Rare Epiphone Zephyr De Luxe Regent With 'Tone Spectrum' Pickups

This super rare 17 3/8 inches wide and 3 3/8 inches deep "Jazzbox" weighs just 7.40 lbs. and has a nice, fat nut width of over 1 11/16 inches and scale length of 25 1/2 inches. Laminated spruce top, laminated curly maple back and sides. Medium-to-thick profile five-piece maple and mahogany neck, and rosewood fretboard with 20 frets. Inlaid pearl block position markers with abalone "V" inserts at frets one, three, five, seven, nine, and twelve, and a pearl block (without the abalone "V" insert) at fret fifteen. The body of the guitar has five-ply binding on the top and back, and the neck and headstock are triple-bound. Headstock with inlaid pearl "Epiphone" script logo and pearl "Vine of Life" inlay. Individual Epiphone closed-back tuners with Keystone plastic buttons. The serial number "85 073" impressed on the back of the headstock. Two Epiphone "Tone Spectrum" pickups with perfectly matched outputs of 3.91k. Later three-later (black/white/black) plastic pickguard. Two 'Mastervoicer' controls (one volume, one tone) and a three-way sliding pickup selector switch on a separate metal plate. Later clear plastic knobs with black markings. Rosewood bridge with pre-set compensating saddle and reproduction Epiphone Frequensator tailpiece. All hardware gold-plated. The body and neck of the guitar have been oversprayed and there is some playing wear on the back of the neck. BUT - the sound and the resonance of this nearly sixty-year-old instrument is absolutely outstanding - and we have never seen another one of these ANYWHERE!!!!! Housed in the original Epiphone five-latch brown hardshell case with purple plush lining (9.00).

"An unusual, and even less accurate, system was introduced in mid 1944 for the electric instruments. This system also must be viewed as hypothetical, and is based on data gleaned from the serial-number registry, as well as by physical inspection of these instruments. From 1944 to the end of 1950, specific two-digit prefixes were assigned to individual models, with the following three digits indicating the actual production numbers. Although the complete system is presently unknown, certain observations seem to hold true. It is assumed that this was a consecutive numbering system, and any specificity regarding the exact date of production must be made by dating the evolving features against known catalog and advertising specifications. These impressed serial numbers may be found on the reverse top of the headstock… [e.g.] 85 000 [=] Zephyr De Luxe Regent".
(Jim FISCH and L.B. FRED. Epiphone. The House of Stathopoulo, p.226).