Epiphone Guitars
History
Epiphone is a subsidiary of Gibson Guitars and could be considered to be the entry level Gibson brand for those who aspire to eventually owning a Gibson Instrument. The Epiphone Company, to use the full title, manufacture a range of musical instruments many of which are accurate copies of Gibson models that are made under licence. Epiphone started way back in 1873 when the company was founded by Greek musician Anastasios Stathopoulos originally to make fiddles and lutes. However in 1903 Anastasios moved to Queens in New York USA and continued to manufacture instruments but this time for the American market.
Following his death in 1915, the company was then led by his son Epaminondas, who eventually started to produce banjos for the emerging dance band market of the 1920s. The company was eventually renamed "The Epiphone Banjo Company", and in 1928 they manufactured their first guitar. Epaminondas passed away during the war in 1943 responsibilities were consequently handed to his brothers. Sadly they were not as commercially astute as Epaminondas, and the company went into a period of decline before being bought by their main rival Gibson in 1957.
In the 1960s Epiphone Guitars sold well and were boosted by the fact that Paul McCartney owned and played an Epiphone acoustic model. He then supplemented this with the purchase of an Epiphone Casino semi-solid electric guitar. McCartneys Casino was used extensively on the Beatles album "Revolver" and he can be clearly heard taking the guitar solo on "Taxman" whilst John Lennon and George Harrison subsequently bought Epiphone Casino guitars themselves and can be heard playing them in harmony on the Revolver track "And your bird can sing ...".
Differentiators
The main differentiator for Epiphone compared to their competitors is the level of quality of the instrument when compared with the price point. For those musicians who are unable to afford a genuine Gibson guitar, the next best thing is undoubtedly an Epiphone copy. Some of the Epiphone ranges of Gibson copies even share the same components as the same model in the Gibson range.
Licensed Epiphone copies remain accurate in every minor detail to the Gibson originals. In most cases the differential between the two brands is the type and model of pick-ups used or the choice of tone woods specified during the construction process.
Epiphone Today
Today Epiphone have their own purpose built manufacturing plant in China that is staffed by a number of American workers particularly those involved with quality control. As well as producing a large number of Gibson copies, Epiphone have also developed their own exclusive range of instrument models which are becoming increasingly popular.
Thanks to the dedicated manufacturing plant, and Epiphones own research facility, their guitar development is constantly striving to use new technology to improve the performance, cost and features on new Epiphone models. Recent improvements to the design of the range proved so popular that the new features were also adopted by Gibson themselves.
Expect to see improved quality, further innovation and ever
widening choice from Epiphone, keeping the name at the
forefront of global musical instrument brands.