The Epiphone Forum

I took this one in very recently.
It is one of about 120 blonde Sheratons that were shipped between '59 and '69.
This '64 has the wide nut width.
This one had the three-way switch "transplanted" to the lower bout, but but otherwise it is all there (I have the pickguard as well).
Despite its blemishes, it is a true dream guitar.
Much more on this guitar (and blonde Sheratons in general) in the weeks/months/years to come, I hope!

The guitar has a PAF sticker mini humbucker in the bridge, and a patent sticker in the neck.

The bridge pickup in this guitar sounds *incredible." And I am a bridge pickup player probably 90+% of the time:



With Sheratons, since they had gold hardware (including gold-covered pickups), and since the number of Epiphones shipped in the '60s with gold hardware was so small, you will see the "earliest" version of the mini humbucker (with the PAF sticker) as late as 1964, and probably even later than that. To my knowledge, the only Epis that had gold pickups in the early '60s were: Sheraton (very ow production numbers), Emperor (extremely low production numbers), Windsor, and the earliest mini-humbucker-equipped 1961 Crestwoods.

Similar to the full-size Gibson humbuckers of the 60s, the gold-covered pickups weren't used on nearly as many guitars, so it took years for the supply of earliest pickups to be used up. This is why you also see full-sized PAFs as late as around 1966 or so.

Of course, it is about more than just the sticker - the earliest mini humbuckers obviously also shared the same plain enamel wire and same magnets as the '60-61 full-sized PAFs. I think these early mini humbuckers can be fantastic and, to me, add even more to the appeal of the Sheratons.

Gorgeous blonde Sheraton. If she were mine I'd have the switch restored to its original location...I owned a '62 blonde Sheraton for awhile. It was too mint to gig so I sold it. Her replacement is a near mint '62 Riviera...the a Royal Tan finish is so light it almost looks like honey or aged blonde! Sounds supremely good with the two stickered mini-PAFs! Gibson only made 40 Rivieras in 1962 so it is quite a rare fiddle as well!

Here's a photo of my old Sheraton S/N 9171X

Here is a photo of my current '62 Riviera S/N 8247X

Beautiful!

The pre-'65 Sheratons and Rivieras are some of the greatest guitars ever to come out of the Kalamazoo factory. Every bit the equal of a pre-65 ES-335/345/355, in my opinion.

And definitely extremely rare. I am working on organizing a comprehensive Epi shipping number reference for us, to post on this forum (very soon!). The shipping numbers on '60s Sheratons and Rivieras is shockingly low.

I am definitely considering having the blonde '64 Sheraton's switch restored to its proper location - I'm having a tough time finding the right guy for the job. Any ideas?

Thanks!

AV, beautiful Sheraton!

RAB - lovely Riviera as well! Hard to tell from the pic, but I guess it has the shorter early headstock?

Hey Jim - yup! I am definitely working on it. It will definitely be cool

Yes, short headstock on my '62 Riviera...