Super Rare Factory Black Epiphone Wilshire
Quite Possibly The Only One…

This super rare custom-color guitar weighs just 6.50 lbs. and has a nice, fat nut width of just over 1 11/16 inches and a scale length of 24 1/2 inches. Solid mahogany body, one-piece mahogany neck with a medium-to-thin profile, and a bound Brazilian rosewood fretboard with 22 medium jumbo frets and inlaid pearl dot position markers. Headstock with "Epiphone" metal-plate logo. Single-layer black plastic truss-rod cover. Serial number "11129" stamped onto the back of the headstock. Individual single-line Kluson Deluxe tuners (stamped on the underside "D-169400 / Patent No.") with oval white plastic buttons. Two P-90 pickups with outputs of 7.92k and 7.84k. Symmetrical tortoiseshell plastic with silver epsilon with four screws. Four controls (two volume, two tone) plus three-way pickup selector switch, all on lower treble bout. Black plastic bell-shaped "Bell" knobs with metal tops. The three-way pickup selector switch is surrounded by a thin black plastic ring engraved with "RHYTHM" and "TREBLE." The pots are stamped "134 750" (Centralab December 1957) and the two capacitors are the original "Bumble-Bee" type. ABR-1 Tune-O-Matic non-retainer bridge with metal saddles, separate stud tailpiece. All hardware nickel-plated. The epsilon on the pickguard has oxidized but the integrity of the pickguard has not been compromised. There are a few very minor surface marks but overall this exceptionally rare custom color Wilshire is in near mint (9.25) condition. Housed in the original Epiphone brown three-latch softshell case with dark brown felt lining (8.75).

According to the Gibson records this guitar was shipped from the factory on April 4th, 1961.
The ledger entry reads: "11129........SB-432 Black................4-4-61"

This is the only factory black Epiphone Wilshire that we have ever seen…

The Wilshire, Epiphone's equivalent of the Gibson SG Special (but with the advantage of a 'Tune-O-Matic' bridge), was added to the Epiphone solid body line in 1959 at around $195.00, but by 1962 the price tag had risen to $265.00. Originally it had two white P-90 pickups, no doubt left over from the Gibson Les Paul's conversion from P-90s to metal covered humbucking pickups. The white P-90s were replaced by black P-90s (which were still in use on some Gibson's) in 1961. Later in 1963 the Wilshire's body shape became asymmetrical with the upper bass horn slightly longer than upper treble, and the headstock received six-on-a-side tuners.