How's your Epiphone Emperor Regent holding up?

[mozzfret]

TOM means Tune-O-Matic. Stewart McDonald sells some metric parts - it's where I got new TOM saddles for my Epiphones with TOM bridges (the saddles were crap from Epi).

Bought a $120 bridge made of steel, put it on my Epi "Lucille", and it became too bright and brittle sounding, but on my buddy's 59 RI Les Paul, it made the guitar sing while retaining the woodiness we did not hear with the stock Gibson bridge. Fortunately, he bought it from me. I put back the stock EPI bridge, but with the new saddles from Stew-Mac.

yeah i saw some video comparison too, the wooden sound seems nicer than the metal TOM I think though as your story explains this will vary from guitar to guitar.
I'd be happy just getting a replacement saddle from epiphone if I can get them to replay to my email because the bridge base seems ok and then I don't have to sand the bottom of a totally new bridge which I don't feel confident doing. and I can even copy the notches from the old saddle then too.

[jazzbow]

I'd be happy just getting a replacement saddle from epiphone if I can get them to replay to my email because the bridge base seems ok and then I don't have to sand the bottom of a totally new bridge which I don't feel confident doing. and I can even copy the notches from the old saddle then too.

Don't forget to follow the fingerboard radius when making notches for your strings!

[mozzfret]

Thanks for your kind thoughts. Nice to know a bit of me is out there within internetland.
Just looking at that picture I can see a better lacquer job than my Unsung version.
There should be a sort of soft alloy bracket that the pickup wire goes through, just tease the wire through so it's not touching the top plate.

As for the bridge base not fully contacting the top plate that can be addressed too but the two point version you refer to will do and work.
If you want to improve the acoustic volume there's always a sound post.
It is a moot point whether there's any benefit for this but its only held in under tension so is easily removed. Google violin sound post and search on JG.be as well for further info

Thanks jazzbow I pulled the pup wire through and got rid of so much of the buzzing. yay!
the wire touching the sound board doesn't matter so much then?
Hopefully not as here seems no way to stop it contacting.
Well after 20 years of one main guitar i went mildly crazy and bought another archtop!
I bought a Godin Jazz cause well it was basically new and half price but i had to buy it unseen from USA.
The cardboard box looks like its been thru WWIII by time it arrived but thank god(in) for the tric case and all it's polystyrene absorbing impactfulness.

The Guitar seems to hold great promise but i cant get the action low enough without it buzzing
lowering bridge just makes more buzz so took it to a tech. not sure what string to try came with 12-52 rounds, thinking trying the 12-52 half rounds i got with it, the 13-56 flats just seem too much for its fragile light weight feel, i will try them on the Regent instead one day.



Godin Jazz - Album on Imgur

[HeyNow]

[citizenk74]

Cool story. Really cool guitar!

[vinnyv1k]

Sly is a good bro.

[tusculum]

The video captures joy on so many levels. It's great to see NGD for a really interesting vintage archtop - I am showing it to all those cynics who poor cold water on getting a great guitar.

[Greentone]

Great story/great guitar.

[vinnyv1k]

Frank does a great impersonation of his bro. I dig his Elvis shades.

[HeyNow]

I find it interesting it took Sly 70 years before he bought his brother a guitar. Sly's been well off for a while.

[BigMikeinNJ]

I'm a big fan of Norm, I bought my first guitar from him, a very beat 1937 0017 from him in '75 when his shop was on Roscoe (??). Frank Stallone is a real character. I just knew it was a Frank Stallone video - though Norm has many really great artists that have performed demos in his shop. His original shop was tiny and for years had the same Mellobar slide guitar in the window.

[Max405]

That was great. I really enjoyed that.
Can you imagine having a brother who says, "ay yo, go over to Norms and pick yourself out a nice Christmas present.."
thats just friggin crazy..
thanks for that. Amazing.
JD

[fws6]

Thats actually Hank Garlands M400 right ? They put another trussrod cover and guard on it

[skykomishone]

Very Cool on many levels! Thanks for sharing. I love those vintage Epiphones, especially the Masterbuilt Emperor. But, keeping it in the case all the time isn't the best thing with that old nitrocellulose binding and pick guard. It's good to let it breath some and not let the off gassing get trapped in the case.

[EllenGtrGrl]

Very cool!! I my grandfather (who was a luthier [he made me my first guitar, when I was 6 years old], and also played in jazz and dance bands for decades), had a 40s Emperor with the same natural finish. Like Frank Stallone's, my grampa's Emperor, was the purely acoustic version (grampa didn't like electric guitars, at best he tolerated them). It was a massively cool guitar. My dad told me a few years ago, that my grandfather received it in the 40s or 50s, as a sort of tip for some repair work he did to a guitar. The owner of the repaired guitar was so impressed with the repairs, that he told my grampa that he had an Emperor that had some problems, and really didn't want anymore. My grampa could have it for nothing. My grampa accepted the guitar, fixed the problems, and the Emperor became his pride and joy, and main guitar, until the day he died.

Grampa died when I was 8, after a long struggle with cancer. My uncle (my dad's youngest brother, who also plays guitar), inherited the Emperor. I have no idea if my uncle even has it anymore (he hit some hard financial times years ago, and sold most of the guitar related stuff he had), or gave it to my cousin (who just plays "chinga chinga chinga" acoustic guitar - he has a couple of vids on YouTube [in one of the vids, he's playing my uncle's Ibanez lawsuit era Martin copy, which makes me wonder if my uncle even plays guitar anymore). It's kind of a bummer to me. I really wanted my grampa's Emperor, and I would have gladly bought it off of him. Oh well.

[rolijen]

I was needing a boost, so I went to the ER. The Emperor Regent, that is. It always inspires me. Here's the story: Wanting to upgrade it with a better pickup, I gutted this Epi (this is the one I rescued from the junk heap at Guitar Center this summer). Anyway, now that she's pure acoustic, I don't think I'll be moving ahead with the upgrade... at least not for a while.

For a laminate guitar, its voice is rich and pure. I would never have believed a pressed plywood top could be so lively and resonant. So, nowadays, when I need help, I go the ER. Thanks for listening. Anyone have a similar experience with a 'cheap' guitar punching ridiculously above its weight acoustically like this?

Roli

[ramsa]

I never had any luck with decent acoustic tone from ply topped semi or hollowbody guitars.
Had a big Samick JZ model that had solid spruce that was pretty impressive unplugged.
Sounds like you found a keeper!


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[johnnyjazz]

Had mine since the 90s, straight away i changed the pick-up for a Vanden Mimesis, sounds the way it should.

[Greentone]

You _can_ find a laminate archtop that sounds good unplugged. Herb Ellis' '53 ES-175 did. (I still can't figure that one out, and I played the derned thing.)

I had a '50/'51 Gretsch 6015 Synchromatic that was all-ply. That guitar was LOUD and sounded great--particularly in the treble. Again, go figure.

Laminate archtops that are good acoustic guitars ARE out there. Find 'em/keep 'em.

[rolijen]

Had mine since the 90s, straight away i changed the pick-up for a Vanden Mimesis, sounds the way it should.

Wow. She's a beauty!

[jazzbow]

I love my Epi Emp Reg solely for its neck and fingerboard. My fingers go a walkin' and my muse does the talkin'.

On the subject of guitars hitting above their weight how about the Squier J Mascis Jazzmaster!?

Wide nut width and decent P90 type pickups. Mid in a few electronic mods and flatwounds and you have an excellent all rounder.

It was a steal when it first came out but those F boys raised the price by 30% and it now costs as much (here in UK) as a MIM Telecaster.

Here's mine...

[entresz]

Some laminate guitars can sound really good acoustically. I have a '58 Hofner Senator that is obnoxiously loud, it really barks. Not a particularly sweet sounding guitar (very dry sounding) but fantastic for swing rhythm. It's a good gypsy jazz lead instrument too.

[ruger9]

Over the years I've read alot of good reviews of the ER, and not JUST the Peerless-made ones either. The Broadway to a lesser degree, but everyone seems to really dig the Regents.

[rolijen]

Over the years I've read alot of good reviews of the ER, and not JUST the Peerless-made ones either. The Broadway to a lesser degree, but everyone seems to really dig the Regents.

There was another thread recently about brand/headstock bias. I must admit, I was not a fan of modern Epiphone archtops due to my attempts to bond with two different Epi's (an ER and a Joe Pass Emperor II). I thought the first one was so dull and lifeless that I sold it almost immediately. It sucked enough that it could demotivate me from playing. Not wanting to be a snob, I decided to take another chance a couple years later when offered a reasonable deal on the JP. This was in the days before I had my beloved ES-175s and was trying to get into that sonic territory without spending much money. This particular JP played nice in the store but, once home where I could really spend time with it, it's lack of soul began to become more evident. Long story short, its "Build 50"-like finish, thin neck, and weak tone led me to ditch it too. At that point my bias against the brand (irrationally so) was pretty heavy.

Even with its flaws and abused past, I am growing to truly love this ER. Feeling grateful this morning for life and health, great friends and good guitars.

Roli

[citizenk74]

I love mine. Maybe THE best neck of all my guitars. Very articulate response, a nice range of tones, immaculate fit & finish. Perfect (for me) for solo/duo/trio gigs, supplanted only by my ES-175 because hey, ES-175.
The cost/value aspect of the Emperor Regent is amazing.