A few months back I posted this in another forum as a sort of short history of the Sheraton. I'm going to add that "Wine Red" was a standard color (signified by "WR" after the model name on the interior label) on the Matsumoku-made Sheratons of 1980-1988 and cherry red was offered for a very short period of time on the Korean/Samick-made Sheratons c.1994 and the sunburst colorations offered on both the Matsumoku (1980-1988 Japanese) and Samick (1986-1998 Korean) have a definite reddish hue. The sunburst of more-recent years is the more Gibson-esque dark brown to yellow coloration.
1980s Matsumoku-made Sheraton in "Wine Red" :
http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk108/MrGregzy/3170_1.jpg
"OK...before we go any further here's a little history lesson...The original Kalamazoo-made Sheraton model came along in 1958 as an "upgrade' to the Gibson ES-335 that was introduced in the spring of 1958 and made use of component parts Gibson received when it bought Epiphone in 1957...parts such as the New York single coil pickups and Frequensator tail pieces...
1959 Sheraton:
http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk108/MrGregzy/cc65_3.jpg
By 1961 the supply of original Epiphone parts had been exhausted and this resulted in a re-design of some of the Epiphone models including the Sheraton. The re-design included replacing the New York single coil pickups with the then-new "PAF Mini Humbucker" pickups which had been designed to fit in the rout of the New York single coil. By the way, these were NEVER called "New York Mini Humbuckers" until the late 1990s when some clueless putz in Epiphone marketing used that phrase in catalog copy... perhaps in attempts to validate and legitimize the rather generic-sounding Asian pickups by alluding to a possible USA historical connection.
1963 Sheraton:
http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk108/MrGregzy/6127_12.jpg
The Sheraton was made through-out the 1960's until domestic Epiphone production ended in August of 1970 (Kalamazoo Epiphones were still shipped into very early 1971). During their production run they were offered with both the Frequensator tail piece and various vibratos such as Bigsbys and Epiphone's Vibra-Tone and always had Mini Humbuckers with the exception of the first four years or so when they had two New York single coils.
In about 1975 in response to the improving quality of Japanese guitars and Gibson's inability to sell instruments within Japan (due to trade restrictions and cost-prohibiting tariffs and taxation) Gibson contracted with Matsumoku, the parent company of the Aria and other Asian brands and Yamano Music-Japanese music shop chain and distributor of Gibsons and Epiphones in Japan- to market a line of higher-end guitars initially limited to the domestic Japanese market. Gibson had previously contracted with Matsumoku to make the first Japanese-made Epiphones in 1971 but this line of instruments were markedly lower in quality to the new line of thin lines which included a Casino, a Riviera, a Sheraton and an Emperor. By about 1979 the line had proved popular and distribution was extended world-wide though there were still some instruments made that were exclusive to the Japanese market. These Sheratons were only offered with full-sized humbuckers. Initially they were also only offered with a stop tail piece but later in the run models with Frequensators were also offered.
Early 80s Matsumoku-made Sheraton :
http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk108/MrGregzy/epiphone-japan-sheraton-sb-80s-2.jpg
In 1986 Henry J. and company bought Gibson and decided to offer a line of Korean-made Epiphones. With bottom-line increasing cost-cutting in place, one of the first of these models was the "Sheraton II" which was only offered with full-sized humbuckers and stop tail pieces and was named the "Sheraton II" to avoid confusion with the Matsumoku-made Sheraton that was still in production. Another distinction was the use of the "Epiphone By Gibson" headstock logos on the Korean-made Epiphones. This early Korean-made line was made by Samick.
In 1987 Terada began to make a Japanese-exclusive line of Epiphones and their line also included a Sheraton model though again it was only offered with full-sized humbuckers:
http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk108/MrGregzy/tadssheraton.jpg
In 1993/1994 to celebrate 100 years of Epiphone and Gibson, Gibson made a limited run of some of the original Epiphone models such as the Riviera, Sheraton and Emperor and this time the Epiphone models had mini humbuckers. These were made in Nashville and Bozeman and had nitro-cellulose finishes.
Also in about 1994 Epiphone began to use contract factories in Korea such as Peerless ("R" alpha prefix in serial number) Saein ("I" alpha prefix), Unsung ("U" alpha prefix), as well as the original Samick production ("S" alpha prefix) though by 1998 Samick ran into financial problems and discontinued production for a few years while getting back on track. I've never seen a Peerless-made Sheraton but the other factories made them. There may be a slight superiority of the earlier Samick-made Sheratons but this superiority is negligible at best.
In about 1996/97 Epiphone offered a John Lee Hooker Sheraton as part of their "USA Series" which was actually made in Japan (and "assembled" in Nashville). There had also been a Korean-made Hooker Sheraton with goofy graphics. The Terada-made Hooker Sheratons were offered with either a stop tail piece (called "The '64 Sheraton II") or a Frequnsator tail piece (called The '64 Sheraton I) and came with a nitro-cellulose finish. Following the Hooker Sheraton Epiphone came out with the Elite (later the Elitist) Sheratons with mini humbuckers and Frequensators but with polyurethane finishes.
The contract factories continued making Sheratons into the early 2000s and now there's a transition to all-Chinese production of Epiphone guitars. So...for the most part the "Sheraton II" refers to a Korean-made Sheraton.
The vintage Sheratons (1958-1970) have become quite pricey (>$5K) but the Matsumoku Sheratons from the 80s are very good guitars for the money and can be had for under $800. The early Samick-made Korean and Korean contract factory-made Sheratons can be had for well under $600. Generally good values for the money but as with anything, the quality does fluctuate and every guitar has to be examined on its own merits. I personally won't consider anything made in China so you do so at your own peril...
Greg
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Step on the gas and wipe that tear away...
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I'm tossing this out there as just a little history and background of the Sheraton. Hope someone finds it of use.
I just noticed that the photo I used to depict an '80s Matsumoku Sheraton is actually a photo of a '90s era Terada-made Sheraton but they are very similar and as soon as I can look up another 80's Matsumoku Sheraton photo I'll change it.
Earlier in the thread there was some speculation as to the origins of the "Frequensator Tailpiece" The Frequensator dates back to the late 1930s when it was the brain child of a guy named "Herb Sunshine" who at the time was a salesman for Epiphone. The idea being compensation for the different string tension resulting from different string thickness and length. How effective in practice? Debatable...but it did work as a marketing tool. The "horse shoe "E" is of course an "epsilon", the Greek alpha character for the letter "E".
Greg
