❌SOLD❌ Epiphone BB King Lucille Thinline Archtop Electric, 2015

Based closely on the currently-discontinued Gibson signature model, the Epiphone BB King Lucille is an affordable and rather good entry into the world of thinline archtop electrics.   

The late, great B B King continues to have an outsized influence on blues stylings. His use of tasteful restraint combined with a wicked vibrato and an outstanding voice provide many points of emulation for countless players.

For many years, BB King used top of the line Gibson thinline electric guitars, primarily the ES-355 and ES-345. Because he was the frontman and band leader, his amps would be set to maximum with stage volume controlled from the guitar; this kept his attention to the audience.

In 1980, Gibson introduced the BB King Custom and Standard, an updated ES-355 but with several significant changes. Most importantly, the F-holes were removed to seal the body and diminish feedback, and a back plate was added for the necessary access to the electronics. A 6-position Varitone switch and Dual standard Mono and Stereo jacks were added. In the Stereo configuration, a special Y cable that’s wired the same as an Insert Cable (commonly used to give mixing board channels access outboard gear) can be connected to two amps or mixer channels,  Each pickup goes to a separate channel in this setup.

This Epiphone BB King Lucille dates to October of 2015 and was built at Epiphone’s plant in Qingdao, China, a plant they dedicate to higher quality production. It is in overall good shape, with just a few scratches and some oxidization to the metal parts. It plays well, and has a vast array of sounds.   The body is laminated Maple with a center block, the neck Maple with bound Rosewood fingerboard.   Electronics include a pair of Epiphone Classic Alnico pickups, 3-way toggle switch, individual volume and tone controls, and the Varitone switch.   It also has the Mono / Stereo wiring.  Tuners are Grover Rotomatics.  The bridge is an ABR-1 style, and a TP-6 fine tuner tailpiece allows quick and precise tuning tweaks.  All visible metal parts are gold coloured.   Of course, the peghead has a ‘Lucille’ inlay and gold-plated metal, engraved truss rod cover.

A very good condition TKL hard shell 335-style case is included.

Since 1948, BB King named his guitars ‘Lucille’ to help keep in mind an important lesson. Here’s an interesting story about this: 

“In the winter of 1949, King played at a dance hall in Twist, Arkansas. The hall was heated by a barrel half-filled with burning kerosene set in the middle of the dance floor, a fairly common practice at the time. During a performance, two men began to fight, knocking over the barrel and sending the burning fuel across the floor. The hall burst into flames and was evacuated.

Once outside however, King realized that he had left his guitar inside so he went back into the burning building to retrieve his beloved $30 Gibson guitar. King learned the next day that the two men who started the fire had been fighting over a woman who worked at the hall named Lucille. King did not know Lucille but named that guitar, and every guitar he subsequently owned, Lucille, as a reminder never again to do something as stupid as run into a burning building or fight over a woman.” *source Wikipedia