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Les Paul Junior


GaryExo

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Hello all

 

I was wondering where my Junior was made.

The serial is 098030825 which suggests the year was 1998 & that ties in with when i remember buying it,roughly.

However I have not been able to discover anything about it;it seems models from this era can have unreliable information.

I'm thinking of making some upgrades & just got wondering a bit about the guitar.

It's definitely discontinued because it has the dog-ear P90 & Epiphone no longer make the Juniors like that.

Anyone have any definitive information on this?

 

Thanks a lot.

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Hey Gary welcome to the forum JerryMac posted this yesterday in another thread...The guitar dater project website tells all but since recently seems to be down...There's many great sources of knowledge on this forum check this out...

 

 

Here's the factories:

 

DW = DaeWon (China)

EA = Gibson/QuingDao (China) Acoustics

EE = Gibson/QuingDao (China) Electrics

I = Saein (Korea)

MC = Muse (China)

R = Peerless (Korea)

S = Samick (Korea)

SJ = SaeJung (China)

U = Unsung (Korea)

B stands for Bohêmia Musico-Delicia (Czech Republic)

F = Fine Guitars Plant' date=' Korea

 

 

The first 2 numbers are the year, next 2 numbers will be the month (01 - 12), last four production run. So R97091234 was made at the Peerless factory in September 1997.

 

Sometimes, the year might be just the first digit so S9114321 would be Samick November 1999.

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Try and post some pics of it...

 

I don't have the means I'm afraid otherwise I would have done so with my first post.

Sorry.

 

Yeah,my serial number is exactly as given in my post...no letter at the start (I assumed it was a zero) but according to what you put forward it would have to be an O,wouldn't it?

Strange.

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Gary,

Is your serial number on a sticker, on the neck bolt plate or inked on the back of the headstock under the clearcoat?

These things will at least give us some idea of the "era", if you will, of the guitar.

Also, the wording on the headstock can sometimes be a clue. Some but not all of the eighties Epi's had "Epiphone by Gibson" on th headstock in faux mother of pearl. Then there are the "Batwing"headstocks used in the sixties, and again in the early nineties.

 

If it is a white sticker, usually with a black outlined border, then the guitar is from the eighties to early nineties.

There was a short period of time when Epi put the "Bad&ss"style of bridge on the juniors so they would intonate better. I think that was during the "sticker era". (There are a couple examples of these in a local pawn shop here in my town. The guy thinks they are LP Standards and has them priced in the $300 US range. They've been there 3years that I know of.)

The neckplate serial number seems to be more common on the Samick built Epi's and the "KJ" Epi's. (Not sure which factory the KJ stands for.)

I know there are some who have been in Epi retail business a long time on this forum so correct me if I'm wrong anyone.

The newer serial numbers are based on the aforementioned methods however there are some rarities due to Epiphone using several contract manufacturers to build their guitars.

Unless you bought it new and remember when it is hard to say for sure when it was built without a factory code in front of the serial number.

Pics would help though.

Bottom line enjoy playing it.

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Oddly enough, I found an Epi LP Junior in my local pawn shop today! No help for you, I'm afraid, but I though it might be enough of a coincidence to mention here. Almost a mate to my Gibson...

 

Appears to be unused, wine red, mahogany, bolt neck, single humbucker (cream/black) with cream surround, serial number on neck plate, WFxxxxxxxx

 

What plant is WF? Wichita Falls????

 

BTW, one Gary to another -- Welcome to the Group W Bench...

 

InternationalGuitarofMysteryandIntr.jpg

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Well...as I mentioned originally, I can't recall exactly but 1998 does seem about right & it was new as far as I was aware at the time.

The back looks like this with the serial stamped into the Epiphone plate.

epiphonelespauljunior_6.jpg

 

My headstock is pretty much like this except the "Junior Model" legend is very much darker gold on mine & most noticeably my truss rod cover plate has GIBSON printed vertically on it.

epiphonelespauljunior_8.jpg

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