Anastasios Stathopoulos started building instruments in Smyrna in 1873; the company that grew from his workshop became Epiphone, and Gibson bought it outright in 1957. Epiphone's own Masterbilt archtops had competed directly with Gibson's through the 1930s, and the brand later gained its own following through The Beatles — Casinos on stage, Paul McCartney's Texan on record. Today it operates as Gibson's more affordable line, building lower-priced versions of classic Gibson shapes alongside its own designs, largely out of Qingdao, China. It's the guitar we point beginners toward most often, and the "Inspired by Gibson" collection gets a look every time it's refreshed. Here's what we've covered.
Epiphone's Eric Clapton 1964 ES-335 Reissue debuts at Crossroads Guitar Festival in Austin this September, with a world-first preview of the guitar
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Yes. Epiphone has been part of Gibson since 1957 and today operates as Gibson's more affordable brand. It was independent before that, founded in 1873, and was for a time Gibson's main competitor in archtops.
Mainly at the Qingdao factory in China. Epiphone has also produced instruments in Japan, Korea and Indonesia over the years, and there has been limited US production. Older Epiphones in particular vary a lot by era and country.
It is the current Epiphone line that adopts Gibson's headstock shape and Gibson designed pickups, closing much of the visual and tonal gap with the US instruments. It is the range we recommend most often when someone wants the Gibson look without the Gibson price.
Yes, and this is one of the least controversial answers in guitar. The usual caveats apply to any affordable instrument: check the setup, and budget for a fret dress or a new nut if you are unlucky.
