Epiphone Coronet, Cherry (1961)

Epiphone's Coronet model has its roots planted firmly in the company's rich and storied history dating back decades prior to the solidbody variant that was settled on in 1958. A Coronet in the 1930s would identify as one of the company's lap steels, and would change again to a small body archtop in 1941. After Gibson acquired Epiphone in 1957, however, the Coronet name would take on an entirely different model and style of instrument, just like the one you see before you.

This 1961 Epiphone Coronet just came in on consignment, and it's one of the finest playing examples you'll ever come across. The reason? This came in from luthier and vintage restoration expert Laurent Brondel's personal collection, and he's given it the full spa treatment.

A refret along with some finessing of the guitar's original geometry has really elevated the feel of the guitar. The original neck set was on the shallower side, so Laurent elected to replace the original P90 ring with a lower profile ring that would allow for better string clearance without impacting action and pickup distance to the strings. The P90 rout was slightly altered on the edges so that the mounting tabs could recess slightly. As is often the case with SGs, Coronets, and Juniors from this era, heel breaks/cracks or headstock breaks/cracks are somewhat common. This Coronet suffered only a small fracture - not a full break - that was reinforced before Laurent took ownership of the guitar. He has since done some light overspray on the neck to give it a better, more uniform look. The heel is break-free, with a healthy tenon still intact.

Original Stackpole pots and a Sprague Black Beauty tone capacitor are found under the hood - the visible date codes on the tone pot show the 41st week of 1960, which is in keeping with the spec and serial number of this Coronet.

If tone and feel are paramount, you'd be hard pressed to find a vintage all-Mahogany Gibson-made electric better than this at this price. Coronets have been enjoying a steady market increase for those very reasons. If it's good enough for Steve Marriott, it's good enough for us!

Includes original rare chipboard case.