In the hierarchy of American guitar makers, the Epiphone company was once right up there with Gibson, Fender and Gretsch. And in the world of vintage acoustics only Martin and Gibson were more important.
I’ve had a fascination, bordering on obsession, with Epiphone guitars for seven decades. It all started in August 1965 when I saw Paul McCartney playing his blonde Texan acoustic on the TV variety show Blackpool Night Out.
On the bill with the Fab Four that night were the easy listening duo Pearl Carr and Teddy Johnson, choreographer Lionel Blair, plus comedians Mike and Bernie Winters. I won’t say the show was painfully outdated, but six years earlier Pearl and Teddy had represented the UK at the 1959 Eurovision Song Contest, where they were runners up with the execrable “Sing, Little Birdie.” In case anyone was wondering (and I’m sure you were), the Netherlands romped home winners at Eurovision 1959 with the song "Een beetje" (“A Little”), performed by Teddy Scholten. You’re welcome.
As for Mike and Bernie Winters there’s a tremendous anecdote about the comedy double act which may or may not be apocryphal. It’s said they were playing the famously tough Glasgow Empire during their formative years on the comedy circuit. Mike came out on stage first and after struggling to make the punters laugh for some minutes, he was joined by brother Bernie. “Aw fer fuck’s sake,” heckled one Scot from high up in the gods, “there’s TWO of ‘em!” It’s one of those stories which really should be true. But I digress.
In Blackpool, the Beatles thoroughly undermined proceedings with their irreverent, self-deprecating humour and spoof announcements - “Thank you Ringo” deadpanned Lennon as McCartney brought his solo performance of “Yesterday” to a close, “that was wonderful.”
But it was Macca’s guitar which captivated me just as much as his musical prowess on the night. The one thing even the most casual fan knows about Epiphone guitars is they were used extensively by the Beatles, both onstage and in the studio. John, Paul and George each played Epiphone Casino thinline hollow body electrics, while McCartney’s 1964 Texan was used to record the aforementioned “Yesterday,” possibly the most covered song in pop history, plus other acoustic Beatles’ tracks such as “Mother Nature’s Son” from the so-called “White Album”.
As we know, Macca is left-handed, so his right-handed Texan was flipped over, re-strung and played upside-down. That meant the pickguard, complete with its “e” epsilon, sat on the top bout of the guitar, unused and serving little purpose (see the above picture). Back then lefties weren’t nearly as well served in the guitar world as they are today - Jimi Hendrix is another notable example of the makeshift right-to-left method.
Until 1969 Epiphones were made in America, which meant they were hugely expensive in the UK and often beyond the reach of the average British amateur strummer. All that would change when, in the face of cheaper guitars coming in from Japan and the far east, the Epiphone company was moved offshore to become a budget brand.
We need a brief history lesson at this point. Epiphone is one of the oldest US guitar brands still in existence. The company was founded in 1872 in Smyrna, (then in Greece but now part of Turkey) by Anastasios Stathopoulos, who migrated to New York City at the start of the 20th century. When Anastasios died in 1915 his son Epaminondas took over and re-named the company “Epiphone,” a combination of his own nickname “Epi” and the suffix “phone” (from the Greek phon, meaning “voice”). By the late 1920s the company had begun making guitars.
For 30 years Epiphone was a highly respected instrument maker and Gibson’s closest competitor. In fact, until he was lured away by Gibson around 1950, Les Paul (the man, not the guitar) was a dedicated Epiphone user. As well as archtop jazz guitars, they also sold banjos, mandolins, ukuleles, double basses and amplifiers.
By 1957 the company had fallen on hard times. Crippled by labour problems (they lost much of their workforce to the newly established Guild guitar company) and financial woes, Epiphone was purchased by Gibson for just $20,000. Initially it was only Epiphone’s upright double bass design and technology which Gibson assumed they were buying but, almost by accident, they ended up acquiring the entire company, including all the guitar models and inventory.
This is where it gets interesting for vintage guitar aficionados. Although the double bass was soon dropped from the catalogue, from 1958 to 1969, Epiphone guitars were built at the Gibson factory in Kalamazoo, Michigan by the same craftsmen using the same wood and other materials as other Gibson models. This meant they were of equal (or, in some cases, higher) quality as their Gibson counterparts despite maintaining their own individual brand identity.
This was done for a couple of reasons. One was to keep the venerable Epiphone name alive, and another was to avoid handing out too many Gibson franchises within the same proximity. If, say, a guitar store opened down the street from an existing Gibson dealer, the new store could be offered an Epiphone dealership instead, thus avoiding a conflict of interest.
A similar situation happened in the UK when Marshall amplifiers took off in the late 60s/early 70s. To meet demand Marshall launched a new brand they named Park. In almost every respect other than cosmetically, Park amplifiers were identical to Marshalls. So, if a dealer couldn’t get a Marshall franchise for whatever reason, they could become a Park retailer instead and (in theory) everyone was happy.
But let’s get back to Epiphone. For those of us who live and breathe vintage American guitars, Epiphone’s golden era was undoubtedly the decade 1958-69. This is when their guitars were made in the Kalamazoo factory but were just different enough from Gibsons to retain their own individuality. To separate the brands even further as far as UK buyers were concerned, the British distributor for Gibson guitars was Selmer, while Epiphones were imported by Rose-Morris, who also shipped Rickenbackers into the UK.
During this period almost every Epiphone model was, to some degree or other, based on an existing Gibson guitar and the UK seems to have been a booming market for these instruments during that time. When we saw those 60s beat groups on TV you could bet your life just as many Epiphones were on display as Gibsons or Fenders.
All three Beatle guitarists favoured Epiphone Casinos (Lennon and Harrison onstage and all three in the studio) and, no doubt helped by its association with the Fab Four, the Casino was one of the few Epiphone models which outsold its Gibson equivalent, the virtually identical Gibson ES-330.
Likewise, sales of the Epiphone Rivoli bass probably outstripped its sister model the Gibson EB-2, certainly among the 60s UK beat groups. The EB-2 was a rare beast in 60s Britain, while the Rivoli was favoured by Chas Chandler (the Animals), Paul Samwell-Smith, (the Yardbirds), Les Chadwick (Gerry & the Pacemakers), Ronnie Lane (the Small Faces) and many others. While sunburst was by far the most popular finish, Scott Walker played a rare blonde Rivoli with the Walker Brothers and so did Andy Fraser (Free) and Bob Lang (Wayne Fontana & the Mindbenders).
As we have seen, most Epiphones were variations of existing Gibson models, and the Texan is closely released to the slope shouldered Gibson J-45 albeit with some fancier appointments. Dubbed the “workhorse” the J-45 has long been the company’s most popular acoustic. Just like the J-45, the Texan was constructed with a spruce top, Honduras mahogany neck, back and sides and Brazilian rosewood bridge and fingerboard. The one major difference between the two instruments is the scale length (i.e. the distance between the nut and the bridge). The Gibson has a 24.75” scale, while the Epiphone comes in at 25.5”. The longer scale length supposedly gives the Texan a snappier tone. Although, speaking as someone who has owned 60s examples of both guitars for decades, I can’t say I’ve noticed too much difference in the way they play or sound.
 |
| 1966 UK Epiphone Catalogue - Prices Shown In Guineas |
The official factory designation of the Epiphone Texan was the FT-79, with “FT” standing for flat top. Epiphone produced an acoustic guitar they called the FT-79 from the late 40s and through the 50s. This was re-named the FT-79 Texan in 1959 after the Gibson takeover. The earlier guitar was a mid-sized instrument, very different to the slope shoulder J-45 lookalike model it became. Jimi Hendrix had one of the pre-Gibson FT-79s which he apparently used at home and when travelling.
In 1969 Gibson recognised the threat of cheap imported guitars and Epiphone production was moved offshore, first to Japan and later to Korea, China and Indonesia. A strictly limited number of historic Epiphone models continued to be made in the USA, but most Epiphones made after 1969 were budget models which have little or no interest to vintage guitar collectors.
Around 2019 the Epiphone brand received a major re-boot and began producing higher quality guitars again, including decent mid-price versions of some famous 60s models (Casino, Coronet, Texan etc.) along with cheaper Epiphone versions of classic Gibsons (Les Paul, SG, J-45 etc.). Most were made in China and Indonesia, although a select few were built in the Gibson Montana factory with a hefty price tag to match.
Shipped from the factory in May 1964 with serial number 194959, McCartney’s Epiphone was one of 690 natural finish Texans shipped that year. Macca’s guitar has since been reissued several times both as US and Japanese made versions. There was even an exact replica, hand-aged with scratches, dings and the famous Detroit Red Wings ice hockey team sticker. A fan gave the sticker to Paul when Wings played Detroit’s Olympia Stadium in May 1976, and it’s been seen on his guitar ever since.
Along with Paul McCartney, other famous names who have played original 60s Texans include Tom Robinson (TRB), Peter Frampton (with Humble Pie and beyond), Al Stewart, Graham Nash (with the Hollies and CSN), Ronnie Lane (with the Small Faces), Wizz Jones and Steve Took (Tyrannosaurus Rex) to name just a few.
I’ve owned the sunburst 1964 Epiphone Texan (pictured below) for 50 years. It’s still my go-to acoustic guitar (and I’ve owned a lot of guitars over the decades) and could be my most treasured possession. It came from a furniture auction sale outside of London in 1976 for the princely sum £120. That converts to around £850 in today’s money, but it’s probably worth more like £3,000 on the vintage guitar market. I really wanted a blonde Texan like McCartney’s, but beggars can’t be choosers.
Other more famous musicians clearly treasure their Epiphones too. McCartney’s priceless Texan was even pictured on the sleeve of his 1971 Wings LP Wild Life and he clearly has great affection for the guitar. Graham Nash still owns the hand decorated Epiphone he used with the Hollies and CSN and Peter Frampton recently received a signature model of the beloved Texan he first played in Humble Pie.
While writing this piece I spoke to Tom Robinson on Twitter/X. Let’s leave the final words to him:
“I worked hop picking all summer to save up £69 to buy my Epiphone Texan second-hand in 1970. Moved to London in 1973 and sold it the following year when short of cash. Not the worst decision I ever made, but fucking close”.
 |
| Texans Ahoy! Clockwise from top left: Tom Robinson, Peter Frampton, Graham Nash, Ronnie Lane, Wizz Jones, Al Stewart |
