The Epiphone Company is a musical instrument manufacturer founded in 1873 by Anastasios Stathopoulos. Epiphone was bought by Chicago Music Company, who also owned Gibson Guitar Corporation, in 1957. Epiphone was Gibson's main rival in the archtop 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 guitars, banjos, 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 "voice".
History
The history of Epiphone started in the 1873, in Smyrna, Ottoman Empire (now İzmir, Turkey), where Greek founder Anastasios Stathopoulos made his own fiddles and lutes (oud, laouto). Stathopoulos moved to the United States of America in 1903, and continued to make his original instruments, as well as mandolins, from Long Island City in Queens, New York. 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, the company started to make banjos. 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 to Philadelphia. The company was bought out by their main rival, Gibson in 1957. In the famous "Dueling Banjos" scene in the 1972 motion picture Deliverance , actor Ronny Cox plays an Epiphone acoustic guitar.
Casino
Main article: Epiphone CasinoThe 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 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, which are of single-coil, non-humbucking construction.
The Casino is famous for being used by The Beatles. Paul McCartney was the first to acquire one and John Lennon and George Harrison followed suit soon after. Paul McCartney used his for the solo in Taxman and the Casino sound is very prevalent throughout Revolver 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. From the 1980s, Epiphones were manufactured mainly in Korea but also in Japan by contractors licensed by Gibson. One of these contractors was Samick, 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 brand by Fender. These Epiphones were thought to have sometimes been built with different species of woods from the original Gibson versions; some players speculated that this resulted in the instruments bearing a visual and ergonomic similarity to the Gibson originals but having a slightly different tone, however this has always been suspected to be based on prejudice more than empirical fact. Samick has stopped manufacturing guitars in Korea. In 2002, Gibson opened a factory in Qingdao, China, which manufactures Epiphone guitars exclusively. With few exceptions, Epiphones are now built only in the Qingdao factory.
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
- 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, 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.
Imperial Series and Elitist
During the mid 1990s Epiphone released a series called the Imperial Series. These were remakes of the classic Epiphone archtops of the 1930's and 40's. Each instrument was hand made in the Fujigen Workshop in Japan. This short lived series was discontinued in 1993, after only 42 Emperor's were made. Several other models, including De Luxe, Broadway and Triumph models, were also produced in varying quantities.
Epiphone later 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. The Elitist series was discontinued in 2008, with the exception of the Casino model.
Current status
Epiphone is now a subsidiary of Gibson, somewhat like Squier 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 look the same as the more expensive Gibson versions. However Epiphone still maintains its own line of archtop guitars.
Epiphone also manufactures its own line of amplifiers.
Current products
Main article: List of Epiphone productsAmplifiers
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. The Valve Hot Rod and Valve Senior were released in 2009. The Valve Hot Rod is a 5w amp just like the Valve Junior, but has a gain and reverb control. The Valve Senior offers 18w of power, with a full eq, gain, volume, reverb, and presence control.
Guitars
The following guitars are currently made by Epiphone:
Gibson copies
- The Explorer
- Several Versions of the SG guitar Including G400, G310, SG Special and SG Custom.
- Around 20 versions Les Paul models
- The Dot (and the Dot Studio), similar to the ES-335
- The Flying-V
- The Firebird
- The Thunderbird
- Les Paul
- The Blackbird
- The ES-175
- Gibson ES-295
- The EDS-1275 Dual-neck
- The Hummingbird
- The LP-100
- Epiphone Tom DeLonge ES-333
Dedicated Epiphone models
- Several versions of the Sheraton
- Several versions of the Casino
- Several versions of the Epiphone Texan
- 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 EM-2
- The Wilshire
- The Alleykat
- Nick Valensi Riviera P-94
- The Viola Bass
- Jack Casady Bass
- The Coronet
- Epiphone Wilshire
- Graveyard Disciple
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.
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FS Epiphone Zephyr Blues Deluxe lots of upgrades. - The Trading Post ...
A bulletin board system written in ASP.NET ... Epiphone Zephyr Blues Deluxe Please read this full description. This is not your average EPI.
Vintage Guitars Info - Epiphone model history collecting vintage ...
1951 Epiphone Zephyr Regent. 1961 Epiphone Zephyr Natural E311TN thinline with Gibson mini-humbuckers. Epiphone Zephyr, Zephyr Regent, Zephyr Electric archtops.
Epiphone Zephyr Regent: Harmony Central User Reviews
Product: Epiphone Zephyr Regent Price Paid: UNKNOWN Submitted 05/07/2009 at 09:36pm by Les Pierce Email: lrpierce1953 at yahoo
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The Epiphone Zephyr Electric Guitar was one of the “jazz” archtop guitars produced by Epiphone that established them as one of the leading manufacturers of archtop guitars of ...
Epiphone - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Epiphone Evolution; Epiphone 1939 Emperor Reissue; Epiphone EM-1; Epiphone Flamekat; Epiphone ES-295; Epiphone Zephyr Regent; Epiphone El Segundo Bass; Epiphone Embassy Special IV Bass
Category:Epiphone Zephyr - Wikimedia Commons
Media in category "Epiphone Zephyr" The following 4 files are in this category, out of 4 total.
Epiphone Zephyr Deluxe Regent Guitar (1951)
Epiphone Zephyr Deluxe Regent Guitar (1951) (SOLD) This Epiphone Zephyr is a classic archtop guitar from the early '50s — non-original tuners.
Epiphone Zephyr Blues Deluxe: Harmony Central User Reviews
Summary; Similar Products: Fender Blues Deluxe Reissue 40W 1x12" Combo Amp @ Musician's Friend Fender Blues Deluxe Reissue 40W 1x12" Combo Amp - Used @ Musician's Friend
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A bulletin board system written in ASP.NET ... I'm new here but I've been on the Gear page for a quite some time. Epiphone Zephyr Blues Deluxe Please read this full description.
Epiphone Zephyr Regent Electric Guitars
Epiphone Zephyr Regent Electric Guitar ... Pickups: 1 Humbucker: Hardware: Gold: Scale: 25.5" Nut Width: 1.68" Neck Joint: Set: Neck Material