deteriorated.  Around 1/3 of the body binding was affected, which Martin repaired nicely (a new section shown in back cutaway here). Although the binding patina is a little lighter than the original, in years to come it will blend in and will look original.  Electronics were nearly useless until the pots were removed and cleaned.  Likewise, the tuners were frozen or hard to turn until they were all lubricated.  What we discovered was an extremely clean guitar underneath all the grime as Martin hand-buffed the entire body and the nitro finish shines like a new guitar.  Please note that there is no overspray on the body, simply an intensive cleaning.  Although this guitar is in very nice shape for a '53, there are a few detractors that need pointing out.  It's missing the "E" from the tortoise pickguard; one knob is replaced but we substituted another 50's knob of the same color and patina; logo plate on the headstock is from a reissue although the same shape and style as the original.  Martin buffed out the finish beautifully, but there are check lines over much of the front and back (as shown here) as well as the headstock veneer, which is expected on a nitro finish that's 60 years old.  Shown here, the only cracks were two hairline cracks at the base of the headstock, with the before appearance in the pic on the right.  This was little more than a cosmetic issue which we've made better as shown in the pic on the left.  It is also missing one of the tuner ferrules which I don't seem to have among my spares.  Shown here, you can see the tight neck joint (neck has never been removed) which has a perfect angle, allowing very low action.  Neck is a soft V-shape, not overly large, with small vintage frets which exhibit some wear but the set up has low action with only slight string rattle in places.  Although it doesn't require a refret, if you want the same low action with no fret buzz whatsoever Martin can do a complete refret with your choice of frets for additional cost - or we can raise the action to medium at no cost of course.  Epiphone and Gibson were the premier builders of archtops during this era and they're highly regarded by players as being truly fine instruments.  60 years after it was built, this one still plays and sounds wonderfully, testament to the craftsman ship of the skilled post-war luthiers.  If you check vintage sites like gbase.com, you'll usually see Zephyr Regents in the $3K-$4K range, including some with modifications.  This one may not appeal to the collector of museum guitars, but for the player looking for value in a 50's archtop, it's a sweet deal at just $1499.  (Note: We have a '41 Epi archtop, student model hollowbody with 13" bout, from the restoration shop coming soon). 

· 2002 Ibanez AS73-BS - Brown Sunburst, (front), (back/side), (headstock). Excellent value in a quality "Dot" copy. This is the 4th one of these I've had recently and I can safely say that they're exceptionally nice guitars, the best in their price point. Since their imitation years of the 60's and 70's, when they were building great quality Gibson and Fender copies, Ibanez has made it on their own designs, eventually becoming the most innovative Asian builder. A few models have stayed in their catalog since their "copy days", such as their ES-335 style, now known as the AS73 from their extremely popular Artcore line. It retains the basic design of the 335 including semi-hollow body with center block, laminated maple top/back/sides, set in mahogany neck with rosewood fretboard, bound body and neck, dual chrome-covered humbuckers with 3-way switch and dual volume/tone controls, 3+3 tuners, 24 3/4" scale, tuneomatic bridge with stop bar tailpiece, and of course the "Dot" inlays. Ibanez used the ACH1 and ACH2 humbuckers for this model, which are clean sounding, with a slight overdrive. The pickups are mounted into a sustain block for increased sustain and feedback elimination. It also features a 17th fret joint for more comfortable access to higher notes. This is a very comfortable neck, that's thin and fast, with a flat 12" fretboard and medium frets. It plays beautifully from the first fret to the top, and has a quality tone that can go from jazz to blues, to rock. These are made in China now but from my observations the better Chinese factories are on par with the Korean guitars in past years. The gloss finish is applied perfectly, binding is done beautifully, and the overall fit and finish is on par with the best Korean guitars. Just a reminder that it's not the country that builds the guitars, rather, it's the quality control used within the factory to ensure only good guitars leave the plant. This one's in beautiful condition, set up to perfection, and a bang-for-the-buck winner for semi-hollow thinlines at $339.

· ca. 1951 Gretsch New Yorker 16" Acoustic Archtop, (pic2), (pic3), (pic4). "As is" special! Can't be set up with low action without some serious neck work so I'm offering this "as is" for the slide player or someone who plays only cowboy chords (action at 12th fret). Other than the action, this guitar is quite intact without extraneous rattles and no breaks, with a cool "Blind Willie Lemon" tone that's well suited for delta blues. I don't a lot about this model other than it has rather austere cosmetics for a Gretsch, with a painted on logo but it does feature a bound neck and body, and block fretboard inlays. Fretboard is Brazilian rosewood, which is a cool feature any day, and what appears to be original tortoise pickguard. Finish has a wonderfully aged patina, typical with nitro finishes (body pic) including nicely yellowed binding that's in remarkably nice shape for a 50's Gretsch. Serial 4779 stamped inside F-hole which should date it to '51. I'm into it for $400 and after talking to my luthier it's not going to be cost effective to make it a killer Spanish style player thus it's offered as is for $450.