NGD Epiphone Deluxe Archtop

Bernie

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Looks réal nice Rich, congratulations. Is it all solid ?
I wonder the kind of dollars that's needed for this type of guitar.
 
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Rich Cohen

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An Epiphone Deluxe and Emperor would be solid woods all around. The tops are hand-carved adi spruce, and the backs and sides are hand-carved maple. Essentially designed to be played acoustically, though one can add a floating pup. The original use of these guitars was for playing mostly rhythm in swing bands during the '30s and '40s. They sound groovy playing solo jazz riffs too. They respond well to stiff picks which bring out their unique sound. Soft picks produce tones that get closer to flattops. The workmanship on this hand-carved archtops and quality of materials is responsible for their coming down to us in very good to excellent shape. Also, there's nothing like an original Lifton case!
 

Rich Cohen

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From late-1934 to mid-1939, a number of Gibson acoustic archtops including the L-5, L-7, L-10, L-12, & Super 400, were X-braced rather than parallel braced. My hands-on experience in this area is rather limited by comparison to some other members here, but back in the '70s I owned a few parallel braced acoustic archtops, along with a late '30s Ward made by Gibson which had a carved solid spruce top & X-bracing. It had a full, balanced, and punchy tone that was great for fingerpicking, and it ended up as my go-to favorite.
Right Bobouz, my '37 L-5 is parallel braced (Gibson produced both parallel and X-braced L-5s for a couple of years as they experimented with making "advanced" L-5s in '36 and '37. Its sound is much different than my Epi Deluxe and Emperor which are X-braced.
 

Rich Cohen

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That is one biggg @$$ guitar ;]
A vintage Epi Deluxe in very good to excellent shape of the late 30s and all of the 40s usually cost in the $4,000s range nowadays. Interestingly, the waist of both the Deluxe and Emperor are 10", making the Emperor very comfortable to hold in the lap.
 
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Bernie

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Thanks very much Rich for your answer(s). I had missed them (I watch New Posts' 1st page every day usually though)...Very interesting ; I ve been checking out many Guild archtops - hoping for an all-solid woods made - and many Epiphones too (without having found any), so I had a little doubt about this one being all solid.
Didn't realize Epiphpne had been that important a make in the past, as I understood reading this thread. I'd be hoping for some archtop - less expensive than Gibsons still -, but they don't do the genuine Emperors or Deluxe Archtop any more I saw...
Shame that Epiphone people gave up building most higher-end guitars these days (and have largely become a Gibson/China flat-tops maker).

All the best with that guitar - it looks real neat - enjoy it...
Bernie
 
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bobouz

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I wonder the kind of dollars that's needed for this type of guitar.
Fwiw, there's a 1946 Emperor at Guitar Center's Hollywood store that says it's in Excellent Condition. Only one grainy picture, but I'm sure you could get them into a dialogue & procure more photos, as they've had this one for quite some time now. Price is currently $5,409. Nice thing about them is that you can easily return it in person to your nearest GC for a full refund (3 days on vintage stuff - after receipt of the instrument). Qualifier: I say that, but haven't had to invoke a return to them in years, so you'd want to make sure that's still the policy!

Edit: There's also a 1992 Guild Artist Award on their website (listed in Great condition), and currently going for $4999.
 
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Bernie

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Thanks Bobouz, that's very nice of you... But I have a rather precise idea of what kind of archtop I'd like to get ; would be like a Stafire II (or III) with solid back and sides basically...
I'm not looking for an acoustic, nor for a vintage guitar (price has got its importance there), just a good little guitar I could enjoy playing unplugged too - in hotel rooms, or at home late at night for instance...(this being said, an outstanding archtop like the one Rich seems to have found could make me change my mind).
It's more like on my wish list right now, as I don't have any possibility to go back electric these days. I live in Europe too and I'm not ready to buy online, not knowing enough about these instruments either.
 

jp

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So beautiful, Rich. Congratulations on another wonderful addition to your archtop collection! I love those tuners.
 

Rich Cohen

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Fwiw, there's a 1946 Emperor at Guitar Center's Hollywood store that says it's in Excellent Condition. Only one grainy picture, but I'm sure you could get them into a dialogue & procure more photos, as they've had this one for quite some time now. Price is currently $5,409. Nice thing about them is that you can easily return it in person to your nearest GC for a full refund (3 days on vintage stuff - after receipt of the instrument). Qualifier: I say that, but haven't had to invoke a return to them in years, so you'd want to make sure that's still the policy!

Edit: There's also a 1992 Guild Artist Award on their website (listed in Great condition), and currently going for $4999.
You would think GC would provide better and more images of the Emperor! Anyone who's considering plunking down that kind of money on a vintage archtop needs to have more info. In the case of marketing guitars, a bigger organization is not better.
 
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