Bohemia Musico

=Bohemia Musico-Delicia= {| The images of the Bohemia Musico factory on this page are screencaps from a documentary depicting Eastern Europe's transition from communism to capatalism entitled :Transition From Communism To Capitalism" by Albert Clack.
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You can watch the video clip here.

Note: Most of the photos depict guitars being made at the Bohemia factory other than Epiphone, such as Spector basses. Though not Epiphone products, these instruments were being produced at the same time and along side of the Epiphone Les Paul in 1996. The Les Paul images below the Bohemia factory photos are from various Czech-made Les Pauls found on the internet in an attempt to show the different parts and alternate construction used in the production process.

Delicia Accordian Works
The Bohemia Musico-Delicia factory, originally called Harmonika, and later after nationalization, Delicia Accordion Works, was founded in 1947 and produced accordions, harmonicas and a variety of Latin-American musical instruments. By the late 1980's, Delicia was partnered with Kramer guitars until 1991 when Kramer went out of business. When Delicia was put up for privatization in 1993, Petr Vykydal, a former employee, and a few other former Delicia colleagues out-bid the former management for ownership of the company. By the mid 1990's, Delicia was renamed to Bohemia Musico-Delicia and was producing guitars for companies such as Epiphone, Hohner, and Spector for the European market. The Bohemia Musico-Delicia company is now owned by Zdenek Koutny - AKORDEON SERVIS

Epiphone
Epiphone began producing guitars at Bohemia Musico sometime around 1996, most notably, the Les Paul. Other models that we know were made at the Bohemia plant were the G-400 and Korina Explorer. More models may surface over time. The Epiphone Bohemia guitars were made until approximately 1999 or 2000.

Under the direction of Petr Vykydal, and with approval from Epiphone, the guitars made at the Bohemia factory were of higher quality and slightly different specifications than that of their Korean, Indonesian and Chinese counterparts. Many Epiphone owners claim that these particular guitars were almost, if not on par with the Japanese-made Epiphones, though the actual similarities and differences between the two have not been officially noted.

Differences
Since the Les Paul model was the most prevalent model made at the Bohemia factory, we will focus on some of the difference between a Czech Les Paul and the Asian Les Pauls. Please keep in mind that the differences in construction and hardware may not be consistent through all Bohemia Les Pauls. Later models seem to fall more in line with the Asian Les Paul models as far as hardware is concerned at least.

Some of the differences between an Asian-made Epiphone Les Paul and a Czech-made Epiphone Les Paul are as follows:

Neck Tenon: Like the Japanses Les Paul, the Czech Les Paul had a long neck tenon, whereas the Asian-made version has a short tenon with exceptions for certain models.

Truss Rod: The Czech Les Paul had a truss rod like that you would see on a Gibson guitar with a nut instead of a hex bolt.

Bridge: It appears that many or all of the early model Czech Les Pauls came with what seems to be a Nashville-style bridge, as the diameter of the post is different than the Asian-made and ABR bridges. Many of these bridges are also stamped with "Made in Germany".

Tailpiece: Again, the diameter, as well as the length, are different than the standard Asian-made tailpiece posts. These are also stamped with "Made in Germany".

Pickup Rings: These seem to be a bit wider on the Czech Les Paul than the Asian-made Les Paul.

Pickups: We arent sure exactly what type of pickup was used in the Czech LP other than that it is marked with an "X". Asian-made Epiphones from this time period are typically marked with the pickup model on the base plate, while others may not be. However, no others that we have seen have been marked with just an "X"

Wiring: It seems that the wire used for the Czech models was thicker than the typical wiring used on common Epiphone guitars.

This is the list of differences we have thus far. As we discover more differences and anomolies, we will list them accordingly. Again, please keep in mind that these differences may not have been consistent throughout the run of Les Paul guitars made at the Bohemia Musico-Delicia factory.
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Serial Number Variations: Example: B09091234 = Bohêmia Musico-Delicia, Czech Republic / 1999 (09 = 1999, 10 = 2000 11 = 2001) Example: B9091234 = Bohêmia Musico-Delicia, Czech Republic / 1999 (7 = 1997, 8 = 1998, 9 = 1999 )