Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve DeRosa
General consensus among Epiphone cognoscenti is to be careful with the '54 models, and except for the top-of-the-line Emperor and Deluxe (possibly the occasional Broadway/Triumph or two) avoid the '55 - '57 guitars altogether. By way of information, Epiphone had serious labor difficulties in the early-50's when an attempt was made to unionize the shop; keeping a long and convoluted story short, many of the skilled craftsmen jumped ship to either then-upstart Guild or across-the-river competitor Gretsch, while production was split between New York and Philadelphia when Continental Music assumed control in 1953. Although anything made before the Gibson takeover in 1957 is considered a "New York" Epiphone (FYI a number of instruments - particularly mid-/high-end acoustic archtops, for which there was little demand at the time - were assembled in whole or in part from leftover genuine Epiphone parts through the early-60's), the quality of the final models was so poor that the Philadelphia warehouse - not to mention the stockroom of many a music store - was loaded with warranty returns and unsaleable instruments; while the official Gibson position is that they stripped the warehouse instruments for parts before destroying them, I can personally vouch for the fact that NOS guitars from the final days of the original Epiphone company were being sold at least through the mid-60's (I saw a rackful in Silver & Horland's stockroom in April 1964), and probably into about 1970 in stores well away from major metropolitan areas - caveat emptor (Emperor?)...
If it were me, I'd look for an early postwar ('46 - '51) instrument: wartime materials restrictions/manpower loss seem to have had less of an impact than the other makers, which allowed them to get back up to speed more quickly; the acoustic archtop guitars upon which Epiphone built their reputation were still a major force in the market; the mostly-Italian local craftsmen who had worked under Epi himself (who had died in 1943) were still employed at the factory, ensuring a continuing tradition of quality; and the entire prewar line (as well as a few new models introduced circa 1950) was still available at least through 1949. While there's much to be said for the legendary prewar guitars, to me these instruments represent the final iteration of Epi Stathopoulo's personal vision of what his guitars should be - and as the former owner of a '46 Blackstone I find this the most intriguing period in the company's history...
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Good to know! Thanks! I expect a good amount of conflicting feedback, as everyone has different preferences. Very cool to hear about the history. There are actually a few I've bookmarked that I think are between 46-51. I'll revisit those now!
I've been all over youtube listening to different samples and loved this one I found of a blackstone:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHNgsWf8HLg
Would love to find a good value, but need to be careful though not to fall in love with a guitar out of my price range, which tends to happen to me when I go "toy" shoppin'