Need info on a "Junior"

[Donzie]

Day good people.

I have a question about an SG "Junior" I'm looking at.

 

It has been painted dark blue but appears to have been originally a pale yellow color. It has a white pickguard and one white P90 (bridge position). The bridge is a one-piece tailpiece / saddle with intonation screws on each end. The headstock says "Epiphone" and "Junior Model" but it's an SG body style.

The volume knob (only 2 knobs) is very close to the pickguard as the body seems shorter than a regular SG.

The serial number on the neck plate is J7020418.

Can someone tell me the approx. age of this guitar.

To me it looks to be older as the frets are quite tarnished and there's signs of wear and age on the hardware.

 

Thanks for any info.

Donzie

[brianh]

In general, Epiphone SG bolt-neck Juniors are moderately desirable, but not particularly valuable guitars. That it has been repainted is a major negative, the pale "TV" yellow was a classic finish and one of the more appealing colors. The P90 is a plus (vs. the current crappy humbuckers), and that Jr. might clean up and play pretty nice, and you can get some very nice rock tones out. The serial number on the neck plate is meaningless, they used the same one for hundreds (thousands?) of the same model. If it's in playable condition, has nothing more wrong with it than the repaint, it's worth at most $100 USD. If it was unpainted and in excellent condition, it might be worth $150, or $200 with a hard shell case. Others here may have more to say on the value estimate, IDK.

 

One thing about those bolt-necks - they absolutely need a tuner upgrade, the factory gears are virtually useless.

 

Hope that helps.

[Donzie]

Thanks for the reply. Any idea how old it would be?

[brianh]

I know they haven't put P90's on the bolt-neck Juniors in a few years.

 

I have a P90 on my set-neck Junior which Guitar Dater says is from March 2006. (The set-necks have real serial numbers, Grovers, and Mahogany bodies, not plywood.)

 

So probably 4 to 10 years old or so, but I can't conform that. The low-end Epis seem to be made in fits and starts and can't be traced by S/N, so it's essentially impossible to find out without a bill of sale.

[brianh]

Hi Donzie' date='

 

and welcome here,

 

To my knowledge it seems to be made in Feb '97

 

Peter[/quote']

At least that run of neck plates might have been made around then. When those neck plates got added to the other parts and assembled into sellable stock is anybody's guess...