Epiphone Sheaton 1969

Epiphone Sheraton E212TV CH Model Arch Top Semi-Hollow Body Electric Guitar (1969), made in Kalamazoo, Michigan, serial # 537000, cherry lacquer finish, laminated maple body, mahogany neck with rosewood fingerboard, black hard shell case.

This spectacular semi-hollow thinline guitar 1969 Epiphone Sheraton is beautifully finished in the rich cherry lacquer originally reserved for Gibson instruments but by mid-1962 also offered on many Epiphone models. The E-212T was Epiphone’s top of the thinline semi-hollow guitar line in the 1960s; only the huge hollow body Emperor was more expensive. This guitar is an E212TV, designating that it was factory fitted with the Epiphone Tremotone vibrato, a catalog option, instead of the standard Frequensator tailpiece. On the July 1963 Epiphone price list this combination of features cost $595 plus $50 for the #1519 hard case; in September this went up to $635 and $60.

After Gibson’s parent company Chicago Musical Instruments bought the nearly defunct Epiphone operation in 1957, it took them a year or so to come up with a guitar line using the former competitor’s name. Samples were shown at NAMM 1958 but production did not begin in earnest until the 1959 model year. The Sheraton was one of the first models offered and combined Gibson’s then-new double cutaway, semi-hollow body design with a more traditional Epiphone look.

This model was the rough equivalent to Gibson’s ES 355TD but built in much smaller numbers. Differences included the then-proprietary Epiphone mini-humbucking pickups replacing the New York made single-coils used earlier and elaborate Epiphone inlay patterns, a tradition dating to the 1930s. Stereo/Varitone options were not part of the Epiphone package, which in retrospect was probably a good thing!

The body has a beautiful deep cherry lacquer finish; at the time this instrument would have been ordered this or sunburst were the catalog options, with a natural finish model priced even higher. The top is bound in 6-ply celluloid and the back is 3-ply; the tortoise celluloid pickguard is 5-ply bound with an E epsilon logo. All hardware is gold-plated including the original Grover Rotomatic tuners, Tremotone tailpiece and ABR-1 Tune-O-Matic bridge with nylon saddles. The knobs are the typical “capped’ 1960’s Gibson style. The gold-plated mini-humbuckers are original and untouched.

The Sheraton was made only in very limited numbers in the 1960s, with no recorded tremolo-equipped examples shipped in 1969 . In this year only 44 of all models were recorded as shipped. This is a rare guitar in any case, a very comfortable player with a lovely neck feel and the powerful but somewhat brighter tone these pickups offer. This is a truly lovely guitar, one of the nicest Sheratons we have had and one of the finest of all Kalamazoo-made Epiphones.

Overall length is 43 in. (109.2 cm.), 16 1/4 in. (41.3 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 1 3/4 in. (4.4 cm.) in depth, measured at side of rim. Scale length is 24 3/4 in. (629 mm.). Width of nut is 1 5/8 in. (41 mm.).

This guitar is nicely original shows just some minor wear;. The finish shows light checking and very small dings, dents and scuffs with some scratching to the back. There is one noticeable small dink between the pickups under the strings.

The gold plating shows some typical wear, especially to the bridge ends, pickup covers and trem arm while the pickguard has some light scuffing on the top. The frets have been crowned down in the lower positions but still play fine. The neck has been professionally refinished. Other than these small points, this is a really superb 60+ year old example of Epiphone’s top semi-hollow guitar. It lives in a modern HSC. Overall very good Condition.