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About This Listing
Up for sale, a 1965 Epiphone Sorrento E452TD vintage thinline hollowbody guitar in excellent condition and in perfect working order, complete with a hardshell case. Essentially a mini humbucker equipped version of Gibson's ES-125TD model, the Sorrento is in a class all its own, with a fully hollow thinline 16" wide body and a barking, lively natural acoustic tone.
The original Patent # mini humbuckers have a clear, bell-like sound with the fullness of a humbucker and sparkling trebles. Glassy and rich, there's more growl and cut to be found in the bridge position, while the neck pickup delivers more oomph without sacrificing detail. This Sorrento weighs only 5lbs 10oz, professionally setup here at Mike & Mike's Guitar Bar with 11-49 strings, low action, and accurate intonation.
The one-piece Honduran mahogany neck has a medium C-shaped profile carve with moderate shoulder and rolled fretboard edges, measuring .845" deep at the 1st fret and .990" at the 9th. The dark Brazilian rosewood slab fretboard features pearloid oval inlay that shows minor shrinkage, and all inlays are flush with the fretboard. The guitar has been refretted with flawless medium jumbo fretwire that has plenty of meat, playing cleanly up the 24 3/4" scale with a straight neck and responsive, optimally adjusted truss rod. The nut has the transitional width seen in '65, measuring 1 5/8" (in subsequent years, the nut width would narrow to 1 9/16"). The headstock features a modern set of Kluson Deluxe single line tuning machines that function very smoothly.
The headstock does exhibit an older U-shaped split, quite shallow and only on the bass side of the carve. Professionally addressed with light clear lacquer overspray in this area, the repair is smooth to the touch.
All of the electronics work as they should, and both mini humbuckers have untouched solder on the covers and original patent # waterslide decals on the baseplates. Hardware includes the original floating carved and compensated Brazilian rosewood bridge and chrome trapeze tailpiece. The bridge has room for adjustment on both thumbwheels, and the neck has been freshly reset, meeting the body at an ideal angle, ensuring decades of future viability. Stock plastics include the multi-ply pickguard and quartet of gold reflector cap knobs (the amber switch tip is a modern replacement). Visible through the F hole, the original rectangular Epiphone label is intact, with the inked serial number matching the serial stamped on the back of the headstock.
The original Sunburst gloss nitro lacquer finish exhibits very tight, subtle lacquer checking, with some minor nicks and finish scuffs consistent with use on the body as a whole. There is finish touch-up on the neck heel, with an doweled extra strap button hole just north of the current button placement, and a very slight repaired split on the bass-side rim adjacent to the heel. The finish has been worn to the smooth, bare mahogany along the majority of the neck profile.
A vintage black tolex hardshell case with blue plush interior is included.
The Sorrento came out in 1960 with a similar design to the Gibson ES-125TC. This guitar was a thinline archtop and was produced with either one or two mini-humbucker pickups. A vibrato tailpiece was available as an option until 1962. Years of Production: 1960 - 1970
Unique to this Year: First year of Sorrento production.
