Tot-
I know there's gotta be other folks here that know a bunch more about Epiphone...I hope someone else can shed some light, because I've picked up a lot because I go to the Epi forum a bit (but it's a Gibson 'compnay store' so, FWIW) but more because I've known a local indy store owner as a friend for about 12 years, and they got screwed out of their Epi franchise that they'd had since 1995 by Gibson about 6 months ago because they didn't sell $80,000 worth last year. He's the guy that schooled me on Epi hollow & semi-hollows basically by Samick in Korea from about 1983 - 2002, with Saien, Fine, Un Sung, Aria, Peerless and a couple of other Korean factories taking some Korean builds, but these are getting rare since more and more subcontracting is going to Chinese factories since 2002, the pace picking up since 2004.
I stopped in there today and looked at 3 Epi Masterbuilt acoustics he has left over...an 04, an 05 and an 06. All with labels that say made in China, and none with the s/n designation identifying them as made in Gibson's Qingdao China factory (the letter 'EA' preceding 8 digits). One had a 'G' and the other 2 'GE'. Don't know those factories. The Chinese factories I've seen identified at the Epi forum are DW (Dae Won), SJ (Sae Jung) and MC (Muse).
That this Casino I scored is an 05 Korean, and a Peerless, at that, knocked me out. I saw another used Epi Korean today at another local indy store (my main GAS Station), this one an '04 Chet Atkins...a semi-solid, thin bodied electric nylon string. Needless to say, it's a discontinued model.
Last edited by wingsdad; February 24th, 2008 at 11:03 PM.
^^
AXES: Fender '81 The STRAT, '12 Standard Tele, '78 Musicmaster Bass, '13 CN-240SCE Thinline; Rickenbacker '82 360-12BWB; Epiphone '05 Casino, '08 John Lennon EJ-160E; Guild '70 D-40NT; Ovation '99 Celebrity CS-257; Yamaha '96 FG411CE-12; Washburn '05 M6SW Mando, '08 Oscar Schmidt OU250Bell Uke; Johnson '96 JR-200-SB Squareneck Reso; Hofner '07 Icon B-Bass; Ibanez '12 AR-325. AMPS: Tech 21 Trademark 10; Peavey ValveKing Royal 8; Fender Acoustonic 90, Passport Mini, Mini Tonemaster; Marshall MS-2 Micro Stack; Behringer BX-108 Thunderbird; Tom Scholz Rockman. PEDALS/FX: Boss ME-50; Yamaha EMP100; Stage DE-1; Samson C-Com 16 L.R. Baggs ParaAcoustic D.I; MXR EQ-10.
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