1953 Epiphone Zephyr Emperor Regent, a sexy grandma

guitarz.blogspot.com

Yes Ma'am, this Epiphone Zephyr Emperor Regent is all this - Zephyr, Emperor and Regent, on top of being an Epiphone - I mean a 1953 Epiphone when the brand was Gibson's most serious concurrent, and actually leading the market of archtop hollow body electric guitars with this very model (at a time when there wasn't other kinds of electric guitars).

A few years later Epiphone started to wane - it had never really recovered from its founder's passing away in 1943 - and was sold to Gibson in 1957, and became what it is nowadays, this bizarre mix of budget and historical instruments maker...

Anyway, Zephyr stands for electric, Emperor for the characteristic big archtop hollow body that made Epiphone rule the market back in the day, and Regent for cutaway. This model shows also the first serious pickup selector in history, the six switches allowing to reach quickly several combinations of the three pickups, at the exception strangely of the three together...

A sexy grandma, isn't it?

Bertram

PS. You'll find a fine review here.

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