Up for sale, a 1951 Epiphone FT-110 in excellent condition, professionally maintained and complete with the original hardshell case. One of very few pre-Gibson Epiphone models that surface for sale, this FT-110 is a premium jumbo model, made in Epiphone's New York factory. This vintage acoustic has received all the proper care it's due, with a professional neck reset, new nut and compensated bone saddle, and a new tortoise pickguard (original also included).
Tonewoods include an X-braced spruce top, maple rims and an arched maple back, paired with a cherry and walnut five-ply neck capped with a Brazilian rosewood fingerboard. With a full 16" wide lower bout and 4" body depth, this Jumbo is an extremely powerful-sounding instrument, not dissimilar to a Gibson SJ-200, with the treble cut and articulation of maple as a tonewood. This Epiphone is a rewarding strummer with rich sustain, and the wound strings are focused and defined, with a smooth underlying growl when digging in hard with a flatpick. Trebles are punchy and round with plenty of sparkle, and the midrange is balanced but not particularly overt. The instrument weighs 5lbs 4oz, professionally setup here at Mike & Mike's Guitar Bar with 12-54 bronze strings and easy-playing action.
The neck has a substantial soft V-shaped profile carve, measuring .940" deep at the 1st fret and 1.045" at the 9th. The Brazilian rosewood fretboard features new binding and original fretwire, ostensibly leveled and crowned in the guitar's lifetime and currently showing no wear. The guitar plays cleanly up the 25 1/2" scale with a straight neck and a responsive, optimally adjusted truss rod. A new carved bone nut measures 1 11/16" in width, and the headstock retains the original open-gear nickel-plated tuning machines that still turn smoothly and hold pitch well.
The Brazilian rosewood bridge sits flush with the top on all edges, fitted with a carved and compensated bone saddle that has good height for future adjustment. The original bridge plate is also intact and was recently reinforced. The neck has been professionally reset in the guitar's lifetime, and some glue from that neck set extends across the original serialized Epiphone label, visible through the soundhole. The pickguard has been replaced with a new tortoise guard of the same shape and design, complete with small "E" silver foil epsilon.
The back binding on the body has been reglued and touched up, with a 1/2" section added at the neck heel to compensate for shrinkage. Much of the original ambered clear coat was removed from the binding in the process, as it presents brighter than the (also original) top binding. The original gloss nitro lacquer finish is intact and has been lightly oversprayed, with additional targeted touch-up adjacent to the neck heel and neck binding. There is a repaired split across the neck heel, one repaired split at the treble-side waist on top beneath the pickguard edge, and two repaired splits between the fretboard extension and soundhole edge. All are stable and professionally addressed, and cosmetic wear is otherwise limited to light finish wear along the back binding edge on the upper bout, and some small finish scuffs and minor nicks on the body as a whole.
The original hardshell case with dark brown textured exterior is included, complete with original functional latches and handle. The interior case lid even has the Epiphone "E" epsilon stamped into the plush padding. The original tortoise pickguard is also present.