beautiful epi 335 -help needed to 'id

[teleholic]

as topic states, i chanced on a used deal for a beautiful but rare looking epi 335 with block inlays..anyone know what it is? Thanks! links to pics:

 

http://www.ishibashi.co.jp/u_box/image/3157561041.jpg

http://www.ishibashi.co.jp/u_box/image/3157561042.jpg

http://www.ishibashi.co.jp/u_box/image/3157561043.jpg

[ebb]

second image, back of the headstock is the epiphone custom shop logo. That means there will be very little information available on it.

 

My very amateur guess is a Dot deluxe in a non-standard colour. What level/quality of epiphone and what it is worth i will not chance to answer. What are they asking?

[Parabar]

Everything else about it looks like the Larry Carlton model --- does the truss rod cover say "Mr. 335?" I tried blowing it up, but the image wasn't clear enough to read the inscription.

 

The neck binding, the finish, and the Gibson-shaped pickguard lead me to suspect it might have been exclusive to the Japanese market.

[Ron G]

Everything else about it looks like the Larry Carlton model ---

Is/was there such a thing, Epiphone, that is?

[Parabar]

Not in the US, there wasn't --- part of why I thought it might have been exclusive to Japan.

[teleholic]

wow guys...sounds more than just a deal to me right now...the price is 39000 odd yen, which translates to maybe 350 to 400 USD shipped? sounds pretty tempting..

[epinder]

That is a beautiful looking guitar, so whatever model it is doesn't really matter.

 

You need to buy it.

 

PS: I thought that Ishibashi added about $100 additional for shipping to the US. That was what I was quoted when I contacted them regarding a guitar that I wanted from them.

[teleholic]

yeah to the US, probably...i'm not in US..closer to Japan so shippings slightly cheaper..

[supernova1281734074]

I've seen a similar model on the internet, and asked about them a couple of months ago. I believe it's made in China/Korea (think China), and is basically a Epiphone Dot with block inlays.

 

Peter Cooks in London, were asking £300 for one in cherry red, and somwhere else was asking £550 for one in England, in the end somone who'd played the P C guitar said it sounded awful, so I kept on looking and eventually found a Matsumokas 1983 Riviera (wine red) like Noel Gallagher's (Bonehead) played a similar model of Noels in Sunburst, and has small block inlays, and a stop bar tail piece - and plays and sounds fantastic. I paid £540 for it in August and it plays and sounds better than a Gibson Es-335 played in a guitar shop.

 

Hope this helps

 

John