Gear Hunter

Epiphone - EMPPROVSGH

Description

The Joe Pass Emperor-II PRO is a true archtop with a Select Spruce top and classic "arch" for optimum tone. The back and sides of the Emperor II are made from Laminated Flame Maple and comes in three beautiful finishes--Natural, Wine Red, and Joe's favorite, Vintage Sunburst. The top also has a bound "tortoise" style pickguard shaped to House of Stathopoulo's unique profile along with our signature metal "E".

A hand-set 3-piece laminated hard Maple neck features a Rosewood fingerboard with beautiful pearloid block inlays, 20 medium jumbo frets, and is topped off with the Epiphone-vintage style "tree of life" design seen on the best Epi archtops since the late 1930s. The Emperor-II PRO features the new Graphtech NuBone XL nut that is as hard as bone but will last a lifetime. Graphtech molds and engineers each NuBone XL nut for consistent tone and string balance as well as precise string spacing.

Grover Rotomatic 18:1 ratio machine heads provide fast, intuitive, and worry-free tuning. The black and white truss rod cover has an elegantly lettered "Joe Pass Emperor-II PRO" in white.

ProBucker Humbuckers
The Joe Pass Emperor-II PRO gets its name from the new critically acclaimed ProBucker humbuckers.
The first generation of humbuckers were made at the Epiphone/Gibson factory in Kalamazoo, Michigan in the late 50s and have acquired a mythical status among guitar players.

Epiphone ProBucker pickups have that elusive tone because they are made with the same alloy as the originals--18% Nickel Silver unit bases and covers--along with Sand cast Alnico II magnets and high quality 4-conductor lead wire. Each ProBucker pickup is also vacuum wax potted to eliminate microphonics.
The Emperor-II PRO has a ProBucker-2 in the neck position and a slightly hotter ProBucker-3 in the lead position. Both pickups also have coil-splitting via their individual volume controls. Coil-splitting allows a player to turn a humbucker pickup into a single coil pickup for endless tone combinations. The Joe Pass Emperor-II PRO also sounds great unplugged and at low volume for players who strive for those classic horn-like tones like Joe Pass played.
Each ProBucker pickup's volume and tone are attenuated by Top Hat control knobs with metal inserts that are spaced slightly farther apart than a typical archtop along with a 3-way pickup selector with an ivory-colored toggle cap.

Epiphone-tough Hardware
The Emperor-II PRO has rock solid nickel hardware in elegant gold and a vintage style gold scroll tailpiece, a design inspired by vintage Kalamazoo-made archtops. The Emperor-II PRO is strung at the factory with Joe Pass-approved D'Addario 10-46 gauge strings. And setting the intonation for the Emperor-II PRO is easy with a floating Rosewood bridge with thumbwheels for quick height adjustment.

Specifications:
Top Material: Select Spruce, Arched with Hand-Scalloped Bracing and Sound Post
Back Material: Laminated Flame Maple
Side Material: Laminated Flame Maple
Neck Material: 3-pc Laminated Hard Maple
Neck Shape: 1960s SlimTaper, C-Profile
Neck Joint: Glued-In
Truss Rod: Adjustable
Scale Length: 24.75"
Fingerboard Material: Rosewood with Pearloid Block Inlays
Bridge Pickup: ProBucker-3
Neck Pickup: ProBucker-2
Controls: Bridge Volume with Coil-Tapping, Neck Volume with Coil-Tapping, Bridge Tone, Neck Tone, 3-Way Pickup Selector (toggle), Ivory Toggle Cap
Binding: Top: 5-Ply (Ivory/Black), Back: 5-Ply (Ivory/Black), Neck: 5-Ply (Ivory/Black), Headstock: 5-Ply (Ivory/Black), "F" Holes: 1-Ply (Ivory/Black)
Fingerboard Radius: 12"
Frets: 20, Medium-Jumbo
Bridge: Floating Rosewood, Thumbwheel Adjustable Height
Tailpiece: "Vintage Scroll" Trapeze
Nut: Graphtech NuBone XL
Nut Width: 1-11/16"
Hardware: Gold
Machine Heads: Grover Rotomatic, 18:1 Ratio
Pickguard: Bound "Tortoise" Pickguard with Metal "E"
Truss Rod Cover: 2-Ply (Black/White), "Joe Pass Emperor-II PRO" in White
Knobs: Top Hats with Metal Inserts (Volume/Tone)
Strings: D'Addario 10-46 Guage
Typical Weight: 7.0 lbs