The Japanese Epis are good guitars, but they suffered both the 'Made in Japan' and 'Norlin' stigmas they've always been under-rated as a result. Epiphone production was contracted to companies in Japan in order to cut costs. In 1969, Norlin Industries bought the Chicago Musical Instrument company (which owned Gibson at the time), which heralded the 'Dreaded Norlin Era' at Gibson, in which the quality declined greatly. This worked well for both Gibson and Epiphone, because it allowed music dealers who couldn't get an official Gibson franchise (which were *very* strictly enforced in those days) to get an Epiphone (which had become a quasi-Gibson) franchise instead. That led to Gibson building Epiphones in the Gibson factory the first few years (1958-61), Gibson used up all the old parts, and in the early 60's, used Gibson parts. Gibson President Ted McCarty (who recently passed away R.I.P., Ted) negotiated a deal to buy out Epiphone's upright bass business, but when the equipment was moved to Gibson's Kalamazoo factory, McCarty found out that *all* of Epiphone's equipment, tooling, and parts inventory had been included.

Conn company (best known for band and orchestral instruments), and was all but out of business. In 1957, Epiphone was tenuously clinging to existence the company had been bought out by the C.G. That was the era of the legendary archtops like the Regent, Broadway, Deluxe, etc. The original Epiphone factory was in New York, when the company was owned and operated by the Stathopoulo family. Charlie, if this has been posted before please delete it or move it.

Epiphone serial number identification