Keep the drool towels handy...
I was surfing the net and I came across this beauty - the uber-rare Epiphone Emperor Concert:
https://wiedler.ch/nyepireg/images/58809_full.jpg https://wiedler.ch/nyepireg/images/58809_back.jpg https://wiedler.ch/nyepireg/images/58809_side.jpg https://wiedler.ch/nyepireg/images/58809_head.jpg https://wiedler.ch/nyepireg/images/58809_label.jpg Yes folks, that's a genuine 1949 New York original in dead-mint condition - a near-twin to Johnny Smith's personal guitar, and one of only three known to exist; here's the back story: https://wiedler.ch/nyepireg/closeup28.html Had the "classical archtop" school not essentially crashed after WW II (a result of Segovia's 1928 American debut and the subsequent adoption of the Spanish-style guitar as the concert-hall standard, as well as changing postwar musical tastes), I could easily see one of these as a virtuoso soloist's instrument... |
Steve, now THAT is an amazing instrument! How modern the sound hole looks—never seen one remotely like that. Let us know if you ever get to play and how it sounds!
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Bit of a bittersweet ending to that story: Quote:
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In answer to your question, most contemporary players are unaware that there was an entire school of "classical archtop" guitar that flourished from about 1925-1940, and upon which Mel Bay based his well-known method; when I was learning in the early-60's the method books bore a statement that they were in fact designed and intended "to place the plectrum guitar in the same class as the violin, piano, and other 'legitimate' instruments" (and if you've never hung around in certain so-called "serious" music circles it's difficult to imagine the pejorative attitude directed toward the guitar, even in its "classical" incarnation)... By way of background, in its original form the classical-archtop movement drew from the earlier American school of (fingerstyle) classical guitar exemplified by the likes of William Foden, Vahdah Olcott-Bickford, et al. (rather than that of Segovia and his Spanish contemporaries, which would become the accepted concert style and instrument), as well as the parlor, "light classical," and vaudeville music of late-19th/early 20th century America. In addition to transcriptions of well-known classical repertoire, a number of guitarists of the day produced original compositions in a late-Romantic style - music which, while largely out of fashion today, still retains its technical and artistic merit nine decades later. Bear in mind that the original L-5 archtop guitar was in fact envisioned as a "classical" instrument both tonally and visually, intended as a part of the mandolin orchestras of the late-vaudeville era and designed for hall-filling acoustic projection in the days before electronic amplification; were it not for Segovia's sensational American debut in 1928, the plectrum-style archtop guitar - with its violin-family looks and construction - may well have become the accepted "classical" guitar... If you're interested there are a number of recordings of these period pieces on YouTube, either in the original (by the likes of Harry Volpe, Al Hendrickson, et al.) or re-recorded by contemporary revivalists; in addition, you might also want to check out some of the work of Eddie Lang (both solo and with Joe Venuti on violin), Carl Kress and Dick McDonough, Tony Mottola (when he was a teenage whiz kid), and George Van Eps, among others. Finally, there's an excellent collection published by Mel Bay, entitled Masters of the Plectrum Guitar which, should you be intrigued enough to investigate this style further, will definitely keep you busy for a while - and give you a taste of what might have been... |
Thank You, Steve, for the lengthy reply. I understand what you mean now. I'm a fan of Eddie Lang and Tony Mottola, etc. I just think of them as jazz guitar pioneers (is that the name of an Eddie Lang CD I have?) Maybe its Jazz Guitar Virtuoso. Something like that. Time to dig it out.
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Very nice. What a beautiful guitar.
Thanks for the pictures and the detailed background. |
Enjoyed the information. Always learn great stuff from your posts.
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And it came in Sunburst too!
Steve,
When I saw this posting the first thing that came to mind was that I'd never seen anything like that before. The second thing was that a FB acquaintance, Mike Thompson, has a staggering collection of Gibson archtops, and somehow may not be aware of this model........silly me....... Here's his: https://i.imgur.com/FnqRstb.jpg Best, Howard |
Great post, Steve, your discussions of archtop history(especially regarding Epiphone) are always interesting.
This model is fascinating to me, because it's Jonny Smith's and Epiphones version of a 'round' hole archtop, but retaining the standard tone-bar placement('splayed parallel'), and shaping the centered soundhole to fit. My early '30's Epiphone Spartan round-hole, has reverse splayed tone-bars(opposite of a standard f-hole model), to clear the soundhole, resulting in the tone bars coming closer together under the bridge. IMO, the tone & volume are lacking(compared to my other f-hole Epis), and I believe it's because of the bracing arrangement. Gibson used the same arrangement on some of the earliest scroll '0' models, too. So I've been intrigued by this particular, very rare, Epi model, and would love to hear how it sounds! |
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Although it's well-known that Gibson produced Epiphone instruments with original New York parts as late as the end of 1963, the instrument in the photo is most emphatically not one of them; in fact, not only was it not made by Gibson, but it happens to be the sole documented sunburst example of the Epi Emperor Concert (#58825 dating to 1949) and possibly the only one released to the general public (Johnny Smith's was custom-built to order, and the blonde example above was a gift to an Epiphone employee from the Stathopoulo family) - in a word, your bud is in possession of one of the all-time Holy Grail guitars for any archtop collector... If you have personal access to this unique instrument, I think most (if not all) of us would be interested in an OGD (old guitar day) hands-on evaluation/play test along with some additional photos; absent that, if you coud arrange for the owner to do the same for (with his permission) reposting here on the AGF Archtop subforum, I believe it would be greatly appreciated by all... Let us know how it goes... |
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http://guernseys.com/v2/artistry_guitar.html Some nice shots here: https://mellowmarty.tumblr.com/post/...ert-arch#notes |
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I was clumsy in my post. He has a monstrous Gibson Archtop collection, but I assumed he’d be interested in the guitar you posted. He owns that Sunburst Epiphone. I can try to see if he’ll do a recording with it. I’ll try to get him involved here. If you’re on Facebook his name is Mike Thompson, and he may live in Japan.... Howard |
Steve,
For those who can access it, here’s Mike Thompson’s FB link. Prepare to be overwhelmed. https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001245716570 Howard |
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