After the Gibson SJ-200 was launched in 1937, it quickly earned the title "the King of the Flat-Tops" due to its superior sound, physical size, outstanding projection, and majestic appearance. The earliest model years of the SJ-200 used rosewood for the back and sides, and this was switched to maple in 1947. Due to the harsh realities of the economy after the Great Depression, there was limited demand for the top-of-the-line SJ-200, and consequently, relatively few were produced. The rare rosewood-bodied pre-war SJ-200 models have become highly prized by today’s collectors, which has driven their used prices up significantly on the vintage guitar market.
Now, Epiphone has partnered with Gibson Custom to create an Inspired by Gibson Custom recreation of this vintage icon, making it more readily available for today's players to enjoy. The Epiphone Pre-War SJ-200 Rosewood Reissue is replete with vintage-inspired details, including solid rosewood back and sides, a thermally aged solid spruce top with traditional scalloped X-bracing made from quarter-sawn solid spruce, and a two-piece maple neck with a rosewood stringer and Round D profile and is attached to the body with a glued-in dovetail joint.
The ebony fretboard is adorned with mother-of-pearl graduated Crown inlays and equipped with 20 standard frets. The SJ-200 style pickguard has vintage-style graphics, and the ebony SJ-200 open two-bar Moustache bridge has mother-of-pearl inlays. The nut, compensated saddle, and bridge pins are all made of bone. The Gibson "open book" headstock features a vintage Epiphone logo and a Gibson Crown inlaid in aged mother-of-pearl and has a stinger and an Inspired by Gibson Custom Double Diamond logo etched on the rear.
In a nod to the needs of modern musicians, it comes with an under-saddle L.R. Baggs Element Bronze VTC piezo pickup and active preamp with soundhole-mounted volume and tone controls pre-installed, so it is stage and studio ready, straight out of the included Red Line-inspired hardshell case with Inspired by Gibson Custom graphics.
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