Epiphone Elitist Texan

[Rmz76]

Elistist all solid wood accurate Texan reproduction coming in September?
http://www.epiphone.com/Products/Aco...964-Texan.aspx

I am assuming this is arriving with Epiphone's other 4th quarter products like the new PRO-1 series. Can't wait to find a retailer and give one of these a try as there was a lot I loved about the "Inspired by" Texan but ultimately it just didn't do it for me unplugged. Perhaps this one will.

Would love to know if anyone sees one of these in the wild.

[erivel]

Looks great, just like the McCartney Ltd edition ones. I wish it didn't have a 1.56" nut width though.

[riverrummed]

Why on earth did they go with a 1.56 inch nut width? All you have to do is watch ebay response to narrow necks and you can get the picture. I was ready to start looking for one of these until I got to the neck width spec. Hopefully it's a typo. Disappointing.

[fuman]

When are they going to make an elitist or Masterbuilt J-185? Cause that would kill.

[Kip Carter]

I'd be interested in this one. If you see it out and a bout let us know.

[KasperT]

Yeah that nut size is a deal breaker- we should contact them and let them know they're blowing it.

[Rmz76]

Originally Posted by erivel

Looks great, just like the McCartney Ltd edition ones. I wish it didn't have a 1.56" nut width though.

The Chinese built Inspired by 1963 Texan model has a wider nut, but I remember reading that the wider nut width was one of the changes Epiphone had made and that the small nut was true to nut width the Epiphone Texan of the early 60s.

[Kip Carter]

They've had this bad boy out in the wild before...check this out used at GC right now.

[Rmz76]

Originally Posted by erivel

Looks great, just like the McCartney Ltd edition ones. I wish it didn't have a 1.56" nut width though.

Looks like all the McCartney models had a 1.68" nut. The last series of Elitist Texan reissues also had the 1.68" nut, so why did Epiphone go with the 1.56" nut?
http://epiphonewiki.com/index.php/Texan

[Wade Hampton]

In addition to the narrow nut width, which leaves me cold, they have also put the period-correct adjustable ceramic saddle on this model:

Which is another reason not to buy it, in my opinion. Those kill a lot of acoustic tone.

Having said that, there are plenty of fans of both the narrow neck and the adjustable saddle. Clearly, I'm not one of them, but Gibson/Epiphone must have a sense that these features won't hurt their sales.

In Japan, those features might be really sought after, especially the narrower nut width.

The song "Yesterday" is popular everywhere, but in Japan it's an ongoing phenomenon. I can't count the times I've walked past Japanese karaoke clubs and seen and heard half-intoxicated Japanese salarymen, faces ruddy, suit coats off and ties askew, warbling "Yesterday" into a microphone.

Even when Gibson Montana was making all-solid wood J-160E's for the American market, the ones they built for export to Japan had the same laminated woods that the originals had. That's what the Beatles' J-160E's had. The Japanese didn't want solid wood J-160E's - they wanted accurate reproductions built out of laminates.

But the Epi Texan that Paul McCartney played on "Yesterday" was all-solid wood, and now so is this modern re-issue.

So I suspect that the nut width and adjustable ceramic saddle on these re-issues have at least as much to do with the demands of the Japanese guitar market as they do with ours.

Hope that makes sense.


Wade Hampton Miller

[Howard Klepper]

I find the model name hard to believe.

[mdutr0]

I would be interested to play one of these. Despite their reputation for questionable quality here on the AFG, I have a soft spot for Epiphone acoustics for which I have no reasonable explanation.

[Jim Owen]

Wow. I so would love to play one of these except for the narrow nut--and I suspect a very thin neck, too.

I've played a few of the Epi Elitists (or their forerunners, the "Elites") and they were extremely well made. They also didn't last long--the Elitist Sheraton, for example, quickly became hard to find. I'm thinking these will be similarly scarce.

Wade's theory is an excellent one: these guitars may be aimed at the Japanese market. So as much as some of us might like to see a period incorrect fixed saddle or a wider fingerboard, if it ain't original spec, it isn't going to happen.

[Kip Carter]

I'd like to get m hands on one and see. I keep hoping that the nut is a botched spec... but think Wade is spot on.

[ntotoro]

Specs say mahogany, but that grain looks more like sapele. Not complaining, just saying.

Nick