The Epiphone name has a rich history that dates back to 1863 when Anastasios Stathopoulos, son of a timber merchant was born in Sparta, Greece. In 1873 Anastasios began building his reputation as a craftsman by creating violins, lutes and Greek lioutos. Several years later, in 1890 he moved to Turkey and was joined by his family. To avoid persecution from the Turkish people, his family moved once again in 1903, this time to lower Manhattan in New York. There his sons, Epaminondas ('Epi') and Orpheus ('Orphie') began working with their father to build a successful instrument manufacturing and repair shop until Anastasios death in 1915.
Epaminondas then took over the business, and by 1917 began to transform the company. One of his early successes came from his recognition of changes occurring in the market. As old world instruments began to fall out of favor, he began to produce banjos, a modern instrument used in the increasingly popular jazz markets. He created his own designs, patents and eventually branded the Epiphone name.
Showing their business savvy, Epiphone released a series of recordings in 1923 featuring Epiphone banjos like the Concert, Artist and Deluxe models. The success of these releases further propelled their growth, enabling them to acquire competitor Favoran Banjo Co. and to add the important endorsements of celebrity musicians previously associated with their competitor. As times changed, including the challenges of the 1929 stock market crash, the Epiphone company would transform once again.
The first series of Epiphone guitars are released
In 1928 the company released their first series of Epiphone guitars. Although these guitars followed the same craftsmanship of the original lutes and violins from the Stathopoulos family, they were not well received and sales were less than hoped. However these guitars sparked the beginnings of a long rivalry with competitor Gibson guitars, which had an early advantage in the guitar market due to celebrity endorsements.
Although Epiphone lagged behind Gibson in sales, through modifications and improvements, they managed to still gain a reputation for being among the finest guitars in the world. Epiphone and Gibson would continue their clash until the death of Epiphone's leader, Epaminondas in 1945. Years later in 1957, Epiphone and Gibson would join forces to compete against Fender Company the famed craftsmen of the Telecaster and Stratocaster violins.
Even with Gibson as its new owner, Epiphone's reputation stood alone. Epiphone guitars and other instruments had a strong and loyal following. As folk music exploded in the 1960's so did the sales of Epiphone guitars. The 1960s also brought with it new challenges as cheaper guitars manufactured in Japan quickly eroded American manufacturer's markets and forced most of them to close. Gibson and Epiphone too had to succumb to the lower costs of foreign manufacturing and moved its operations to Japan in 1970.
Epiphone eventually moved operations to Korea in 1983 and a new image began to evolve. A new focus was placed on the design and manufacturing of their electric guitars. New products emerged from Gibson's Nashville shops like the Riviera and Sheraton. With newly dedicated staffs, designs, and focus, Epiphone models of the Riviera, Casino, Sorrento and Rivoli bass were re-introduced in 1994. Musicians began to make these new version of classic Epiphone guitars their instrument of choice.
In 2003, the company's reputation had fully rebounded and their first dedicated factory to make Epiphone guitars since being acquired by Gibson was opened in China.
Article Directory : http://www.articlecube.com
