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The Epiphone Zenith evolved significantly over a period of five years during the early 1930s. The Masterbuilt model was introduced as a smaller 13-5/8” wide archtop in 1931. By 1934 – the year this example was built – the Zenith’s body had enlarged to 14-3/4” wide. For 1936, the Zenith was enlarged even further to 16-3/8”. Throughout this evolution, the Zenith featured a single-bound body of carved spruce and walnut, with a fairly simple appointments and a subtle sunburst finish.

This example is a wonderfully preserved guitar that has just been through our repairshop for a neck reset, new frets, and setup. Its playability is excellent, and we’re all fans of its smooth, focused, and responsive small-archtop tone that’s naturally well suited to melodic lead playing. We have it strung with 12-53 strings.

This guitar was brought to us by its second owner, who’s had it for some years. The original, long-time owner affixed an army-style name tag to the back of the headstock which remains in place still. If you’ve needed a reason to visit Gulfport, Mississippi, grab this guitar and hit the road.

Crack-free and well cared for, this guitar is original save for a vintage-looking new ebony bridge made here and new frets. The finish is in lovely condition and has an attractive patina, with a little bit of playwear and honest evidence of being used.

The neck has a soft V/C carve and a contemporary feel. Its nut measures 1-11/16” and its first fret neck depth is .835”. Scale length is 25.4”, and neck depth at the 9th fret is .998”.

With original hardshell case

1935 Epiphone Zenith vintage acoustic archtop guitar

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Apart from the Tricone models, vintage Nationals with square necks are relatively scarce guitars. Most single-cone instruments that National made in the 1930s were equipped with round necks and a Spanish-style set up. In 25 years we’ve had a square-neck Duolian, and now this square-neck Style O come through the store, but no other square neck Nationals that weren’t tricones.

This 1936 National Style O Square Neck features the same 14 fret brass body and chicken-foot coverplate as the round-neck version that so famously emblazoned the cover of Brothers in Arms by the Dire Straits. The only difference between Knopfler’s Style O and this one is the shape of the neck.

In excellent condition, this 90 year old National has survived beautifully with only a replaced biscuit to show for it. The original biscuit was removed as the saddle was too low for sufficient break angle; it’s in the case pocket now. The original cone remains in very good condition and it sounds great.

Square mahogany neck with bound ebony fretboard, paddle-style headstock with engraved National logo, original National/Waverly strip tuners. Set up with a nut riser and open G tuning.

With non-original hardshell case.

1936 National Style O Square Neck vintage nickel resonator guitar

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An important piece of Canadian music history, this 1938 Martin D-18 has been one of legendary Canadian Blues/Folk musician and Producer, David Essig’s, mainstay guitars since buying it in 1965. Throughout the 1970s and into the ‘80s this D-18 was the resident highstrung (Nashville tuned) acoustic at Bob and Daniel Lanois’ Grant Ave Studios in Hamilton, Ontario, where Essig regularly worked as a producer and musician. Essig produced the first three Willie P. Bennett albums, Fred Eaglesmith’s first three albums, and Cathy Fink’s first two albums – all of which featured this very D-18. Stan Rogers was a close friend of David’s, and casually played this guitar often, although it was not featured on any of Rogers’ recordings. Essig estimates that he recorded 20 of his own albums with this guitar. In short, this guitar and its long-time owner were an integral part of Canada’s folk and roots music landscape through the last 50 years.

As with most professionally used instruments, this 1938 D-18 has seen its share of repair and restoration. It has numerous repaired top cracks, a 70’s Martin style rosewood bridge plate, which itself has worn and been capped, an oversized ebony bridge, and, most notably, a replacement neck. The guitar’s back and sides are largely original including well-worn finish. The top has areas of finish repair overtop of worn original finish and spliced cracks, and its original forward-shifted scalloped bracing remains intact and in excellent condition, with no evidence of repair or regluing. The same can be said of the back’s original bracing. There are a few repaired back and side cracks, and a ‘popsicle’ brace has been added to reinforce top cracks along the fretboard extension’s edges. The neck was fitted with the guitar’s original headstock overlay, and a set of modern Martin vintage style tuners. It has a full carve and a big 30’s wide-neck feel. There’s a filled-in strap button hole on the side adjacent to the neck heel, and the endpin has been enlarged for a pickup’s endpin jack, but there is no longer a pickup in the guitar.

A bold, dark and big sounding guitar, this 1938 D-18 offers a huge bass response, thick and woody trebles, and a strong and supportive midrange. It’s an excellent flatpicker, and we have it set up with medium strings and bluegrass action. Tone for the dollar, this guitar probably won’t be beat.

The neck was built with graphite reinforcement rather than the T-bar that would be in an original. As such, the guitar is a bit lighter and offers some of the overtone development and warmth of a wartime D-18 but remains tonally in the wide-neck camp. The neck is one-piece mahogany with style 45-quality wood and an ebony fretboard. 1-3/4” nut width, neck depth of .908” at the 1st fret which tapers to 1.135” at the 9th fret. String spread at the saddle is 2-5/16”. Playability remains excellent for a heavy flat-picker, with full height modern frets and slightly higher action of 5-8 64ths at the 12th fret. We’re happy to adjust the action lower upon request.

With 70’s hardshell case

1938 Martin D-18 vintage acoustic guitar

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A truly wonderful Banner 1944 Gibson LG-2. This guitar has the tone, the feel, and the looks of a great vintage guitar and it’s been turning heads around here since it came downstairs to our sales floor.

This 1944 Gibson LG-2 was built with a 4-piece Red spruce top and a mahogany neck with a maple insert in lieu of a truss rod. The bridge is gumwood and the board is rosewood. Beyond all of that, it’s been played A LOT and has the tone that only develops in a well-played guitar. It’s dark and expressive and offers a strong fundamental presence with a tinge of overtone flower when played with the right attack. Bass response is warm and well developed, mids are (of course) forward and powerful, and the trebles are sweet, rich, and full. It’s got all the goods.

The guitar’s neck is deep, round, and comfortable. The nut width of 1-11/16” works really well with the 1.003” first-fret neck depth and very round carve. It’s not as baseball bat-like as you might imagine – we reserve that term for those Banner Gibsons with the wider 1-3/4” nut extra-deep necks. This one is remarkably lovely, and it’s easy to wrap your thumb overtop to fret the low E string. The finish on the neck is worn off in the first position and shows plenty of playwear higher up the barrel. It feels great; nice and smooth. There’s no significant capo damage, which is a plus.

The top is crack-free, the back shows a few repaired cracks. The treble side has a few repaired cracks and a filled-in output jack hole. The original bridge and bridge plate are in good shape and there are no unsightly repairs hiding inside. A few braces have been cleanly reglued, the neck has been cleanly reset, the frets are recent, and the nut, saddle, and pins were replaced in our shop. The tuning machines are StewMac Golden Age replacements. There is a filled-in strap button screw hole on the bass side of the neck heel.

Most obviously, the guitar’s finish is very well worn and the name Wanda Jean Robertson was scratched into the top finish countless decades back, by the look of it. There’s not much to be found online of Wanda, but she possibly lived in California and played her LG-2 for small audiences there in the early post-war years.

The history of this guitar remains largely unknown, but its future will surely be more certain and can be yours to write. It’s a wonderful 1944 Gibson LG-2 in all the most important ways.

With newer hardhshell case.

1944 Gibson LG-2 Banner vintage acoustic guitar

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It’s no secret that we’re big fans of smaller-bodied mahogany guitars here at Folkway, so we’re naturally pretty excited about this ’47 00-17. We’ve known this guitar for years, as its previous owner is a client of more than 20 years. About a decade back we reset the neck, and replaced the saddle, pins, and tuner buttons. The original frets remain in excellent shape, there is not a crack to be found, and the finish is in beautiful condition. The guitar’s only minor flaw is a bit of flaked-away finish in front of the bridge, which was reglued at one point.

The early post-war guitars have a unique neck carve that’s deeper and rounder than those we find from a year or two later. We mostly associate this neck carve with 1946, but this 1947 00-17 features this style of neck, which is quite a lovely plus. The nut width is 1-11/16″ and the 1st fret depth is .865”. Folks who prefer 1-3/4″ widths will find this one easy to play thanks to its chunkier feel.

A very fine sounding guitar that’s hard to put down. As compared to the more common 0-17 or 0-15 models, this 00 offers bigger lows and mids without compromising any of the roundness and fullness we love so much in these small all-mahogany Martins. The trebles are very sweet and robust, and there is a wonderful linger and decay throughout the frequency range. Its big enough to strum on and it takes a heavy flatpick really well, as it does a heavier right-hand attack. Under a lighter touch the guitar’s tone is pretty, warm, and inviting.

All mahogany construction, tapered X bracing, 24.9″ scale, 2-1/8″ string spread at the bridge. Set up with 12-54 strings and an action of 5-7 64ths at the 12th fret with perfect frets and a full height saddle.

With non-original hardshell case

1947 Martin 00-17 vintage acoustic guitar

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