Good news for Kalamazoo Epiphone fans...

[Steve DeRosa]

After a decade or so of floundering and a fiasco or two (remember the neither-fish-nor-fowl Masterbilt acoustic-electric archtops... ) Epiphone seems to have finally found their niche, taking on the Gretsch Electromatics in the low/mid-price "new-stalgia" market with a line of semis/hollowbodies based on their '60s Gibson-era offerings:

https://www.epiphone.com/en-US/Colle...raton-broadway

Together with the existing MIC Riviera and Casino, as well as the Wilshire/Coronet/Crestwood solids and Newport/Embassy basses, they've pretty much duplicated their best-known USA models - including a fairly accurate rendition of an early-issue Sheraton, complete with mini-buckers/Frequensator and a Slim-Taper C-neck:



I just hope they get the respect they deserve: the last three decades have seen them working too hard to cultivate the Gen-Y/millennial "gee-I-wish-I-had-a-Gibson" Saturday-afternoon GC market, and while they indeed buy plenty of downmarket LP/SG/335 knockoffs there's no intrinsic connection to the sometimes-quirky-but-always-unique '60s Kalamazoo instruments, much less the long-rumored (and unfortunately stillborn) New-York-era acoustic archtop reissues - maybe those of us who were around in the day should grab one while the getting is good...

[rockabilly69]

Originally Posted by Steve DeRosa

... including a fairly accurate rendition of an early-issue Sheraton, complete with mini-buckers/Frequensator and a Slim-Taper C-neck:

I've always liked the Sheraton and I have some vintage Epi Mini-humbuckers I could slap into one of those, and everything else I need to build a vintage harness with proper switchcraft switch and jack, CTS pots, and PIO caps. Temptation is creeping in!

[abn556]

I know they were killing it with the Casinos after the Beatles documentary came out.

+

[GoPappy]

I'm loving that Sheraton in the Natural color. Epiphone has typically done a good job on their mini-humbuckers. This one is definitely on my radar.

I hope these are not made in China like a lot of their current models, but I suspect they are.

[Steve DeRosa]

Originally Posted by GoPappy

...I hope these are not made in China like a lot of their current models, but I suspect they are.

They are, but by the same token Epiphone seems to be addressing the drawbacks of the last ten years or so (poor fit/finish, iffy QC, strangely-shaped necks), and if they can keep prices below the $1K mark without sacrificing quality (as they did when they moved from Korean to Chinese manufacture in 2008) Gretsch - as well as the higher-priced MIK Guild Newark St. line - will be facing some stiff competition in the step-up/semi-pro/"new-stalgia" market...

Now if they can just reissue a Tremotone Casino and bring back the limited-edition Riviera 12 (think Carl Wilson) of a few years ago...

[Don W]

I have an "Elitist" 65 Japanese built Casino that is Outstanding!!! Perfect build...Gibson P90 pickups. The guitar was made in Japan and the electronics were added here.

[Steve DeRosa]

Those MIJ Elite/Elitist instruments were amazing, and their relatively low pricing (similar to the Guild Newark St. and lower-end Gretsch Professional Series in today's bucks) made them a serious threat to the big-buck/big-name USA stuff - face it, when you're selling a Byrdland that rivals the Gibson original in all respects at one-fourth the price, something's gotta give. Shame is they could've gotten a head start on the reissue market and beaten Gretsch at their own game: they had a couple of New York-style jazzboxes in their line - including an all-acoustic, all-carved Emperor (only 43 made TMK) that sells today for nearly as much as a Big Band-era original - and had they focused on their own heritage rather than quasi-Gibsons, given the quality of their Korean-built lineup at the time they could've owned the low- to midrange market...