Epiphone FT-79 Flat Top Acoustic Guitar (1949)
LOADING IMAGES
Epiphone FT-79 Model Flat Top Acoustic Guitar (1949), made in New York City, serial # 58570, natural lacquer finish, maple back and sides, spruce top; laminated mahogany neck with rosewood fingerboard, black tolex hard shell case.
This Epiphone FT-79 was made in 1949 in Epiphone's New York factory, one of the few flat-top models offered by the more archtop-oriented company. It is a 16" wide jumbo with a flat solid spruce top and a laminated arched maple back, just like the company's archtops. The long-scale neck is made of laminated mahogany with a rosewood fingerboard inlaid with angled pearl blocks.
The guitar's bracing is a simple ladder pattern in the traditional "New York" style (not unlike a big Stella) in contrast to the X-braced Gibson and Martin flat tops it competed against. This construction gives FT-79 a powerful but comparatively unsophisticated tone, tight in the bass and lower mids but with plenty of power to drive a band. It also makes a good ragtime/blues picking guitar, but somewhat lacking the sweetness more common in similar-size Gibsons.
The list price on this model was $95 (plus case) in March 1949, raised to $105 the next year. This model was not a big seller for the New York company and is a fairly obscure instrument today. When Gibson bought the Epiphone operation in the later 1950s, the FT-79 was reborn as the "Texan" which went on to greater fame in the '60s as a prime "Beatle" guitar. This 1949 example is the grandpappy of that much more familiar instrument and a cool guitar in its own right.
Overall length is 42 in. (106.7 cm.), 16 in. (40.6 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 5 1/4 in. (13.3 cm.) in depth at side, taken at the end block. Scale length is 25 1/2 in. (648 mm.). Width of nut is 1 11/16 in. (43 mm.).
This guitar shows a decent amount of wear overall but is still a very good player 75 years along. The all-original finish shows fairly heavy checking and a large collection of dings, dents and scrapes overall with some heavier pickwear to the top and spots of flaking lacquer on the back. The back of the neck has some heavier wear in the lower positions. The neck has been reset solidly with a bit of touchup and the bridge lowered slightly. A strap button hole has been patched in the center of the heel.
There is a long spruce grain split to the top running from the back edge almost to the bridge, and another off the top edge of the pickguard. Both are solidly sealed with some errant glue visible. The tuners are modern openback Kluson re-issues. The guitar has been neatly refretted and is an excellent player, with an unusual combination of features that make it a distinctive instrument. While less sophisticated sounding than many large post-war flat tops, it has power to spare and would also amplify well for stage use. The original New York FT-79 is a bit of a forgotten model, a workingman's guitar with its own character. Overall Very Good + Condition.
This Epiphone FT-79 was made in 1949 in Epiphone's New York factory, one of the few flat-top models offered by the more archtop-oriented company. It is a 16" wide jumbo with a flat solid spruce top and a laminated arched maple back, just like the company's archtops. The long-scale neck is made of laminated mahogany with a rosewood fingerboard inlaid with angled pearl blocks.
The guitar's bracing is a simple ladder pattern in the traditional "New York" style (not unlike a big Stella) in contrast to the X-braced Gibson and Martin flat tops it competed against. This construction gives FT-79 a powerful but comparatively unsophisticated tone, tight in the bass and lower mids but with plenty of power to drive a band. It also makes a good ragtime/blues picking guitar, but somewhat lacking the sweetness more common in similar-size Gibsons.
The list price on this model was $95 (plus case) in March 1949, raised to $105 the next year. This model was not a big seller for the New York company and is a fairly obscure instrument today. When Gibson bought the Epiphone operation in the later 1950s, the FT-79 was reborn as the "Texan" which went on to greater fame in the '60s as a prime "Beatle" guitar. This 1949 example is the grandpappy of that much more familiar instrument and a cool guitar in its own right.
Overall length is 42 in. (106.7 cm.), 16 in. (40.6 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 5 1/4 in. (13.3 cm.) in depth at side, taken at the end block. Scale length is 25 1/2 in. (648 mm.). Width of nut is 1 11/16 in. (43 mm.).
This guitar shows a decent amount of wear overall but is still a very good player 75 years along. The all-original finish shows fairly heavy checking and a large collection of dings, dents and scrapes overall with some heavier pickwear to the top and spots of flaking lacquer on the back. The back of the neck has some heavier wear in the lower positions. The neck has been reset solidly with a bit of touchup and the bridge lowered slightly. A strap button hole has been patched in the center of the heel.
There is a long spruce grain split to the top running from the back edge almost to the bridge, and another off the top edge of the pickguard. Both are solidly sealed with some errant glue visible. The tuners are modern openback Kluson re-issues. The guitar has been neatly refretted and is an excellent player, with an unusual combination of features that make it a distinctive instrument. While less sophisticated sounding than many large post-war flat tops, it has power to spare and would also amplify well for stage use. The original New York FT-79 is a bit of a forgotten model, a workingman's guitar with its own character. Overall Very Good + Condition.