Epiphone 1966 Century

Features

• Historic All-hollowbody Thinline Archtop
• New P-90 PRO™ single coil pickup
• Aged Gloss Finish
• Wilkinson® Vintage 3-in-a-row machine heads with plastic Ivory buttons

The Century is one of Epiphone’s oldest models in their catalogue. It may not have been available for a few years but thanks to a few great artists using these unique archtop guitars they have been resurrected! Fitted with a single vintage voiced P90 pickup and a classic build this guitar has some unique sounds that really push against what we think about hollow guitars.

The History

This small, all hollow guitar design has been around since the mid 50’s when Gibson merged with Epiphone and started modifying some of the models to work better in the world of amplified guitar. With loads of different versions available throughout the years it was this simple one pickup version that has captured the world recently.

Classic Hollow Build

Like the classic ES bodies from Gibson and other hollow guitars from the 60’s this guitar has a laminated Maple body, making it strong with a bright sound that is surprisingly loud given the size of the body. The neck is carved out of Mahogany to a rounded C shape that is a really comfortable size that is neither to thick nor too thin making both chords and lead lines a breeze.

Here’s what Epiphone say about the Inspired By 1966 Century

Epiphone presents the new Inspired by “1966” Century electric guitar, a faithful reissue of the classic thinline all-hollowbody archtop featuring the new Epiphone P-90 PRO single-coil pickup. The “1966” Century is available in both a Cherry and Vintage Sunburst Aged Gloss Finish.

Historic Epiphone Century Story

In Epiphone history, the “Century” name goes all the way back to the 1930s big band era, when the “House of Stathopoulo” was making some of the best archtops ever made. And when Epiphone merged with Gibson and moved its productions to Kalamazoo, Michigan in 1957, the Century was reborn as a popular thinline archtop, similar to a Casino or a “335” but with a slightly smaller body and a single P-90 pickup.

Body 
 Body shape: Single cutaway 
 Body type: Semi-hollow or chambered body 
 Body material: Laminated 
 Top wood: Laminated Maple
 Body wood: Laminated Maple
 Body finish: Gloss 
 Orientation: Right handed 
Neck 
 Neck shape: C rounded 
 Neck wood: Mahogany
 Joint: Set-in 
 Scale length: 24.75 in. 
 Truss rod: Standard 
 Neck finish: Gloss 
Fretboard 
 Material: Rosewood 
 Radius: Not specified 
 Fret size: Medium 
 Number of frets: 20 
 Inlays: Dot 
 Nut width: 1.656 in. (42 mm) 
Pickups 
 Configuration: SS 
 Neck: P-90 PRO 
 Middle: Not applicable 
 Bridge: P-90 PRO 
 Brand: Epiphone 
 Active or passive pickups: Passive 
 Series or parallel: Not applicable 
 Piezo: No 
 Active EQ: No 
 Special electronics: None 
Controls 
 Control layout: Master volume, tone 
 Pickup switch: 3-way 
 Coil tap or split: No 
 Kill switch: No 
Hardware 
 Bridge type: Fixed 
 Bridge design: Rosewood 
 Tailpiece: Trapeze 
 Tuning machines: Wilkinson 
 Color: Nickel 
Other 
 Number of strings: 6-string 
 Special features: Electronics 
 Case: Sold separately 
 Accessories: None 
 Country of origin: China