Talk:Epiphone/Archives/2015

Missing Early Years and Philadelphia Brass Instrument Company

I read a history book on Epiphone Guitar Company (around 150 to 200 pages), and the way it was described there, Epiphone was bought by the Philadelphia Brass Instrument Company (or some brass instrument company from Phili). It wasn't so much because of a strike but because Epi's brothers didn't have the knack to run the company after he died and they kept losing money till it had to be sold. After a while Gibson bought the company really for the double bass jigs that Epiphone had. They were dumbfounded when they found that they got the whole Epiphone line when what was left of a bonfire the Phili Epiphone employees had before all the stuff was rounded up for shipping.

For what it's worth, the employees who decided not to move to Philadelphia from Manhattan formed Guild Guitars; much like Heritage Guitars was formed by Kalamazoo Gibson employees who didn't want to move to Tennessee.

Also, in the 1920s, Epiphone was primarily known for making fine banjos and mandolins as those were popular jazz instruments. Epi moved the company into primarily guitars in the late 1920s or early 1930s, but still made banjos and mandolins.

If I still had the book, I'd update the article, but without it there I don't have the info to cite. I'll see if I can find it somewhere. Theshowmecanuck (talk) 04:46, 13 October 2013 (UTC)

Maybe I missed something..I`ve read this article a few times...just now skimmed it again and didn`t really see anything about their early guitars which were pretty good from what I understand and definitely collectors items...most of the article is more or less a summery of their catalogs over the years..I`m not saying they`re bad guitars..personally I like them...an expensive guitar isn`t necessarily going to make you a better player but if Epiphones hold any historical significance as instruments it would definitely be their older ones specifically pre-Gibson and from what I understand pre-WWII..wouldn`t it be better to emphasize them instead of a long list of what are basically generic guitars even if they are decent instruments for the price? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.177.244.25 (talk) 03:56, 27 February 2015 (UTC)

The lede says that Epiphone "is an American musical instrument manufacturer founded in 1873 by Anastasios Stathopoulos.." This is wrong on many levels, not the least of which is pointed out in Gruhn's "Guide to Vintage Guitars", p. 28: Stathopoulos was only 10 years old in 1873, and lived in Sparta, Greece. The family moved to New York in 1903. After a business known as the "House of Stathopoulo" was incorporated in 1923, it was only in 1928 that the company's name was changed to include "Epiphone" (the Epiphone Banjo Corporation). Unless there are any objections, I'd like to change the article to describe the birth of the company more accurately using Gruhn, a well known authority. Mark Froelich (talk) 02:14, 8 May 2015 (UTC)