{"id":63,"date":"2011-03-12T09:50:29","date_gmt":"2011-03-12T09:50:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/aboutguitars.wordpress.com\/?page_id=63"},"modified":"2018-10-21T12:05:35","modified_gmt":"2018-10-21T11:05:35","slug":"epiphone","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/aboutguitars.uk\/?page_id=63","title":{"rendered":"Epiphone"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nEpiphone was a family business established in 1873 as “the House of Stathopoulo” by Anastasios Stathopoulo, a greek violin maker. In 1923 they incorporated and at this time made mostly high quality and fancy banjos. Epiphone guitar history dates back to the late ’30s and early ’40s when Les Paul and fellow guitarists such as Charlie Christian and George Barnes were at the forefront of jazz guitar.<\/p>\n

Epi Stathopoulos and Les were good friends and Epi would let Les use the Epiphone factory on 14th Street in New York City at night after hours to experiment on guitar and pickup designs. This also was the era when Les, inspired by the stinging sustain heard in electric steel guitars, began dreaming of making a solidbody guitar. He built his first, the legendary “Log,” at the factory in 1941.<\/p>\n

Over the years, Les continued to work closely with Epiphone luthiers, reviewing new product ideas and offering suggestions.<\/p>\n

The Epiphone brand is now owned by Gibson through\u00a0The Chicago Musical Instrument company which owned Gibson at the time\u00a0 and purchased Epiphone in 1957.<\/p>\n

Newer guitars may be manufactured in China at\u00a0Daewon Musical Instrument Co. \u00a0Established Daewon China factory in Dalian, Northern China In 2001.\u00a0 Alternatively, at the new factory\u00a0Bohemia Musico-Delica Plant
\nCzech Republic which makes Epiphone for the European market.<\/p>\n

Older\u00a0guitars may be made in Korea at\u00a0Un Sung Musical Instrument Co., Ltd. Established in 1987, Inchon, Korea.\u00a0 They also have a plant in Indonesia.<\/p>\n

Vintage models may be made in Japan or the USA<\/p>\n

Factory Letter Codes<\/p>\n

The following is a comprehensive list of factories and countries for serial numbers that start with at least one letter. Others may be all numbers.<\/p>\n