Epiphone and Marcus King have teamed up for a super-cool signature acoustic guitar based on his first ever guitar, the El Dorado – the gift from his father that he started his playing career on, and the guitar he named his debut solo album after.
This one is a doozy. It is a limited run, so get it while it’s hot. It has an all-solid build, with spruce on top, rosewood on the back and sides, with a soundhole-mounted LR Baggs Element Bronze acoustic guitar pickup system making it ready for the stage – and a custom pickguard and Antique Natural finish that makes this guitar ready for its close-up.
Now, the Gibson/Epiphone acoustic family tree is not short of photogenic pickguards. There’s the Dove, the Hummingbird, the SJ-200… But King’s El Dorado is something else.
“This guitar means the world to me,” says Kind. “My first El Dorado was a gift from my father, and it carried me through some of the earliest and most important moments of my musical journey. It has always represented family, home, and the songs that shaped me.”
King’s guitars are like an extension of the family. Just think of Big Red, the 1962 ES-345 that was passed down from his King's grandfather to his father, then onto him.
Gibson made a Custom Shop signature guitar from it, then a stripped down King signature ES-345 that removed the Varitone and “fixed” the Maestro Vibrola that was installed incorrectly on the original model.
Playing Big Red was a way of King carrying on his grandfather’s legacy. Those picking up this El Dorado are invited to write their own legacy on the instrument.
“I hope this guitar inspires people to write their own stories for years to come,” says King.
But what about the El Dorado itself? Historically, this is an Epiphone acoustic with some DNA related to the Gibson Hummingbird. That square-shouldered dreadnought shape is similar.
And yet the El Dorado has a 25.5” scale, whereas the Hummingbird has the more commonly found Gibson scale of 24.75”.
Also, there are some other interesting details to note here. Look at the headstock.
One of the most welcome developments in the contemporary Epiphone catalogue has been the return of the Kalamazoo headstocks on the Inspired By Gibson lineup. We do not have this here – and that’s cool by us.
The headstock on King’s El Dorado matches the spec of his Japanese-made original, and there is a volute on the neck.
This has the look of a high-end build, from the four-ply binding on the body’s top to the MOP Tennessee and South Carolina inlays on its ‘belly down’ rosewood bridge – not to mention those soft block inlays and three-ply binding on the fingerboard.
Elsewhere, you’ve got a compensated bone nut, Epiphone Deluxe tuners with nickel buttons, King’s signature on gold on the back of the headstock, and the price also includes a signature hard-shell guitar case.
Speaking of which, King's El Dorado will set you back £949/$999, which seems like a pretty sweet deal. This is one fine-looking instrument.
Find out more at Epiphone.
