Orcas Island Tonewoods
Free downloads of my mandolin CDs:
"Mandolin Graffiti"
"Mangler Of Bluegrass"
"Overhead At Darrington"
"Electric Mandolin Graffiti"
I'm guessing a 70's era made in Japan model...don't enough about them, sorry!
1994 Gibson F5L - Weber signed
"Mandolin brands are a guide, not gospel! I don't drink koolaid and that Emperor is naked!"
"If you wanna get soul Baby, you gots to get the scroll..."
"I would rather play music anyday for the beggar, the thief, and the fool!"
"Perfection is not attainable; but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence" Vince Lombardi
Playing Style: RockMonRoll Desperado Bluegrass Desperado YT Channel
Hasn't this model been discussed before? Doesn't it date from the 1930's? Model name Windsor perhaps?
Yep, HERE is a previous thread.
Bill Snyder
Thanks for the reply Bill. I did a search and found one of the threads but the links for the mandozine article were/are dead. I didn't see majicfingers pictures on my first search, so thanks for those. I'm trying to get info for a family member who has this instrument.
Epiphone Windsor Special, vintage 1934-48, if this EpiphoneWiki article is accurate.
Allen Hopkins
Gibsn: '54 F5 3pt F2 A-N Custm K1 m'cello
Natl Triolian Dobro mando
Victoria b-back Merrill alumnm b-back
H-O mandolinetto
Stradolin Vega banjolin
Sobell'dola Washburn b-back'dola
Eastmn: 615'dola 805 m'cello
Flatiron 3K OM
Thanks for the link, that's a great resource.
A rare and valuable mandolin, Greg. I'm sure folks around here would appreciate more photos and any history that you can learn about this instrument.
Because of the 'degrading' of the Epiphone name/legacy as a result of being used on cheap 'copy' instruments, a lot of people these days are not even aware of the superb carved top guitars (in particular) they produced in the 1930's. They were absolutely top line instruments... right through the 50's and early 60's, they were still putting out some beautiful jazz guitars. A lady who had sadly lost her husband asked me to look at his guitar collection not too long back, and he had some fine instruments, and old tube amps - archtop Guild's mostly, a couple of Gibson solid body electrics, and a superb 50's era Epiphone Zephyr Emperor Regent.... she was quite surprised to find out how much they were all worth. Those mandolins are super-rare. It would be incredible to try one!
Gibson F5 'Harvey' Fern, Gibson F5 'Derrington' Fern
Distressed Silverangel F 'Esmerelda' aka 'Maxx'
Northfield Big Mon #127
Ellis F5 Special #288
'39 & '45 D-18's, 1950 D-28.
I have better than average knowledge about guitars(mostly electrics) and so I'm aware of Epiphone's amazing history. Unfortunately I don't know much about Mandolins, so thanks again for everybody chiming in. This is a pretty great forum!
My Bad!...Wow, those look great!
I'd love to try either the F model or the 2-point...good luck with it!
1994 Gibson F5L - Weber signed
"Mandolin brands are a guide, not gospel! I don't drink koolaid and that Emperor is naked!"
"If you wanna get soul Baby, you gots to get the scroll..."
"I would rather play music anyday for the beggar, the thief, and the fool!"
"Perfection is not attainable; but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence" Vince Lombardi
Playing Style: RockMonRoll Desperado Bluegrass Desperado YT Channel
A bunch of threads discussing the Epiphone Windsor can be found here.
"It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
--M. Stillion
"Bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
--J. Garber
Beautiful mandolin! The style of the Epiphone name on the headstock looks like the later style I've seen on New York Epi mandolins; so I'd guess that this one is from 1947 or 1948 (assuming that the last year they were made was 1948). Also, the style of the label (blue border, green, white, or gold) can give you an idea as to when it was made. I'm guessing it has the blue border.
Thanks for the links and info. I read some of these threads upon first joining and searching the forum and they've been helpful. There doesn't seem to be a whole lot of info about this model on the internet and whatever there is leads back to this forum, so I'm glad I joined.
I talked to some vintage dealers and they let me know that from pictures it does appear to be a Epiphone Windsor model that we have and that it is rare and of value to certain collectors. We are going to take better photos, looking for a label/serial number.
Also found an old Vega mandolin.
Allen Hopkins
Gibsn: '54 F5 3pt F2 A-N Custm K1 m'cello
Natl Triolian Dobro mando
Victoria b-back Merrill alumnm b-back
H-O mandolinetto
Stradolin Vega banjolin
Sobell'dola Washburn b-back'dola
Eastmn: 615'dola 805 m'cello
Flatiron 3K OM
I didn't know this at all. I've always lumped Epiphones in with Ibanez and all that other low end stuff one finds at Guitar Center and so forth. Gonna keep an eye out for them from now on.
BTW, it's been bugging me for years: Is the word pronounced just like it looks (like the final syllable of "telephone") or as a pun on "epiphany?"
Epiphone (last syllable same as tele-phone) named after Epaminondas A. Stathopoulo, the company's president. it was founded by his father as the House of Stathopoulo. They changed the name to Epiphone around 1928.
I have a wonderful, if modest, 1934 Epiphone Spartan archtop guitar.
Jim
My Stream on Soundcloud
19th Century Tunes
Playing lately:
1924 Gibson A4 - 2018 Campanella A-5 - 2007 Brentrup A4C - 1915 Frank Merwin Ashley violin - Huss & Dalton DS - 1923 Gibson A2 black snakehead - '83 Flatiron A5-2 - 1939 Gibson L-00 - 1936 Epiphone Deluxe - 1928 Gibson L-5 - ca. 1890s Fairbanks Senator Banjo - ca. 1923 Vega Style M tenor banjo - ca. 1920 Weymann Style 25 Mandolin-Banjo - National RM-1
Epiphone was Gibson's chief competitor in the area of archtop guitars from the 30s to the 50's, and Epiphone carefully designed their guitar models to be a little wider and a little fancier looking than the comparable Gibson model.
When 'good enough' is more than adequate.
Agreed. Early Epiphones (pre-gibson) were top notch instruments. I wish I had this early Epiphone mando!!
As far as I know Harry West had one. "He said on his website that he didn't think the other one was for sale either", and he knew of one more! "I'm guessing the Dawg" It is a Windsor awesomely rare. Always wanted to find one of these ever since I was younger when Tone Poems came out and Grisman mentioned he wanted one because I believe it was one of those models that was questionable if it even was in existence! Man O Man you lucky Dog! Great ya found one but too bad it wasn't ME!
I forgot to ask is the case a Loar era case? It looks like one to me except handle and latches so maybe early Paganoni case?
I have pics of three other scrolled Windsors in my jpeg files (including Harry West's -- in the red-lined case). They all seem different from one another. The one with the pickup seems to have extra binding on the scroll.
IMHO the design is a little klunky compared to the Gibson F5. The body proportions are a bit off in comparison to the f-holes (tho the f-holes do seem different on each example) and I find the headstock overly large. Still it is a probably a well-built mandolin.
I believe that Epiphone entered its mandolin manufacturing on the late side, in the 1930s. The Windsor was originally the two-point version and introduced the scrolled Windsor Special 1934. They eventually dropped the two-point and the scrolled one became the Windsor. They dropped if from the line in 1949.
Jim
My Stream on Soundcloud
19th Century Tunes
Playing lately:
1924 Gibson A4 - 2018 Campanella A-5 - 2007 Brentrup A4C - 1915 Frank Merwin Ashley violin - Huss & Dalton DS - 1923 Gibson A2 black snakehead - '83 Flatiron A5-2 - 1939 Gibson L-00 - 1936 Epiphone Deluxe - 1928 Gibson L-5 - ca. 1890s Fairbanks Senator Banjo - ca. 1923 Vega Style M tenor banjo - ca. 1920 Weymann Style 25 Mandolin-Banjo - National RM-1
[QUOTE=Petrus;1325727]I didn't know this at all. I've always lumped Epiphones in with Ibanez and all that other low end stuff one finds at Guitar Center and so forth. Gonna keep an eye out for them from now on./QUOTE]
Yes, and keep in mind pawn shops don't always know this history, either. My buddy bought a 1961 (USA Gibson made) Epiphone Casino at a pawn shop dirt cheap because they priced it as a recent Chinese import. At the time, the Casino was worth $3-4K.
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