Epiphone
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Epiphone is the name of a guitar manufacturer. Before being bought out by Gibson in the late 1950s, Epiphone was actually Gibson's main rival in the archtop market. Their professional archtops, including the Emperor, Deluxe, Broadway and Triumph, rivalled (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 company was founded by Greek national Epaminondas ("Epi") Stathopoulos (in Greek, Επαμεινώνδας Σταθόπουλος) when he inherited his father's business, The House of Stathopoulos, in 1915. The name Epiphone (a combination of Epaminondas' nickname "Epi" and "phone", Greek for "sound") would not appear until 1924. The company had a heated history of competition with Gibson until Stathopoulos died in 1943, when it fell into a commercial slump. Weakened, it would be bought out by the competition in 1957.
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. The instruments given the Epiphone badge usually have roughly equal quality components to the Gibson ones, but may not be quite as elaborately decorated (such as gold hardware on a Gibson model and chrome on an Epiphone model).
Epiphone dates back to the 1870s, in Smyrna, Turkey, where Greek founder Anastasios Stathopoulos made his own fiddles, lutes, and Lioutos. 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. However, 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 Stathopoulo died in 1943. Unfortunately, control of the company went to his brothers, Orphie and Frixo, who were not as capable an owner as Epi. In 1951, a four month long strike forced a relocation of Epiphone from New York to Philadelphia.
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[edit] Casino
The most famous Epiphone model introduced by Gibson after taking over was the Casino. The Casino was made in the shape of a Gibson ES-330 guitar. It had a very heavy sound, which made for an impressive rhythm guitar.
In 1964, Beatles singer/songwriter/guitarist/bassist Paul McCartney acquired an Epiphone Casino and used it for his studio forays into guitar work, including his guitar solos on "Ticket To Ride" (1965) and "Taxman" (1966). Two years later, in 1966, while the Beatles were making Revolver, John Lennon and George Harrison bought 1965 Epiphone Casinos. John Lennon effectively put his Rickenbacker 325 on the shelf and used the Epiphone Casino as his main instrument during the remainder of his time with the Beatles. In 1968, when the Beatles were making the White Album, John decided to sand his guitar down, recoat it with lacquer, take the pick guard off and replace the tuners with a set of gold Grovers. His guitar, in that condition, is first seen in the Revolution promo movie, though it can also be seen in the Let It Be film and most other pictures of John playing guitar after that time. George stopped using his Casino in 1967 and began using the Fender Stratocaster and Telecaster lines of guitars.
Recent Casinos, which have been produced by Epiphone since, have not had the same level of quality as Lennon's 1965 Casino. However, recently, Epiphone has re-released the 1965 edition Casino as part of its "Elitist" series of archtop guitars. The Elitist Casino is available in its original Sunburst design and in the natural Revolution look. See the Casino at Epiphone's Web site: http://www.epiphone.com/elitist/casino.htm. For purists, a replica of John Lennon's 1965 Casino, reproduced exactly as John's was when he acquired it in 1966, may be found by visiting the Epiphone Web site: http://epiphone.com/default.asp?ProductID=18&CollectionID=2. For those who want a replica of John's 1965 Casino as it appeared after he sanded off the original paint, removed the pick guard and replaced the tuners with gold Grovers (the so-called "Revolution" Casino), visit the following Epiphone Web site: http://epiphone.com/default.asp?ProductID=19&CollectionID=2. These replicas are part of Epiphone's "USA" collection of guitars. Although these guitars are part of the "USA" collection, they are only assembled in the USA; their component parts are manufactued in Japan.
In addition to his 1964 Epiphone Casino, Paul McCartney also acquired, in 1965, an Epiphone Texan, an acoustic guitar. This guitar is still produced by Epiphone as part of its "USA" collection. Visit the Epiphone Web site at the following address to learn more about this guitar that Paul used extensively for writing and on which he performed his classic, "Yesterday": http://epiphone.com/default.asp?ProductID=245&CollectionID=2.
[edit] Modern Times
In the early 1970s, Epiphones began to be manufactured in Japan. Epiphone's main manufacturing base is now in Korea. The brand is now primarily used to issue less expensive versions of classic Gibson models (much like the Squier brand is used by Fender), most of the time with different tonewoods, often resulting in the instruments bearing a visual and ergonomic similarity to the Gibson originals, with a slightly different tone. Epiphone's own models, however, such the Emperor, Zephyr, Riviera and Sheraton, are instruments that are built to higher quality standards than the companies "Gibson copy" line. Epiphone also produces a range of higher quality instruments under the "Elitist Series" moniker.
Amplifiers
Epiphone entered into the premium amplifier market in 2006 with the So Cal and Blues Custom amplifiers.
Some Epiphone models now in production include:
Gibson copies:
- The X-plorer
- Several Versions of the SG guitar
- Around 20 versions of the Les Paul
- The Dot (and the Dot Studio), similar to the ES-335
- The Flying-V
- The Firebird
Dedicated Epiphone models:
- Several versions of the Sheraton
- Several versions of the Casino
- The Riviera in 6- and 12-string versions
- The Broadway
- The Emperor
- Several versions of the Zephyr
- The Supernova
- The Wildkat
[edit] Players Of Epiphone
British guitarist Noel Gallagher's Epiphone use has increased the visibilty of the guitar maker. During the height of Oasis' popularity in 1995-96, Epiphone introduced the Noel Gallagher Union Jack Supernova semi-hollow guitar (discontinued in March 2006). The guitar was expensive but very successful.
Other notable players of Epiphone guitars include:
- David Rawlings, who almost exclusively plays a 1935 Epiphone Olympic archtop when performing with Gillian Welch.
- Nick Valensi of The Strokes, who plays a Riviera which he customised by fitting Gibson P-94 pick-ups.
- Peter Visser of Dutch band Bettie Serveert, who plays several modern Epiphones on stage, including the G-400 copy of the Gibson SG.
- Nick Hughes of Australian Band Three Dirty Birds, who plays an all-black Epiphone SG as his main axe, modified with EMG pickups.
- Lars Frederiksen of the punk band Rancid uses an Epiphone Les Paul as his primary instrument.
- Ray Toro & Frank Iero from My Chemical Romance both play different models of Epiphone Les Pauls. Frank plays an LP Elitist model.
- Zakk Wylde plays Gibson guitars but has three different Epiphone signature models called Bullzeye, Camo & Buzzsaw.
Epiphone now makes a range of budget priced electric bass guitars.
The original Epiphone Texan acoustic guitar was made in the early 1960s as a cheaper version of the Gibson J-45 model, and was available in a sunburst finish or - as the one purchased by Paul McCartney - in a blond finish. Although cheaper than its Gibson counterpart at the time of manufacture, vintage period Texans in good condition can currently change hands for around the $3,000 mark.
In recent years Epiphone introduced a series of acoustic guitars named Masterbilt after a line of guitars of the 1930's. Today's Masterbilt guitars are manufactured in China.
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