Epiphone Custom Historic USA -- Wilshire

[BBird]

I apologize if you Epiphone Experts have discussed this. In this month's edition of Vintage Guitar magazine, there is a full-page ad "Introducing the First . . . Epiphone Custom Historic USA." The add goes on to state "In cooperation with Gibson Custom, Epiphone is proud to introduce the first of our Custom Historic USA guitars - the 1962 Wilshire." Production run limited to 100 instruments.

 

Many here have wondered/speculated as to why the Elitist line was discontinued recently. I suspect we now have our answer -- the Elitists are going to be rebranded as the country cousin of the Gibson Custom/Historic line. To the extent that the Elitists were never truly embraced by the more brand-conscious/snobby guitar buyer, this may represent a shrewd move.

 

However, I am also sure that this will allow Gibson to jack up the price a bit, too.

 

I regret that I was so late in seeing the Epiphone light -- my search for Elites/Elitists will have to continue on Ebay et al.

 

Have to admit that I'm curious about this new line, though.

 

B

[pohatu771]

Well, it's been discussed, but I'll add my thoughts.

 

This line will not be a replacement for the Elitist line. The Elitist series was, largely, Japanese-made Gibson guitars. The Historic USA line will be American-made Epiphone guitars. These will not have Gibson equivalents.

 

There won't be an Epiphone USA Les Paul or SG. Those models have no history, and they can be made five feet away with a Gibson headstock.

 

This line will be a revival of Kalamazoo Epiphones.

[charlie brown]

AND, you're quite right....the prices will be MUCH higher, than ANY "Elitist" would have ever been!

List on that "Custom Historic Wilshire" is nearly $5,000. That's for a reissue, of a 'beginner's"

or "student" model...even as good as they were, and the new one might be, that's an "insane"

price...IMHO. I could see $2,000 list, maybe(?!) for the "nostalgia" factor, and "limited edition,"

but 5 Grand is Nuts! LOL! Would you rather have that, or an VOS SG Standard with Maestro,

or Les Paul Standard??!

 

CB

[Red 333]

The new, high-end Thunderbird basses are coming in under the Epiphone Pro monkier. That's probably the name Epiphone will use to distinguish its high-end Asian made guitars from the standard versions. And now that they've practiced building the relatively Elitist-like Slash models in the Chinese factories, expect the Pros to be made there, too. You have to admit, Pro is a much more marketable name than Elitist, a name with frankly negative connotation that Epiphone was forced to adopt after it was found that Elite was already someone else's service mark.

 

I wasn't super-impressed with the Slash models I saw (but they're a good start). I think a used Elitist LP is a better guitar, frankly. Let's hope Epiphone will eventually get the hang of building an Elitist equivalent in China. The talented Tedera and FujiGen luthiers leave big shoes to fill. They are world-class production guitar builders.

 

Red 333

[fazeka]

AND' date=' you're quite right....the prices will be MUCH higher, than ANY "Elitist" would have ever been!

List on that "Custom Historic Wilshire" is nearly $5,000. That's for a reissue, of a 'beginner's"

or "student" model...even as good as they were, and the new one might be, that's an "insane"

price...IMHO. I could see $2,000 list, maybe(?!) for the "nostalgia" factor, and "limited edition,"

but 5 Grand is Nuts! LOL! Would you rather have that, or an VOS SG Standard with Maestro,

or Les Paul Standard??!

 

CB[/quote']

 

OK, the prices are higher than the Elitist would have ever been.

 

Let me ask this question: Were the Elitists made in the US?

 

I don't normally pay big bucks for guitars, but having said that, there's no way Epiphones can be made in a Gibson shop as they used to make them on a regular basis and be reasonably priced. The last time this happened was 1970! Very different world nowadays.

 

I'd like to know the last Epiphone model since 1970 that Gibson tooled up to produce that *wasn't* a limited edition. From what I know, the Spirit of the early 80s, the Rivieras and Sheratons of 1993 (250 of each, I bought the Riviera back then; stupidly sold it later) and the Texans (and others?) that Montana made around the same time were all limited. Even the "not-100%-made-in-the-US" Casinos and Texans are limited to some degree (~2000 through ~4000, whatever).

 

To make 100,000 units, I think they could drop the price from $4832 list. What it would drop to, who knows? If I were an economist and had access to Gibson's cost of production, I guess it could be figured out.

 

Keep in mind that Gibson may have had to retool for this model. I can't expect all the jigs to exist from almost 50 years ago... do you expect Gibson to not try to recoup this?

 

Let's go further. Let's say Gibson had all the jigs to produce the guitar. I think there are probably some people in marketing at Gibson that did their homework and felt that they could produce a guitar that would sell for roughly $3k street. Why shouldn't they ask what they want to for it? It's their product. It's none of our business to say that it costs too much or it doesn't cost enough, unless you sit on the board or you are the CEO. So, the next best way is to (not) vote with your $$$. If you don't like it, you have every right not to buy! Or buy something else. Why should they not be allowed to sell it for whatever they deem? Isn't this capitalism at work? Believe me when I tell you that they will probably sell this edition out with little to no problem. I mean, c'mon, Gibson and the people that work there are generally not dumb. They've done their homework, I'm sure.

 

Also, consider the market for the early model Wilshire. How much demand is there really for them?

 

If you like the Wilshire and like the idea of a moderately priced reissue, you better hope these Gibson-built Wilshires sell out in a flash as that would give Epiphone and/or Gibson the support it needs to either do another run and possibly bring down the price or have Epiphone do an off-shore version for less $$$.

 

JUST MY 2!