Epiphone guitars generally use more affordable pickups and hardware appointments, but some of the more expensive Epiphone models feature Gibson USA pickups. Gibson guitars are made in the USA, while Epiphone makes officially-licensed versions of their instruments in China. Now Im getting excited to get some new strings for it and see how it sounds.
Ill follow up after Ive had another look at the guitar. Having said this, there are a lot worse guitars out there, and as well as being historically important, the 1820 bass can certainly provide the goods when required. Gibson is the parent company of Epiphone. Noah, thanks for the confirmation that the Epiphone badge wasnt present on quite all of the instruments.
This tool cannot date an Epiphone acoustic guitar it is for electric guitars only.
Over the course of the 70s, the Japanese output improved dramatically, and in many ways these early 70s models are a low point for the brand. Epiphone guitar serial number decoder Find out when your Epiphone guitar was made This tool decodes the serial number from Epiphone electric guitars and gives you its date of manufacture and normally location. These new Epiphones were based on existing Matsumoku guitars, sharing body shapes, and hardware, but the Epiphone line was somewhat upgraded, with inlaid logos and a 2x2 peghead configuration.
The Matsumoku factory had been producing guitars for export for some time, but the 1820 bass (alongside a number of guitar models and the 5120 electric acoustic bass) were the first Epiphone models to be made there. By the end of the 1960s, a decision had been made to move Epiphone guitar production from the USA (at the Kalamazoo plant where Gibson guitars were made), to Matsumoto in Japan, creating a line of guitars and basses significantly less expensive than the USA-built models (actually less than half the price).