carverman Posted January 3, 2010 Share Posted January 3, 2010 I only own 2 Epi's The Joe Pass Emperor 1997 has a label' date=' The Sheraton 1989 has no label. Surely [b']someone higher up at Epiphone could clarify this quirk and stop all the confusion [/b]by stating when the Korean builds started to have interior labels. Always thought mine had dropped out, but from the evidence everyone is putting forward, these 1985-1995 (roughly) Epiphones don't seem to have had labels. Well good luck with that. With a company that takes a good repairable guitar and stamps used on it, obliterates the sn (even if the guitar doesn't qualify for their "life time warranty" at that point, then strips it of any identifying hardware that it was Epiphone..except the headstock emblems and Epiphone name..and I'm sure they would do something with that ..except the guitar would be completely unsaleable... ....and one wonders why there have been inconsistences over the years? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
epinder Posted January 3, 2010 Share Posted January 3, 2010 I've just checked the headstock and neck and there are no signs that they have been replaced at all. Though on the higher block inlays there is a little bit of glue on the edges - which isn't there on any of my other guitars' date=' which makes me suspicious. You guys know so so so much more than me about these so are there any other ways to tell if this is a Dot thats been made to look like a sheraton? D[/quote'] It's a Sherri. The 5 piece neck is the give away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carverman Posted January 3, 2010 Share Posted January 3, 2010 Only a novice myself' date=' but if the neck has block inlays and dots logic demands, that one or the other, are an after fabrication. Might be useful to take a closeup of the inlays and show them to [b']experts like Musikron, [/b]that guys got eagle eyes, spots things others miss, cos he does this stuff professionally. Get those close ups on here and these guys will give you the answer that is for sure. Ahem....cough! cough!.. Well I did work in an Epiphone store once upon a time. The original Sheratons made by Gibson in Kalamazoo did not have dots after the 15th fret. It had the block position markers with the Abalone triangle in them up until the 12th fret. I have a 63 Epiphone catalog that shows these. I can't tell from the picture in my catalogue whether the 15th fret also had an abalone v in the middle, but it would make sense. The dots have to be a cheaper after mod, as it's easy to install a dot in an existing fb than try to router out a narrow block inlay on the 17th, 19th and 21st fret. Now historically speaking on the Sheraton..which was the top of the line "thinline" (next to the very rare Emperor thinline with 3 p_ups) ...whether it was an oversight by Gibson, or nobody thought you needed them past the 15th fret position..it would be difficult to find someone now who knows the reason for that decision. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peeper Posted January 3, 2010 Share Posted January 3, 2010 At what point along the neck does the binding change? If you look it the end of the neck by the dots, it's only a single ply binding, but down by the headstock id the proper multi ply. Give me a clear front and side pic of the spot where the binding changes. Maybe also remove the neck pup and take pics of the tenon joint. Also, the binding nubs have been removed. Sherrys and other upper tier models from that era almost always had binding nub's at the end of the frets. This one does not. Could have been a refret, and when pulling the upper frets they destroyed some of the fretboard or binding, and replaced it with that of another guitar. Good detailed pics of this transition and the neck pocket will help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 3, 2010 Share Posted January 3, 2010 Like I said eagle eyes.....wish you could come with me every time I buy a guitar Musikron..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peeper Posted January 16, 2010 Share Posted January 16, 2010 Big Bump. I want those better pics. I have been thinking about this one at night. Joe- I actually offer that as a service for some of my higher end clientele. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 16, 2010 Share Posted January 16, 2010 Well Musikron You can't come with me, but the guy was good enough to put a lot of photos of the "Epiphone by Gibson" Sherri I will be buying on the net. Also, seeing you seem to be, the only other guy on the forum, with one of these Sherri's you would be the ideal guy to take to look at it. It is a bit beaten up (but I sort of like that, it has character) and $380 is a bit much, but it does have that rare headstock maybe you could look at these photos and run your "eagle eye" over them: http://s33.photobucket.com/albums/d76/sticky_pl/gitarr/?start=0 there are a couple of pages of photos Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peeper Posted January 16, 2010 Share Posted January 16, 2010 I haven't peeped the pics yet, but $380 is a good price if it's american dollars. Its a serious hunk of guitar if its anything like mine. I passed over 3 elite(sts) among others to finally settle on this one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peeper Posted January 16, 2010 Share Posted January 16, 2010 Aside from what appears to be a much needed setup, the guitar looks solid. A few dings here and there, but nothing looks structural damage. My "By Gibson" also happens to be the heaviest guitar I own. More than all my LPs, my other Sherry, and possibly even my Jazz bass. I need to weigh it just for the sake of curiosity. Everything seems to be stock but the speed knobs. If it feels good, buy it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
irishdazzler Posted January 18, 2010 Author Share Posted January 18, 2010 So, Musikron very kindly offered some help in stinging together the various clues about the fretboard of my new Sherry. so here are the answers to his questions (and some more photos) At what point along the neck does the binding change? the binding fades out over the 9th and 10th frets Give me a clear front and side pic of the spot where the binding changes here you go Maybe also remove the neck pup and take pics of the tenon joint wasn't able to do this just yet - but will do V soon Could have been a refret, and when pulling the upper frets they destroyed some of the fretboard or binding, and replaced it with that of another guitar. Good detailed pics of this transition and the neck pocket will help I think that is exactly what happened If you check some of the inlays - they have been repaired (badly) and if you check on the 10th fret you can see a faint line where it looks like the join has been made Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peeper Posted January 18, 2010 Share Posted January 18, 2010 Problem solved. The fretboard has been re planed at some point during a refret. I assume the neck set angle was incorrect and they did it in attempt to make it playable. The correct fix would have been a neck reset, why they did this, who knows? You can see in the side position markers how they are exposed and leave lines going into the neck, thats a lot of material they removed. The fingerboard must be really thin up there. The binding "fading out" is just where they removed so much material they took all the binding as well. The inlays were surely damaged when they did that, and some are missing pieces and appear to just be filled in with epoxy. They probably just sanded away all the inlay when re planing the neck. As long as it plays well no REAL harm done, though that sloppy repair significantly reduced the resale value. I would be concerned about the radius being proper, looks like an amature job, I would never let a guitar leave my shop looking like that. Do all the note fret cleanly? Can you bend on the G string at the 10-12 fret a whole step and not have it fret out? I hope you got that guitar for around $200, cause I think you would be hard pressed to get any more out of it in that condition. But mystery solved, thanks for the better pics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
irishdazzler Posted January 18, 2010 Author Share Posted January 18, 2010 Hi! thanks for that - glad it all makes sense, but yeah I agree with you, they kind of butchered the guitar. with regards to your questions - yes the guitar plays just fine and although I'm not good enough to ever profess to playing music that requires me to bend the G at the 12th - having just tested it it sounds just fine.....which is a surprise! I paid £175 for the guitar - which I still don't think is too bad a price for the UK though I think that translates to about $280. If I knew what I know now I probably would have held on to my cash and waited for nice little tobacco number to turn up. Thats the price you pay for being impatient i guess lol so the question is now - do I get some repair work done? or just leave it? like i said it plays just fine - but I like a project! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peeper Posted January 18, 2010 Share Posted January 18, 2010 Repair what? The fretboard? That will require a replacement board, a fret installation, and new binding and inlays be done. Not cheap, you'll pay more for that than you did the guitar by a few fold. If it plays, leave and and don't worry. You have a good beater if it plays and sounds good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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