1967 Epiphone Wilshire

1967 Epiphone Wilshire SB 432

This 1967 Kalamazoo made Epiphone Wilshire weighs just 6.30 lbs. Thirteen inch wide, one and a third inch deep solid mahogany body, contoured on the back bass-side. One-piece mahogany neck with a nut width of just over 1 9/16 inches and a standard Gibson scale length of 24 3/4 inches. Brazilian rosewood fretboard with 22 original jumbo frets and inlaid pearl dot position markers. Black faced headstock with gold silk-screened "Epiphone" script logo. Serial number "000956" stamped in blind on back of headstock. Two-layer black over white plastic, dome-shaped truss-rod cover with two screws. Six-on-one-side 'double-line' Kluson Deluxe tuners with oval metal buttons (secured by four screws). Two 'patent-number' mini-humbucking pickups with black plastic surrounds and outputs of 6.72k and 6.84k, each with a rectangular black label on the underside with "Patent Number 2,737,842." Four controls (two volume, two tone) plus three-way selector switch, all mounted on pickguard. The potentiometers are stamped: "137 6630" (CTS July 1966). Black plastic bell-shaped knobs with metal tops. Three-layer white over black  plastic pickguard with ten screws. Gibson Tune-O-Matic retainer bridge with metal saddles. Epiphone Maestro Vibrato tailpiece secured by three screws. This fine little guitar is in exceptionally fine (9.00) condition with just a small amount of belt-buckle scarring (nothing thru the finish) on the back and a few small surface 'dings' on the top and sides. The cherry finish is rich and unfaded and the original frets show very little sign of wear. A really nice example, housed in the original Epiphone dark gray hardshell case with blue felt lining (8.75).

The Wilshire, Epiphone Kalamazoo's equivalent of the Gibson SG Special, was added to the Epiphone solid body line in 1959 at around $195.00, but by 1962 the price tag had risen to $235.00. Originally it had two white P-90 pickups, no doubt left over from the Gibson Les Paul's conversion from P-90s to metal covered humbucking pickups. The white P-90s were replaced by black P-90s (which were still in use on some Gibson's) in 1961. In mid 1962 the p-90 pickups were replaced with patent number mini humbuckers. Later in 1963 the Wilshire's body shape became asymmetrical with the upper bass horn slightly longer than upper treble, and the headstock received six-on-a-side tuners. The price in 1967 was $285.00…