By 1939, Epiphone had dropped the Electar brand and introduced three new models under the Epiphone name.

The top model of 1939 was the Zephyr, available in a striking natural finish that showed off it’s maple top. The laminated maple top, bent into an arched shape, was a departure from the carved spruce top of acoustic archtops. Although the laminated top was cheaper to make, Epiphone was willing to invest some money in the elctric guitar, as evidenced by the Zephyr’s triple-bound body and bound fingerboard.

Epiphone also invested in an electrical engineer – Herb Sunshine. Sunshine’s greatest contribution was the pickup that the Zephyr sported. It was the first with height-adjustable polepieces, and although these pickups did not have the power of Rickenbacker’s or Gibson’s pickups, Sunshine’s screw-polepiece concept would become an industry standard that endures today.