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1941 Epi Zephyr in the shop w/pics


Bob Marsh

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Here's one for you Epiphone fans...This old beauty came into the shop some weeks ago from a regular client - It was his Grandad's guitar and though well used and well worn it remains a piece of Epiphone history. When we received it there were no knobs, switches or plates, the tailpiece was beginning to split and the 3 pound pick up was in a box that the owner brought in. Still, the old gal was in fair shape and he wanted her restored to playing condition (Not necessarily exactly historically correct, but as close as we could come)

 

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The pickup was shot so it was sent to Lindy Fralin Pickups for refurbishing. Next order of business was to fabricate some parts that were missing. I looked up some photos in vintage books of similar Zephyrs and found that this pickup system was called a "Mastervoicer". I found a photo of what the control knobs and plates looked like and a search on the web did not turn up any available true replacements so I went to work with CorelDraw, our Epilog Laser, some maple and Corian. After redrawing the plates and knobs using the photo as a pattern I engraved, cut out, inked and buffed the control plates using white Corian. The knobs were a bit more work - I cut several layers of curly maple with the shaft holes in them, a top piece out of Corian without the hole, stacked and glued them, then proceeded to handshape them with a file and sand them smooth.

 

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When all sanding was done Bob Rigaud sprayed the knobs with a bit of antique white lacquer followed with clear with a touch of yellow tinting added for a vintage look - Plates were also coated with the clear/yellow lacquer. The result, while not authentic is a pretty good facsimile - We're toying with the idea of making some plates out of anodized or painted aluminum - If that happens I'll post some pics.

 

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This is about as far as we've gotten - When the pickup comes back from LF and the tailpiece comes back from the repair/plating shop and there's more visible progress I'll post some pics - Hopefully we'll put another one back in service!

 

Bob

 

B

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Tuners are a bit more difficult - We could probably recreate the knobs themselves, but with 2 tuners missing - and they're real oddbals - they have the Epiphone "E" cast into the tuner housings - we're in a tight spot. We have feelers out all over the place for a couple replacements - so far no good. It may come to the point where we replace all of the originals and put the old ones in the case for historic purposes - Hate to do it but those old style tuners are scarce as dragon's tears. If anybody on the forum has ANY, one 2, a set? I'd love to hear from them.

 

Thanks for the interest and I'll keep the thread updated as progress continues.

 

B

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Awesome job on those knobs! That guitar is going to be a beauty when it is finished...not that it already isnt.

 

Also, +1 on using CorelDraw. By far my favorite vector program. I've noticed that it is very poplular when it comes to fabrication and vinyl applications. The only time I use Adobe Illustrator is when I trace bitmaps (far superior to Corel) or when a piece is going to print and the company uses Abobe. I'll also use Adobe Photoshop for any four color process work going to print as the color profiles are more accurate than Corel. But aside from those few things, Corel is my go-to program. Corel is very underrated in my opinion.

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Thanks to all for the interest and kind words!

 

Hi RTH - CorelDraw has been MY go to since version 1.0 which came on one 5-1/4" diskette almost 25 years ago and I agree it's the cat's a$$.I also agree that process work is usually best handled in Photoshop, but Photopaint is making great strides (Not to mention the price of the Corel Suite is not as high as the Adobe package) All things being equal doing graphics processes on a computer beats the heck out of cutting Amberlith ( Something that if I NEVER do again, it will be too soon) As to Illustrator - great program but lacking in some areas - Doing spot color separations in Illustrator is either: Do it manually, or not at all.....But still a great program and I enjoy using it frequently. Nice to find a fellow Vectorman on the forum!

 

Cheers!

 

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That's just crazy Crust! Sure looks really similar - the pickups and headstock and body are dead ringers - the control knobs are in a slightly different location tho...Thanks for the blast from the past - Jimmy wasn't much on complicated chords, was he? I wonder if this is where Richie Havens got his unique style of playing?

 

Thanks agin!

 

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Hi Bob,

I do like that "wine" tune, a real old traditional tune. I have that in one of my old song books (Americas favorite ballads, by Pete Seeger).

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I play it in standard tuning. I was looking on YOUTUBE for a version and came across that clip. I remembered hearing that as a kid and always liked the story and melody. I wonder what tuning he is using to strum too ? If I knew, I'd retune and try to play along. lol.

 

When I saw the guitar in the clip, I thought the guitar looked a little familiar and that you'd dig it.

Now I want an Epiphone Wildcat Royale

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Thanks for the great link Matthew - Lots of great photos there, and all useful AND interesting - I'm going to check the serial # on the headstock of the one we have - be interesting to see how far apart the guitars are.

 

Thanks again!

 

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