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WTB EPIPHONE EXCELLENTE AND/OR REISSUE


mooseguy

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  • 1 month later...

Sorry I don't have one available, but thought I'd share this info for an Excellente fan.

 

My uncle, the late Andy Nelson, was a salesman and clinician with Gibson and Epiphone's parent company, Chicago Musical Instrument Co., from 1955-1965. He traveled across the USA doing shows in music stores, demonstrating the latest line. He was quite a player, too, and usually closed his shows with "Flight of the Bumblebee". He appeared in a 1958 magazine ad for Gibson, playing an ES-355 through a Gibson amp.

 

In his years with Gibson, Andy designed the L-5 CT (George Gobel model) guitar for his friend, George Gobel. Only 43 were built between about 1958 and 1961. He also had a hand in the design of the ES-355 and the Dove. He also designed a number of custom instruments for people he met during his clinics. As this was a time when Gibson sales were quite high, this always created friction with the "front office", as the customs always required extra work and extra time, and in those days, Gibson didn't always do the best job pricing some of these custom orders, unlike today, where the Custom Shop is a very important profit center to Gibson.

 

In 1962, Andy was transferred from being Gibson's clinician to the same job with Epiphone, which CMI was trying hard to promote as a strong second line, with quality instruments made by many of the same people who built the Gibsons. Without a whole lot of time, he was given some authority to design a new line of Epiphones, though as it turned out, very few were built. He had the idea to name most of them with names beginning with the letter "E", for the slogan, E is for Excellence, E is for Epiphone. Even the "batwing" headstock on some of the Epi solidbodies was a stylized "E".

 

One of the few guitars that made it to production with few changes from his design, save for the peghead, was the top of the line Excellente. It was designed as a highly-ornamented instrument that even outdid the SJ-200. Among the people who played Excellentes included Sonny James and Ernest Tubb.

 

The picture I'm including with this post (hope this works!) is a copy of Andy's original drawing, done back in 1962, of the Excellente.

 

excellente.jpg

 

After some problems with internal politics following the death of his mentor, Gibson Sales Manager Clarence Havenga, and a run-in with Gibson President Ted McCarty, Andy left CMI in 1965, and went on to a great five year run at CBS/Fender before having to take an early retirement due to several heart attacks. He lived through multiple health problems for a number of years, finally succumbing to heart failure in 1995 at the age of 73 in Cape Coral, FL. He worked up to the very end, having played a gig just the night before his death.

 

Just thought I'd share the story behind the Excellente and Andy Nelson, or at least that's how it was told to me!

 

Best regards,

 

Larry Grinnell

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Sorry I don't have one available' date=' but thought I'd share this info for an Excellente fan.

 

My uncle, the late Andy Nelson, was a salesman and clinician with Gibson and Epiphone's parent company, Chicago Musical Instrument Co., from 1955-1965. He traveled across the USA doing shows in music stores, demonstrating the latest line. He was quite a player, too, and usually closed his shows with "Flight of the Bumblebee". He appeared in a 1958 magazine ad for Gibson, playing an ES-355 through a Gibson amp.

 

In his years with Gibson, Andy designed the L-5 CT (George Gobel model) guitar for his friend, George Gobel. Only 43 were built between about 1958 and 1961. He also had a hand in the design of the ES-355 and the Dove. He also designed a number of custom instruments for people he met during his clinics. As this was a time when Gibson sales were quite high, this always created friction with the "front office", as the customs always required extra work and extra time, and in those days, Gibson didn't always do the best job pricing some of these custom orders, unlike today, where the Custom Shop is a very important profit center to Gibson.

 

In 1962, Andy was transferred from being Gibson's clinician to the same job with Epiphone, which CMI was trying hard to promote as a strong second line, with quality instruments made by many of the same people who built the Gibsons. Without a whole lot of time, he was given some authority to design a new line of Epiphones, though as it turned out, very few were built. He had the idea to name most of them with names beginning with the letter "E", for the slogan, E is for Excellence, E is for Epiphone. Even the "batwing" headstock on some of the Epi solidbodies was a stylized "E".

 

One of the few guitars that made it to production with few changes from his design, save for the peghead, was the top of the line Excellente. It was designed as a highly-ornamented instrument that even outdid the SJ-200. Among the people who played Excellentes included Sonny James and Ernest Tubb.

 

The picture I'm including with this post (hope this works!) is a copy of Andy's original drawing, done back in 1962, of the Excellente.

 

[img']http://www.grinnellfamily.org/images/excellente.jpg[/img]

 

After some problems with internal politics following the death of his mentor, Gibson Sales Manager Clarence Havenga, and a run-in with Gibson President Ted McCarty, Andy left CMI in 1965, and went on to a great five year run at CBS/Fender before having to take an early retirement due to several heart attacks. He lived through multiple health problems for a number of years, finally succumbing to heart failure in 1995 at the age of 73 in Cape Coral, FL. He worked up to the very end, having played a gig just the night before his death.

 

Just thought I'd share the story behind the Excellente and Andy Nelson, or at least that's how it was told to me!

 

Best regards,

 

Larry Grinnell

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Larry G.

 

Just picked up your posting-THANK YOU SO MUCH for a very interesting history of the origin of the Epi Excellente. They are out there some where.Just received a photo of a mint one living in Sweden-not for sale-ruined my whole day sob-sob.

 

REGARDS,

 

Moose

 

P.S. Still looking in case a long lost uncle, divorced wife or girl friend has one available.

 

d.dogs@verizon.net

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Great story and cool drawing thanks for sharing that

 

sorry Mooseguy no luck in your Epic search yet but good luck hopefully all your perseverance will pay off someday soon

 

Hi Retro:

 

Your continued good wishes and continued support in my Epi search gladdens me no end especially after receiving that photo from Sweden of a bikini babe holding an Epi-that's rubbing salt into to wound to say the least. May an Estaban owner have such luck. By the way, do you think there is a heaven somewhere for departed Estaban axes?-just a thought-maybe a research grant from the "Great Masked One" might settle that question once and for all.

 

Regards,

 

Moose

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Larry' date='

That was a wonderful story. Really great stuff. Do you have any more???[/quote']

 

Hi Man in Black, et. al.,

 

Thanks for the kind words.

 

About a year after my uncle died, I gathered as many photos as I had, borrowed a few more, and did a 32 page memorial booklet on Andy's playing career for family and close friends, including several articles he dictated and I put down on paper (he had suffered from tongue cancer--the surgery was pretty brutal and he had a tough time being understood, along with having suffered a stroke that to a small extent affected his ability to organize his thoughts to write--he never lost his ability to play, though!), that were published by 20th Century Guitar and Vintage Guitar magazines. I put that booklet (a 1 megabyte PDF) on my website, and you are welcome to download it from http://www.grinnellfamily.org/images/andybook.pdf. There are lots of stories about Andy's life in music, the people he knew, his career at CMI and Fender, and his part in revitalizing the Epiphone line in the early 60s. On top of that, he was a monster player. Unfortunately, the only commercial recording available today is his credited guitar work on Leroy Van Dyke's original 1955 recording of Auctioneer on the Dot label (Van Dyke re-recorded it several times in later years).

 

Gibson's own Walter Carter did an article about Andy and the extra special custom L-5 CT (the original Crest), he had the factory build for six lucky people, in Gibson's Amplifier magazine. Here's the link. Enjoy.

 

Later, all!

 

Larry

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