1959 Epiphone Sheraton Sunburst

I've owned a couple dozen Epiphone Sheratons and this one is a little different than most. This guitar is quite possibly an employee guitar. Epiphone was owned by Gibson by 1959 and the Sheratons were built alongside the ES-355's. In 1959 and into 1960, Gibson was using up leftover Epiphone parts. On the early Sheratons, the fabulous Epiphone V neck was put on an ES-355 body. Hardware was largely Epiphone. The Frequensator tailpiece, the pickguard, truss cover, knobs and pickups were Epiphone. The bridge, tuners and body were Gibson. These early Sheratons have single coil pickups-I call them P90's with manners. Very musical, very articulate. What makes me think this is an employee guitar? Well, to begin with, the finish. It's much more like a Gibson sunburst than the sunburst they were shooting on Epiphones. The sides are sunburst which is not normal for Gibson (and something an employee might do), even the headstock is sunbursted. A "Custom Made" plate was added (I removed it because it's ugly). The plate is supposed to cover stop tail studs but Sheratons never got stop tails. Most Sheratons got the Trem-o-Tone vibrato whereas this one has a factory Bigsby. All of these little features add up to a custom guitar quite possibly made by an employee. Everything black lights as original The neck is perhaps the best., most comfortable profile I've ever played. It's a medium V profile with lots of depth and width. It was only used in 59 and 60 and a few in 61. A mono 59 ES-355 is a $30,000+ guitar.This Sheraton is half the price. You won't find a better semi hollow for less. Original grey with blue case.