One of the Earliest Epiphone Broadways with "New York" Pickups

This super lightweight guitar weighs 7.20 lbs. and has a nice, fat nut width of just over 1 11/16 inches and a scale length of 25 1/2 inches. Triple-bound laminated maple body, three-piece mahogany/maple/mahogany neck, with a nice thick profile and a Brazilian rosewood fretboard with 20 jumbo frets and inlaid pearl block position markers. Headstock with inlaid pearl "Epiphone" script logo and pearl column inlay. Later reproduction individual 'Kluson Deluxe' style tuners with single-ring Keystone plastic buttons. Two New York pickups with cream plastic bases and outputs of 6.55k and 5.95k. Tortoiseshell pickguard with single white binding and silver Epiphone stylized "E" logo. Four controls (two volume, two tone) on lower treble bout plus three-way selector switch on upper bass bout. Later reproduction Gibson gold plastic bell knobs. Rosewood bridge with pre-set compensating saddle and Epiphone Frequensator tailpiece. This otherwise exceptionally fine guitar has had an expert and almost invisible headstock repair which is really only visible under ultra-violet light. Housed in a later "The Heritage" black hardshell case with dark red plush lining (9.25).

After Gibson took over Epiphone in May 1957, they began producing several new guitars, and the Epiphone line of the early 1960s included some models that rivaled, or even surpassed anything in the Gibson range, in price as well as in appeal. Epiphone had used the "Broadway" name from 1931-1958 on their non-cutaway acoustic archtop, but from 1958 to 1970 the "Broadway" designation was transferred to this new full-size electric archtop, first with New York pickups, and then from 1961 with mini-humbuckers. This guitar (which is Epiphone's version of the third variant Gibson ES-350) is typical of Epiphone's late 1950s excellence.

"The revived Epiphone line of 1958 used the familiar guitars of earlier years as a starting point...However, the image of the old Epiphone company disappeared quickly when it came to the electric archtops...The Broadway, which had never been available as an electric in the old Epi line, was now available only as an electric in the Gibson-made offering, and it was the only electric with a full-depth hollow body" (Walter Carter, Epiphone: The Complete History, pp. 58-59).