The Ultimate Guitar in the Epiphone Line-Up

This full-bodied (18 1/2 inches wide and 3 1/2 inches deep) Jazzbox weighs just 8.50 lbs. The body is multi-bound with laminated spruce top and laminated curly maple back and sides. Seven-piece maple and mahogany neck with a scale length of 25 1/2 inches and a nice, fat nut width of 1 3/4 inches. Rosewood fretboard with 20 frets and pearl block with abalone "V" inlays at frets one, three, five, seven, nine, and twelve, and a pearl rectangle at position fifteen. Large headstock with the inlaid pearl "tree-of-life" and "Epiphone." Individual Epiphone closed-back tuners with tulip-shaped Keystone buttons. The headstock is triple-bound and f-holes are single-bound. All metal parts are gold-plated. Original tortoiseshell pickguard. Some of the body binding is coming away, as usual. There is an early two-layer plastic plate on the side of the guitar strengthening the input jack. The six position Vari Tone bank of six push-button selector switches which is mounted below the volume and tone controls has been disconnected and a second set of volume and tone controls has been professionally added together with a three-way pickup selector switch which is mounted on the bass horn. This is an opportunity to have a fifty-four year old jazzbox without all the 'hassle' of the notoriously problematic vari-tone switches. Housed in the original Lifton brown case with pink plush lining (9.00).

On par with the Gibson Super 400, the $540.00 (1954 price) Zephyr Emperor Regent was the ultimate guitar in the Epiphone electric line of instruments, with three pickups, elaborate ornamentation, and a body size of 18 1/2 inches. It was generally believed that the Zephyr Emperor Regent was issued in 1952; however, an ad in the November 1950 issue of Metronome magazine introduced this wondrous guitar to the public at $440.00. The original name for the guitar was the "Zephyr Emperor Vari Tone," which referred to the tonal variety available from the "Vari Tone" circuit. The name "Zephyr Emperor Regent" was used from 1952 until 1954, when the name became "Emperor Electric." The Zephyr Emperor Vari Tone/Regent/Electric had the same cosmetic features as the Emperor Acoustic and remained available until 1957.