 1961 full line catalog
 Distinguished for its dramatic color - beautiful new Royal Burgundy that gleams richly under stage lights. And distinguisged for its fine tone, full-range response and easy playing action.. |
 1962 full line catalog
The Century is a thin-body model in full auditorium size, non-cutaway style. The sensitive pickup has individually adjustable polepieces - provides plenty of volume and wide tonal colors |
 1964 full line catalogue
This is the first catalogue to show the Century in colour |
 1966 full line catalog
Today the electric Spanish guitar is found everywhere... orchestras, combos, jazz bands and as a featured solo instrument. Epiphone electric Spanish guitars suit the need of every player, from the top professional, to the semi-pro, to the amateur. |
| Model | Century E422T | Century E422T 3/4 |
| Available | 1959-1969 | 1961-1967 |
| Pickups | One single-goil dogear P90 (very early examples may have older Epiphone New York pickups) |
| Scale | 25 1/2" | ? |
| Body | Maple sides and back with a maple top. 16 3/8" wide (lower bout), 20 1/4" long, 1 7/8" thick. Single-ply binding |
| Neck | Mahogany neck, rosewood fingerboard with pearl dot inlays. 20 frets, body meeting the body at the 14th fret. Early models had the Epiphone metal plate logo, changing to a transfer around 1960-61 |
| Hardware | 1 volume and 1 tone control. Tune-o-matic free floating bridge with bail-type tailpiece. Nickel plating throughout (although many instruments had black plastic pickup covers) |
| Finishes | Royal Burgundy, shaded | Royal Burgundy
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An Epiphone Century was also manufactured by pre-Gibson Epiphone from 1939, until the mid 1950s. It was quite similar to the later 'Gibson' version, except it was a full body archtop rather than a thinline. When Gibson parent company CMI bought Epiphone, they also bought unfinished guitar parts, tooling and components.
The Epiphone range of the late 1950s and 1960s closely followed the Gibson guitars of the same time; they were both made in the same fatory in Kalamazoo. The Century corresponds to the Gibson ES125T having the similar dimensions and construction, but with different headstock shape and a slightly longer scale (25 1/2" versus 24 3/4" for the ES125T).
After Epiphones aquisition by Gibson in 1957, many pre-merger Epiphone parts were used up before being replaced by Gibson parts. From 1959-60/61, Century models often had the old Epiphone metal plate logo, tortoise-shell pickguard and often the New York humbuckers. Some early models also had pre-CMI Epiphone three-ply necks (and potentially pre-CMI tops or backs too). Examine a 1959 Epiphone Century.
Once all the parts were gone, it became just another guitar built at Gibson, and naturally contained several Gibson trademarks; most notably the one-piece mahogany neck. The New York humbucker was replaced by a single coil P90 pickup, early catalogues suggesting nickel covered units, mid-sixties catalogues showing black plastic. Examine a 1963 Epiphone Century.
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