TK Smith’s own Epiphone Deluxe

[omphalopsychos]

Some of you might recognize this guitar. TK smith bought a players great Epiphone Zephyr Deluxe about four years ago and installed his own hand made bronze bigsby style pickups.



It’s one of the coolest guitars I’ve seen and I had told him how much I loved it.
Long story short: one day he texted me and mentioned he was selling it and wanted to know if i was interested. A week later the guitar was in my hands!

What can i say about it? TK makes the most wonderful sounding pickups out there and they pair so perfectly with this guitar. The top is made of spruce laminate and it’s a surprisingly heavy guitar, but I think that gives it a great electric tone that cuts beautifully. The pickups are massive sounding but never muddy. Some magic about how TK makes em. Here are some more photos and a video clip.

[Rob MacKillop]

Wow, sounds perfect, and suits your playing, Juan. It’s in the right hands. Beautiful arrangement too. Are you going through that Gibson amp?

[Flat]

Wow. Just wow. Talk about vibe. Totally dig that. Great playing too!

Any idea what year the Epi was made?

[andrew]

Wow, ultra cool! Love the look. Love the sound. If it had a cutaway, I think it would be an absolute dream guitar for me. I've wanted something from TK for a while now, but it seems they're pretty much unobtainium.

[omphalopsychos]

Thanks all! Rob as much as I love that amp it’s actually too noisy for quiet recording. This is recorded with a fender Vibrolux reverb.

I don’t remember the exact year of the Epiphone. Pretty sure it’s early 40s though. I can look it up off the serial number later.

[wintermoon]

that is the SOUND, baby!
electric Epiphones w/those NY pickups have never done much for me but w/ the right pickups this is what is possible.
nice playing too Juan.

[Doctor Jeff]

Beautiful guitar and nice playing.

I dig that Tele too--are those Smith pickups?

[omphalopsychos]

Beautiful guitar and nice playing.

I dig that Tele too--are those Smith pickups?

Yes. The tele is a custom built TK Smith Special. It's actually not a tele at all other than the shape. It's hollow and constructed like a paul bigsby. I wrote a ngd about that one earlier this year here: Incoming NGD TK Smith Custom Build

Here's a clip of the "tele":

[Jabberwocky]

What wonderful pickups! Am thinking about getting one of those Archtop Tributes and replacing the pick ups with the TK Smiths. Perhaps I could have Masaki-san make one for me with the TK Smiths.

[skykomishone]

Wow! That is what I'd call a 'thick' sound that really nails it for this vintage and type of guitar. Great playing too. I love vintage 40's Epiphones and Gibson's. Some of the early Epi's had narrower necks that I don't prefer though. This one looks good but I always wonder about that. Also, to what do you attribute the weight, those pickups look pretty hefty to me.

Great demo. Thanks!