This Epiphone Zephyr Deluxe Regent was made in NYC (pre-Gibson) circa 1949. This was their second-from-the-top-of-the-line electric archtop (surpassed only by the Zephyr Emperor Regent). Blues legend Duke Robillard’s #1 guitar is nearly identical to this, except his guitar has a natural finish. This is a great value in a high quality vintage American made archtop that one shouldn’t be afraid to take out and gig.

Let’s get the obvious stuff out of the way: The pickups and all the electronics on this guitar have been changed (some would prefer to say “upgraded”). The stock “tone spectrum” pickups (which can be quite thin sounding) have been swapped for Lollar 50s wind P90s. These were custom ordered with a third wire on the bridge pickup. The bridge volume pot is a push-pull for in/out of phase, so you can get that T-Bone Walker sound. The pots, caps, pickup selector switch, and output jack are all new. The values for each have been carefully selected for the most usable sweep throughout the whole range (none of that steep dropoff from 10 to 9). Originally this guitar only had a master volume and tone, but two more holes were drilled somewhere along the way for a second set of volume and tone controls. The knobs are not original.

It has a laminated 17-⅜” wide body and a 25.5” scale neck.

Nut width: 1.74”

Depth at first fret: .92”

Depth at ninth fret: 1.00”

Neck shape: soft V (the neck doesn’t feel quite as wide as the measurements would suggest. The depth isn’t as big away from the apex of the V)

Weight: 7 lbs 2 oz

Very cool original “E” tuners, original frequensator tailpiece. At one point in time, someone had a different pickup selector switch installed and drilled a hole in the switch plate to accommodate it. Interestingly enough, it has a vintage Epiphone bridge, but the serial number on the bottom of the bridge does not match the serial number on the guitar. The bridge’s serial number corresponds with a 1946 Broadway. There are some scratches and dings, as one would expect with a 76 year old instrument. The frets appear to be original. The guitar plays well with low action, but the frets are rather low and could use replacing if this guitar is intended to be played hard for the next 76 years. The original pickguard is included, but it has been routed for other pickups.

Includes a modern hardshell case. Feel free to reach out with any questions.