Vintage Epiphones , Sorrentino, Howard Roberts Pre-1937

[Ship of fools]

Ultimately we all decide what a true value of a guitar is ( not these so called experts, they might have seen more then the average player thats for sure but there are others who love to collect info on certain models and makers ) by what we are willing to pay the experts are really us those who gather info and what not.

As for how many of any guitars are out there well one area that no one consideres ever is the collector ( one who doesn't play and has them stores in vaults and care takers ) I myself know of several so there are more Sorrentino's out there but we will never see them or ever hear of them thanks to those fine people ( NOT A LOL moment ), me I don't care for them at all but they are there and there's nothing we can do about it.

I have to tell you that its nice to see posts like this that brings out folks who have these old beauties and are willing to share, this is truely what this forum is for and from the Ship I say many thanks.Ship

[zombywoof]

I had never heard that burning the factory story. Gibson actually acquired all of what was left of Epis wood and materials when they acquired the company. Plus, as Ship pointed out, the workers who refused to make the move to Philly had alread been snapped up by Guild. And by all accounts Gibson was a great place to work in the 1950s. It did not start to suck until 1965 when the bean counters took over CMI and for the first time in Gibsons history, the shots were not being called by people who designed and built guitars for a living.

 

Ted McCarty later said he got Epiphone so cheap he could have paid for it with what it had in his pocket.

[fws6]

>I had never heard that burning the factory story.

 

It was in March 58 and well documented- you can read it for instance in the Walter Carter book

 

>Gibson actually acquired all of what was left of Epis wood and materials when they acquired the company.

 

They indeed bought everything, but due to the fire they did not GET everything ;-) Therefore they had to re-design the Epi line completely after 58.

 

>And by all accounts Gibson was a great place to work in the 1950s

 

I am sure, but Epiphone and Gibson had been rivals for 40+ years. Moreover most workers were Italian and did not want to leave NY. Those two reasons made many craftsmen stay in NY rather than move to philadelphia or Kalamazoo. And thus post 57 Epi quality is not even close to the guitars they produced from the '30s to about mid '53.

 

>Ted McCarty later said he got Epiphone so cheap he could have paid for it with what it had in his pocket.

 

That's because they were only buying the bass operation. They initially never realized that they would also acquire the rest, including guitars

[zombywoof]

It was in March 58 and well documented- you can read it for instance in the Walter Carter book

 

That's because they were only buying the bass operation. They initially never realized that they would also acquire the rest' date=' including guitars [/quote']

 

Never read the Carter book but secondary sources are not the most reliable sources of information out there (proper annotation, of course, goes a long way to establishing credibility). Other folks have argued that the fire story is bogus and grew from a story about Conn returning materials to the Epi NY folks and then burning whatever was left behind the factory. Gibson, however, did pick up the molds, dies, fixtures and such.

 

In an interview, McCarty noted he had offered to purchase the doghouse bass business from Orphie earlier. Later, when he made the Epiphone pitch to Arnie Berlin, however, one of his arguments was that Gibson was having trouble supplying dealers with all the guitars they wanted and that acquiring Epi would help them out in that area. This indicates that McCarty was intending to build Epiphone-badged guitars from the beginning - initially in a separate facility and then after 1960 in the factory addition to the Daylight Plant.

[jmaegdlin]

Hello Everyone,

 

I'm brand new to this forum but have been playing guitar and collecting now for a good while.

I recently acquired this 1934 Sorrentino (Epiphone made) model: Avon

 

Its very similar to the black stone from my research but it has much fancier inlay etc...

 

Just curious to see if anyone else has any other models or more info about these guitars...thanks!

I'm new so im not sure how to post pics as of yet but will figure it out soon...my avatar is the Sorrentino Guitar

 

 

hi just logged in to say ....laff.. i have the exact same guitar model avon. i got it in the basement of a construction

site under a pile of wood. miraculously it was not injured. it has the truest neck of any of my guitars. ill post

a pic later have to go to an xmas party soon. =)