Belated NGD - Epiphone Deluxe à la TK Smith

[andrew]

I’m very excited to finally present an instrument I just put the finishing touches on after purchasing it back in January. But first, a little back story. Ever since I first saw TK Smith’s ‘40s Epiphone Zephyr Deluxe that he modified with his own C.A.R. pickups (which now belongs to our very own @Omphalopsychos), I’ve pined for one of my very own, but with a cutaway and a slim neck. For the past several years, I’ve been reaching out to sellers of NYC era Zephyr Deluxe Regents and asking for neck dimensions (most of them are pretty substantial). I also didn’t love the idea of being the one to hack up a perfectly good 70+ year old guitar, so one that had already been modded was a huge plus. I had just about given up on the hunt and was about to resort to ordering a new custom build when this baby walked into my life.

It was sold to me as a highly modified ‘45 Epiphone Deluxe (solid carved, not a laminate Zephyr model), but I believe that it’s actually from 1937-38. Here’s a list of the extensive mods done prior to my purchase of it: added cutaway (more of a Gibson shape than an Epiphone), about ¾” of rim depth cut off, refinished, truss rod added, F holes plugged with wood from the inside, partial center block added, soapbar P100 pickup installed (with dogear cover), added output jack, holes for volume and tone controlled previously drilled and then plugged, a new patch of wood elsewhere on the top, new bridge, new pickguard. (Whew! I think that about covers it.) Apparently the same owner had similarly serious modifications made to his whole fleet of vintage axes.

I snatched it up as soon as I found it because it had the looks I wanted (cloud inlays and the vine headstock), a nice slim neck, and it provided a guilt-free platform to mod. I had the C.A.R. pickups added (after a long wait to receive them), restored the volume and tone controls, added the pickup selector switch, changed the bridge, and finally added the pickguard (which really ties the whole look of the guitar together).

After that long journey, I’m thoroughly satisfied and wanted to share some pictures. It’s exactly what I was looking for and relieved that everything turned out well.

[omphalopsychos]

woah!

[wintermoon]

Very cool!
Just one minor observation, if it was a pre '40 it would have an asymmetric headstock and open back tuners, but the t.p. looks like a '36-'37
Can you post a pic?

[andrew]

Absolutely! Here are some close up pictures of the headstock and the tailpiece. There's no serial number on the back of the headstock and no label on the inside. I would love to know exactly what year it's from. I don't profess to be an expert; I was basing my year estimate from the tailpiece, but I suppose it could be a replacement. Interesting to note that the tree-of-life headstock inlay is the older "10 leaf" style, as are the multi-segment cloud inlays. Those may help with the dating.

[ThatRhythmMan]

I’ve seen some guitars from that collection. Considering the prior mods, I think you took it in a very cool direction.

The tailpiece that’s on it appears earlier than the guitar itself. But then again, is that a repro, or one that was repaired somehow? I would have thought it would be hinged.


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[darkwaters]

Mojo!

[Sleeko]

Ahh, the fabulous Compensating tailpiece. Though not sure what exactly it was compensating for, very attractive design IMHO.
What is a C.A.R. pickup?

[gitman]

Ahh, the fabulous Compensating tailpiece. Though not sure what exactly it was compensating for, very attractive design IMHO.
What is a C.A.R. pickup?

The C.A.R. pickups : TK Smith | TK Smith

The original compensating tailpiece on the Epi Emperor and Deluxe models had 2 separate hinges : a long and a shorter one for 3 strings each and the different length was supposed to compensate for the differing feel in stiffness between the treble and the bass strings. These broke often and one hardly finds an original that was not repaired ....

[ThatRhythmMan]

The C.A.R. pickups : TK Smith | TK Smith

The original compensating tailpiece on the Epi Emperor and Deluxe models had 2 separate hinges : a long and a shorter one for 3 strings each and the different length was supposed to compensate for the differing feel in stiffness between the treble and the bass strings. These broke often and one hardly finds an original that was not repaired ....

The guitar in the original post has this style which preceded the Frequensator. The OP guitar’s tailpiece is not hinged. Epiphone may have made non-hinged versions, I don’t know, but I’ve only seen hinged ones similar to the one below.




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[andrew]

For reference, here is what the guitar looked like when I received it.