Epiphone Masterbilt Blackstone 1941

This 1941 Epiphone Blackstone is a genuine pre-war archtop from Epiphone's celebrated Masterbilt era. With its solid spruce top and full-size maple body, it delivers the woody, cutting acoustic voice that once made these New York–built guitars a serious rival to anything Gibson had to offer.

The Blackstone was one of the workhorses of Epiphone's Masterbilt line, built in New York between 1931 and 1949. It sat in the heart of the range: less ornate than the De Luxe or Broadway, but sharing the same carved spruce top and maple construction that gave Epiphone archtops their reputation. By 1936 the body had grown to its full 16⅜-inch width, and it was in exactly this format that the Blackstone helped drive the fierce archtop rivalry between Epiphone and Gibson through the swing era. This 1941 example carries the classic details of the period: cream binding, pearloid parallelogram inlays, and open-gear tuners.

The carved spruce top gives it plenty of punch and a clear, projecting midrange that cuts through beautifully, whether you use it for rhythm chords, jazz comping, western swing or Carter-style fingerpicking. The mahogany neck carries a soft V profile over a 25.5" scale and a 7.25" radius rosewood fingerboard.

It has had five crack repairs on the top, but otherwise wears the playwear you can expect of a guitar of this age. It still has the original tuning machines, and with a newer tailpiece, it is ready for the years to come. It comes with not one, but two extra pickguards in the hardshell case.

This guitar has been carefully inspected for originality, condition and playability, then set up to our Gold Standard by a luthier. We make sure it arrives in your hands exactly as it should: sounding its best, playing effortlessly and ready to be enjoyed from the very first note.