For sale is an incredibly rare first year Epiphone model EA-7P 'Professional' electric guitar, dating from 1962.
A short-lived run by Epiphone under their ownership by Gibson - made in Kalamazoo, Michigan side by side with the ES-335 models of the year.
Being from '62, it features the very desirable 'wide' nut profile as seen on Epiphones with the 'short' headstock style (this would change in 1963, 1-2 years before it did for Gibson models).
It shares the 335 body shape and is near identical in construction, with some obvious deviations that set it apart. I personally believe Gibson had created this as somewhat of an 'Epiphone ES-345' for a few reasons. Firstly, the body is triple-bound (as with a contemporary 345), also featuring a bound Braz rosewood fingerboard with parallelogram inlays. What's further, is the model features a 'ToneExpressor' circuit, which is essentially a Varitone accessed by individual switches, rather than a notched pot. Each of which activates an individual capacitor/tone cut, providing sounds ranging from a single coil sound, 'quacky' BB King tone, P90 tone, etc. Unlike a Varitone, they can be added in succession making for quite the variety of sounds - Phil X has a really good video demonstrating this.
It also shares some parts with a contemporary 335/345, including an uber-rare nickel ABR-1 with nylon saddles. It similarly features a centre block, albeit factory-routed to accommodate the extra electronics, al of which are loaded onto the pickguard. The lone pickup is a highly desirable PAF Mini Humbucker, again being factory nickel-finished. The neck profile is typical to a '62 335 - super slim / flat but with a wide nut.
These guitars were originally sold with a paired amp, and the extra 'tremolo' and 'reverb' knobs to the lower portion of the guard could be used to control the amp itself (these are not built-in effects), which is meant to be paired by the primitive MIDI-style input to the side of the guitar. I think this was somewhat forward-thinking of Epiphone - these were built before the days of widely available pedals and I think the idea was that players could adjust their amp from the guitar itself playing live. The amp has long been separated from this guitar (I've never managed to track one down), though there do appear to be a few for sale in America. The guitar however has a separate 1/4 inch input to the front, was designed to be used with or without the original amp and works perfectly through any standard amplifier (albeit, without use of the aforementioned reverb/tremolo amp controls).
Plays superbly, free of breaks or any undue repairs. It has clearly had a refret previously to its benefit and the only work I've had done was a (necessary) new nut by Dicky at Fontaine Guitars, Nottingham. Save for potentially the odd pickguard screw, and a very convincing set of nickel Kluson repro tuners, it appears to be original, including the original 'Frequensator' nickel tailpiece (a part shared by contemporary Riviera/Casino models), all other hardware/knobs and the prized Mini PAF humbucker pickup. The case is a very good Epiphone 'Grey' variant hard case, which they paired with '62 reissue Sheraton models, etc.
It can be dialled in for instant 'woman' tone with the tone rolled off and can do a convincing 335 neck pickup sound. The ToneExpressor allows for an instant lead/treble sound at the flick of a switch and as above, can be dialled in for anything from a single coil sound, to a P90 tone, etc etc...
A fantastic guitar in its own right, with about 80% of the DNA of a contemporary '62 ES-335. At about 10% of the price.