Epiphone

Epiphone

Epiphone is a manufacturer of musical instruments founded in 1873 by Anastasios Stathopoulos. Epiphone was acquired by the Chicago Music Company, which also owned the Gibson Guitar Corporation, in 1957. Epiphone was Gibson’s main rival in the archtop market. Their professional headstock models, including the Emperor, Deluxe, Broadway and Triumph, competed with Gibson. The company’s weakness in the aftermath of the Second World War gave Gibson the opportunity to absorb it.

The name “Epiphone” is a combination of Epaminondas Stathopoulos’ nickname “Epi” and “phone” (from the Greek for sound, “sound”/“voice”), as well as a play on the word “epiphany”, a sudden inspiration often presented as having a supernatural origin.

Epiphone is now a subsidiary of Gibson Corporation. Because of this subsidiary relationship, many of the instruments are based on the more expensive Gibson versions, but at a more affordable price point. Epiphone still maintains its own range of archtop Guitars as well as some electric guitar and bass models.

Epiphone: 140 years

Epiphone is one of America’s oldest and most revered instrument makers. Since 1873, Epiphone has made instruments for every style of popular music, and in 2013 it celebrates its 140th anniversary.

The name Epiphone evokes both history and the spirit of invention. The House of Stathopoulo has played a central role in every major musical era from the mandolin craze at the start of the 1900s to the jazz-age guitar of the 1920s; from swing-era archtops through post-war pop, jazz, r& b and early rock ’n’ roll; and from the “British Invasion” to heavy metal, punk, grunge and thrash. And now, in the 21st century, new Epiphone technical breakthroughs such as the ProBucker ™ pickup, series/parallel wiring, built-in KillSwitch ™ pots, Shadow NanoFlex ™ and NanoMag ™ pickup systems, and leading acoustic/electric guitars with the eSonic ™ preamp have brought Epiphone to a new generation.

The story behind Epiphone’s unlikely rise from a small family workshop to a worldwide leader in the manufacture of quality instruments could easily be turned into the great American novel. But this story is true.

The story of Epiphone begins in the mountains of Greece and winds its way to Turkey, across the Atlantic to the immigrant gateway of Ellis Island and into the nightclubs, recording studios and coast-to-coast radio broadcasts in Manhattan in the 1920s and 30s. It is the story of both hard-earned craftsmanship passed from father to son and the relentless American drive for innovation.

The various musicians who passed through Epiphone’s history are remarkable. Jazz greats like George Van Eps, country pioneers like Hank Garland, bluesman John Lee Hooker, and scores of mandolin, archtop and steel guitar players used Epiphone instruments daily on nationwide broadcasts. There are also unlikely heroes and tinkerers in Epiphone’s history such as guitar pioneer Les Paul, who worked nights at the Epiphone factory in New York City to create “Log”, his original version of what would later be called “Les Paul.” The Beatles’ extraordinary bassist Paul McCartney chose an Epiphone Casino as his first American-made guitar, and John Lennon and George Harrison quickly followed. The Casino appeared on every Beatles album from Help through Abbey Road. And today, Epiphone can be heard on albums by Gary Clark, Jr., Alabama Shakes, My Chemical Romance, Joe Bonamassa, Nirvana, Johnny Winter, Zakk Wylde, Machine Head, Dwight Yoakam, The Strokes, Slash, Jeff Waters, Paul Simon, Radiohead, The Waco Brothers, Lenny Kravitz and Paul Weller.

If a time machine could transport today’s Epiphone players back to Epi Stathopoulos’ Manhattan showroom 60 years ago, when it was a meeting place for all of the Big Apple’s best players, generations of musicians would agree that Epiphone has always been the “House of Stathopoulo”. And today, Epiphone is still innovative, still delighting musicians, and still frustrating competitors with bold designs and outstanding quality.

“Epiphone has always made a good guitar,” Les Paul once said. And that is, after all, what every musician seeks.

The opening chapter in the Epiphone story begins 140 years ago in Kastania in the mountains overlooking the ancient city of Sparta, Greece. Family legend tells that in 1865, Kostantinos Stathopoulo left Kastania and travelled to Magoula in the Eurotas valley to register the birth of his son Anastasios. Little else is known about the family until 1873, around Anastasios’ 12th birthday, when the Stathopoulo family left Greece for Turkey, where they settled in Smyrna, a bustling port city with a strong Greek immigrant population of merchants and craftsmen. There, Kostantinos established himself as a timber merchant. Kostantinos would often take Anastasios with him on business trips throughout Europe, where the boy observed his father’s trade and learned about tonewoods. During this time, the family established a shop in Smyrna that sold and repaired lutes, violins and bouzoukis. By 1890, Anastasios’ local reputation as a talented luthier brought in enough business that he opened his own instrument factory. He married and started a family. His first son, Epaminondas, was born in 1893, followed by Alex, Minnie, Orpheu and Frixo.

High taxes on Greek immigrants under the Ottoman Empire made life difficult for the Stathopoulo family, and at the age of 40, Anastasios boarded a ship to the USA. Public records from 1904 list A. Stathopoulo living at 56 Roosevelt on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, home to many other Greek and Italian immigrants. Once in America, Anastasios continued his instrument business. He quickly adapted to the pace of American business practices. He filed his first and only patent on 25 March 1909 for an Italian-style bowl-back mandolin. Anastasios’ instruments were now labelled in English:

A. Stathopoulo Maker, Repairer of all kinds of musical instruments Patent holder of Orpheum

Epi, as the eldest child was known, easily integrated into American life, attended Columbia University and graduated with honours. With Anastasios crafting and selling his instruments on the ground floor and the family living upstairs, the line between work and home life became increasingly blurred. Epi and Orpheus (“Orphie”) soon helped out in the shop, now located at 247 West 42nd Street. 247 West 42nd Street

Epi was only 22 when his father Anastasios died. As the eldest son, Epi was obliged to keep the business going. Already a keen student of his father’s work and eager to establish himself in the market, Epi replaced his father’s old instrument label with a new one: “Stathopoulos House, Quality Instruments since 1873.” Epi had already been an amateur designer and inventor during his apprenticeship and had now taken a leading role in the company, and he received his first patent for a Banjo tone ring and rim construction — 1.248.196 issued to E. A. Stathopoulo.

Upon his mother’s death in 1923, Epi assumed ownership of the controlling shares in the company and phased out most of the old-world style mandolins. Instead, he introduced the Recording line of banjos, then the most popular instrument in post-war America.

The Recording line was listed in advertisements alphabetically: Recording (A) at $125, Bandmaster at $200, Concert at $275, and De Luxe, which sold for $350. Epi continued to expand as his business and reputation for quality work grew. The family acquired the “inventory, goodwill and modern machinery” of the Farovan Company instrument factory on Long Island and incorporated. Epi gave the now-growing business a new name — Epiphone. “Epiphone” not only referred to his own name, but to the Greek word for sound — phone. It was also an echo of the Greek word epiphonic, meaning one sound on another: the son building on the father’s dreams.

Farovan Company Instrument Plant. Epi took the title of Chief Executive Officer and General Manager and announced in trade publications and advertisements that “the new business policy and all interests will be devoted to the production of banjos, tenor banjos, banjo mandolins, banjo guitars and banjo ukuleles under the registered trademark name ‘Epiphone.’”

Epi retained most of the skilled workers at the Long Island factory. Production increased. Quality improved. Ornate banjo models were introduced in 1927, including the Emperor tenor banjo ($500), Dansant ($450), Concert Special ($300) and Alhambra ($200). Business was good, and the Stathopoulo brothers, with Orphie now Vice President, moved the company to 235-237 West 47th Street.

In 1928, the Epiphone Banjo Company produced banjos for Selmer/Conn and for the Continental Music chain of shops, a major instrument distributor. In 1928, Epiphone also introduced their first series of acoustic Guitars to compete with the company that Epi decided was Epiphone’s biggest rival: Gibson.

Read more about Epiphone Wiki on Wikipedia here and in English here and

read the story of how it all began

Also take a look at their official website