# NGD 1989 Epiphone Emperor



## Destropiate (Jan 17, 2007)

Picked this up at Paul's Boutique in Toronto over the weekend. I had been looking for a jazzbox for a while now and this one really grabbed me when I sat down to play it. Cosmetically its not perfect, close to it for a 22 year old guitar though and it plays like a dream. No fret wear and not a buzz on the entire fretboard. It was made at in Korea at the Samick plant apparently and seems to be a bit heavier and more well put together than some of the new ones I was trying before stumbling upon this one. Another neat thing is that since it was made before Joe Pass put his name on them it doesn't have a huge signature on the pickguard and just says Gibson on the truss cover. I love Joe Pass but am not a huge fan of signature guitars in general.


----------



## mrmatt1972 (Apr 3, 2008)

Beauty axe! I'm looking at jazz boxes at this point too with an eye for a Christmas time buy. Wish i had guitar stores nearby that I could browse around and find treasures like that! If you don't mind my asking, how much was it?


----------



## hardasmum (Apr 23, 2008)

This model was my second electric guitar and the first one I paid for myself. Around 1988 or 1989. It was around $700 and paid for on consignment! Once a month for six months I drove down to the music store, put some money down, played a few chords on "my guitar" and drove home.

It was a cool guitar from what I remember. Enjoy!


----------



## Destropiate (Jan 17, 2007)

> Beauty axe! I'm looking at jazz boxes at this point too with an eye for a Christmas time buy. Wish i had guitar stores nearby that I could browse around and find treasures like that! If you don't mind my asking, how much was it?


Don't mind at all. I paid $450 which I thought was pretty decent considering it was at a place like Paul's Boutique. I find that in places like that or say Capsule you generally pay a bit more than you would if you can find what you want on Craigslist or Kijiji. I wish I had stores like that nearby too hahaha. I live up in Muskoka so I had to drive 3 hours to Toronto and hope that if i looked hard enough I could bring something home with me.


----------



## Destropiate (Jan 17, 2007)

hardasmum said:


> This model was my second electric guitar and the first one I paid for myself. Around 1988 or 1989. It was around $700 and paid for on consignment! Once a month for six months I drove down to the music store, put some money down, played a few chords on "my guitar" and drove home.
> 
> It was a cool guitar from what I remember. Enjoy!


I wonder if there's any chance that this is your old guitar . Like I said its an 89 and I got it in Toronto at Pauls Boutique. That would be pretty random huh :food-smiley-004:


----------



## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

Congrats...fantastic looking axe !! ENJOY!

Have you considered putting some flatwounds on it?

http://www.stringsandbeyond.com/thswseacjagu.html

The Thomastik-Infelds (from Austira) are highly regarded. They are about $20.00 per set, but flatwounds tend to last longer.
You can get a selection of gauges.

Cheers

Dave


----------



## Destropiate (Jan 17, 2007)

greco said:


> Congrats...fantastic looking axe !! ENJOY!
> 
> Have you considered putting some flatwounds on it?


Yep I got a set of flatwounds waiting to go on. I just cant justify cutting the nearly brand new strings it came with before they go dead. Luckily my sweat erodes strings like acid so it wont take long hahaha.


----------



## Petey D (Sep 8, 2011)

Nice old Guit-box! Congrats.


----------



## sulphur (Jun 2, 2011)

Nice score!

Beautiful guitar at a killer price, nice.

Congrats!

I'm considering a Godin 5th Avenue Kingpin CW, one day.


----------



## Guest (Sep 20, 2011)

She is sweet, for sure. I have a '92 Emperor II (pre JP as well)
in cherry burst. I notice that the selector switch is on the other
side as apposed to mine. Pickguard and scroll on the tailpiece
were missing on mine when I bought it. Love the action on the neck.


----------



## sulphur (Jun 2, 2011)

I was never a huge cherry burst fan but it looks great on that Epi,
really nice guitar!

You guys aren't helping my hollowbody GAS!


----------



## hardasmum (Apr 23, 2008)

Destropiate said:


> hardasmum said:
> 
> 
> > This model was my second electric guitar and the first one I paid for myself. Around 1988 or 1989. It was around $700 and paid for on consignment! Once a month for six months I drove down to the music store, put some money down, played a few chords on "my guitar" and drove home.
> ...


I bet I have the original bill somewhere, I'll see if I can find it. I do remember the gold on the pickups was coming off, but that's probably common.


----------



## Destropiate (Jan 17, 2007)

laristotle said:


> She is sweet, for sure. I have a '92 Emperor II (pre JP as well)
> in cherry burst. I notice that the selector switch is on the other
> side as apposed to mine. Pickguard and scroll on the tailpiece
> were missing on mine when I bought it. Love the action on the neck.


Wow Ive never seen that color before on an Emperor, looks great. Im also a big fan of the playability of these guitars. I know its not the best archtop out there and some jazz snobs turn their nose up at em but for the money its hard to go wrong. I just started getting into playing jazz and its a great guitar to learn on, real comfy.


----------



## Guest (Sep 21, 2011)

These puppies need some mods to bring them to their
full potential. To date, I've swapped the tuners to grovers,
changed the pots to 500k (mine had mini pots) and potted 
the pup's. 

@ sulpher/Destropiate. Thanks guys. :food-smiley-015:I wasn't into red(ish) guits either.
This one sorta changed that for me.


----------



## shoretyus (Jan 6, 2007)

What are the pu's like Larry ?


----------



## Guest (Sep 21, 2011)

stock epi pup's. the microphonic feedback drove me crazy!
so, before investing in new ones, I potted (dipped in wax)
them to see if it helps. still get the squeal here n' there, but
it's better than before. may still swap them out though.


----------



## shoretyus (Jan 6, 2007)

hmm sounds like a job for JS Moore .... GAS in' for a hollowbody... tried to swing a deal last week but ou know how Kijiji is ..


----------



## sulphur (Jun 2, 2011)

The Seth Lovers that I have in my Hamer Artist Custom are really sweet.
Nice brightness, chime and clarity. Not potted either though.

Dimarzio PAF 36th aniversary pups are potted.
I've heard lots of good things about these pups.

Just a thought. 8)


----------



## Destropiate (Jan 17, 2007)

The feedback thing doesn't bother me too much cause this guitar is pretty much just for me to learn jazz and for now I'm playing clean. I have noticed though that it does feedback allot when I do switch to the other channels on my Mesa. I was going to upgrade the neck pickup to a Duncan 59.......will having potted pickups kill the feedback?


----------



## sulphur (Jun 2, 2011)

Click on Larrys link in #16 post, it talks about it in there.

Potting stops the vibrations that cause the squealing expecially inherent in hollowbody or semihollwbody guitars.
It'll help any guitar with microphonic feedback, really.


----------



## hardasmum (Apr 23, 2008)

I happened to see a Joe Pass Emperor at Capsule Music yesterday. They were asking $650! I played it for a few minutes, brought back some memories. Nice guitar, I should have held onto mine.


----------



## keefsdad (Feb 7, 2006)

Nice.
Does it have a block through it like 335?


----------

