The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
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  1. #1

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    Epiphone Broadway Elitist Archtop Electric Guitar Red W/OHSC | Reverb

    and you could be the beneficiary of all that visionary bravery for a mere 3k. good luck.

    as for me, i have thoughts. several. long story short, regardless of how it looks or what they did to it, middle pickups are usually deal breakers for me. had that not been the case, i may (or may not have) been willing to look past the color, having the darker color on the top and the lighter on on the back (a huge no no for me, as a gretsch guy), the backwards wiring, the inexplicable 5th knob, and maybe the tailpiece. but they'll accept offers, so curious what the pickups are.

    and since it's stamped "used" it has inherently less value, so from that perspective this isn't as big a travesty, if you're willing to be that understanding. but that does work both ways.

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  3. #2

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    I think that thing is awesome!

  4. #3

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    This guitar raises an interesting question. Why are mods desirable on some things, but anything off-standard ruins the value of others? I know nothing on motorcycles, but as my workshop is lodged in the same industrial carcass as a MC club, I've realized that no two Harley-Davidsons are the same.

    Why somebody has gone through the trouble of all these mods beats me, but the guitar is quite a looker. Yet, the middle PU somehow begs for a Bigsby, which isn't there.

    Unique, for sure. Worth the money? Hardly, whether based on collectability or playability. Probably, as an alternative to a scratch build with these exact properties.

  5. #4

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    Nope. I like elitists. I can appreciate and even (sometimes) pay extra for mods on a used guitar. Not here. Not at this price.

  6. #5

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    Quote Originally Posted by feet
    , the inexplicable 5th knob,
    It says in the description it's the vol knob for the middle pickup.

  7. #6

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    I have to admit it looks great. Not sure how it would sound or play. The cluster of knobs kind of echoes the headstock ‘wreath’ motif.

  8. #7

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    As far as the mods go, I think since the work was done at the Gibson factory makes it more ‘approved’ vs being done some in some dude’s garage.

    Price is optimistic, but when prices are on the rise all over it’s pretty common to shoot for the moon and see what happens.

  9. #8

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    The math on this one looks pretty simple to me:
    -asking $3,000, taking offers
    -will take an offer of, say, $2,750 all in
    -subtract resale value of L-5 tailpiece and replacement with functional archtop tailpiece: $2,750 - $1,000 + $25 = $1,775
    -subtract resale value of L-5-style bridge base (assume it is Japanese) and replacement with another, plain one: $1,775 - $150 = $1,625

    One is left with a very ES-5/Switchmaster-oriented guitar in excellent contition with top-notch parts, with a hardshell case, for $1,625. Depending on the offer, it only gets less expensive from there. Seems like a pretty good deal to me, if that's the kind of guitar one wants. I would imagine any jump blues player worth his salt would be interested in that, IMO.

  10. #9
    i love a good epiphone elitist, and in these times, a relatively rare hollowbody like this might conceivably appreciate to near that price were it stock. but this has too many "if only" things for me. if only it was cheaper, if only wasn't stamped used, if only the entire thing was painted, if only it wasn't red, if only it didn't have three pickups, if only the knobs and wiring made more sense, etc. subtract one of those (and a good chunk off that price) and i might be more inclined to roll the dice.

    that said, i do love it when folks are brave enough to make their dream guitars or mess with what they got; i'm quite the tinkerer myself. but should the day come when you try to move it... hard to estimate value because it's uncommon, the market is weird, it's stamped used and it's modded to hell. i would imagine of siege of lowballs is in order.

    as for the fifth knob, it's more the visual non sequitur that bugs me. why not go full switch master with six knobs? it doesn't look terrible, it just lacks symmetry. and though i'm not sure how it well it could be pulled off with the middle pickup, i wish it had a pickguard. and i don't hate the color. i almost love it (wish it was darker).

    all that said, this is still pretty cool, and it is a seat just begging for the right ass. i hope they find it. if you could patch up the big hole in the middle and maybe swap in some filter trons, that might have been me. but a falcon or country club probably makes more sense in that price range; same factory, after all.

    and i've only come across one "nashville epiphone" in my time. the way it was explained to me was that employees sometimes appropriate things off the line and make their own little homebrew/frankenstein kinda things, and they are kept or passed around employees or the local music scene. they aren't typically designated as gibsons or made in the usa, though they technically are. the one i had was an unfinished husk of an elitist casino. was super excited until i noticed something felt off. out came the measuring tape and i find it had a 1 1/2" nut. got returned the same day.

  11. #10

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    What’s the big deal with the used stamp? Asking as someone who has a guitar stamped used.

  12. #11
    It doesn't mean anything anymore. I guess it means that it was stamped at the factory that way so it couldn't be sold as new (sometimes they are stamped 2nd). Maybe they found a ding or something on it back then. Maybe you'll never find the "defect".

    It's sort of the equivalent of a salvage title on a car. The "value" will take a permanent hit in the eyes of buyers because it is forever marked, but probably isn't any different than any other used guitar out there. Unless they let it out the door with something seriously wrong, but if the neck was installed upside down, you'd notice. A good sign if you're looking for deals, because they should cost less. Should. But it likely isn't a lesser guitar.

  13. #12

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    Yeah it’s pretty clear what’s messed up on mine. Pretty large finish cracks on the top and neck joint. I think the neck humbucker in the bridge position was a “mod.”

    that took... moxie-9e18f7e7-c6a8-4e9b-a4d8-22cf32b2fe20-jpgthat took... moxie-243c428a-463d-4088-a410-1975d70dfa43-jpg

  14. #13

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    Quote Originally Posted by AllanAllen
    that took... moxie-243c428a-463d-4088-a410-1975d70dfa43-jpg
    Ah, the joys of catalyzed poly finishes!

  15. #14

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    Quote Originally Posted by AllanAllen
    What’s the big deal with the used stamp? Asking as someone who has a guitar stamped used.
    The "used" stamp usually means that the guitar was sold by the manufacturer to a wholesaler that specializes in repairing and selling guitars that had some sort of defect preventing them from being sold as new and/or were returned by a customer. This link explains it in detail

    The way I read the ad, a Gibson employee got hold of one of these guitars that was headed for the "used" re-sale path and did the mods him/herself in the factory. It does not appear to me to be an officially factory modded guitar.

    As to value, it's hard for me to guess since I have zero interest in a guitar spec'ed this way (irrespective of how it got there). But it's hard for me to imagine paying more than 50 cents on the dollar vs an unmodified one without the "used" stamp. Those look to be worth a bit over $2k, so $1-1.5k? [With the caveat that the oddball uniqueness of this means there's no benchmark, so who knows?]