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Epiphone America Series???


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I came across this ad for sale on ebay and was wondering if anyone could shed any light on it. It's for an "America" series of Epi guitars but I've searched high and low on the web for any info and came up empty. I have no idea how old this advertisement is either. Was this series ever produced and if so, what model of guitars were they? Les Pauls? SGs?

 

Thanks for any info that anyone can come up with!

 

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Epiphone's American Series guitars were essentially re-badged Gibson guitars built at Gibson's Kalamazoo, MI plant. They were produced roughly from 1982 to 1983, making them some of the very last guitars built before the closing of Gibson's Kalamzoo, MI plant.

 

 

Spirit

The Epiphone Spirit features:

- Gibson 1959 Les Paul Reissue humbuckers

- Chrome hardware

- Optional Schaller 455 wraparound tailpiece

- Honduran Mahogany/Alder/Poplar body

- Set Maple/Honduran Mahogany neck

- Bell-shaped truss rod cover with "Spirit, Made By Gibson" printed

- 22-fret bound Rosewood fingerboard with Pearl "dot" inlays

 

Special

 

The Epiphone Special features:

- Gibson 1959 Les Paul Reissue humbuckers

- Chrome hardware

- Optional Schaller 455 wraparound tailpiece

- Honduran Mahogany/Alder/Poplar body

- Set 3-piece laminated Maple neck

- 22-fret Ebony/Rosewood fingerboard with Pearl "dot" inlays

- Colors available: Ferrari Red, TV Yellow, Alpine White, Ebony, Antique Sunburst, and Vintage Cherry Sunburst.

 

USA Map Guitar

 

The Epiphone USA Map Guitar features:

- Gibson 1959 Les Paul Reissue humbuckers

- Chrome hardware

- Optional Schaller 455 wraparound tailpiece

- 3-piece Mahogany/Maple/Mahogany laminated body

- Set 3-piece laminated Maple neck

- Rosewood fingerboard with "dot" inlays

- Colors available: Natural.

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Thanks for the info. From what I found about the Spirit on wikipedia, it seems that some of the Epi versions were actually re-branded and sold as Gibsons with the Epi logo barely visible under the overlaid Gibson one. I'd like to be able to get my hands on one of those just for the fun of it!

 

I guess it was a failed experiment. I wonder what the results would be if they were to try it again but this time with a line of US made Epi LPs and SGs and the advertising power of the Internet to drive sales?

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