I guess brands like Fender and Gibson will never disappear. They'll just be taken over. Think about the years in the '80s when there were no US Fenders for two years... Somebody will buy Gibson, take on excisting layed off personnel, maybe not all, take over some machines, wood and buildings, maybe not all, and continue. Maybe less models, maybe no studio monitors. It will just go on and maybe people won't notice it that much...
Epiphone. It depends on how the company structure is. Uwe knows more about that. Strange: In Holland we have a different distributor for Music Man and Sterling By Music Man. Different companies, so they both chose their own distributor. Strange, cos together you are much stronger. Epiphone could be an own company with another board, ... I dunno.