1966 Epiphone Howard Roberts

1966 Epiphone Howard Roberts

Here was have relatively rare example of Gibson’s Epiphone Howard Roberts signature guitar finished in blonde. The guitar follows the same dimensional platform as Gibson’s ever popular ES 175 but with some key differences. Firstly the top is solid spruce and features a bound oval sound hole with a floating mini humbucker at the neck. The back and sides are the usual laminated mahogany. The neck has a rosewood fingerboard with unique quartered pearl  block inlays whilst the bridge is ebony and floats on the sound board. Typically from this period the hardware is a mixture of chrome and nickel with the waffle tulip tuners being nickel and the tail piece chrome along with the pickup cover. This is all set off really nicely by Epiphone’s signature white pick guard. The guitar is in good overall condition but does show wear from use over the years the worst being a case bite just to the side of the sound hole and some arm wear to the top bout. Importantly however there are no major cracks to the solid spruce top as can often be the case with the exception of a hairline lacquer crack about 2 inches long under the bridge. There is a small hole just above the truss rod cover which i have no idea what it could be for unless it was for a decorative rhinestone that has since fallen out. The sound reminds me of a 30’s ES 150 Charlie Christian and the guitar has a loud acoustic voice as was intended. It’s currently fitted with flats which suit it very well. These don’t turn up that often finished in blonde which makes for a nice collectible usable instrument. The guitar is housed in a Gibson yellow lined case from the period.

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phil@philsvintageguitars.com