Epiphone Electar Model C Lap Steel Electric Guitar , c. 1938
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Item # 4215
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Epiphone Electar Model C Model Lap Steel Electric Guitar, c. 1938, made in New York City, sunburst top, dark stained back and sides finish, mahogany body with maple cap; mahogany neck with rosewood fingboard.
The Electar Model C was Epiphone's first attempt at a lower-priced steel guitar, first offered at the end of 1936 with a small companion amplifier. This guitar features a mahogany body and neck with a sunburst-finished maple cap and rosewood fingerboard...Epiphone essentially invented the Les Paul Standard 15 years before Gibson, although of course no one knew that at the time!
This also features a metal plaque on the back of the headstock detailing the patent license from Meissner inventions, who at the time claimed to hold patents on the theory behind all electric pickups. Epiphone simply paid them a license fee, while Gibson and Rickenbacker fought Meissner in the courts and eventually won. This is a good-looking, simple, and effective steel and a nice piece of early Epiphone history.
Overall length is 31 in. (78.7 cm.), 9 1/16 in. (23 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 1 3/8 in. (3.5 cm.) in depth, measured at side of rim. Scale length is 22 1/2 in. (572 mm.). Width of nut is 2 in. (51 mm.).
General wear, scratches, and dings, but no major damage or repair. Some possible light overspray to the top, or the original finish has curdled in a slightly odd way. There is a fairly large chip missing from the bass side of the hard plastic pickup cover, but the pickup functions normally. The single knob is a cool old period radio knob but not original to the guitar, and an endpin appears added. A good gigging pre-WWII steel with a very nice sound. Overall Very Good + Condition.
The Electar Model C was Epiphone's first attempt at a lower-priced steel guitar, first offered at the end of 1936 with a small companion amplifier. This guitar features a mahogany body and neck with a sunburst-finished maple cap and rosewood fingerboard...Epiphone essentially invented the Les Paul Standard 15 years before Gibson, although of course no one knew that at the time!
This also features a metal plaque on the back of the headstock detailing the patent license from Meissner inventions, who at the time claimed to hold patents on the theory behind all electric pickups. Epiphone simply paid them a license fee, while Gibson and Rickenbacker fought Meissner in the courts and eventually won. This is a good-looking, simple, and effective steel and a nice piece of early Epiphone history.
Overall length is 31 in. (78.7 cm.), 9 1/16 in. (23 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 1 3/8 in. (3.5 cm.) in depth, measured at side of rim. Scale length is 22 1/2 in. (572 mm.). Width of nut is 2 in. (51 mm.).
General wear, scratches, and dings, but no major damage or repair. Some possible light overspray to the top, or the original finish has curdled in a slightly odd way. There is a fairly large chip missing from the bass side of the hard plastic pickup cover, but the pickup functions normally. The single knob is a cool old period radio knob but not original to the guitar, and an endpin appears added. A good gigging pre-WWII steel with a very nice sound. Overall Very Good + Condition.