1960s/1970s Frankenstein Epiphone Electric 12-String Guitar

Overview: A friend of mine gave me a wrecked old Japanese-made Epiphone 12-string from the early '70s and I had this cool old Japanese electric guitar (with a broken neck, mind you) here taken in trade, so I Frankensteined them into the electric 12-string you see here -- something funky and fun and not too serious. Years ago I had an EKO 12-string electric that I liked a lot but not enough to keep. In recent memory, my buddy Ed bought an Epi LP Jr with a similar '70s Epiphone 12 neck mated to it and I thought to myself, "that's the sauce!" This mashup here, however, floats both of those boats and looks cool while doing it.

Tone: It's middle of the road, really -- a relaxed-sounding single coil with good mids and an even sound. Like all 1-pickup guitars, you can "change your tone" by moving your hand -- pick closer to the bridge for '60s jingle-jangle chime (it'll do it) or closer to the neck for jazzier/mellower sounds. I do it all through the demo to show it's possible...

Feel: The neck feels rather Gibson-like with a slim-medium C shape and 10" board radius, but the long 25 1/2" scale is very Fender (and makes it easier to get good tone out of this when downtuning to open D and the like).

Interesting features: The whole thing is interesting to me! I love it but I've put a ton of energy and cashola into recent shop fixtures, tools, and repairs, so I need to move some gear along.

Repairs included: I honestly didn't have to do too much to make it happen and that's good because I have precious little "me time" these days to do anything by choice. I finished this up in maybe an hour and a half on an off day. It needed a little chiseling to the neck joint, a level/dress of the frets, new strap buttons, a new bridge (fully-compensated but a modded archtop one), and then minor setup work. It plays spot-on and is ready to serve (and has been stable since I worked on it, too).

• Weight: 6 lbs 6 oz
• Scale length: 25 1/2"
• Nut width: 1 3/4"
• Neck shape: slim-medium C
• Board radius: 10"
• Body width: 12 1/8"
• Body depth: 1 1/4"
• Body wood: mahogany family
• Bridge: rosewood archtop-style (fully-compensated)
• Fretboard: rosewood
• Neck wood: mahogany
• Pickups: 1x original '60s single coil
• Action height at 12th fret: 1/16” overall (fast, spot-on)
• String gauges: 20w/46w, 14/36w, 10/26w, 8/17, 12/12, 9/9
• Truss rod: adjustable
• Neck relief: straight
• Fret style: medium-lower

Condition notes: It's a mated instrument so the neck joint is not perfect but it's not ugly at a glance. The strap buttons are the only replacement bits on the body, but someone (years ago) added a ground for the tailpiece for which I am thankful for, even if its placement is a little ugly (coming out in front of the tailpiece area). There's general wear and tear via scratches, scuffs, small dings, etc. throughout. The tone pot was a little scratchy but I shot it with cleaner and that helped. Like all old wiring, it may do it again later-on and need spraying-out again.

It comes with: If I have a spare gigbag to hand, I will include it, but I can't promise it...!

Consignor tag: JW