c.1938 Epiphone Blackstone Archtop Guitar

This is a customer's instrument I finished up yesterday. Work included a neck reset, cleaning, fret level/dress, and setup. It plays great now, but I have to say... if you're an amateur looking to learn how to reset a neck -- please don't do it on nice guitars! Use an old Harmony Stella or something similar to learn such skills...! I had tons of debris and clutter and "shims" to remove after steaming this neck off that shouldn't have been there in the first place.

That said... this is an Epiphone (pre-Gibson-owned Epi) Blackstone model from 1938. It has a trussrod with adjustment under the fretboard extensions, which is kind of cool, but meant that to drill my steaming hole I had to go through the heel (after removing the heel cap) as I didn't want to hit the rod in the process.

This is a big, wide instrument with that gorgeous Epi shape and 16 3/8" lower bout.

Nice inlaid-MOP Epiphone logo as well as original bone nut. Looks like an ebony veneer on the headstock as well.

Rosewood board, bound in creamy celluloid, with nickel-silver frets and really cool deco-y pearl inlays. The neck feels really modern on this despite having a bit of a v-shape. It's fast and shallow and relatively narrow.

Original adjustable bridge... though the topper may be a replacement.

Cool tailpiece though I'm thinking this is also a replacement.

Ain't she a beaut?

I'm sure that this flamed maple back is laminate and the sides may be as well. The top, though, is for sure solid spruce and carved with tonebar bracing.

These Grover tuners might be 1950s-era replacements, but if they are the base outlines match the originals.

Note the finish is slightly mucked around the edge near the heel. That was there before the reset and probably was done by the last fella who worked on this. The strap button is also unoriginal.

And there's the label!

Overall, this is an excellent player with a punchy, sort of bright but sweet tone.