Epiphone Guitars: The Archtop of Archtop Guitars
Guitars are among the most popular of musical instruments the world has ever known. Talk about any genre, and there is a big chance that genre would highly involve guitars, one way or another. Talk about Rock and Roll, Heavy Metal, Jazz, Fusion, Country, Blues, Alternative, Speed Metal, Hardcore Metal, Pop, Flamenco, and even Classical, guitars are sure to be in the mix. With origins dating back to 5000 years ago, the guitar has contributed a profound influence on modern popular culture, defining its status as one of the most popular musical instruments in the world today.
Guitars come in specific forms and specific classes, with acoustic guitars and electric guitars being the most major of the guitar types. Acoustic guitars are basically made with hollow bodies, and are differentiated by the two classes of acoustic guitars, the steel stringed and the classical guitar. Steel stringed acoustic guitars are guitars which use steel strings, and have narrower necks compared to classical guitars, which differ from steel stringed acoustic guitars in the sense that classical guitars use nylon strings and have wider necks.
Electric guitars are made with solid bodies, and use amplifiers in their successful operations. Archtop electric guitars, stand as hybrid electric-acoustic guitars, in the sense that archtop electric guitars are made with hollow bodies. The Epiphone line of guitars is famous for the Epiphone Archtop Electric Guitar line.
Epiphone, as a brand, dates back to the 1870s where Anastasios Stathopoulos made his own lutes, fiddles and Lioutos. In 1903, when Stathopoulos moved to the United States, he continued his instrument making, and eventually left the legacy to his son, Epaminondas, who eventually made the Epiphone Banjo Company in 1924. By 1928, the company started working on guitars, and was set on the track of being the makers of quality Epiphone guitars. By 1957, due to the demise of Epi Stathopoulos, the Epihone name of guitars was bought by Gibson Guitars, who was then its main rival when talking about the archtop line of guitars.
The most famous of Epihone archtop guitars came in when Gibson already had the reins of Epiphone guitars, in the form of the Casino. Made in the shape and configuration of a Gibson ES-330, the Epiphone Casino was known to have produced a very heavy sound, perfect for as a rhythm guitar. The Beatles are known to have used the Casio, along with the Rickenbacker line of guitars, which the Beatles had also used.
Epiphone Archtop Guitars. Quality guitars worth having, the archtop of archtops.
