History Of The Epiphone Guitar

The Epiphone guitar officially got its name for the first time when it was registered in 1924. The following year, Epi changed the company’s name once again to reflect the major changing of his company. With the success of Epiphone’s Recording Series banjos, Epiphone bought out the Favoran banjo company in 1925, to keep up with the demand. The sales of these banjos were so great and Epiphone’s name was known so much for them, Epi changed the name of the company to the Epiphone Banjo Company in 1928.

Epi decided that the company should focus more on selling its guitars and the Gibson Company was their main competitor.

In 1934 Gibson increased the body width of one of their existing models to compete directly with the Epiphone Masterbuilt guitar. In 1935, Epiphone introduced the Electar Series to compete with Rickenbacker’s electric guitars. By the time 1937 arrived, Epiphone’s sales had doubled. The rest of the 30’s continued with Epiphone and Gibson competing against each other and both companies introduced similar types of Hawaiian guitars.

McCarty agreed and Epiphone was taken over by Gibson in 1957. In 1964, The Beatles discovered Epiphone guitars and John, Paul and George bought some of the Casino models. Epiphone was once again one of the top names in guitars.

This cut into the sales of the Epiphone and Gibson guitars and the company decided to give the Gibson line more attention. Soon the Epiphone guitar was selling well again.

In 2002, Gibson luthier Mike Voltz is moved over to Epiphone to take care of their acoustic guitar production and marketing. The demand for Epiphone guitars grew so much that in 2003 they opened a factory in China strictly for Epiphone. In 2005, Epiphone reintroduced Paul McCartney’s 1964 USA Texan guitar.

In 2008, the Epiphone guitar is still going strong and more popular than ever.

By Johnny Stall

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History of Ibanez Guitars

The history of Ibanez guitars is one of the most interesting ones in the guitar world. By 1935 Hoshino Gakki had started the production of Ibanez Salvador Spanish acoustic guitars in Nagoya, Japan.

Around the 50’s, most Japanese guitar manufacturers were copying European guitars like Hagstrom and EKO including Hoshino, however by the 70’s; the company shifted its focus to American brands. In order to gain an entry into the American market, Hoshino bought out an American company named Big Guitars and renamed it to Hoshino USA. The history of Ibanez guitars would never be the same!

Ibanez also offers a Signature Series of guitars which include the Joe Satriani Series, the Herman Lee Series (E-Gen Model), the Paul Gilbert line (PGM Model), Sam Totman series (STM Model) etc.

Although the history of Ibanez guitars is a rather long one, it has greatly affected the guitar world with its unique and progressive designs.

By Chaz Beers

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History Of The Yamaha Guitar

The Yamaha guitar has been around for over 60 years and the company itself for over 100 years. For the next 40+ years, Yamaha’s company made organs, pianos, harmonicas, furniture, phonographs and finally their first acoustic guitar in 1942. In 1965, a year after The Beatles made their legendary Ed Sullivan Show appearance, Yamaha began production of solid body guitars. The Yamaha guitars were being built to produce a powerful warm tone with amazing sustain. Yamaha want to make sure that their guitars both look great and have every chance to breathe.

Some of the great artists that have played Yamaha guitars over the years are Michael Anthony, John Denver, John Lennon, Bob Marley, Brian May, Paul McCartney, Jimmy Page, Carlos Santana, Bob Seger, Billy Sheehan, Paul Simon, Bruce Springsteen and James Taylor.

By Johnny Stall

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Fender Jazzmaster

The Fender Jazzmaster is an electric guitar that was first introduced at the 1958 NAMM Show and was designed as a more upmarket instrument than the Fender Stratocaster, which was originally to replace the Telecaster model.

The Jazzmaster also had an extra-longtremolo arm.

The body is larger than that of other Fender guitars, requiring a more spacious guitar case. The Jazzmaster had unique wide, white “soapbar” pickups that were unlike any other single coil. Jazzmaster pickups are often confused with Gibson’s P90 pickups. The Ventures and The Fireballs were prominent Jazzmaster users. The Jazzmaster also played a part in the Indorock scene, with guitarist Andy Tielman creating a 10-string Jazzmaster using a red-hot nail to burn holes for the extra tuning pegs in his Jazzmaster’s headstock. This marked the beginning of a long tradition of often-unusual DIY Jazzmaster modifications throughout the next decades.

Fender recognized the need for a purpose-designed surf-guitar, and introduced the 24″ scale Fender Jaguar, with a shorter scale, built-in mute, chrome decorations and more Strat-like pickups. The Jazzmaster was re-introduced in 1984 as a 1962 reissue model from Fender’s Japanese factory. In 2007 Fender announced plans for a ‘thin skin’ Jazzmaster reissue with vintage nitrocellulose finish.

by Wikipedia

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Cort Guitars

Cort Guitars is a guitar manufacturer centered in South Korea. The company is one of the largest guitar makers in the world, and produces instruments for many other companies.

History

Jack Westheimer set up business connections with Japanese guitar makers in the 1960s with the intention of importing Japanese made guitars into America. The Yoo-Ah company would eventually be called Cor-Tek which was named after Jack Westheimer’s Cortez brand name. Yung H. Park eventually acquired the operations of the Cor-Tek company. Cor-Tek manufactures Cort branded guitars as well as engaging in OEM manufacturing for numerous brands such as Lotus.

Models

Cort M600, green flamed maple

Cort produces a wide variety of electric guitars, acoustic guitars, acoustic bass guitars, and electric basses, with the main emphasis being on producing a good product at a competitive price.

By Wikipedia

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