After all, those who want a USA-made Gibson guitar can simply buy a Gibson. Epiphone’s Made in USA Collection features three iconic Epiphone original instruments rather than Gibson copies. Today, three Epiphone guitars are made in the USA, comprising the brand’s Made in USA Collection. This includes both the Inspired By Gibson line and Epiphone’s own original instruments.Įpiphone occasionally returned production to the USA throughout its history, usually for a limited run. While that’s all super interesting, many people wonder where Epiphone guitars are currently made.Īlmost all Epiphone guitars are made in the Epiphone Qingdao factory in Qingdao, China, a major city in the Shandong province. He moved to New York in 1903, taking his business with him, and when his son Epaminondas took over the business a few years later, he rechristened the fledgling company “Epiphone”, combining his own nickname “Epi” with the Greek word for “voice”, “phone”. A musical instrument builder by the name of Anastasios Stathopoulos opened a business in 1873 in Smyrna, deep in the Ottoman Empire.
The Epiphone company’s origins lay in the late 19th century. Although today, Epiphone is probably best known as the affordable foreign-manufactured Gibson, the brand has a long and storied history of its own.
Fittingly for a company first founded in the Ottoman Empire, Epiphone guitars are made in factories all over the world.
