Premier Model 75 Solid Spanish Solid Body Electric Guitar (1954)

Premier Model 75 Solid Spanish Model Solid Body Electric Guitar (1954), made in New York City, gold lacquer finish, hardwood body and neck with rosewood fingerboard, black tolex hard shell case. With several folks here with over 50 years experience (each) dealing with vintage guitars, it's pretty rare for us to come upon something we've never seen before, but here is one! This glittering gold solidbody is a product of New York's Sorkin/Multivox organization who had several different house brand names. Their flagship was Premier, used from the late '40s for amplifiers and from the early 1950s on guitars. Premier amplifiers came in a variety of sizes and often eye-catching styles including some quite original designs like the split-cabinet Premier 88. The successful arrival of Gibson's Gold-Topped Les Paul in 1952 kicked off a wave of competing solidbodies (or at least semi-solids) and by 1954-5 most major manufacturers were trying something in that mode; Gretsch and Guild went with semi-hollow variations (The Dou-Jet and the M-75 Aristocrat, respectively) while Kay and Harmony responded with cheaper "plank" solidbodies. There seemed to be more resistance to the concept in New York where the top studio and broadcast performers worked. Still, this guitar proves someone at Sorkin looked at the Les Paul and thought "We can do that"! It is similar in many ways to the Vega Westerner, another now-obscure gold top knockoff launched in Boston around the same time. The body and neck were likely made at United Guitars' factory in Jersey City, then finished out in Sorkin/Multivox workshop in Manhattan. This primal solidbody would have been an unfamiliar project for United, who specialized in laminated wood archtops. The all-gold lacquer finish leaves no wood exposed to verify what was used, but the body is likely mahogany and the neck either mahogany or maple. The dovetailed neck joint is slotted directly into the body with the seam visible from below, a pretty unusual way of doing it! The all-gold finish probably covered this joint better when the guitar was new. The neck is mounted the body at a very flat angle, possibly copied from the original 1952 Les Paul with the "string under" trapeze bridge. The neck has a comfortable "C" profile, the fingerboard is a nice dark piece of rosewood with real pearl block inlay. The headstock is a Gibson like "open book" shape, with a bit more spread to the crown. "PREMIER" is spelled out vertically on the black-painted face in silver mailbox letters, while the rear is painted black with a Gibson-like "stinger" at the base. A Gibson-style truss rod is fitted and the tuners are the Waverly single-unit openbacks used on many guitars of the period. The body and fingerboard are single-bound in cream celluloid, but the unique dazzling gold-sparkle plastic that is a Premier trademark appears on the pickguard, pickup rings, truss rod cover and caps on the white plastic knobs. The "Premier Edge Pole Magnet Pickups" appear to have been sourced from Fransch Electronics in Woodside, NY; they are generally similar to those used on early Guild guitars but here sit under gold-plated metal covers instead of plastic. They reminiscent in design of the Epiphone "Tone Spectrum" units with adjustable poles mounted along the edge, but the pole screws on these are larger. 3-way pickup selection is engaged by the forward rotary knob, with volume and tone controls arrayed behind, all of which have convenient pin markers along the forward edge. We have never seen this exact instrument pictured, but Sorkin's 1954 catalog does include a "Model 75 Solid Spanish" guitar That is somewhat similar, although with many detail differences. "Modern all the way, with perfect balance and beautiful appearance" was the description; the list price was $135, plus $42.50 for the hardshell case. The original pots in this guitar are dated to the 34th week of 1954, so this guitar likely was made that year or in 1955. This is a really striking design, in many ways the coolest looking at least of all the Les Paul inspired creations of this early period. If they had given it an extra 5 degrees of neck angle this might have been a more successful instrument, but as it is this obscure model disappeared almost immediately, eventually replaced by the "Scroll Body" solid line launched in 1958. We don't know how many of these were produced, but it can't be many; this is the first we have ever seen, and a superb example at that.   Overall length is 38 3/4 in. (98.4 cm.), 13 in. (33 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 1 11/16 in. (4.3 cm.) in depth, measured at side of rim. Scale length is 24 3/4 in. (629 mm.). Width of nut is 1 5/8 in. (41 mm.). This extremely rare guitar has survived 70+ years very well, showing some light wear but no major damage or repair, and all original except for a replaced bridge. The all-gold finish has moderately heavy checking, dings and dents scattered around but no really heavy play wear. There is a small splotch of glue (or something) on the top above the tailpiece that resists easy removal. The binding on the fingerboard has been redone, but the body binding and all the glitter plastic remain clean with no cracking or crumbling. Several of the mailbox letters spelling out "PREMIER" on the headstock are missing and the outlines were painted in to approximate their appearance. The lacquer on the gold pickup covers has darkened and some of it has flaked off. The frets appear original and have been polished out but still have good height an play well. We do not know what the original bridge looked like (it was of necessity low, and likely made of wood!) but have fitted a Harmony Stratotone style piece with a bone saddle slotted sufficiently to enhance playability. The pickups are not particularly hot sounding; the bridge unit is fairly twangy while the neck appears to be run through a large capacitor giving it a noticeable dark tone, which is preponderant when the two are combined. On the whole we would describe this as a decent playing guitar that is a real showpiece to look at and an exceptionally rare piece of New York Guitar history, almost certainly the first true solidbody commercially made in this area. It resides in a more modern HSC. Overall Excellent - Condition.