; 143 years ago 1873 in smyrna ottoman empire now i zmir turkey founder anastasios stathopoulos headquarters nashville tennessee united states area served worldwide key people jim rosenberg president 1 products electric acoustic archtop & resonator guitars basses banjos mandolins amplifiers effects units parent gibson subsidiaries dobro website epiphone.com epiphone is an american musical instrument manufacturer founded by anastasios stathopoulos currently based in nashville tennessee . epiphone is owned by gibson guitar corporation and was gibson s main rival in the archtop market prior to its acquisition in 1957 . 2 their professional archtops including the emperor deluxe broadway and triumph rivaled those of gibson . citation needed aside from guitars epiphone also made upright basses banjos and other stringed instruments . however the company s weakness in the aftermath of world war ii allowed gibson to absorb it . 3 the name epiphone is a combination of proprietor epaminondas stathopoulos nickname epi and phone from greek phon sound voice . 4 contents 1 history 2 instruments 2.1 guitars 2.1.1 gibson models 2.1.2 original epiphone models 2.2 amplifiers 3 manufacturing 3.1 usa 3.2 japan 3.3 korea 3.4 china 3.5 imperial series and elitist 4 serial numbers and factory codes 5 players of epiphone 6 references 7 external links history edit 1945 epiphone blackstone archtop guitar made in new york . mandolin . et 270t with kurt cobain s autograph . les paul standard . slash signature les paul . a casino model used by john lennon . epiphone explorer 1984 . a flying v. an es 175 model . wilshire model with tremotone . joe pass signature emperor . mandobird electric mandolin . triumph deluxe . pr 5e vs cutaway acoustic . supernova . a sheraton ii . valve junior stack . epiphone began in 1873 in smyrna ottoman empire now i zmir turkey where greek founder anastasios stathopoulos made his own fiddles and lutes oud laouto . stathopoulo moved to the united states 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 epi took over . after two years the company became known as the house of stathopoulo . 5 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 . it produced its first guitars in 1928 . after epi died in 1943 control of the company went to his brothers orphie and frixo . in 1951 a four month long strike forced a relocation of epiphone from new york city to philadelphia . the company was acquired by its main rival gibson in 1957 . 6 instruments edit guitars edit after epiphone became a subsidiary of gibson many of its instruments were patterned after the more expensive gibson versions . however epiphone also maintains its own line of archtop guitars . as of january 2013 epiphone makes the following guitars gibson models edit b. b. king lucille dove pro ej 200 artist 200ce j 200 el 00 pro l 00 es 335 pro es 339 pro 339 ultra es 345 explorer 1984 ex 1958 goth firebird tv silver flying v 58 korina flying v jeff waters anihillation v flying v robb flynn love death baritone hummingbird pro artist john lennon ej 160e les paul les paul 100 les paul baritone 7 les paul 1956 goldtop ace frehley budokan les paul joe bonamassa goldtop les paul black beauty 3 les paul custom pro blackback les paul junior les paul nightfall les paul prophecy ex & gx les paul special ii les paul special bass les paul standard royale pro les paul studio goth les paul tribute les paul traditional pro les paul ultra iii pro les paul ukulele tak matsumoto dc standard & custom plus zakk wylde custom plus bullseye nighthawk custom nikki sixx blackbird sg 1961 sg special 1966 g 400 pro eb 0 eb 3 g310 g400 goth faded g 400 pro sg special thunderbird iv goth pro iv classic iv pro tom delonge es 333 original epiphone models edit aj 100 100ce aj 220s 220sce allen woody rumblekat broadway casino 1961 50th anniversary elitist inspired by john lennon century dot dot studio dr 100 & 212 dwight trash casino emperor swingster royale black royale et 270 et 275 crestwood et 276 et 280 bass graveyard disciple inspired by 1964 texan jack casady signature bass joe pass emperor ii masterbilt dr 500mce masterbilt ef 500rcce mb 100 & 200 banjo mm 20 30s 50e professional mandolin pr 150 pr 5e pr7e riviera custom p93 sheraton ii 1962 50th anniversary union jack ltd edition inspired by noel gallagher sonador supernova manchester city blue union jack sst classic triunfadora viola bass wildkat royale wilshire pro 1966 worn phantomatic ii iii amplifiers edit epiphone began producing amplifiers in 1935 with the electar hawaiian lap steel guitar outfit . this outfit was an amplifier case and lap steel guitar stand all rolled into one unit 8 and was supplied by a suitcase manufacturer of the time . gibson produced epiphone amplifiers in the 1960s . these were basically copies or variations of gibson and fender amplifiers citation needed . they used 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 5 watt amp like the valve junior but has a gain and reverb control . the valve senior offers 20 watts of power with a full equalizer gain volume reverb and presence control . as of 2012 epiphone has ceased production of their line of amplifiers with the exception of the player and performance pack practice amplifiers available only in epiphone s starter packages . these amplifiers are under the epiphone electar moniker . 9 manufacturing edit usa edit epiphone instruments made between 1957 and 1970 were made in the gibson factory at 225 parsons st and on elenor st ; kalamazoo mi 49007 . only solid guitars with flat tops and backs were made at the elenor street plant both gibson and epiphone in kalamazoo michigan . these epiphone instruments were effectively identical to the relevant gibson versions made with same timber materials and components and by the same people as the contemporary equivalent gibson guitars . they shared the gibson serial number sequence . some specific examples of gibson made epiphone instruments from this period includes the epiphone sheraton co developed with the gibson es 335 & sharing its semi hollow body but with epiphone s pre gibson frequensator tailpiece and new york mini humbucker pick ups and significantly fancier inlays and sheraton ii replacing the frequensator with gibson s stop bar tailpiece the epiphone casino similar to the gibson es 330 the epiphone cortez similar to the gibson b 25 the epiphone olympic special similar to the gibson melody maker the epiphone sorrento similar to the gibson es 125tc except for a few cosmetic changes and the epiphone texan similar to the gibson j 45 apart from a change in scale length . the other kalamazoo made epiphones had technical or cosmetic relationship with the similar gibson version . several epiphone guitars have been produced in the united states after 1971 . the epiphone spirit and special were produced in the early 1980s in kalamazoo . citation needed in 1993 three historic epiphone acoustic guitars the texan frontier and excellente were produced by gibson acoustic in montana . citation needed the paul mccartney texan was produced in 2005 and in 2009 the epiphone historic collection was created beginning with the 1962 wilshire built by gibson custom . several other models such as the sheraton and john lennon casinos were built in japan and assembled and finished by gibson usa . citation needed japan edit in the early 1970s matsumoku began to manufacture epiphone instruments in japan 10 with the production and distribution being managed by aria in cooperation with gibson . at this time epiphone ceased production of all of its traditional designs and began manufacturing markedly less expensive guitars many of which had less traditional bolt on style necks and unspecified wood types . 11 some of these guitars had similar body shapes to traditional epiphone and gibson designs but had different names while other models retained certain model designations such as the ft flat top guitars . 12 construction of these guitars differed greatly from past epiphone models . for the first several years of production in japan epiphone guitars were actually rebranded designs already produced by the matsumoku company . 13 by 1975 the japanese market started seeing some of the more familiar designs and names being reintroduced . these guitars were of higher quality than that of the previous years of production in japan and included models such as the wilshire emperor riviera and newport bass . 14 these models were available to the japanese market only . by 1976 new designs of higher quality were being introduced for export but did not include the current japanese market models . notable new designs from this era were the monticello scroll guitar the presentation pr and nova series flat tops and the genesis solid body guitar . by 1980 most japanese only designs were available for worldwide distribution . the matsumoku made archtops such as the emperor riviera sheraton and casino were available into the mid 1980s . korea edit from the 1980s epiphones were manufactured mainly in korea and japan by contractors licensed by gibson . 10 15 one of these contractors was samick 15 which also built instruments under license for other brands and in its own name . the brand was primarily used to issue less expensive versions of classic gibson models . 15 these guitars were constructed using different woods usually nyatoh citation needed for example instead of mahogany were fastened with epoxies rather than wood glues . citation needed gibson and epiphone guitars all use titebond resin glue which is simple carpenters wood glue and were finished in hard quick to apply polyester resin rather than the traditional nitro cellulose lacquer used by gibson citation needed epiphone guitars assembled or made in the us use lacquer finishes but those made outside of the us use a poly urethane finish because of pollution requirements . these particular budget considerations along with others such as plastic nuts and cheaper hardware and pickups allow for a more affordable instrument . samick has stopped when manufacturing guitars in korea . china edit in 2002 gibson opened a factory in qingdao china which manufactures epiphone guitars . 16 with few exceptions epiphones are now built only in the qingdao factory . 16 unique epiphone models including the emperor zephyr riviera and sheraton are built to higher quality standards than the company s gibson copy line citation needed . in 2004 epiphone introduced a series of acoustic guitars named masterbilt after a line of guitars of the 1930s . today s masterbilt guitars are manufactured in qingdao china . 17 imperial series and elitist edit during the early 1990s epiphone released a series called the imperial series . these were remakes of the classic epiphone archtops of the 1930s and 40s . each instrument was handmade in the fujigen factory in japan . citation needed this short lived series was discontinued in 1993 after only 42 emperors were made . citation needed several other models including de luxe broadway and triumph models were also produced in varying quantities . production was moved back to nashville and bozeman for a similar limited run of instruments 250 each of sheratons rivieras frontiers excellentes and texans . 18 these guitars were the