Close-up #30: 1953 Zephyr DeLuxe Regent SN 65157
Great photos I found a long time ago somewhere on the web – of an
Epiphone Zephyr DeLuxe Regent in fine, all-original condition. The
serial number on the blue label is "65157", indicating a manufacturing
date of early 1953. Although the label states "New York", this
instrument was manufactured in Philadelphia where the Epiphone factory
moved to in 1952 after a 4-month strike shut down the New York workshop.
Below a page of Epiphone's electric instruments catalog which was issued c. late 1949 or early 1950. The "Zephyr De Luxe Regent, Cutaway, Blonde" with "Duo Pickup" version had a list price of $325. By this time the pickups had changed to the small, metal-cased version of the "Tone Spectrum" pickup – referred to as "New Yorker" pickup by guitar geeks.
In the price list of July 15, 1950, the price of this model had jumped to $340, ...
... and up to $380 in the price list of July 1953 (pictured below). By that time the model appeared as "DeLuxe Electric" in catalogs – however the model name typed on the labels was always "Zephyr DeLuxe".
The headstock sports the familiar "blossom branch" pearl inlay – with its lower part being obscured by the white truss rod cover. Although the truss rod adjustment had moved to the headstock by 1952, it took Epiphone until later in 1953 to adapt the inlay to a shorter design.
Below a close-up of the "New Yorker" pickup and the original bridge. Interestingly, Epiphone's archtop bridges generally had an angled, straight-top saddle without individual string intonation compensation until c. 1950, when a stepped saddle for individual string compensation was introduced – first only on high-end models, by 1953 also on lower models. This saddle design is very distinctive – with rounded ends, and A and D strings sharing the same "step".
Like all higher-end acoustic and electric archtops, the Zephyr DeLuxe was equipped with a "Frequensator" tailpiece – designed by Epiphone employee Herb Sunshine and introduced in 1937. This tailpiece design was patented by July 19, 1938 – however the units kept being stamped "Pat. pending" ...
The Zephyr DeLuxe Regent had the same 5-ply neck design as the acoustic DeLuxe and non-cutaway Zephyr DeLuxe models, while the fretboard inlays were Emperor-style pearl blocks with abalone wedge (see top picture).
I am always thrilled when an old Epi shows up with some original paperwork included – in this case a sale contract dated 23 May 1953 (in Redding CA) for a "New Epiphone Guitar $295 / Case $45". Which was obviously less than the list price.
The purchaser agreed to a 2-year finance plan with monthly installments. The contract was stamped "paid" on 7–20-55.
(Dec 29, 2016)