Why cant epiphone les pauls have a gibson shaped headstock. For starters, it barely made it through a house fire. This is a mahogany bodied guitar in excellent physical condition. The problem is there is no serial number stamped on it. The first semihollowbody guitar sold as a samick was the eg1935. I dont have a problem with the epiphone logo, just the shape. Common features found on most epiphone gseries guitars include a doublecutaway mahogany body with humbucker pickups and a rosewood fretboard. On june 28, 1977, norlin, the parent company of gibson, filed a lawsuit against elger ibanez in philadelphia federal district court.
The orvilles were gibson guitar designs and went from 19881998 and then they were replaced by the epiphone japan models in 1998 and. I really enjoy and appreciate this guitar for what it is at the price i got it for. The mahogany neck also maintains a vintage profile. View attachment 76428 at one point epiphones had the same headstock when they were still mij. The 1989 models were the first to sport a setneck and a carved top with a cap. I never minded the old epi headstock, but i think a lot of people are going to be happy about this. I guess i will be that guy and come in here with the who cares what the headstock looks like, whats the guitar play like. After the lawsuit, copy guitar manufacturers had to change their headstock design. Ibanez ramped up the quality of its own designs, including setinneck copies of solid body and archtop guitars. The open book headstock was used occasionally on samick brand guitars.
They are considered by many to be one of samicks best models. The open book headstock was used occasionally on samick brand guitars through the 80s, and from 19881989 and early 1990, was used in their usinternational lineup. Harrisons guitar boasts a bigsby, while lennons came with a trapeze tailpiece. I own an epiphone et290 from around 1975 and it has the open book headstock with abalone inlay. Diy luthier reshaping an epiphone les paul headstock youtube. When i open the ad its an openbook headstock in a gibson gun case. In an instagram post from gueikian showing off some vintage epiphone headstock templates sporting the classic openbook style, user. About the only difference seems to be a slightly exaggerated center dip on the openbook headstock. It looks like we may well get to see this redesigned headstock shape during winter namm and find out which models will be carrying it from now on. The true story behind japanese lawsuit guitars soundfly. The tone of the guitar is balanced, percussive, refined and polite, and a little brighter than a typical les paul. Greco guitars have been made by matsumoku, fujigen gakki, dyna gakki and others as well. They stopped using it abruptly in 1990, the same time epiphone did, suggesting gibson became aware at that time, and didnt even want epiphones use to encourage or imply to other manufacturers that it was okay to use.
I am not sure but judging from what i found online, it seems to be from the late 80s or early 90s. It appears as all original except the input jack with the original included. There are rumors that samick had a contract with gibson allowing them to make copies, but this is untrue. It is a direct copy and includes the open book headstock. The neck has sizeable but not too chunky vintage 50s profile. The temperature was so high, the guitar case began to melt, yet amazingly, the case protected the wood from turning to ashes. Like the previous 19861987 lp models, the 1989s came with the korean version of the openbook headstock. The fl331 was a white les paul custom copy, with gold hardware, bound ebony board, block inlays and a pair of goldcovered humbuckers. You likely have an intonation problem and will need to take your guitar to a technician. My 90s sorrento hollowbody has an open book headstock with a 3 screw trussrod cover. The new kalamazoo headstock shape is a lot closer to the famous open book shape of the gibson usa models. Gibson has made several limitedrun epiphone guitars in the usa over the years, but this guitar, made in the gibson acoustic factory in montana. It has its share of bumps, and i will not try to list them all, but say that there are too many to show. Last fall i had a complete pro setup done, including fret level and recrown, and having a bone nut and saddle installed.
I personally like the epi headstock on my lp custom. The three way switch is broken, switch works fine but the knob. This has a fat 50s style neck, not small and thin like most japanese guitars. I sent this out to pst guitars in king george virgina to have the headstock reshaped to a gibson openbook, new waterslide and clear coat. I will conservatively call the condition good, for a guitar this old. Mosrite copy sunburst es335 style with open book headstock shape made in japan it has a gibson shaped headstock, es335 style body but different pickups and i. Looking at my gibsons, im noticing subtle differences in the cut of the headstock and am interested to learn. Called a 60s kalamazoo, the shape closely mirrors the openbook style of a gibson original.
Introduced in 1989, the epiphone gseries is a line of gibsonauthorized copies of the famous gibson sg. I pic came up recently in one of the fora, maybe this one, showing a late 80s epi with a gibson style open book headstock. Interestingly enough, this isnt a totally new headstock for them, some of the early mik epi les pauls had the same not quite gibson style open book headstock. Greco gibson replicas around 1975 and pre 1975 models had a greco logo that looked like gneco.
A cheap les paul copy with openbook headstock and full horn. I have a special blended guitar body design which i might pair ir with at a later date, in a later blog post here. An instagram post by cesar gueikian appears to suggest that epiphone guitars of the future could finally come with a gibson open book style. Find great deals on ebay for guitar headstock veneer and guitar headstock decals. Had this guitar for a long time and never could find. Gibson could be putting their classic headstock shape on. While we re at the headstock, lets look at the trademark openbook. Does the headstock resemble that of a gibson les paul. An important piece of the puzzle in determining when your guitar was made is the. They didnt even start working with gibson until 1985. The specials mahogany neck has an updated headstock design called the 60s kalamazoo.
In my book, it would be a keeper and a modding platform. Not only do the guitars now look more reminiscent of their gibson counterparts, epiphone have also taken a page from gibsons famous open book headstock, something which many fans have been hoping for for years. Gibson could be putting their classic headstock shape on epiphone. Gibson has announced that their open book headstock may be carried over to epiphones range of guitars. Cameo les paul 70s mij japan lawsuit era open book headstock. The guitars reverse body and nonreverse headstock makes it a rare 1965 transitional model. If your guitar sounds fine when playing open strings but out of tune when you finger notes and chords, it is not a problem you can fix with a tuner. Epiphone les paul special electric guitar tv yellow. An image of prelawsuit ibanez left and postlawsuit ibanez. Action is set up low like an electric, but can easily be raised if you desire by changing the saddle. A cheap les paul copy with openbook headstock and full. Gibsons next epiphone guitars could look significantly different. The classic open book gibson headstock design would sell more guitars, i feel.
This guitar came with flamed maple sides and flamed maple veneer on the back. The lawsuit was settled out of court, and ibanez replaced the headstock with a revised design. It was introduced in 1981 as their homebrand version of the hondo h935. This is an experiment i did to reshape an epiphone headstock to look like a gibson shape. New epiphone models with the new headstock design page 2. This 1965 gibson firebird is a very rare bird indeed. Its not a high value guitar by any means, but it should fetch a little more for the openbook headstock. Plus, we all know it is an epiphone and currently, in my opinion, they are making better guitars than gibson anyway. Welcome to rguitar, a community devoted to the exchange of guitar related information and entertainment. View attachment 76429 the article explains that the new headstock from the old kalamazoo branded guitars from the late 60s. So i found out today that the mustache looking headstock from gibson was based on an open book. It comes close to the classic gibson openbook shape, but doesnt ape it. Friends, this a purely innocent observation about gibsons trademarked open book headstock.
I also own an epi lp from 2006 with the modern headstock, which isnt my favorite look but after some upgrades, the guitar itself is pretty kick ass. Most of the greco open book headstock gibson replicas were made by fujigen gakki. Cmon are slight divits missing from the gibson open book headstock really that much of a tone or build or playability factor. Some kg32 oriole guitars were sold with the roof peak headstock design and others had the gibson open book headstock design. Take a close look at the logos and headstock configuration. I had a masterbilt dreadnought with solid rosewood back and sides that i really regret trading on. Not sure if theyre referring to the exact gibson version of open book, or the long, awkward epi version seen in higher models such as the sheraton. Theres been a marked increase in the number of counterfeit guitars. Its a model 2453 and has the open book headstock that gibson based the lawsuit over. Epiphone openbook headstock question my les paul forum. Discussion in guitars started by peskypesky, jan 5, 2018. Epiphone sg g310 mij epiphone electrics gibson brands. Epiphone 2020, ft openbook headstocks and mia lines. This is also the only one that i have seen with an epiphone style open book headstock.
Gibson open book headstock and tokai guitar discussions. Archtop guitar, acoustic guitars, jazz guitar, music instruments, carving, flat, amazing, violin, guitar building. This headstock shape i think of as a bit like a lazy open book style or a dali melting headstock. It has the offset open book headstock shape that i think looks great. Gibson epiphone les paul standard open book headstock 1989 rarefirst year with set neck and last year or only year with this open book headstock. I think this would go great with a gibson style but slightly offset body. Whty does one equate the headstock shape to the quality of a guitar. The sa model lineup consists of gibson es335 style semihollowbody electric guitars. Unfortunately, it is still a lam body guitar and the vantage pickups are pretty terrible. A couple of weeks ago i have found, in my favorite guitar shop in shanghai, some strange epiphones, two les paul one special and one standard one 339 and one sg that instead of the normal epiphone headstock had the traditional open book gibson headstock. I cant find the history of the decision, know nothing about guitars, and it is driving me insane. However, it isnt a direct copy, so there is still some.
For many players, the openbook headstock design that appears on vintage epiphone models and modernday gibson guitars is classier than the slightly blockier epi variant that tops off the majority of the lowercost companys range. The pressed top was laminated spruce and had a natural finish instead of the usual sunburst finish found on all the previous models. New headstock design check out the headstock on this les paul junior. I read somewhere or then heard it from a video that if actually epiphone sgs and les pauls came with the classic open book headstock and i. Selling my 1970s morris wd25 dove acoustic guitar in cherry sunburst. Plays nicely, and has decades of wear on the body, but. Encore by teisco violin body scroll headstock pro setup. The indian laurel fretboard has a 12 radius and is bound with cream binding. Lawsuit guitars have a headstock that is known as an open book headstock, copied from gibson.
Gibson style headstock for the epiphone lps page 4. Vintage sg style guitar pre lawsuit era japan matsumoku. Powered by a classic p90 the p90 is one of the defining sounds of rock and roll. Hohner has not been able to provide much, if any information. Its pretty subtle, but there are different proportions in the shape of these two headstocks. New guitar day 2008 epiphone les paul openbook headstock. Gibson epiphone les paul standard open book headstock 1989. Epiphone les paul junior electric guitar vintage sunburst. I have a 1989 epiphone lp that has that same headstock on it. Gibson is planning a major change to the entire epiphone. The odd thing is that gibson does use the open book headstock on the baldwinmaestro. Mccartneys 1962 casino has a bigsby tailpiece and a gibsonstyle open book headstock. From the gibson lawsuit era open book headstock, it is a deadon, very well made guitar. Does anyone know why this aesthetic choice was made.