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The Epiphone Company is a musical instrument
Musical instrument

A musical instrument is an object constructed or used for the purpose of making music. In principle, anything that produces sound can serve as a musical instrument....
 manufacturer founded in 1873 by Anastasios Stathopoulos. Epiphone was bought by Chicago Music Company in 1957 who also had owned Gibson Guitar Corporation
Gibson Guitar Corporation

The Gibson Guitar Corporation, of Nashville, Tennessee, USA, is a manufacturer of Steel-string guitar and electric guitars. Gibson also owns and makes guitars under such brands as Epiphone, Kramer Guitars, Valley Arts Guitar, Tobias , Steinberger, and Gibson Kalamazoo Electric Guitar....
. Epiphone was Gibson's main rival in the archtop
Archtop guitar

An archtop guitar is a steel-stringed acoustic guitar or semi-acoustic guitar guitar with a full body and a distinctive arched top, whose sound is particularly popular with blues and jazz players....
 market. Their professional archtops, including the Emperor, Deluxe, Broadway and Triumph, rivaled (and some contend surpassed) those of Gibson. Aside from their guitars, Epiphone also made bass guitar
Bass guitar

The electric bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a plectrum.The bass guitar is similar in appearance and construction to an electric guitar, but with a larger body, a longer neck and Scale length, and usually four strings tuned to the same pitches as those of the double bass, whic...
s, banjo
Banjo

The banjo is a stringed instrument developed by Slavery in the United States Africans in the United States, adapted from several African instruments....
s, and other stringed instruments.






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The Epiphone Company is a musical instrument
Musical instrument

A musical instrument is an object constructed or used for the purpose of making music. In principle, anything that produces sound can serve as a musical instrument....
 manufacturer founded in 1873 by Anastasios Stathopoulos. Epiphone was bought by Chicago Music Company in 1957 who also had owned Gibson Guitar Corporation
Gibson Guitar Corporation

The Gibson Guitar Corporation, of Nashville, Tennessee, USA, is a manufacturer of Steel-string guitar and electric guitars. Gibson also owns and makes guitars under such brands as Epiphone, Kramer Guitars, Valley Arts Guitar, Tobias , Steinberger, and Gibson Kalamazoo Electric Guitar....
. Epiphone was Gibson's main rival in the archtop
Archtop guitar

An archtop guitar is a steel-stringed acoustic guitar or semi-acoustic guitar guitar with a full body and a distinctive arched top, whose sound is particularly popular with blues and jazz players....
 market. Their professional archtops, including the Emperor, Deluxe, Broadway and Triumph, rivaled (and some contend surpassed) those of Gibson. Aside from their guitars, Epiphone also made bass guitar
Bass guitar

The electric bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a plectrum.The bass guitar is similar in appearance and construction to an electric guitar, but with a larger body, a longer neck and Scale length, and usually four strings tuned to the same pitches as those of the double bass, whic...
s, banjo
Banjo

The banjo is a stringed instrument developed by Slavery in the United States Africans in the United States, adapted from several African instruments....
s, and other stringed instruments. However, the company's weakness in the aftermath of World War II allowed Gibson to absorb it.

The name "Epiphone" is a combination of proprietor Epaminondas Stathopoulo's nickname "Epi" and "phone", Greek for "sound".

History

, made in New York]] The history of Epiphone dates to the 1870s, in Smyrna
Smyrna

Smyrna is an ancient city in Izmir in Turkey. Located at a central and strategic point on the Aegean Sea coast of Anatolia and aided by its advantageous port conditions, its ease of defence and its good inland connections, Smyrna rose to prominence before the Classical Era....
, Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman Empire , also known by its contemporaries as the Turkish Empire or Turkey , was an empire that lasted from 1299?1923. It was Treaty of Lausanne by the Republic of Turkey, which was officially proclaimed on October 29, 1923....
 (now Izmir
Izmir

Izmir, also once called Smyrna, is Turkey's third most populous city and the country's largest port after Istanbul. It is located along the outlying waters of the Gulf of Izmir, by the Aegean Sea....
, Turkey
Turkey

Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country that stretches across the Anatolian peninsula in southwest Asia and Thrace in the Balkans region of Southern Europe....
), where Greek founder Anastasios Stathopoulos made his own fiddle
Fiddle

The term fiddle refers to a violin; it is a colloquial term for the instrument used by players in all genres, including European classical music....
s and lute
Lute

Lute can refer generally to any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back, or more specifically to an instrument from the family of European lutes....
s (oud
Oud

The oud is a pear-shaped, stringed instrument, which is often seen as the predecessor of the western lute, distinguished primarily by being without frets, commonly used in Middle Eastern music....
, laouto). Stathopoulos moved to the United States of America in 1903, and continued to make his original instruments, as well as mandolin
Mandolin

A mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It is descended from the Mandora, a soprano member of the lute family. It has a body with a teardrop-shaped soundboard, or one which is essentially oval in shape, with a soundhole, or soundholes, of varying shapes which are open and are not decorated with an intricately carved grille lik...
s, from Long Island City in Queens
Queens

Queens is the largest in area, the second-largest in population, and the easternmost of the Borough which form the New York City. The Borough of Queens' boundaries are identical to those of the County of Queens , a Administrative divisions of New York#County of the State of New York in the Northeastern United States United States....
, New York
New York

The State of New York is a U.S. state in the Mid-Atlantic States and Northeastern United States regions of the United States and is the nation's List of U.S....
. Anastasios died in 1915, and his son, Epaminondas, took over. After two years, the company was known as The House Of Stathopoulos. Just after the end of World War I
World War I

World War I, or the First World War , was a global military conflict which involved the Great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War I and the Central Powers....
, the company started to make banjo
Banjo

The banjo is a stringed instrument developed by Slavery in the United States Africans in the United States, adapted from several African instruments....
s. The company produced its Recording Line of Banjos in 1924, and, four years later, took on the name of the "Epiphone Banjo Company". They produced their first guitars in 1928. Epi Stathopoulos died in 1943. Control of the company went to his brothers, Orphie and Frixo. Unfortunately, they were not as capable owners as Epi. In 1951, a four month long strike forced a relocation of Epiphone from New York
New York

The State of New York is a U.S. state in the Mid-Atlantic States and Northeastern United States regions of the United States and is the nation's List of U.S....
 to Philadelphia. The company was bought out by their main rival, Gibson
Gibson Guitar Corporation

The Gibson Guitar Corporation, of Nashville, Tennessee, USA, is a manufacturer of Steel-string guitar and electric guitars. Gibson also owns and makes guitars under such brands as Epiphone, Kramer Guitars, Valley Arts Guitar, Tobias , Steinberger, and Gibson Kalamazoo Electric Guitar....
 in 1957.

Casino

The most famous Epiphone model introduced by Gibson after taking over was the Casino. The Casino was made in the same shape and configuration as a Gibson ES-330
Gibson ES-330

The Gibson ES-330 is a thinline hollowbody electric guitar model produced by the Gibson Guitar Corporation.Though similar in appearance to the popular Gibson ES-335 semi-hollow guitar, the ES-330 was a fairly different guitar in construction and sound....
 guitar. It has a very heavy sound and is a very good rhythm guitar due to its fairly thick sound when strummed. It is a genuine hollow body electric guitar with P90 pickups. The Casino is famous for being used by The Beatles
The Beatles

The Beatles were a rock music and pop music band from Liverpool, England that formed in 1960. During their career, the group primarily consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr ....
. Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney

Sir James Paul McCartney Member of the Order of the British Empire is a multiple Grammy Award-winning England singer-songwriter, poet, composer, multi-instrumentalist, entrepreneur, record producer, film producer, Painting, and Animal rights....
 was the first to acquire one and John Lennon
John Lennon

John Winston Ono Lennon, Order of the British Empire was an English Rock music musician, singer, songwriter, artist, and peace activist who gained worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles....
 and George Harrison
George Harrison

George Harrison Order of the British Empire was an English Rock music guitarist, singer-songwriter and film producer. He achieved international fame as lead guitarist in The Beatles, and is listed number 21 in Rolling Stone Magazine's list of "The 100 Best Guitarists of All Time"....
 followed suit soon after. Paul McCartney used his for the solo in Taxman
Taxman

"Taxman" is a song by The Beatles, opening the Revolver album, based on a common personification of tax collection agencies such as the HM Customs and Excise, the Inland Revenue or the Internal Revenue Service....
 and the Casino sound is very prevalent throughout Revolver
Revolver (album)

Revolver is the seventh album by The Beatles, released on 5 August 1966. The album showcased a number of new stylistic developments which would become more pronounced on later albums....
 and their later albums. John Lennon made his Casino one of his main guitars and used it for the rest of his time with the Beatles and into the 70s. Paul still uses his Casino in concert and studio today.

1970-present


In the early 1970s, Epiphone began to manufacture instruments in Japan
Japan

Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south....
. From the 1980s, Epiphones were manufactured mainly in Korea but also in Japan by contractors licensed by Gibson. One of these contractors was Samick
Samick

Samick is the name of a Korea-based musical instrument manufacturer, one of the largest in the world.The name refers to the entire Samick Music Corporation, which owns several manufacturers of pianos, guitars, and other instruments....
, which also built instruments under license for other brands and in its own name. Thus, a Korean-era solidbody Epiphone would have been built under license. The brand was primarily used to issue less expensive versions of classic Gibson models, in a manner similar to that of the Squier
Squier

Squier is an entry-level brand of the Fender Musical Instruments Corporation. It produces models mostly derived from the Fender line of products but at a lower cost, which are sold by musical-instrument dealers, providing high quality instruments at affordable prices for novices and more experienced players....
 brand by Fender. These Epiphones were sometimes built with different tonewoods from the original Gibson versions, which often resulted in the instruments bearing a visual and ergonomic similarity to the Gibson originals but having a slightly different tone. For example, G-400
Epiphone G-400

The G-400 is an Epiphone solid body electric guitar model produced as a more modestly priced version of the famous Gibson SG. Currently Epiphone is a subsidiary of Gibson Guitar Corporation and manufactures the G-400 and other budget models at a lower cost in Asia....
 SG copies were made with either mahogany or alder body, depending on the availability of the wood.

Samick has stopped manufacturing guitars in Korea. In 2002, Gibson opened a factory in Qingdao
Qingdao

, best known in the West by its Chinese Postal Map Romanization Tsingtao, is a major city in eastern Shandong province of China, People's Republic of China....
, China
China

China is a Culture of China, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
, which manufactures Epiphone guitars exclusively.

Unique Epiphone models, including the Emperor, Zephyr, Riviera and Sheraton, are built to higher quality standards than the company's "Gibson copy" line. Epiphone also produces a range of higher quality instruments under the "Elitist Series" moniker, which are built in Japan. The "Masterbilt" acoustics are manufactured in Qingdao.

According to several forum entries, current Epiphone serial numbers give the following information:

Korea

  • I = Saein
  • U = Unsung
  • S = Samick
  • P or R = Peerless
  • K = Korea


China

  • DW = DeaWon
  • EA = Gibson/QingDao
  • EE = Gibson/QingDao
  • MC = Muse
  • SJ = SaeJung
  • Z = Zaozhuang Saehan
  • BW = China


Japan

  • No letter or F = FujiGen
    FujiGen

    FujiGen Gakki ???? ?? is a musical instrument manufacturer based at Matsumoto, Nagano in Japan and is named after the famous Mount Fuji. Gen means stringed instruments and Gakki means musical instrument manufacturer....
  • J or T = Terada


Czech Republic

  • B = Bohêmia Musico-Delicia


Indonesia

  • SI = Samick


Example: U8034853 U = Unsung, 8 = 1998, 03 = March, 4853 = manufacturing number.

At least one model, the Epiphone Spirit
Gibson Spirit

The Gibson Spirit is a guitar model sold under Gibson Guitar Corporation and Epiphone USA nameplates in the 1980s....
, was manufactured in the USA during the early 1980s in the Gibson factory in Kalamazoo, MI. USA produced Epiphones of this era bear standard Gibson serialization and include the "Made in USA" stamp on the back of the headstock. Headstocks of US models also use the Gibson headstock shape.

Current status

Epiphone is now a subsidiary of Gibson
Gibson Guitar Corporation

The Gibson Guitar Corporation, of Nashville, Tennessee, USA, is a manufacturer of Steel-string guitar and electric guitars. Gibson also owns and makes guitars under such brands as Epiphone, Kramer Guitars, Valley Arts Guitar, Tobias , Steinberger, and Gibson Kalamazoo Electric Guitar....
, somewhat like Squier
Squier

Squier is an entry-level brand of the Fender Musical Instruments Corporation. It produces models mostly derived from the Fender line of products but at a lower cost, which are sold by musical-instrument dealers, providing high quality instruments at affordable prices for novices and more experienced players....
 is a subsidiary of Fender (the chief difference being that the Squier line of guitars was created in-house by Fender; in other words, there is no such thing as a "pre-Fender" Squier guitar). Because of this subsidiary relationship, many of the instruments
Musical instrument

A musical instrument is an object constructed or used for the purpose of making music. In principle, anything that produces sound can serve as a musical instrument....
 look the same as the more expensive Gibson versions. However Epiphone still maintains its own line of archtop guitar
Archtop guitar

An archtop guitar is a steel-stringed acoustic guitar or semi-acoustic guitar guitar with a full body and a distinctive arched top, whose sound is particularly popular with blues and jazz players....
s.

Epiphone also manufactures its own line of amplifiers.

Current products


Amplifiers


Gibson produced Epiphone amplifiers in the 1960s which were basically copies or variations of Gibson and Fender amplifiers. These amplifiers were of a tube design and some had reverb and tremolo. Gibson decided to launch a new line of Epiphone amplifiers in 2005 with many different models including the "So Cal", "Blues Custom" and the Epiphone Valve Junior
Epiphone Valve Junior

The Epiphone Valve Junior is a small 5 watt Electronic_amplifier#Class_A electric guitar amplifier....
.

Guitars

The following guitars are currently made by Epiphone:

Gibson copies
  • The Explorer
    Gibson Explorer

    The Gibson Explorer is a type of electric guitar. The Explorer made its debut in 1958. The Explorer offered a radical, "futuristic" body design, much like its sibling, the Gibson Flying V....
  • Several Versions of the SG
    Gibson SG

    The Gibson SG is a popular model of solid-bodied electric guitar that was introduced in the early 1960s....
     guitar Including G400
    Epiphone G-400

    The G-400 is an Epiphone solid body electric guitar model produced as a more modestly priced version of the famous Gibson SG. Currently Epiphone is a subsidiary of Gibson Guitar Corporation and manufactures the G-400 and other budget models at a lower cost in Asia....
    , G310
    Epiphone G-400

    The G-400 is an Epiphone solid body electric guitar model produced as a more modestly priced version of the famous Gibson SG. Currently Epiphone is a subsidiary of Gibson Guitar Corporation and manufactures the G-400 and other budget models at a lower cost in Asia....
     ,SG Special and SG CUSTOM.
  • Around 20 versions Les Paul
    Epiphone Les Paul

    The Epiphone Les Pauls are authorized Gibson Les Paul copies made by Gibson Guitar Corporation subsidiary Epiphone. The Epiphone Les Pauls are very popular between novice and intermediate players because of their design and modest prices....
     models
  • The Dot
    Epiphone Dot

    The Dot is an Archtop guitar manufactured by Epiphone since 1958. It is a copy of the Gibson ES-335, which is derived from an Epiphone Casino. In addition to the standard Dot, other models have been available such as the Dot Studio and Dot Deluxe that feature a variety of hardware and finishes....
     (and the Dot Studio), similar to the ES-335
  • The Flying-V
    Gibson Flying V

    The Gibson Flying V is an electric guitar model first released by Gibson Guitar Corporation 1958 in music....
  • The Firebird
    Gibson Firebird

    The Gibson Firebird is a solid-body electric guitar guitar manufactured by Gibson Guitar Corporation from 1963 to the present....
  • The Thunderbird
    Gibson Thunderbird

    The Gibson Thunderbird is an electric bass guitar made by Gibson Guitar Corporation....
  • Les Paul
    Les Paul

    Les Paul is an American jazz guitarist and inventor. He is a pioneer in the development of the solid-body electric guitar which "made the sound of rock and roll possible." His many recording innovations include overdubbing, Delay such as "sound on sound" and Delay , Phaser , and multitrack recording....
  • The Blackbird
  • The ES-175
    Gibson ES-175

    The Gibson ES-175 is one of the most famous jazz guitars in history. It is a 24 3/4" scale full hollow body guitar with a trapeze tailpiece and Tune-O-Matic bridge....
  • The ES-295
  • The EDS-1275 Dual-neck
    Gibson EDS-1275

    The Gibson EDS-1275 is a double neck guitar Gibson Guitar Corporation electric guitar introduced in 1958 as a special-order custom instrument....
  • The Hummingbird
    Gibson Hummingbird

    The Gibson Hummingbird is an acoustic guitar model produced by the Gibson Guitar Corporation.Unlike the other flat-top Gibson acoustics, the Hummingbird was Gibson's first square-shoulder Dreadnought , similar to the dreadnoughts produced by C.F....
  • The LP-100
    The LP-100

    Epiphone Les Paul 100 comes with open coil Alnico V Humbucker pickups. It also includes chrome stopbar, tuning pegs and the bridge. The LP 100 unlike the studio has a bolt on neck and unlike the standard in has the dot inlay instead of The Les Paul Standard's Trapezoid inlays....


Dedicated Epiphone models
  • Several versions of the Sheraton
    Epiphone Sheraton

    The Epiphone Sheraton is a thinline semi-hollow body electric guitar. Though the Sheraton and all its variations were introduced under the ownership of the Gibson Guitar Corporation, Epiphone is the exclusive manufacturer....
  • Several versions of the Casino
    Epiphone Casino

    The Epiphone Casino is a thinline hollow body electric guitar manufactured by Epiphone, a branch of Gibson Guitar Corporation. It is the base of the Gibson ES-330 and is traditionally regarded as a budget version of this guitar, even though it is the original version....
  • The Riviera in 6- and 12-string versions
  • The Broadway
  • The Emperor Regent
  • Several versions of the Zephyr:
    • Zephyr Blues Deluxe
    • Zephyr Regent
  • The Supernova
  • The Wildkat
  • The AlleyKat
  • The EM-2
  • The Wilshire
  • The Flamekat
  • Nick Valensi Riviera P-94
  • The Viola Bass
  • Jack Casady Bass
  • The Coronet
  • Epiphone Wilshire
In recent years Epiphone introduced a series of acoustic guitars named Masterbilt after a line of guitars of the 1930s. Today's Masterbilt guitars are manufactured in China.

Discontinued Models

  • Epiphone Demon
    Epiphone Demon V

    The Demon V was an electric guitar manufactured by Epiphone from 2001 through 2002. It was part of the short-lived "E-Series", which was comprised of updated versions and so called "extreme" versions of popular Gibson & Epiphone guitars....
  • Epiphone Genesis
    Epiphone Genesis

    The Genesis was an electric guitar produced by the Epiphone guitar company in the late 1970s and early 1980s. It was aimed at the budget market, and ? like many other Epiphones at the time ? was manufactured in the Matsumoku plant in Japan....
  • Epiphone Slasher
  • Epiphone Supernova
    Epiphone Supernova

    The Supernova was a Korean-made electric guitar manufactured by Epiphone for Noel Gallagher of the England band Oasis . Noel used a customised Epiphone Sheraton guitar with a Union Jack design during a lot of Oasis shows during the tour promoting the second album Morning Glory? The Epiphone Supernova was designed to represent that guitar, ev...
  • Gibson/Epiphone Spirit
    Gibson Spirit

    The Gibson Spirit is a guitar model sold under Gibson Guitar Corporation and Epiphone USA nameplates in the 1980s....
  • Various Signature models
  • Epiphone Crestwood
    Epiphone Crestwood

    The Epiphone Crestwood was a solidbody electric guitar launched in 1958 and discontinued in 1970. After Epiphone discontinued the Crestwood, a number of re-issues and replicas has been available from different companies....
  • Epiphone Coronet
  • Epiphone Olympic
  • Epiphone Pro
  • Epiphone Fat-210
  • Epiphone Fat-310
  • Epiphone T-310
  • Epiphone Rivoli bass
  • Epiphone Sorrento
  • Epiphone Scroll (three models)
  • Epiphone Evolution


Players Of Epiphone


Elitist

Epiphone also released a series of guitars called the Elitist series (originally called Elite but changed to avoid confusion with Ovation's Elite model). These were made to very high specifications in Japan but some parts are made in other countries, including the USA and Germany. These guitars cost more than twice as much as Standard Epiphone guitars. Standard Epiphone and Gibson guitars have an open-book headstock, but Elitist models have a more curved style dating back to the Epiphone Masterbilt series of guitars.

This series was discontinued in 2008.

External links