November 2014 Wiedler wrote us: “Have you ever wondered about the official name of the “numbered models” from c.1930 ? None of the vintage guitar history books and resources seem to have solved that mystery so far … But today I received a scan of an Epiphone flyer I have never seen or heard of before. It’s about Epiphone’s “Seville model guitars” – and there they are: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4 – in concert and auditorium size.
Before that long forgotten “Seville model” flyer resurfaced, the guitar historians called these guitars “numbered models” because they didn’t know Epiphone’s official naming. However the exact year allocation of Recording and Seville guitars is still unclear today. Looking at the serial numbers of these guitars we observe an overlap of both models in the 300-500s SN range. I guess the Seville models were introduced to complement the more expensive Recording series in a lower, more affordable price range. We are talking about the depression era, when all makers introduced budget priced models to serve the difficult market.“
April 5, 2017 Wiedler wrote us: “I got info from Noah Miller (oldfrets.com) who has discovered a flyer – apparently a supplement to the 1930-31 Continental catalog copy it came with – which includes a page featuring the Seville model guitars: With detailed info and pictures of all 5 models! See : Flyer Epi Seville
According to Wiedler there are now 6 Sevilles-4 registered.
References:
Felix Wiedler, NY Epi Reg
Noah Miller : Seville # 3
Jim Fisch & L.B. Fred, The House of Stathopoulo, 1996 pp. 155, 156, 235
George Gruhn & Walter Carter, Gruhn’s Guide to Vintage Guitars, 3rd edition 2010, p.43
Walter Carter, The Epiphone Guitar Book, 2012, pp.13, 127
NOTE : The 1939 Epiphone catalog does mention a model named “Seville”, but this was a gut string guitar with a name that had been used in the past. See also Wiedler : Seville s/n 14365
