# This is NOT a Epiphone Japan



## The Beatles Sound (Feb 2, 2009)

http://montreal.kijiji.ca/c-ViewAdL...m/cps/kj/090711/208r5/4070m6d_18.jpeg&back=-2

Le truss rod cover with 3 points, it's Korea or Chine.


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## WEEZY (May 23, 2008)

All you have to do is look at the headstock to see that it's not from Japan. Epi Elitist headstocks should look like this:










The headstock of the guitar in the ad is regular Epiphone - probably made in Korea like you said.

Cool paint job though!


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## vasthorizon (Aug 10, 2008)

I believe I know the owner of the guitar in question. I will send him a message. Anyway, my Epiphone is JDM and it features the open-book headstock as a Gibson.


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## WEEZY (May 23, 2008)

oh yeah... I forgot about the Gibson headstock on the Elitists as well.... my bad. The one in the ad is definitely regular (MIK or MIC) Epi though...


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## overdriver (Jul 24, 2008)

The Elitist and Epiphone are two different things. Made in the same plants I think but not the same. That SG though looks like it has a 3 screw truss rod cover , not sure but I thought all Epi Japan had 2 screws lie Paul's custom IDK. Headstock could have been reworked. Also I have seen a few LPs MIC that have open book and 3 screw truss covers. Saw two on Kijiji actual advertised as MIC Gibson 59RI guys where asking 1000. for them. Don't know who is responsible for them .Maybe its one of those. IDK it looks like the SG has a MIK truss cover.


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## vasthorizon (Aug 10, 2008)

overdriver said:


> The Elitist and Epiphone are two different things. Made in the same plants I think but not the same. That SG though looks like it has a 3 screw truss rod cover , not sure but I thought all Epi Japan had 2 screws lie Paul's custom IDK. Headstock could have been reworked. Also I have seen a few LPs MIC that have open book and 3 screw truss covers. Saw two on Kijiji actual advertised as MIC Gibson 59RI guys where asking 1000. for them. Don't know who is responsible for them .Maybe its one of those. IDK it looks like the SG has a MIK truss cover.


There were MIJ Les Pauls that had a three-screw truss rod cover. The few ones were bolt-ons. The only way to resolve this is to have a picture of the back of the headstock showing the serial number and a picture of the control cavity. Maybe the seller got confused because the serial number is prefixed with the letter F, which can mislead to it being made in the FujiGen plant in Japan. The prefix F can also mean Fine Plant in Korea. We can only decipher this by the numbers right after the prefix which shows the year of manufacture and the number of digits.


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## sneakypete (Feb 2, 2006)

there are MIJ Epis with Gibson headstocks as well as the Elites...later the name was changed to Elitist as was the headstock. Truss rod covers are not something I use to judge where a guitar was made. Every MIJ Epi I`ve seen here had the Gibson headstock...apart from the Elitists.


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## vasthorizon (Aug 10, 2008)

sneakypete said:


> there are MIJ Epis with Gibson headstocks as well as the Elites...later the name was changed to Elitist as was the headstock. Truss rod covers are not something I use to judge where a guitar was made. Every MIJ Epi I`ve seen here had the Gibson headstock...apart from the Elitists.


The Epiphones with the Gibson headstock were only allowed to be release in the Japanese Domestic Market (JDM) to try and compete with the market such as Greco, Tokai, etc. 

They were not allowed for export and were only sold in Japan. There are Elitists which have the Gibson headstock but they are JDM's. 

There was no change in the headstock between the Elites and Elitists except for the stamp at the back of the headstock which says Elite/Elitists. This was done to avoid confusion with another manufacturer.

There are major differences with the solid maple flamed top or flamed maple veneer top. Elites/Elitists which feature the tombstone headstock were the only Japanese Epiphones allowed for export.

Truss rod covers, truss rod screw dimensions, serial numbers, Epiphone font, tenon length, control cavity routes, hardware (bridge, pickguard, nut, pickups), etc. are used to exactly determine where a guitar was made.


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## sneakypete (Feb 2, 2006)

sorry but...the Elitists I see here in Japan now have what you called the tombstone headstock...good name for it. the first run Elites I saw had the Gibson headstock, I don`t know about the exports...there are many many builders here using precise clones of both US big two headstocks in Japan which are of course not for export. I don`t see new Elites with the Gibson headstock anymore...they are now Elitists and have the other headstock. Can`t speak for what they exported...just sayin what I see/saw here. Still have the catalogs that featured the Elites. As far as I know they no longer make the Japanese version of the non Elitist Epiphone, at least there aren`t any in shops here and only show up used. My point was...truss rod covers are the easiest thing to change on a guitar. Generally if theres a small sticker on the back of the headstock that says MIC or MIK, thats where I believe they come from.


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## The Beatles Sound (Feb 2, 2009)

I do not talk about the head of the guitar, because there are two ways of heads Made in Japan, I mentioned that MIJ Epiphone have *two screws* in the TRC - non three.


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