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Epiphone
Century De Luxe Classic - Vintage Sunburst
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THE MASTERBILT CENTURY ARCHTOP COLLECTION
The first collection of archtop "acoustic/electric" guitars designed to be played and amplified as true acoustic instruments.
Details
The Deluxe Classic
• Historic Epiphone Archtop Design with "F" Sound Holes
• Solid Spruce Top w/Longitudinal Bracing
• Laminated Flame Maple Body
• Upper Bout 12.6"
• Waist 10.25"
• Lower Bout 17"
• Body Length 21"
• Aged Gloss Finish
• Aged Nickel Hardware
• 5-piece Laminated, Hard Maple/Mahogany Neck w/Rounded C Profile
• 25.5" Scale Length
• True Acoustic Sound with Sonic HD Preamp/NanoFlex HD Pickup
• Ebony Fingerboard
• Bone Nut
• Floating Adjustable Ebonoid Bridge with Compensated, Artificial Bone Nut
• Historic Epiphone Trapeze Tailpiece
• Historic 18:1 Tuners
• Historic Headstock Inlay Design
• Available in Natural and Vintage Sunburst
The first collection of archtop "acoustic/electric" guitars designed to be played and amplified as true acoustic instruments.
Details
The Deluxe Classic
• Historic Epiphone Archtop Design with "F" Sound Holes
• Solid Spruce Top w/Longitudinal Bracing
• Laminated Flame Maple Body
• Upper Bout 12.6"
• Waist 10.25"
• Lower Bout 17"
• Body Length 21"
• Aged Gloss Finish
• Aged Nickel Hardware
• 5-piece Laminated, Hard Maple/Mahogany Neck w/Rounded C Profile
• 25.5" Scale Length
• True Acoustic Sound with Sonic HD Preamp/NanoFlex HD Pickup
• Ebony Fingerboard
• Bone Nut
• Floating Adjustable Ebonoid Bridge with Compensated, Artificial Bone Nut
• Historic Epiphone Trapeze Tailpiece
• Historic 18:1 Tuners
• Historic Headstock Inlay Design
• Available in Natural and Vintage Sunburst
Q & A
There are currently no questions for this product.
Reviews
3.142.199.138
claudebot
Wow 0 of 0 customers found this review helpful
Features
Quality
Value
Overall
Product Experience I own it
Closest Store Hamilton, Ontario
Every one of these reviews are why this is a great guitar, don't read go try one. Change your mind about what guitars can do.
Posted by Big Johnny Blue on Jan 14, 2021
Fantastic Archtop Acoustic 3 of 4 customers found this review helpful
Features
Quality
Value
Overall
Product Experience I own it
Closest Store Fredericton, New Brunswick
This guitar is a great way to get into the world of archtop acoustics. As with all archtop acoustic guitars, the tone will develop with time, and mine has consistently gotten louder and punchier in the year and a half since I bought it.
Compared to other archtops, when setup the way I like it, this is brighter and has more cutting power than my Eastman AR 810 CE-SB. It lacks some of the bass complexity of that guitar, but it makes up for it in sheer power on the treble side. If I were to pick a guitar to go out and play as a all around strummer, I'd probably lean towards the Eastman, but if I'm going to be playing acoustic jazz, country lead, rock, or blues, I'm going to grab the DeLuxe every time.
In terms of volume, if you play it the way you play a flattop, with a lighter touch, you may not notice a big difference. Ultra low action will really limit the dynamic range of this guitar. The main power with archtops comes from the fact that they don't compress the dynamic range the way a flattop does. That means when you apply more force to individual notes, you get a proportional increase in volume. When set up and played properly, it can easily be heard over electric guitars at moderate volumes and you're going to have similar power to a set of acoustic drums played moderately loud.
I'm not the world's biggest fan of the pickup that ships with this guitar. I fitted mine with a DeArmond Rhythm Chief 1100 in the neck position, a separate tone and volume under the pick guard, and a second output jack. I use either the DeArmond pickup, or the two pickups together run into separate amps. I feel the guitar loses its distinctive sound when plugged in through the stock piezo pickup. That being said, I wouldn't have bought this guitar if I intended to use it primarily plugged in; I play it 90% of the time acoustic.
In terms of build quality, this is a guitar I would not hesitate to take anywhere. It's very solidly built. Bracing is sturdy, the sides are very rigid, and it's certainly not a guitar you have to baby. While the back and sides are important for archtops in giving them more bass response, in the case of this guitar, the trade-off for sturdy construction is probably worth it for an every day reliable instrument.
If I were to compare the tone after a year of wear-in to anything, I'd say it's gradually taken on a more dobro-like quality. It's gotten much louder and brighter. If that's what you're going for, a guitar that will let you play lead breaks fully acoustic and actually be heard, this guitar is probably for you. I'd put its acoustic volume and power up pretty well anything on the market. After a few months it'll just come to life, the more you play it, the better is sounds.
Posted by Andrew on Sep 11, 2018
Lovely design and playability after tweaks 11 of 11 customers found this review helpful
Features
Quality
Value
Overall
Product Experience I own it
Closest Store Kanata, Ontario
I am adding this as there are still not a lot of other detailed written reviews on this instrument, so hopefully this may be of some value. I first better admit that I never thought that I would be shopping for an Epiphone guitar as I have seen it more as the off-shore-built little brother of Gibson, and I already have fine instruments. However, this is definitely more in the vein of choosing the right instrument for a purpose, which in my case, was something to fill the gap between my Takamine dreadnought (for almost anything) and a Yamaha archtop hollowbody electric AES1500B which has its own do-everything sound in a thinner body. And I think this guitar fills that gap in a wonderful fashion, and is basically a reissue of the fine (pre-Gibson, Norlin, CMI) Epiphone jazz archtops of the 1930s, with modern updates, all noted in the specs. Although it was the catchy looks on display at the store that attracted me, it is the sound and playability that now has me hooked, and I am finally writing this almost a year after purchase and have put many hours on it. I won't repeat all the specs as I expect you have read them here or at the Epiphone website.
My instrument was literally right out of the box at the store. Finish details were all nearly perfect, including body and neck finish, smooth fret ends. This model's pickguard comes already mounted (unlike the similar smaller-bodied models). There was a rather tight fit of the pickguard to the treble side of the neck, so an annoying squeak when putting pressure on the pickguard -- alleviated with slight adjustment at the mounting screw. If it was worse, it could be easily edge-sanded to allow a slight gap. There was a bit of a rattle on some notes due to a wire in contact with the top, able to adjust it with a finger.
In spite of specs at the time stating that there was a compensated bridge, mine is clearly just a straight uncompensated saddle. I was able to lower the action without buzzing (12th fret about 0.045 on high E and 0.065 on low E). Within a day at my more humid home, I needed to also adjust the neck for a bit more bow. Also I did need to adjust the bridge placement for better intonation, but when this was done carefully (0 to 12 fret harmonics) I was pleasantly surprised that the 2 ? 14 harmonics were also in good tune, and even more surprised that the usually troublesome 1st fret intonation was also very good, unlike many guitars. In fact just about every fret and string I checked was within about 0 - 3 cents of perfect, and this meant there is not really a need for a compensated bridge (or nut) unless you were particularly picky. (All measurements with an automotive feeler gauge and Pitch Lab Pro's excellent free tuner app for Android.)
The down side is that the nut was higher than my tender fingers have learned to enjoy on my other guitars. Strings cleared the first fret by about 0.022? at the high E and 0.020 at the bass E and it was a little painful to play low chords for very long. I lived with this for many months as I was very afraid that lowering the nut may mean reducing tension at the first fret and possibly causing it to sound flat compared with the nearly perfect factory intonation. I finally took the plunge recently and removed the nut with no difficulty (just a tiny bit of factory glue) to sand the bottom down. Now 1st fret clearance sits at 0.009 at treble and 0.017 at bass (and 0.028 and 0.058 at the 12th fret), with slightest neck relief and just above a buzz point at 12th fret. So now it plays like a dream and wish I had done this months ago. And little if any affect on 1st fret intonation, so my worries were unfounded.
As you may have read elsewhere, this f-hole archtop design favours the mid and high notes over bass response as an acoustic instrument. The attack sound of the higher notes is amazing and the guitar can be heard well over other instruments on high and mid note picking, and the juicy middle and extensions of jazz chords clearly ring through. The comparison of timbre to a dreadnought is similar in the acoustic world to the clean high timbre of a Telecaster bridge pickup to a Strat in electrics.
The sound character when plugged into an acoustic amplifier or direct to PA is another story. The bottom end is then very robust and the active tone control (does this really qualify as an ?equalizer??) will roll on the smoky low timbre of many of your favourite jazz solos, or snap out crisp attacks for higher timbre preference, and there is no lack of output power. It does tend to feed back at higher stage volumes (and can't stick a back-buster into an f-hole!). I noticed that I would get an annoying knock sound from the pickup if my palm hit the bridge suddenly, so did have to adjust my playing technique a little. I do a mix of picking and fingerstyle and both are comfortable. I found I prefer the overall sound of the strings on it after the new clang was out of them -- about 12 hours of playing.
The body shape is comfortable (for me at least, at 5?11?), and the chunkier neck presented no problem to get used to. I just found lengthy barre chord holding a little tougher due to the higher action than my electrics until I lowered the nut. The retro-shaped tuners are actually very ergonomic but a tight fit for a winder for string changes. The ebony fretboard adds its own sweet sound texture and feel. The thicker neck and archtop construction result in a heavier mass than you might expect in an acoustic instrument, and whether this means a lower volume sound than if it was all shaved thinner I will let others decide ? it definitely would in a violin, mandolin, or flat-top guitar. Because the majority of my performances are in group electric environments, its lack of acoustic bottom end oomph is not something that bothers me much. I have already played it in many genres including jazz, blues, gospel, bluegrass, rock, pop, country, Celtic, and folk and it plays everything without a problem, but this is a star for jazz, blues, and bluegrass solo picking. I have plenty of other guitars for their own genres, but can't seem to put this one down for long.
Everyone loves the sound and everyone and their dog is taken aback by the stunning looks of this sunburst archtop. Enjoy your playing. Experience - 50 years on guitar, and play many other instruments too, but still learning!
Posted by Greg Russell on Jan 30, 2018
Love it! 2 of 2 customers found this review helpful
Features
Quality
Value
Overall
Product Experience I own it
Closest Store Lethbridge, Alberta
Mine is the VS Deluxe Classic. Plays well unplugged, but the archtop sound is a bit different than a flattop - probably it's best to try the guitar for yourself. Build quality is really high; mine is flawless. Intonation was right on, from the factory. If you buy one, read up on how to handle a floating bridge design properly. Easy to play despite the chunky neck. The best part? Plugged in. The sound is then huge and inspiring, with hidden tone and volume controls. I love it!
Posted by Bill, Cranbrook BC on Nov 24, 2016
Beautiful Archtop Guitar 3 of 3 customers found this review helpful
Features
Quality
Value
Overall
Product Experience I own it
Closest Store Victoria, British Columbia
A very well built guitar. The finish is amazing. The sound is great, especially compared to my old 1950's run of the mill archtop. The Headstock/Tuners of course are very appealing. The neck is a little "Chunky" but comfortable and fast. Epiphone has done a great job on this one. Simply put, a Beautiful Guitar! The Setup (Neck Relief/Action/Intonation) were perfect right out of the box (Which is very unusual.) Love It!!
Posted by Bruce Thompson on Sep 16, 2016
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Because of this, Long & McQuade provides our customers with a FREE one-year Performance Warranty on most of our products. The Long & McQuade Performance Warranty supplements the manufacturer’s warranty to ensure that our customers receive complete “no hassle” warranty coverage within their first year.
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- Performance Guarantee: Normal wear and tear is covered, so your product will be performing as well as the day you purchased it for the entire duration of the coverage. Band and Orchestral Performance Warranty does not include replacing pads or cleaning for woodwind instruments, unless deemed necessary by our repair staff. Ultrasonic cleaning for brass instruments will be provided if deemed necessary by our repair staff, but is not routinely offered under the Performance Warranty.
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Great Additions
Reserve in Store
| Product | SKU | Qty |
|---|---|---|
| Century De Luxe Classic - Vintage Sunburst | 484564 |
