Epiphone EA-250

Photo: James Fry
Model: Epiphone EA-250
Color: Cherry Red (Redburst)
Year: between 1972 and 1974
Used in...

- 1993-1994

- used during the recording sessions of the Definitely Maybe album

- featured in the artwork of the Supersonic single

- featured in early photoshoots and TV appearances
Details

The EA-250 (previously named 5102T) was made in Japan in the early '70s by Matsumoku, the same company that later built Noel's Sunburst and Wine Red Rivieras.1

Contrarily to the Riviera though, it has a fully hollow body (like a Casino), a slightly different shape and a bolt-on neck.
The use of a bolt-on neck instead of the usual Gibson-style glued one was a cost reduction choice. For this reason, the EA-250 has always been considered a lesser guitar compared to other Matsumoku Epiphones: actually - neck and neck pocket aside - the build quality was very good and it does have a unique character!2

This model was sold, with minor differences, under many other brand names - like Aria, Univox and Teisco.
It is unknown when Noel got the guitar, but it was probably around mid 1993.

Its Cherry Red hollow-body, with a Bigsby-like vibrato arm, vaguely resembles Johnny Marr's legendary Gibson ES-355, a guitar that inspired Noel when he was younger:3

"I remember seeing The Smiths on Top Of The Pops, and I don't mean this in a sycophantic way, but I wanted to be Johnny Marr. He had the Brian Jones haircut, the turtleneck, and the big red semi-acoustic guitar and he was cool as f**k."

Maybe this is what prompted him to buy a guitar that looked similar to Johnny's ES-355 - on a budget!

The EA-250 was famously featured in one of the early photo-shoots of the band: the pictures where taken by Jamie Fry at Nomad Studios, Manchester on 28 or 29 November 1993.4
In December the band recorded Supersonic at the Pink Museum studios in Liverpool: Noel used his Epiphone Les Paul Standard to record the main guitar parts.

The EA-250 reappeared in January at the Monnow Valley studios in Wales, during the first recording sessions for the Definitely Maybe album.
Noel can be seen playing the EA-250 on the iconic artwork of the Supersonic single, sitting on the piano at Monnow Valley.
The guitar is plugged in: maybe it was used to lay down some guitar parts during the recording sessions - which were almost entirely scrapped.5

A curious picture of Liam playing the guitar in the living quarters of Monnow Valley studios has also surfaced in recent years.
The EA-250 was last seen in Noel's hands during an early Oasis TV appearance on the ITV show Something For The Weekend, recorded in Spring 1994 at The Warehouse Club in Leeds.

The band performed Shakermaker, Rock 'n' Roll Star and Supersonic: everything was mimed except for Liam's vocals.

Noel has never played the guitar in a real live situation - as far as it is known.
There might be a few reasons why Noel was never seen playing it during a live gig. Being a fully hollow-body, the EA-250 is very prone to feedback: this was definitely a bad match with the high volume of Noel's amps inside a small club!

Also, the unique Japanese "staple" pickups, which resemble the ones made famous by Hofner in the '60s, have a very low output (less than 5 KOhms) and even though they do sound great with a bit of overdrive, they probably could not achieve the sound that Noel was looking for in the early '90s.

It can be speculated that Noel gave away the guitar sometime in the second half of 1994. He had acquired many other guitars at that point - including the Les Paul Standard "conversion" and the Black Les Paul Custom, both given to him by Johnny Marr.

As of 2021, Noel's EA-250 was owned by Pop Icons, a company that specializes in music memorabilia. A few detailed pics of the guitar are available below.

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GO BACK TO THE COMPLETE lIST
  1. The Epiphone Guitar Book – Walter Carter ↩︎
  2. I have recently acquired a very early EA-250: I’m planning to write an in-depth article & review in the coming months. ↩︎
  3. https://www.nme.com/news/music/oasis-605-1346514 ↩︎
  4. Thanks to The Crimson Rambler on the live4ever forum! ↩︎
  5. http://www.oasis-recordinginfo.co.uk/?page_id=132 ↩︎

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