The signature dreadnought pairs solid rosewood and spruce with custom inlays honouring the guitarist's roots.
Marcus King has put his name to an Epiphone acoustic, closely modelled on the vintage El Dorado he’s played for years. The Marcus King El Dorado is a limited run in Antique Natural, reviving a ’70s-era Epiphone with a few personal touches from the South Carolina guitarist.
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Built as a square-shoulder dreadnought, the model features a solid rosewood back and sides and a solid spruce top for a warm sound that opens up as the guitar ages. Four-ply binding trims the top and single-ply the back, while the 25.5-inch mahogany neck meets the body with a traditional dovetail joint.
The neck carries a comfortable C profile and a headstock volute, topped with a ’70s Japanese-inspired headstock shape, a bone nut and Epiphone Deluxe tuners with metal buttons. A mother-of-pearl Epiphone logo finishes it off, and the three-ply bound rosewood fingerboard holds 20 frets with rounded-corner block inlays. The belly-down rosewood bridge takes a compensated bone saddle and black pins.
Custom inlays mark out the outline of South Carolina and Tennessee’s Tri-Star emblem, a nod to King’s roots, and the pickguard is modelled on the one from his own vintage El Dorado.
When it comes to plugging in, the El Dorado carries an L.R. Baggs Element Bronze under-saddle pickup and preamp, with volume and tone controls tucked into the edge of the soundhole where they stay out of the way. A 9-volt battery powers the pickup, though you’ll need to bring your own. Each guitar ships in a hardshell case with a Marcus King signature graphic.
It lands in late August through Australis Music Group.
