Epiphone is the name of a guitar manufacturer. Before being bought out by Gibson in the late 1950s, Epiphone was actually Gibson's main rival in the archtop market. Aside from their guitars, Epiphone also made basses, banjos, and other stringed instruments, but the company grew weak after World War II; Gibson would soon absorb them.　

Founded by Greek national Epimanondas "Epi" Stathopoulos (Επιμανόντας Σταθόπουλος) when he inherited his father's business, The House of Stathopoulo, in 1915, the name Epiphone would not appear until 1924. The company had a heated history of competition with Gibson until Stathopoulos died in 1943, when it fell into a commercial slump. Weakened, it would be bought out by the competition in 1957.

Epiphone is now an off-brand of Gibson, as Squier is an off-brand of Fender. Because of this, many of the instruments look the same as the more expensive Gibson versions. The instruments given the Epiphone badge usually have lower quality components than the Gibson ones, or are not quite as elaborately decorated (such as gold hardware on a Gibson model and chrome on an Epiphone model).

Casino

Before Epiphone was bought out by Gibson, it made some very good guitars. Among their finest was the Epiphone Casino. The Casino was made in the shape of a Gibson ES-335 guitar. They had a very heavy sound, good as a rhythm guitar. Epiphone dates back to the 1870's, in Smyrna, Turkey, Where Greek founder Anistasios Stathopoulo made his own fiddles, lutes, and Lioutos . Stathopoulo moved to the US in 1903, and continued to make his original insruments , as well as mandolins, from [[Long Island City]] in Queens, New York. However, Anastasios died in 1915, and left his son Epaminondas, took over. After two years, the company was known as The House Of Stathopoulo. And just after World War I, started to make banjos. The company produced its Recording Line of Banjos in 1924, and four years later, took on the name of the Epiphone Banjo Company . They produced their first guitarsin 1928. Epi Stathopoulo died in 1943, so control of the company went to his brothers Orphie and Frixo.in 1951, a strike shut down Epiphone's New York factory for four months, and they had to relocate to Philadelphia.

In 1966, while the Beatles were making Revolver, John Lennon and George Harrison bought new guitars-- 1965 Epiphone Casinos. John Lennon put his Rickenbacker 325 back on the shelf and used the Casino as his main instrument from then on. In 1968, when the Beatles were making the White Album, John decided to sand his guitar down, recoat it with lacquer, take the pick guard off, and put on new sound knobs. His guitar, in that condition, is first seen in the Revolution promo movie , though it can also be seen in the Let it Be film and most other pictures of John playing guitar after that time. George stopped using his Casino in 1967 and tried out Stratocasters , Telecasters and even a Gibson SG.

The Casino, though much lowered in quality, was produced since then, however, the newer Casinos had little in common with the ones the Beatles sported. Recently, Epiphone has re-released the 1965 edition Casino. It is available in its original Sunburst design or else in the "natural" Revolution look.

Modern Times

In recent years, the quality of Epiphone instruments has gone down drastically. Because it is owned by Gibson, it only sells cheaper versions or starter kits of famous instruments such as the Les Paul or SG. Epiphone caters mainly to younger beginning musicians, and sells mostly through the musiciansfriend.com catalog and other stores such as Guitar Center.