The company was bought out by their main rival, Gibson in 1957.ĭuring an appearance on the Ed Sullivan show, Paul McCartney performed ' Yesterday' for the first time on an Epiphone acoustic guitar. In 1951, a four month long strike forced a relocation of Epiphone from New York to Philadelphia. Unfortunately, control of the company went to his brothers, Orphie and Frixo, who were not as capable an owner as Epi. They produced their first guitars in 1928. The company produced its Recording Line of Banjos in 1924, and, four years later, took on the name of the Epiphone Banjo Company. Just after the end of World War I, the company started to make banjos. After two years, the company was known as The House Of Stathopoulos. Anastasios died in 1915, and his son, Epaminondas, took over. Stathopoulos moved to the United States of America in 1903, and continued to make his original instruments, as well as mandolins, from Long Island City in Queens, New York. The history of Epiphone dates to the 1870s, in Izmir, Turkey, where Greek founder Anastasios Stathopoulos made his own fiddles, lutes, and Lioutos. 7 Collectible status of Epiphone guitars.
