1951 Epiphone Mandocello Conversion -- Part 1

Here at last is my Epiphone mandocello conversion! This instrument started life in 1951 as an Epiphone Zenith arch top guitar -- it was at the upper mid-range of the Epiphone line during that period of time. The Zenith featured a carved spruce top, carved maple back, with maple sides, a mahogany neck and headstock and a rosewood fingerboard and bridge, with nickel plated tuners and trapeze tail piece. It is a classic a jumbo style with a 16 inch lower bout. The scale of the Epiphone arch tops was a bit longer than the competing Gibson's of the day (24.75 versus 25.5 inches) and the nut was 1.75 inches wide. Epiphone arch tops of those days were quality instruments and at that time were built in New York City. The company was engaged in serious competition with Gibson over the entire product line of acoustic instrument -- but the competition was especially fierce with the arch top guitars and there are some hilarious advertizements from that time period including one of a mostly naked woman covered mostly by her Epiphone guitar. Top of the Epiphone arch top guitar line from the NY era like the Emperor or the Zephyr are highly collectable and can go for thousands of dollars (USD). I was able to secure this guitar for around $1K on eBay -- pretty typical - - but you have to look. The conversion, guitar to a mandocello, went well in my opinion. The guitar tuners were removed and the holes were plugged with 5/8 inch mahogany pegs that I cut out with a plug maker. The plugs were glued in, leveled. The entire headstock was then sanded, stained, with a rosewood-mahogany water-based stain (I used several base stain shades) to a color tone desired. I coated all of the headstock mother-of-pearl inlays with a bit of shellac to give it a golden, vintage look and then layer on 8 coats of nitrocellulose lacquer with a small pressurized sprayer, sanding & micromeshing between coats. The back of the headstock was similarly refinished. No new finish was applied to the top, back and sides of the guitar as these were in outstanding condition. Big Joe's Guitar Shop in Nashville drilled the new holes in the head stock and installed 8 nickel plated Grover mini-tuners -- to tune the mandocello strings. A new bone nut notched for a mandocello and a new adjustable bridge (rosewood base and rosewood & bone saddle) were purchased from Stew-Mac and these were also fitted up by Joe's boys in Nashville. The saddle is radiused. The tail piece I designed myself -- it is a nickle plated copy of the standard Gibson mandolin tail piece that I modified so as to attach it to trapeze. The idea was to copy the look of the 1920's Gibson master model K-5 (Loar signed) mandocello. I am please with the final result and it turned out pretty much as I had hoped . It has a awesome sound and its a joy for me to (TRY TO) play! The nut and finger board area wide (1.75 inch nut) compared to the narrower Gibson mandocello standard of 1.5 inch. Eventually if the neck seems stable I may slim this one down to the Gibson standard and make new nut for it. But not now.