Identifying the origins of a Epiphone Junior

[Vrga]

So, i've got this probably ancient Les Paul Jr., which has spent most of its life on the shelves of various warehouses before i bought it as "used" (it even has USED stamped on top of the head on the backside...).

 

The guitar came with a P-90 i think, 1 volume pot, 1 tone pot, with the transparent dials on. pretty much a typical LP Jr. from what i've seen on pics.. pretty much this one except the pickguard was black and didnt have the beveled rim.

 

Now comes the fun part

 

 

this plate is on the backside, standard bolt-on neck as it is.

 

 

the serial number is baffling me, as i havent seen any mention on any sites of a epi lp jr. starting with a Y. That is the only marking that was on the guitar, apart from the "USED" stamped in the wood. Now the guitar was dirt cheap, paid less than a $100 for it, and to my amasement, the wires were corroded, but not from playing but from storage, and the pickguard still had the protective foil intact. Now this guitar has been played a bit back when i bought it 3 years ago and is now almost completely disassembled, pending some bodywork to install 2 humbuckers and the whole switching deal for it.

 

The body is made from multiple layers glued together (19 or 20 altogether, need to sand a bit of a bigger patch to check), probably with some epoxy since i recognised that smell when i was doing some cutting to make place for the humbuckers.

 

Also, the head looks exactly like this, if it means anything.

 

 

 

Now, i wonder is this even a proper Epiphone guitar or just another copy? The guitar had a tendency of detuning very quickly, but i'm unsure as to what would be the cause of that...

 

 

 

Anyhow, i would be thankful if anyone could share some more light on this mysterious guitar of mine.

[Plymouth58]

I'm trying to learn a bit about Jr's myself (see my topic ;-) ), but I do know the "Y" probably stands for the Yoojin factory.

[Vrga]

now, the guitar dater site says that its been made in November 1996, with the production number 1829, factory not yet added to database.

 

 

Somehow, that doesnt feel right. Dunno why, but its just a hunch...

 

 

 

also, if possible, could anyone provide me with a pic of the backplate on their guitar? since the Epiphone thats written on the back of mine has p's that look like y's

 

 

i have a sinking feeling that this one might be a fake.

[Amino Moore]

There were several variants of Epiphone LP Juniors and SG juniors built during the 90's.

Here is a pic of the backplate on my SG junior from my avatar.

I think you are pretty safe assuming it's real.

The fakes are almost always the higher end set neck models like the Zakk Wylde models.

The forgers can't get much $$ for a bolt on neck junior copy.

 

[LSAR]

here is some pics of mine, the tuners on mine (and probably all of them) are horrible, which is why they don't stay in tune

 

 

 

 

 

http://img190.imageshack.us/gal.php?g=sdc10001cz.jpg

[brad1]

There were several variants of Epiphone LP Juniors and SG juniors built during the 90's.

Here is a pic of the backplate on my SG junior from my avatar.

I think you are pretty safe assuming it's real.

The fakes are almost always the higher end set neck models like the Zakk Wylde models.

The forgers can't get much $$ for a bolt on neck junior copy.

 

 

That's interesting. I have a '97 Epi SG Jr. It has a J for the first letter in the serial. But after that it's numbers. Yours appears to have JK. I have been told mine was made in Indonesia.

Yours appears to have been made in '99? (is that right?)

The strap button on yours is located on the neck plate also. The strap button on mine is located on the back of the neck.