For some time I was drawn to this picture and eventually began to look again at the Egmond 12 String.Ĭould I take this discarded, forgotten and unloved beast and turn it into something I would cherish and enjoy playing?īeing left handed, it is exceptionally difficult to find guitars that offer that ‘certain something’ – self modifying often being the only recourse. That was until I discovered the music of The White Stripes and specifically, Jack White’s old battered and torn Kay Acoustic with a Humbucker pickup stuck in the front. After that, the guitar was hung on the wall and left to gather dust for the next couple of years. To cut a long story short, the guitar sounded great but for some reason, it seemed to lack a certain something that I couldn’t put my finger on. On getting it home and after restringing the guitar left-handed (for that is what I am) and a quick tune, I sat down to have a play. Imagine my surprise when enquiring, that the price was just £40. It turned out to be a 1956 Egmond (Dutch firm, now bust) 12 String acoustic, 17 fret neck, 12th fret at the body. There, sat in the window, was something that instantly caught my eye, a guitar. Several years ago, I visited a charity shop in Kendal, UK.
With this post, there will probably be many of you fellow guitar enthusiasts out there, that will think I’ve completely lost the plot? Having said this, there are a lot worse guitars out there, and as well as being historically important, the 1820 bass can certainly provide the goods when required. Over the course of the 70s, the Japanese output improved dramatically, and in many ways these early 70s models are a low point for the brand.
These new Epiphones were based on existing Matsumoku guitars, sharing body shapes, and hardware, but the Epiphone line was somewhat upgraded, with inlaid logos and a 2x2 peghead configuration. The Matsumoku factory had been producing guitars for export for some time, but the 1820 bass (alongside a number of guitar models and the 5120 electric acoustic bass) were the first Epiphone models to be made there. By the end of the 1960s, a decision had been made to move Epiphone guitar production from the USA (at the Kalamazoo plant where Gibson guitars were made), to Matsumoto in Japan, creating a line of guitars and basses significantly less expensive than the USA-built models (actually less than half the price).
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