Epiphone have rocked up the original Emperor-II and produced this, the Emperor Swingster. The Emperor-II had a jazzy connection with Joe Pass but Epiphone want this baby to have a more rock-a-billy vibe.

So, lets see then… We’re gonna need a Bigsby.  Oh yeah.  There it is.  Check.  It’s actually a Bigsby B30 and it has the nice wire-style handle.  We prefer the look of these to be honest.  From the Bigbsy, the strings travel over a tune-o-matic equipped with roller saddles so tuning should be improved (at least a little).  The bridge is ‘pinned’ to the body.  This stops it moving by accident, thereby throwing your tuning out and makes it possible to change all strings at once without having to fiddle about with intonation for ages.  Pinning is something that many owners do anyway and I’m not such a traditionalist as to complain about its inclusion on a new guitar.

The Swingster is loaded with a pair of humbuckers.  Don’t be fooled by the image though – these aren’t the FilterTrons that they’re disguised as.  These are Epiphones own Swingbucker pickups.  They’re Alnico-V pups and have been wound hot.  They’re wired through a couple of push/pull pots that allow you to toggle each between series/parallel operation.

You get 20 frets in a rosewood board on a maple neck and the headstock carries a very nice vine inlay.

The Emperor Swingster is available in Natural, Trans-Black, Wine Red and, the best option in my opinion, a (very Gretschy) Sunrise Orange.

No information yet on the cost but there’s talk of pricing being ‘attractive’.  Epiphone have more information.