bibabelula Posted February 7, 2020 Share Posted February 7, 2020 Salut les Amis, My name is Phil from Nice / France. I just got a good deal I think by buying an old FT-145 epi for a few dollars.After a good cleaning, I looked here and there at the different versions of this model, but I did not find a guitar similar to mine, it has no zero fret and instead there is a wooden protuberance which is now worn, supposed to serve as zero freight. because it is too worn this relief stifles a little the strings of E and B and maybe it will be necessary to remove it and put in place a zero freight to restore shine on the bottom of the handle. I did compare with a few different guitar like norman, furch or old gakki/japan and this epi sound really good, nice bass... Anyone on this forum has information regarding this model? thank you very much phil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobinTheHood Posted February 7, 2020 Share Posted February 7, 2020 You can see from the side of the fretboard there used to be a fret there. It looks loke someone removed it and put a chunk of wood in its place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bibabelula Posted February 7, 2020 Author Share Posted February 7, 2020 Hi, thanks to help me, but I'm not sure about your analyse, when you have the guitar in your hands it seems to be a original part of the guitar' I can't understand why to put a piece of wood instead a fret, If there was a problem it has to be more simple to change the fret ?? but anyway let's have a look on others pictures, what do you think ??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QuestionMark Posted February 8, 2020 Share Posted February 8, 2020 To me, that appears to be what is called a zero fret. Zero frets were quite common with imported Japanese electric and acoustic guitars, especially from the late 60s and 70s. My opinion is it was put there by the Japanese factory that Epiphone/Norlin outsourced the guitar to, to be made. QM aka “Jazzman” Jeff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AzariahJames Posted February 8, 2020 Share Posted February 8, 2020 Those did come with zero frets, though that looks like someone tried to pull it and damaged the fretboard. They have decent tone and volume, i used to have the cherry burst one. Here in the US those are now considered vintage, so in good condition they go for around $200-$250 dollars. That one looks to be in just fair condition. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobouz Posted February 8, 2020 Share Posted February 8, 2020 This guitar would have originally had the typical metal zero fret as commonly seen on ‘70s Epiphones. Most likely the string height was not ideal for the player, and their solution was to construct a wooden replacement that could be dialed in more accurately. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bibabelula Posted February 9, 2020 Author Share Posted February 9, 2020 Holà, that's a hard work to adjust the guitar, it would have been easier to just sand the zero fret a little, but if there is not another guitar like this, it is a personnal adjustement, but believe me it is not so good because it removes the treble and chokes the strings, the wood now is very old and I think I have to put the zero fret to have a playable guitar. Thanks all to help me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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