Epiphone (century) Archtop Question

[Elihouse12123]

Hi all!

Hope everyone is doing good! New to this forum so apologies if I’m in the wrong spot.

But I have been on the hunt for an Epiphone Century. I am debating between the regular full body and the thin body and wanted to get everyone’s opinion on it. I just got to play a full body one yesterday for the first time and I did enjoy it but I hear these can sometimes have feedback issues. My goal is to use this plugged in at my church. Could this feedback possibly cause issues?

also, the one I played shows “Century Spanish” in the sound hole. Does anyone happen to know what this means? I have looked all over online and none of the other ones for sale seem to say this.

thank you!

[sgosnell]

I have one of those. Feedback hasn't been a problem for me. The relatively thick plywood construction is somewhat feedback resistant. As long as you don't put it on a stand in front of a cranked amp, I don't think you should have issues.

Century is the model. Spanish means it's shaped like a regular guitar, which may have originated in Spain, so not a lap steel guitar. That nomenclature is still in use, as in L5CES, meaning Cutaway Electric Spanish, or ES350, for Electric Spanish, no cutaway. I like my old Century a lot. They have pretty narrow necks, but if you can live with that, they're fine. The mahogany neck is very stable. It's not really useful as an acoustic instrument, but amplified it's not bad.

[JCat]

The "Century" name was used on a line of quite different models. Once a flagship model, Epiphone capitalized on a successful model name, but the strategy was to develop the instrument in accordance with the trends of the time. There was a marketing value associated with the name (similar to marketing of cars and many other products, compare "year models")

There are many different "Les Pauls" out there, but they still share common features including the body shape. An Epiphone "Century" on the other hand is an ambiguous identifier.

They were all hollow bodies with the traditional Epi scale length, 25.5" and a wooden bridge, and thereabouts the similarities stop.

Gibson eventually bought Epiphone and in the 60s there were a few Epi models made in the Gibson plant in Kalamazoo, among them the Casino and the Epiphone Century ES-422T (Thinline, no cut away, single P-90) which basically is a long scale ES-125 T. Like any thinline or semi, it's supposed to be amplified. This version of the Century is interesting, because it's unique; combining a long scale with the successful features of the ES-125; a beloved, reliable, no-frills, once upon a time budget guitar.