How Gibson Rescued Epiphone in the Late 1950s

[westen44]

https://www.guitarworld.com/features/how-gibson-rescued-epiphone-in-the-late-1950s

[morrow]

That was an interesting read .
Thank you .

[BTL]

It's a shame he recanted the story...

[westen44]

That was an interesting read .
Thank you .

You're welcome.  But we can wait for comments which may include corrections to the article.  I was a little surprised they talked about basses as much as they did, though. 

[Dave W]

Good read.

It's definitely true that Gibson put Epi in stores that didn't have Gibson. But regardless of what Mat Koehler sees at his end looking back at historical memos, Epis weren't regarded by the public as any kind of custom shop. They were Gibson-quality equivalents.

The tongue-in-cheek comment about the inventory not changing during the time the purchase was in progress was probably accurate. I've read else where that Epi production had been at a dead standstill for some time.

[Stjofön Big]

Many thanks for a most interesting read!

[westen44]

Many thanks for a most interesting read!

You're welcome.  I get Google news recommendations based on my interests and that's the kind of thing they come up with sometimes. 

[ilan]

Thanks for sharing. Very interesting. 

[westen44]

Thanks for sharing. Very interesting.

You're welcome.  Some interesting historical tidbits there. 

[Pilgrim]

Very interesting, especially that Gibson wanted the bass violin line and ended up with the whole factory!

I recall reading that at the Matsushita factory, Gibson sent their guitar techs to show the Japanese workers how to build Epis and the other brands like Univox that were coming out of that factory.  I have an early 70's Univox "Coily" which is basically a clone of a Gibson 335 or an equivalent Epi.

 

[uwe]

Stone me, but none of the Epi solidbody designs - guitar or bass - ever excited me. I think they were visually vastly outclassed by Fender, Rickenbacker and Gibson. And I wouldn't be surprised if that was one reason for their demise. Come the early 70ies, who still played Epi electrics?

That says nothing about their quality though.

[ilan]

Not even the early slab Coronet?

[uwe]

No, but then I'm no fan of the LP Junior shape either. My favorite guitar and bass shapes tend to be Fire-/Thunderbird, Explorer, Flying V, Stratocaster, Ric 4001/4003, Jazz Bass. All those shapes have one thing in common: Ergonomic as some of them might be, they go beyond the utilitarian (plus - with the noteworthy exception of the Flying V - they're all non-symetric). I like some flourish in my shapes. Anything "slab" already raises my suspicion (though, in a strict sense, V, Explorer and Ric are slab too). I'm more the renaissance type! 

The ultimate (albeit somewhat juvenile) Uwe Hornung axe design test of course is ... would the guitar shape have fitted in with these guys? 


No Coronet there, right? 

Slab only works with this lot.



And him of course, nuff said.

[SlamDamm]

I remember when the Epiphone headstock logo was just inserted into a cavity clearly already routed out for the Gibson logo.

[Basvarken]

No, but then I'm no fan of the LP Junior shape either.

Slab only works with this lot.

Works for me...





And also with this shape