gwooldridge Posted June 5, 2009 Share Posted June 5, 2009 I have the opportunity to buy a 1941 Epi FT 75 acoustic guitar in good to excellent condition. It appears to be all original. Serial no. 16500. There is virtually no information about this guitar on the internet other than it does appear to have been produced from around 1935-1942 in Epi's New York plant. Can anyone tell me anything more about this model and its value? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TommyK Posted June 5, 2009 Share Posted June 5, 2009 This site is somewhat helpful. Not sure how complete it is. Notice that he lists the Epiphone flat tops to make his list more complete, but the really don't interest him.... therefore... might not be complete. http://www.provide.net/~cfh/epiphone.html Also, the "5" might really be a "9" that is hard to read, and therfore a FT79. Here's a couple more: http://www.usd.edu/smm/ http://www.folkwaymusic.com/instruments/gibsongallery.html Have you tried the Guitar Dater Project page?: http://www.guitardaterproject.org/ Even if you don't find your model, be a sport and key in what you know. It gets added to their databas and someone checks up on it and may have an answer later. You may need to scroll down to enter your model. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ship of fools Posted June 6, 2009 Share Posted June 6, 2009 Nice guitar, the FT-75 Spruce top, curly maple back and sides mulitple body binding, mahogany neck 20 fret bound rosewood fingerboard with parallelogram inlaycomes in Cherry burst,Natural, or Sunburst finish's 16.5 in body with and as you already know made between 35-42 one in average cond. is between $750-900 one in excellenct cond. $1150-1350 ( according to blue book ) but I have seen one go for as high as $1700 and if it was a FT 79 well the value would be through the roof, but I believe it is a dread and well worth a good look and if it plays as good as it looks I wouldn't hesitate to buy it I also think it was part of epiphones old style body, hope this helps you out and do let us know with pics if you managed to buy her. I should let you know I had a Natural which I had sold just a ways back, sorry can't tell you what I was paid for it but lets say I could easily afford to buy a rather nice Larrivee.Ship Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombywoof Posted June 7, 2009 Share Posted June 7, 2009 I have owned two and still have a much abused 1950s guitar laying around. Problem is these guitars are rare as hen's teeth so it is difficult to figure what they are worth. Generally the guitars made before 1943 are considered the best of the breed but the reputation of the flat tops never equalled that of the Epi archtops. The irony is the Gibson produced Texans are worth considerably more than the older Epi versions. There is a book on the history of Epis which you might try and dig up for some more info. Good Luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gwooldridge Posted June 8, 2009 Author Share Posted June 8, 2009 Thanks for the posts. Ship has described the guitar perfectly and it is a natural. Problem is that the seller is asking $3200 for the guitar (let's just say it's a big box retailer). I love the guitar, but not enough to allow myself to get ripped off. I know they're rare, but think I'm gonna have to wait to see if another one surfaces somewhere for a more reasonable price. gwooldridge Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ship of fools Posted June 8, 2009 Share Posted June 8, 2009 Some body has been smokin the funny herb if he thinks he can get $3200.00 for it, they are a pretty nice guitar, BUT not for that amount. You can find yourself a Empire or a De Luxe Regent for that amount and have something that at least will continue to grow in value, yep I would pass on that one also.Ship Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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