1965 Epiphone FT-110 Frontier Dreadnought Guitar

Update September 2021: the owner of this guitar sent it back here for consignment -- he's a guitar-churner -- so his loss, your gain. I've updated the photos, description, and recorded a new video for it.

A customer bought this guitar from a respectable shop out west in March and originally had it sent here for lefty-fication. I made a custom, drop-in lefty saddle (included in the guitar case) that would "convert" back to normal and carefully slotted the original nut so that it would setup correctly with either right or left-hand stringing. Since it's been back, I swapped it back to righty with the original saddle and it's ready to go.

In 1965, an Epiphone FT-110 Frontier meant a guitar built by Gibson in the Gibson factory. It's like a long-scale (25 3/8" vs 24 3/4" or close to it) Gibson Hummingbird -- sort-of -- but with maple back and sides. I know some Hummingbirds had maple, mind you... don't get your cleavers out, please! I suppose that makes this more like a "long scale Dove." I'm digging-in deeper, I know! Sigh.

Suffice to say, it sounds lovely. It's got a good, Gibsony, woody bass to it but the longer scale gives it a bit more snap and punch and a little better definition and carrying-power in the mids and highs. A lot of '60s Gibsons are built on the lighter side bracing-wise to emphasize bass, so the mids and trebles often get murky, unfortunately. This one's even-toned and fun to play throughout the neck. It's also got those cool Epiphone-style pearl blocks in the board, too.

Condition is excellent for a Gibby of its age-- it's only got a couple of old tight hairline crack repairs on the lower-bout-top (pictured, with glare) -- and after my work it's playing in-tune and on-the-dot fast.

Repairs included: fret level dress, setup, etc.


Top wood: solid spruce

Back & sides wood: flamed maple

Bracing type: x

Bridge: rosewood

Fretboard: rosewood

Neck wood: mahogany

Action height at 12th fret:
3/32” bass 1/16” treble (fast, spot-on)
String gauges: 54w-12 lights

Neck shape: slim C

Board radius: ~10-12"

Truss rod: adjustable

Neck relief: straight

Fret style: wide/low


Scale length: 25 3/8"

Nut width: 1 9/16"

Body width: 15 7/8"

Body depth: 5"

Weight: 4 lbs 15 oz


Condition notes: it's all-original and pretty clean, though there are two repaired hairline cracks on the lower bout. They were fixed professionally before me and are in good order. I shot a couple glared photos so you could see them. The finish on the top shows the usual weather-checking and, while not obvious, if you get the guitar in the right light you can see the spider-webbing of finish hairline cracking across the grain as well. That's absolutely normal on an old guitar and especially old Gibsons from the time. There's light usewear/handling-wear here and there as well, but it's not distracting. On the side near the endpin there's a tiny little bump-crack thing that looks like it was repaired a long time ago as well and it's flush and a non-issue. That's also pictured with glare so you can see it.


It comes with: a newer, Gibson-branded, TKL hard case. It also has a lefty-conversion saddle (in rosewood -- like the adjustable one) included in the case pocket.























Comments

Elasticman said…
As usual, jake did FANTASTIC work on this guitar. What a great tone and a fast playing neck!
Unknown said…
I alsof love this one too

Eric hallink60@hotmail.com