Product: Epiphone Zephyr
Price Paid: USD 1200 USED
Submitted
01/07/2009
at
05:16pm
by
Brian
Features
:
5
I just acquired a nice 1944 Epiphone Zephyr electric archtop guitar. This is a fairly early version non-cutaway, laminated top model with a single pickup near the bridge. It has retrofitted Gibson Kluson tuners but is otherwise original. Finish is pretty good for it's age, original binding is intact, pickup cover is excellent. Neck is 25.5" scale, bound, and this one has had recent fret work because they are excellent.
Rating 5 because it has almost no features - just a straight forward 65 year old archtop jazz box!
Sound
:
10
The acoustic sound is rather amazing - full, bright, but with exceptional bass response. There is a depth and clarity to the sound I really haven't found elsewhere. The amplified sound is interesting - with a single coil pickup near the bridge you get a very bright, almost rock and roll sound with the "Master-voicer" (the tone control) turned up - roll it back to "Normal" (mid-sweep) and you suddenly get a woody, punchy sound that is perfect Charlie Christian/Barney Kessel. A lot of fun.
Action, Fit, & Finish
:
8
The most serious "flaw" is that the neck has slipped a tiny bit over 65 years and the action is now slightly on the high side for people used to brand new guitars. There is room on the bridge to lower this a bit more, but the adjustable pole pieces (this was the first pickup made with adjustable poles) are a bit tight and don't want to adjust down all that easily. Finish is original tobacco sunburst and has some chips and wear as you would expect. The original pickguard deteriorated as they do and caused some damage to the finish.
Reliability/Durability
:
10
This guitar (judging from the original case) gigged hard and long for a long time! So I rate it highly for reliability. The original pickup, potentiometers, jack, bridge are all intact and perfect. The original truss rod is fine. No issues on this point - but it's not going far from my home for the next couple of years at least!
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
The original Epiphone sold itself about 55 years ago, so I have to expect that a warranty call isn't going to happen...
Overall Rating
:
9
Playing about 40 years, I've had a lot of guitars (68 SG, several ES125's, Fenders, an early 40's Epi Broadway) that if I had kept I could probably retire. Now I have about 6 or so, I play through a Polytone Teeny-brute for the most part (the Epi loves the Teeny-brute for a jazz tone) and a 65 Fender Bandmaster for louder stuff.
I rate this high because this guitar suits me to a "tee". Exactly what I wanted to find.
