Epiphone

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. Aside from their guitars, Epiphone also made bass guitars, banjos, and other stringed instruments, but the company grew weak after World War II; Gibson would soon absorb them.　

Related Topics:
Guitar - Gibson - Bass guitar - Banjo

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Founded by Greek national Epimanondas "Epi" Stathopoulos (Επιμανόντας Σταθόπουλος) when he inherited his father's business, The House of Stathopoulo, in 1915, the name Epiphone 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.

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Epiphone is now an off-brand of Gibson, as Squier is an off-brand of Fender. Because of this, many of the instruments look the same as the more expensive Gibson versions. The instruments given the Epiphone badge usually have lower quality components than the Gibson ones, or are not quite as elaborately decorated (such as gold hardware on a Gibson model and chrome on an Epiphone model).

Related Topics:
Gibson - Squier - Fender

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