Epiphone tells me that it was made in Japan between 1976-79. They can't tell me the exact year but they sent me the spec sheet. The specs say that it was voice braced so it has had a considerable amount of luthier hands-on during construction. In the end I bought it for $150 and I am sure that I can't go wrong at that price. When I get home I'll probably cut the nut slots down a bit because it is little high at the first fret throwing the intonation out a hair. New strings are sure to bring it to life even though it sounds good with old dead ones.