Last update : 23 April 2019
NOTE: Although these guitars are not actual pieces of the museum, they have a place on this site in order to provide the visitor with a complete picture of all the Epiphone made acoustic archtop models from 1931 until 1957.
Fox Guitars : “Even less is known about the “Ideal” brand or who it was made for, but the guitar design is clearly a relabeled 1930s Epiphone-made archtop guitar similar to the Zenith model. There was an “Ideal” brand of guitars in the early 1900s that were built in Illinois by August Carlstadt, but it is very unlikely that the two are connected in any way.”
There are only seven Ideals we known of. The example Paul Fox shows on his site is most likely Ideal s/n 8678, now part of the Epiphone Vintage Collection in Nashville. Ideal model specifications : Wiedler
♦ Ideal s/n 8676
♦ Ideal s/n 8678
♦ Ideal s/n 9138
♦ Ideal s/n unknown sunburst owner Mike Kemp (UK)
♦ Ideal s/n unknown sunburst owner Adam Letize
♦ Ideal s/n unknown sunburst owner Lucas Janssen (NL)
♦ Ideal s/n unknown blond owner Ethan Drake
UK pricelist c. 1935 (thanks Drew Morrison)
