Epiphone produces Masterbilt Century collection

Epiphone Masterbilt Century guitars (left to right): De Luxe, De Luxe Classic, Zenith, Zenith Classic and Olympic

The 140-year-old brand’s first line of new archtop acoustic/electric guitars made to be played and amplified as true acoustic instruments

Epiphone produced the original Masterbilt archtops in the 1930s, but following the invention of the electric guitar pickup, most archtop acoustic guitars were transformed into ‘electric’ guitars. The new Masterbilt Century collection brings these worlds together with the eSonic HD preamp and Shadow NanoFlex HD Under-saddle pickup, allowing guitarists to plug in any Masterbilt Century archtop acoustic/electric into an amp or PA and hear the guitar’s true acoustic tone.

The new Masterbilt Century collection features all solid spruce tops with classic longitudinal bracing. The instruments also feature a recreation of the original Epiphone headstock with ‘mother of pearl’ banner inlay, dual action truss rod, bone nut, aged nickel 18:1 tuners, ebony and rosewood fretboards, and the eSonic HD preamp system and Shadow NanoFlex HD under-saddle pickup.

The Masterbilt Century De Luxe and De Luxe Classic recreate the Epiphone full-body archtop tone, with a 17-inch lower bout. The Zenith and Zenith Classic are medium-sized 16-inch archtops with an arched solid spruce top with traditional longitudinal bracing and a laminated flame maple body. The Olympic acoustic/electric guitar is a smaller-sized archtop with an arched solid spruce top with traditional longitudinal bracing, a mahogany body and classic f-holes.

An optional custom Masterbilt Century hard case is available for each instrument. To find out more, go to epiphone.com/mbcentury

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.