c.1938 Epiphone Blackstone Archtop Guitar

Update 2014:  This is now up on consignment sold. It's a great lead or chop-chord machine with a fast neck (these have fairly narrow nuts -- a hair over 1 5/8") and ferocious amounts of forward-cutting volume and snap. Compared to a Gibson carved-top this guitar has a lot more up-front cut but less creamy warmth on the bass end of things. I think something like this is perfect for someone playing single-note lead lines, fill work, or three-note chord patterns and the like. It's a fiery sound that's suited to those styles. Now back to the original post (but with new 2014 photos)...

This is a customer's instrument I finished up yesterday. Work included a neck reset, cleaning, fret level/dress, and setup. It plays great now, but I have to say... if you're an amateur looking to learn how to reset a neck -- please don't do it on nice guitars! Use an old Harmony Stella or something similar to learn such skills...! I had tons of debris and clutter and "shims" to remove after steaming this neck off that shouldn't have been there in the first place.

That said... this is an Epiphone (pre-Gibson-owned Epi) Blackstone model from 1938. It has a trussrod with adjustment under the fretboard extension, which is kind of cool, but meant that to drill my steaming hole I had to go through the heel (after removing the heel cap) as I didn't want to hit the rod in the process.

This is a big, wide instrument with that gorgeous Epi shape and 16 3/8" lower bout. No cracks, a middling amount of scuffing and scratching, and great looks.

Nice inlaid-MOP Epiphone logo as well as original bone nut.

Rosewood board, bound in creamy celluloid, with nickel-silver frets and really cool deco-y pearl inlays. The neck feels really modern on this despite having a bit of a v-shape. It's fast and shallow and relatively narrow.

Original adjustable bridge... and I've compensated that B-string slot.

Cool tailpiece and it looks original as compared to other Blackstones but it does look like a 2nd tailpiece was on here for a while.

Ain't she a beaut? ...and surprisingly, for an Epi, all that binding is in good shape.

I'm sure that this flamed maple back is laminate and the sides may be as well. The top, though, is for sure solid spruce and carved with tonebar bracing.

These Grover tuners appear to be originals. The neck wood is maple, too.

Note the finish is slightly mucked around the edge near the heel. That was there before the reset and probably was done by the last fella who worked on this. The strap button is also unoriginal but certainly useful.

Label and serial number...

It comes with a TKL arched-lid, good-quality hard case.