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The Epiphone Banjo Corporation was officially formed in 1923 as the new name for The House of Stathopoulo. The founder, Anastasios Stathopoulo’s eldest son was Epidonidas Stathopoulo and he took over running the family business after his father’s death in 1915. Epi (short for Epaminondas), combined his nickname, which is also a Greek prefix meaning "at the center", with “phone”, from the Greek word for voice or sound and the Epiphone Banjo Corporation was born. Unfortunately, little is known about pre-Epiphone era between 1917 and 1923 by way of catalogs, brochures or advertisements.
Above: Anastasios Stathopoulo’s 1909 patent for a new mandolin design. Note the scrolled peghead design with carved animal’s head
The first known catalog was actually a small 8-page banjo brochure, published sometime before the formation of Epiphone around 1922-23. It contained only banjos without the “Epiphone brand’ appearing with model names like ‘The Superb’ brand and the ‘The Wonder X’. Although the family made other instruments such as mandolins, ukuleles, and guitars, as well as traditional Greek instruments like the buzouki, they did not appear in this brochure. With great foresight, it appears that Epi was squarely focused on making and promoting banjos. From 1917 all the way through the end of the 1920s, the only catalogs, brochures, advertisements, etc. always were banjos only.
Above: The c1923 banjo catalog for the New Superb brand of banjos from the House of Stathopoulo. L to R: The Wonder X, Wonder VIII, the Peerless, and the Wonder XX.
The 1923 brochure was followed up in 1925 by the first official “Epiphone Banjo Corporation” brochure containing 12 pages of the newest models. They included models ‘The Recording’. ‘The Deluxe’ and ‘The Banmaster’. All models were available as 4-string tenors (short scale) & 4-string long-scale plectrum banjos.The brochure also contained many testimonials of leading banjo players and a ‘letter of introduction’ signed by Epi Stathopoulo.
Below: The cover and inside cover of the 1925 Epiphone Banjo Corporation catalog. The first to use the name ‘Epiphone’.
Above: Some of the new Epiphone banjos including from L to R: The DeLuxe, Recording & Concert models.
The next banjo brochure seems to date to 1928 although no specific date appears in it. Epiphone introduced some new banjo models including ‘The Alhambra’, ‘The Concert Special’, ‘The Dasant’, and the first appearance of the name ‘The Emporer’, later to used on one of Epiphone most famous guitar models. It was quite a large catalog by the company’s standards at 32 pages.
Below: The cover and inside title page of Epiphone’s 1928 ‘Recording’ banjo catalog.
Above: Three new 1928 Epiphone banjos from L to R: The Alhambra (which means ‘the red one’ in Arabic’), the Concert Special, and The Emporer (a name that was re-used later for one of Epi’s most well-known guitar models).
Epiphone did manufacturer some flat-top guitars called the ‘Recording’ models letters C, D & E sometime around 1928-1930 both 6-string and 4-string tenor guitars (the name was borrowed from the 'Recording banjos that also were lettered to indicate the level of decoration). Theye did not appear in any full-line catalog, and did NOT appear in Epiphone’s 1931 ‘Masterbilt” catalog at all. This small brochure seems to date to 1929 and shows the three ‘Recording’ model guitars. They were one of the earliest examples of ‘molded playwodd’ guitar construction and consequently, not great sounding guitars.
Above: A c1929 tri-fold brochure showing Epiphone’s ‘Recording’ model guitars. From L to R: The Recording C, Recording E (top-of-the-line), and the Recording D on the right. C was the base model, then D, and E was the most ornate. 4-string tenor guitar versions are known to exist but not shown here.
Around 1930-31, Epiphone issued it’s first guitar bochure, an 8 page black & white foldout..It introduced ‘The Masterbilt’ series of guitars, a name that Epiphone was using to compete with Gibson’s ‘Master Model’ L-5 guitar.
Below: The eight Masterbilt guitars the ‘Deluxe’, ‘Broadway’, ‘Triumph’ ‘Royal’, ‘Blackstone’, ‘Zenith’, ‘Olympic’, the ‘Bretton Tenor Guitar’ and the Strand mandolin, as well as a host of player/endorsers’ pictures.
In 1932, Epiphone issued a much larger 24 page ‘Masterbilt’ catalog that contained all of the same model guitars as the 1930-31 black & white brochure, but also introduced some new models including the ‘Beverly’ tenor guitar with several other tenor models listed but not illustrated, and a rather odd looking Hawaiian guitar called the ‘Madrid’, which was very similar to Gibson’s Hawaiian model HG-24 of the same year. It also included one new mandolin model, ‘The Adelphi’ with was an A-style mandolin with f-holes. This catalog was the first to show all of Epiphone guitars and mandolins, but did not contain any banjo modles. It appears that Epi decided to re-focus the company’s efforts towards making guitars now that the banjo boom of the 1920s had died down.
Below from L to R: The cover of Epiphone’s 1932 catalog; The ‘Deluxe Masterbilt’ guitar (top-of-the-line) with pictures of very well-known players Carl Kress & Dick McDonough on the bottom; The rather odd Hawaiian guitar model ‘The Madrid’ that looked similar to Gibson's Model HG-24 Hawaiian guitar of the year before.
Above L to R: The ‘Bretton’ & ‘Beverly’ tenor guitars, with ‘The Adelphi’ A-style mandolin on the right.
In 1934, Epiphone issued another ‘Masterbilt’ branded catalog that contained 36 pages of the newest guitars and mandolins. Some of the new models introduced were ‘The Spartan’ Epi’s first round hole archtop guitar, ‘The Tudor’ and the ‘The Blackstone’, but yet again, NO banjos. Also in late 1934-1935, Epiphone introduced the world to ‘The Emporer’, an incredibly large archtop guitar at 18 ¼” across the lower bout. Epiphone was playing the “one-upmanship” game with their chief competitor, Gibson by beating Gibson’s 18” wide Super 400, by ¼”. 34 pages
Above: The front and back covers of the 1934 ‘Masterbilt Fretted Instruments’ catalog.
Below L to R: “The Spartan’ round-hole archtop, ‘The Tudor’ f-hole archtop, and ‘The Blackstone’
Above L to R: ‘The Strand’ A-style mandolin, ‘The Windsor Special’ F-style mandolin with round sound hole, and ‘The Adelphi’, plus listing for Epiphone’s mandolas and mando-cellos (not illustrated).
Below: Epiphone’s legendary 18 ¼” wide ‘Emporer’ archtop model first introduced in this 1934 brochure. Note the art-deco tailpiece that was changed to the "frequensator" tailpiece in 1938.
For a brief period of time, Epiphone also made other brands for larger instrument distributors like the Chicago Musical Instrument Co. (CMI) using names like ‘Sorrentino’ and ‘Howard’. Here are 2 pages from CMI’s 1935 catalog showing the full lineup of ‘Sorrentino’ models . Although there were brochures printed for the ‘Sorrentino’ line, the following undated brochure cover Is the only example we have that Epiphone made guitars and mandolins using that name.
Left: The cover of a c1935 brochure for Epiphone’s ‘Sorrentino’ brand guitars and mandolins that were sold through CMI (Chicago Musical Instruments).
Below top row L to R: Luxor, Sorrentino, Artist. Bottomrow L to R: Avon, Lido, Arcadia. All 6 models were listed in CMI's 1935 main catalog.
Note: Dates that appear on the pictures on this website were added for visual reference purposes only.
Epiphone’s 1936 catalog was a real milestone as it introduced Epiphone’s new flat-top guitar models ‘F.T. 75’, ‘F.T. 27’ and the new ‘Madrid’. The FT-75 & FT-27 model names simply indicated their price and F.T. stood for ‘flat-top’. This catalog also contained many great photos of celebrities endorsers like Dick McDonough and George Van Eps.
Below: The cover and inside title page from Epiphone’s 1926 catalog with the certificate of guarantee as stated by President, E.A. (Epi) Stathopoulo.
Above: The very rare and hard to find pre-war Epiphone flat-top guitars model (L to R): The FT-75, FT-27, and the new ‘Madrid’ with standard round soundhole
The small size of Epiphone’s 1954 catalog certainly seemed to indicate trouble on the horizon, and in fact the company was nearly bankrupt. The 1954 catalog would also prove to be Epiphone’s last before being acquired by Gibson in 1957. However, it did contain some very nice pictures of the acoustic and electric archtops, which remained their ‘bread and butter’ models. 16 pages Below: The cover of Epiphone’s 1954 catalog with the triple pickup 18 ½” wide ‘Emperor Electirc’ cut-away model with Epi’s distinctive ‘Frequensator Tailpiece’ that had been patented by Epiphone emplyee Herb Sunshine. Most of the 1954 models were available in ‘blonde’ or ‘shaded’ or sunburst finish. The orange inside front cover shows some well-known Epiphone players George Van Eps (guitar), Mickey Mandy (upright bass), and Bill Flannigan (guitar).
Like Gibson, Epiphone did not publish any new catalogs during WWII and sadly, Epi Stathopoulo died in 1943, leaving the company in disarray. The remaining brothers Orphie and Frixo did not exactly see ‘eye to eye’ and this lead to a steady decline in Epiphone until CMI/Gibson bought them out in 1957. Orphie attempted to start his own company in Ohio, but it didn’t last long. Most of the guitars from this post-war period are not considered to be Epiphone’s best, but their top-of-the-line archtop guitars like the ‘Emperor’ and Triumph’ were still of exceptional quality. The first full-line catalog after the war was not published until 1950, and it contained Epiphone’s first ‘cut-away” model guitars – electric and acoustic archtops. They used the term ‘Regent’ in the model name to signify that it was a cut-away model. They also introduced the FT-110 (later to be called The Frontier), and the FT-79 (later named The Texan).
Below left: The cover of Epiphone’s 1950 catalog, simple, yet elegant. Below right: The new cut-away version of the ‘Triumph’ and the new model ‘Devon’ archtop that had a molded plywood back
Above left: The new FT-110 later to be renamed ‘The Frontier’ and the FT-79 later renamed ‘The Texan’. Lower right: The Zephyr DeLuxe Regent Cutaway electric guitar model. Epiphone used the term ‘Electar’ or ‘Zephyr’ for all of its electric models, and the term ‘Regent’ for all cut-away models.
Above: By comparing the acoustic models ‘Broadway’ & ‘Triumph’ with the electric versions ‘Zephyr’ and ‘Century’, it’s clear that Epiphone was making an effort to cut costs and simplify manufacturing by just adding electronics to existing acoustic guitars.
‘The Electar’ catalog of 1937 was dedicated to Epiphone new line of electric guitar, both Spanish (conventional) and Hawaiian (lap steel), as well as amplifiers. This 2-color catalog had an odd shape like the speaker box on its cover, and contained equally odd instruments like the ‘Electar Rocco Model’ double neck Hawaiian guitar. Epiphone’s first-ever conventional guitar was simply called the ‘Electar Spanish’, also available as a 4-string electric tenor guitar. 20 pages
Below left: The cover of the ‘Electar’ catalog was shaped like the amplifier speaker box illustrated on it. Below right: the ‘Electar’ electric Hawaiian lap steel guitar.
Above left: The unusual looking double-neck ‘Electar Rocco’ lap steel. Above right: Epiphone’s first electric Spanish (conventional) guitar simply called the ‘Spanish Guitar’.
Epiphone’s mainline catalog from 1937 contained all the acoustic instruments, but didn’t introduce any significant new models and was almost identical to their 1936 catalog, only with a different color cover. 32 pages
Below Left: The outside cover and ‘forewrod’ from Epiphone’s 1937 catalog, which was almost identical to their 1936 catalog, only with a blue cover. Below right: The ‘Emporer’ archtop guitar.
Above: Some of the accessory pages from the 1937 catalog and the stars that played Epiphones, pictured right.
The next Epiphone catalog dates from 1939 and showed the first ‘natural finish’ guitars including versions of the ‘Emperor’ and ‘DeLuxe’ models. It also introduced several new flat-top models including the ‘F.T. Deluxe” with a body size of 16 ¼” (again, ¼” bigger than Gibson’s Jumbo sized guitars), and the ‘F.T. 37’. Three new ‘gut string’ classical-style guitars, the ‘Concert’ ‘Alhambra’ (the name formerly used on a 1920s banjo), and the ‘Seville’. Another milestone appeared in this catalog, the ‘Zephyr’ and ‘Century’ series of electric guitars and amplifiers. 46 pages
Below: The cover and inside title page from Epiphone’s 1939-40 catalog showing the pictures of the founder of the House of Stathopoulo, Anastasios Stathopoulo (at the top), with sons Epi and Orphie, and Frixo below. To the right, the all natural finish 'Emperor'.
Below clockwise from upper right: Flat-top guitar models FT DeLuxe, FT-37, FT-27, Concert, Alhambra, and lower left corner, Epiphone’s own string brand also called ‘Masterbilt’. FT-75.
The 1941 catalog introduced the new Epiphone acoustic basses that were considered to be of very good quality and one of the main reasons Gibson wanted to acquire Epiphone in 1957. The catalog included the now infamous “For Those Who Prefer Blondes’ full-page spread featuring all of the guitars with natural finish. Other new models included the FT-45, FT-50, and FT-30 flat-top guitars; The ‘Varichord’ console steel guitar a ‘Starling New Sensation’; the ‘Electar Grande’ and large console grand that folded up into it’s own carrying case; ‘Solo’ and ‘Duo’ console steels (1 neck & 2 necks respectively); The ‘Coronet’ series electric Spanish and Hawaiian guitar models, as well as a host of accessories, parts, and Epiphone’s own string line – ‘Masterbilt’.
Below: The cover of Epiphone’s 1941 catalog and back cover showing the new Varichord Console Steel and acoustic bass.
Below: The ‘Masterbilt’ strings store display and the “Starling New Sensation”, the Epiphone ‘Varichord’ lap and console Hawaiian steel models. Almost as soon as this catalog was printed, Epiphone discontinued most of these models. The visible ink stamped models say "Discontinued For The Duration" (of WWII).
Above clockwise from top left: The Zephyr electric instruments first appeared in the 1941 catalog, including the Zephyr Hawaiian lap steel, Zephyr Spanish or tenor electric guitar, mandolin, tenor banjo (first banjo to appear in an Epi catalog since 1928), and the Zephyr amplifier. However, the visible ink stamped on all of these models say "Discontinued For The Duration", which probably referred to the duration of WWII.
Above: From 1941, the provacative “For Those Who Prefer Blondes” full-page layout with all of the new natural finish guitars.
After the acquisition by Gibson (who was in turn owned by CMI), Epiphone would have to take a backseat to Gibson’s dominance in the guitar marketplace. Gibson continued to make some of the orihginal Epiphone models and even added new ones, while other were just less expensive versions of their Gibson cousins. Much of this was due to the fact that former Epiphone employees destroyed the tooling for many of Epiphone’s models. However, there were some real standouts for Epiphone including the FT-79 ‘Texan’ acoustic, and the ‘Sheraton’, and ‘Casino’ that were Epiphone versions of the great Gibson ES-335 electric guitars. John Lennon made the ‘Casino’ famous and the ‘Texan’ was the guitar Paul McCartney wrote and recorded the song, “Yesterday” in 1965. Here are samples of several Epiphone catalogs from the 1960s.
Below: The 1961 catalog included acoustic guitar models L to R: ‘Seville’, ‘Frontier’ formerly FT-110, ‘Texan’ (was FT-79) and the ‘Cortez. Original Epiphone designed electric guitars ‘Emperor’ and ‘DeLuxe’.
Above L to R: The ‘Windsor’ sharp cut-away electric; the legendary Epiphone ‘Casino’; ‘Emperor’, ‘Sheraton’ and the solid-body electrics ‘Crestwood’ and ‘Wilshire’
Below: A sampling of the 1962 Epiphone line includes (L to R): Broadway, Zephyr, Riviera, and ‘Professional Outfit’ that included a complex version of the electric guitar with doubled-sided pickguard with a multitude of controls like ‘the toneexpressor’ switches
Below clockwise from upper left: The cover of Epiphone’s 1964 catalog, semi-hollow body guitars, solid body guitars, acoustic archtops, and 2 pages of acoustic flat-top guitars.
Above: Almost the entire 1966 Epiphone guitar catalog.
Note: Dates that appear on the pictures on this website were added for visual reference purposes only.
