The rarest of early 1960s Epiphone custom colours must be California Coral, which is a red orange, a rival to Fender’s Fiesta Red. Here’s a great example on a cool rare Wilshire guitar circa 1963, with all nickel parts. Not a re-issue or Japanese model, a real USA Gibson-made Kalamazoo 1963 vintage Epiphone guitar! It also has the rare and valuable nickel plated stop bar tail piece which is the same as on a late ‘50s Les Paul Standard and ES-335, which makes it a valuable spare part in its own right. A lot of, if not most, Wilshires had a vibrato unit instead of this rare stop bar. Rosewood fingerboard, mahogany body and neck (1 9/16” at the nut) and all original. There is a strap button as you would expect on the upper horn, also one behind the heel as on the previous design of Wilshire. This appears to be factory fitted to me. The new Wilshire guitars were brought out as a revamp to the earlier 1961-1962 Epiphone range, to make them compete more with Fender and their custom colours/offset body guitars such as the Stratocaster and Jazzmaster, and they certainly do that, although these days are not as well known, probably due to their extreme rarity in coloured form. Gibson made these in their Kalamazoo factory alongside the SG and Firebird models, but Epiphone had their own unique colour range to keep the styles totally separate. This model has the Gibson/Epiphone mini humbuckers (as on Gibson Les Paul Deluxe & others), nickel plated, an ABR-1 Nickel bridge and the nickel stop tail. There’s a couple of grand in parts, if anyone was cruel enough to part it out. The finish is the rather thick enamel type that Gibson used on their SG Custom guitars and custom colour Firebirds, and is unrestored, with a few typical knocks and a tiny bit of flaking on the side of the fingerboard, around the position dots, and here and there on the headstock edges, as happens on SGs also. It is the nature of the finish when used and played. 50+ years of natural relic work! It sounds great, quite twangy, stays in tune and has a nice playable neck with a slinky action, like an SG. It doesn’t hum or buzz and is a superb gigging guitar. A third of the price of a custom Firebird from the same period, but the same quality! Try and find another with a stop tailpiece! In this colour! Condition overall is excellent with a few dings and knocks related to age and use, including one slightly dented pickup cover, but this guitar is not otherwise damaged or repaired in any way, and functions perfectly. There are lacquer checks in the finish, but it still retains a lot of shine. There is a small hairline crack in the pick guard near the jack, but it is solid, not broken or repaired. It is due to typical shrinkage and brittleness of the original plastic material used, not due to any stress or careless use. It happens on all Epiphones of the period that feature this white plastic material, but they don’t fall apart. The case is a poor quality original cardboard Epiphone SSC in average condition, but if packed and shipped, I will make sure all is bubble wrapped and better than OK. Shipping will be 100% safe. Check out my other listings. Any questions, I'm available (during UK business hours only, not late or early please) on 07970 868572 I prefer cash on collection, can post by arrangement, at cost. Please ask. Insurance is becoming difficult and expensive on guitar shipping, I’d prefer to stay safe, but will make it work somehow.If you check my feedback you will see that I've been here a long time and have a 100% reputation.Please note; I will need a contact phone number for the courier service, I cannot book the service without your phone number, please send with payment!