Jump to content
Gibson Brands Forums

Emperor AS curiosity


Stratonecaster

Recommended Posts

Hi Iam a newbie here. I got an Emperor As, the inside label writtem kalmazoo michigan. Wonder if this is a real US made epi or Asian made. Its a big jazzbox, withh 2 pups, gold hard ware, frequensator tailpiece. I think spruce top, 3 pcs neck mahogany (i guess) Any information bout this?

 

 

Thanks

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Iam a newbie here. I got an Emperor As' date=' the inside label writtem kalmazoo michigan. Wonder if this is a real US made epi or Asian made. Its a big jazzbox, withh 2 pups, gold hard ware, frequensator tailpiece. I think spruce top, 3 pcs neck mahogany (i guess) Any information bout this?

 

 

Thanks[/quote']

 

If the model name refers to "AS" (meaning "Antique Sunburst") then it's definitely Asian-made as the neither the New York or Kalamazoo-made Emperors ever had this designation for its models. Since the label refers to "Kalamazoo, Michigan" this is a Japanese Matsumoku-made Epiphone from between the late 70's to the mid 80's.. . Post the serial number and we'll be able to date it to the year and month. These were pretty nice and pretty high quality guitars. Not extremely valuable...$750-$900 USD . They started out as a limited to Japan line but as time progressed they became distributed world-wide.

 

 

Nelson

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I got it for $800 mint condition, pro setup and custom rosewood pickguard(replacing the curving original pickguard), original hardcase and 2 sets Thomastik Infeld string. Sounds great, nice aging colour. serial number 4014114. wonder if the top, back and side are solid wood or not, but acousticaly it sounds good, very resonant(compare to my Gibson ES175).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I got it for $800 mint condition' date=' pro setup and custom rosewood pickguard(replacing the curving original pickguard), original hardcase and 2 sets Thomastik Infeld string. Sounds great, nice aging colour. serial number 4014114. wonder if the top, back and side are solid wood or not, but acousticaly it sounds good, very resonant(compare to my Gibson ES175).[/quote']175's are pretty dead unplugged.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I got it for $800 mint condition' date=' pro setup and custom rosewood pickguard(replacing the curving original pickguard), original hardcase and 2 sets Thomastik Infeld string. Sounds great, nice aging colour. serial number 4014114. wonder if the top, back and side are solid wood or not, but acousticaly it sounds good, very resonant(compare to my Gibson ES175).[/quote']

 

$800 is about right...your guitar dates to January of 1984. All of the ES-type guitars are made from laminated woods...even the Gibson models. There's sometimes a difference in the type of laminated woods used such as a three ply version containing two layers of maple separated by a layer of mahogany (currently used on Asian Epiphone models) or maybe a five layer variety of three layers of maple separated by two layers of birch (used on older Gibson ES models)...either way, it's still all laminated. If forced to guess I'd say yours is probably a maple/mahogany/maple variety.

 

Nelson

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Btw Nelson' date=' this is not an ES jazzbox model. I think this is more of L series jazzbox. Is it makes any difference, as Gibson L series is made of solid wood.[/quote']

 

Well, the Asian Epiphones were most certainly laminated woods so they are in fact closer to models like the ES-175 and ES-350 than the L-4 and L-5 which are solid woods with carved tops (The "ES" models by definition are "Electric Spanish" models which usually were plywood or pressed top with laminated sides and backs...not the higher end L-5 CES type models which were electrified acoustic arch tops). The Asian Emperors from this line also came in a "T" (Thin line) designation which was slightly L-5--like in looks but again, the materials used and construction had nothing in common with a Gibson L-5. Another thing, the pre-Gibson (pre-1957) Epiphone electric arch tops were laminated while the acoustic versions were solid woods which made the electric versions a lot less desirable in the collector world just as the acoustic arch top L-model Gibsons have a bit more interest over the early "ES" models.. If you've ever seen an original Epiphone Emperor you also know that there is little even in the way of appearance that's shared with the Asian Emperor version besides the model name (The original Epiphone Zephyr Deluxe Regent was closer to an Asian Emperor in appearance). The original Emperor had an 18 1/2" wide body and three pickups.....Huge!

 

Nelson

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

Another thing' date=' the pre-Gibson (pre-1957) Epiphone electric arch tops were laminated while the acoustic versions were solid woods which made the electric versions a lot less desirable in the collector world just as the acoustic arch top L-model Gibsons have a bit more interest over the early "ES" models..[/quote']

 

Yes, very true..my book Epiphone; House of Stathopolo supports the fact that the Emperor Electric Regent was

a plywood top..even back in the late 40s. Nothing wrong with that for an electric. The ES-175 has had a plywood

top all along and is ONE of the most sought after guitars in the jazz world...besides the L5.

 

BTW..my Epi Broadway Elitist has what you could call a two ply top. The top part is spruce and underneath

is a thin layer of wood, to prevent cracking or to help with the top forming process..

I doubt very much that this is a hand carved top.

 

If you've ever seen an original Epiphone Emperor you also know that there is little even in the way of appearance that's shared with the Asian Emperor version besides the model name (The original Epiphone Zephyr Deluxe Regent was closer to an Asian Emperor in appearance). The original Emperor had an 18 1/2" wide body and three pickups.....Huge!

 

Apparently (according to the book), Epiphone did a one-off Emperor style,

with with a hand carved spruce top for Johnny Smith. He commented that for an acoustic it was ok, but for

an all around jazz guitar it was "too big for practical purposes". He also had problems finding bass strings

long enough, so had to "modify" the frequensator with a shorter unit on the bass side.

 

He was using an Emperor with a pickup for some solo work at NBC studios in the very late 40s,

put it down for a break and a hot toddy, came back and the guitar was gone. He never saw it again.

This was around 1950,when Epi NYC was starting to have problems, so he went to John D'Angelico

instead, to make him another. I guess he was pretty fussy with his guitars.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...