Gibson relocated Epiphone's manufacturing operation from its original Queens, New York, factory to Gibson's Kalamazoo, Michigan, factory, where production of both ranges took place until 1969, with Epiphone instruments-some with 'sister' models in the Gibson line, some unique to the Epiphone line-generally considered equal in construction quality to those produced under the Gibson brand.
was purchased by Gibson, its main rival in the archtop guitar market at the time. From the 1930s through to the early 1950s, Epiphone produced a range of both acoustic and (later) electrified archtop guitars that rivalled those produced by Gibson and were the instruments of choice of many professionals a smaller range of flat-top guitars were also produced, some designations of which were later continued during the Gibson-owned era for the company. After taking over his father's business, Epaminondas Stathopoulos named the company 'Epiphone' as a combination of his own nickname 'Epi' and the suffix ' -phone' (from Greek phon-, 'voice') in 1928, the same year it began making guitars. Electric, acoustic, archtop & resonator guitarsĮpiphone is an American musical instrument brand that traces its roots to a musical instrument manufacturing business founded in 1873 by Anastasios Stathopoulos in Smyrna, Ottoman Empire, and moved to New York City in 1908.
