Elite 1965 Texan VS???

[10drum]

Hello,

 

I just purchased a new Epiphone Elite 1965 Texan VS, serial # T201029.

 

I know the serial # indicates that is was made at the Terada factory in 2002.

 

My question is; were they discontinued, limited, or what? I can not find any information that the Elite 1965 Texan ever existed. I can't find any information on an Elitist Texan either.

 

It is a great guitar, and the store had it marked way down because they had it for a long time.

 

Just curious.

[johnl]

They were discontinued, not sure what year. Here's the old Epiphone spec page:

http://www.epiphone.com/elitist/texan.htm

[Red 333]

Hello' date='

 

My question is; were they discontinued, limited, or what? I can not find any information that the Elite 1965 Texan ever existed. I can't find any information on an Elitist Texan either.

 

It is a great guitar, and the store had it marked way down because they had it for a long time.

 

Just curious.[/quote']

 

You got yourself an excellent guitar. My experience with the Elite/Elitist acoustics is that they need some time to open up, but once they do, they sound fantastic. I have a couple of them, and they are as well made as my Gibsons.

 

Your Elitist, with very minor changes (the elimination of the heel extension, swap your Grovers for period correct tuner strip tuners with white buttons, swap your poly finish for nitro, swap your bone nut for corrian) became the Elitist McCartney Texan, which sells for about $2200 on the big online sites, and for about $1600 on eBay. Internally, they have mostly similar top bracing (the Elitist's back bracing is a little heavier than the McCartney's, and the top bracing is shifted slightly forward), and the same quality of woods seems to have been used on both.

 

The McCartney Texan has more period correct tuners and nut, as it's meant to be a replica of a '60s era guitar. Yours, even though it's called a '65 Texan, has the Grovers and bone nut, so it's more like a Gibson Modern Classic in spirit: an intrepretation of the original, but with the updated updated features you'd expect on a modern guitar.

 

Epiphone abandoned the Elitist acoustics in favor of the Masterbilts, which was a good move on their part. Because the Masterbilts are not direct copies of any decades-produced Gibson models, they can be evaluated on their own merits; the public could not evaluate the Elitists fairly, even though they were reviewed quite highly (how could an overseas-made acoustic compare to a Gibson, most people sniffed). I think you will find yours quite excellent.

 

Red 333

[10drum]

Too bad it's a great guitar, better than any Montana Gibson that I've played.

 

Thanks for the reply

[10drum]

Red 333,

 

I had a 69 Texan which was a great guitar but the neck was too narrow, and it had real soft mild tone. I think this one hung in the store for more than 4 years and has a great powerfull tone. The action is better than any accoustic I've ever played. I probably over looked it a dozen times because they had it priced too high.

 

Thanks for the reply.

[Red 333]

Red 333' date='

 

I had a 69 Texan which was a great guitar but the neck was too narrow, and it had real soft mild tone. I think this one hung in the store for more than 4 years and has a great powerfull tone. The action is better than any accoustic I've ever played. I probably over looked it a dozen times because they had it priced too high.

 

Thanks for the reply.[/quote']

 

I'm glad you like it. I like mine, and my McCartney Texan. Mine have a very nice chordal quality. The bottom end is very present but not thick or overpowering (I'm using light guage Gibson Masterbuilt Phosphor Bronze strings right now). Action is great, and easily adjustable! They seemed to be able to make an adjustble bridge that couples well with the top these days. Gibson uses them on some of the Icon series models and other reissues, and those seem to sound good while new. Time is probably the enemy of this kind of bridge, though. With a lot of playing, the vibrations are bound to loosen things up in there. You and i will just have to keep an ear and eye on ours.

 

Is your Elitist's neck wider or deeper than your original '69? I'd like to know more about that. Mine feels both narrow and slight compared to the various neck profiles on my Gibson acoustics, especially my J35 reissue, which has a huge neck. I can't imagine it being any narrower or shallower.

 

By the way, I revised my description of the bracing in my post above. After I thought about it, I got both the Elitist '65 and the Elitist McCartney Texan out of the guitar closet for a look, as I remebered there was a diference. At the time I wrote you, I was probably thinking about the bracing on the Bozeman-made McCartney USA Texan. I don't own one, but I did examine one up close, and the back bracing seemed to me the same as the Eitist McCartney Texan's. That's the impression I got, anyway. They've been on my mind because I found the dealer who has the unnumbered overruns of the USA's, and I've been thinking about whether to get one, and complete the trio. The more I think about it, the more rediculous it seems. I have far too many guitars to play as it is, and not enough talent, anyway.

 

Iconoclast had a '60s era Texan at one time (in the '60's if I remember right). I hope I'm not misrepresenting his thoughts, but I believe he didn't think the reissues sounded much like the originals. But as I recall, he didn't like the sound of the original, anyway, LOL. If he happens upon this, maybe he can recall whether the originals were soft on the mids, or not, as you've described, or else how he remembered they differed.

 

Red 333

[10drum]

I don't know the exact neck width of the old 69. The elite Texan has a 1 5/8" neck which is the same as an elite casino that I own. I have played Martins for the last 15 years and they have a 1 11/16" width neck. The old 69 needed some work and was worth alot more "as is" so I sold it. My wife didn't want me to sell it because I bought while she was in labor with our 1st child in 1988, I went to lunch because it was gonna be awhile before the baby came so I stopped in a music store and bought if for $150, brought it up to the hospital room and said "look what I found", I thought she was gonna kill me, anyway she was kind of partial to that old guitar, but a vintage dealer offered me $2000 for it a couple of years ago, so I sold it to him. I only own a couple of old guitars now; my first strat, my first good guitar an '82 ovation 1612, and a '66 esquire that I will never sell. I play bluegrass and country, but I don't usually get payed to play guitar, I'm a drummer, and I have played the same old set of Ludwigs for over 30 years, the guitars are toys and the drums are tools.

 

It's been nice talkin to ya,

 

Have fun and keep pickin.