The Epiphone Elitist guitars are widely recognized as some of the very best Epiphones (or Gibsons, for that matter) built since Gibson acquired Epiphone and started building up their sister company in the late 50s and early 60s.

Perhaps one of the rarest offerings from the Elitist lineup is the Byrdland. Built in the Terada factory in Japan, this is the closest representation of a modern Byrdland you'll find outside of a true Gibson. It's essentially an L5 CES with a short-scale neck, making it one of the most playable jazz boxes out there, especially for fast melodic playing. Top-tier appointments like gold hardware throughout, inlaid Ebony bridge, custom wound humbuckers, and Grover Imperial tuners make it a total stage darling. And with the majority of Elitist Byrdlands finished in Natural, this makes this Sunburst example an even rarer variant. 

Condition: Near Mint. The guitar is in exceptionally clean condition, showing very minimal play time or handling time for that matter. All of the gold hardware remains bright and clean, with only the neck pickup cover revealing the slightest bit of wear. The body and neck finish is superb and free of any nicks, dents, or scuffs. The original frets present as essentially unworn save for some very minor wear in frets 1-2 on the plain strings. There was once a very small vertical split (opening of the spruce following a grain line) from the bottom edge of the treble side F-hole to the lower bout binding edge, but that has since been closed up and delicately repaired. You'd be hard pressed to even notice if we didn't mention it. It comes in its equally clean original hardshell case that has all of the original paperwork.

If there's a cleaner one out on the market, we haven't seen it.

• AAA flame maple back and sides
• Solid Spruce top
• 5-piece Maple/Rosewood neck w/ Ebony fingerboard
• 60s Neck Profile: .83" @ 1st fret / .93" @ 8th fret
• 1 11/16" Nut width
  
• Scale length: 23 1/2"
  
• Pickups: 50SR rhythm USA humbucker, 50ST treble USA humbucker
  
• Controls: 2 volume, 2 Tone
• Pickup Switching: 3-way selector
• Hardware: 24K Gold Hardware
• Machine Heads: Grover tuners with Imperial buttons
• Bridge/Tailpiece: Ebony bridge
• Weight: 6lb 15oz