1940’s Epiphone Blackstone
Bay Area guitarist Jim Nunally demonstrates a vintage archtop he found while touring with David Grisman.
San Francisco Bay Area guitarist Jim Nunally is an in-demand flatpicker who has worked with David Grisman, John Reischman, Bill Evans, Nell Robinson, and many others. Jim has become a regular visitor to the Peghead Nation studio as he provides backup for Chad’s Western Swing Fiddle course. He usually plays one of his vintage Martin dreadnoughts (a 1946 Martin D-18 or 1944 Martin D-28), but for a recent session, he brought along a very cool 1940s Epiphone Blackstone, so naturally we asked him to demo the guitar.
Jim found the guitar in a guitar shop in Medford, Oregon, while touring with the David Grisman Bluegrass Experience about 15 years ago. “When I was a kid, my dad always told me that my uncle had some Epiphone guitars, and he loved those guitars, so I always wanted one. This is a really good sounding guitar!”
Epiphone Blackstone models were part of the company’s “Masterbilt” line between 1931 and 1949. Early models were relatively small with 14¾-inch-wide bodies, but by 1936, the body size had increased to 16⅜ inches. All had spruce tops, and maple and mahogany were used for the backs and sides. Jim’s guitar was built in the mid-1940s, and it has maple back and sides and a sunburst finish. The guitar had some finish damage when Jim found it, so he took it to Bay Area sunburst finish expert Bill Reinhart for a touchup, and today the previous damage is virtually undetectable.
Jim describes the guitar’s sound as having “a resonance that’s kind of between a dreadnought and an f-hole archtop guitar,” and he enjoys using it for jazz and western swing, as well as for Carter-style playing.
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