Epiphone Bass Guitars
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The first Epiphone bass guitar was not introduced until 1959, but the company itself has had a long and successful history dating back to the late 1800s.
The Beginning
It all began in 1873 in Greece where Anastasios Stathopoulo made violins and lutes when he was only ten. Years later his family moved to Turkey where he also began building mandolins. Because of his reputation and talent, he was later able to start his own instrument factory in 1890.
His first child was a boy born in 1893 which he named Epimanondas (nicknamed Epi). Ten years later the family moved again, this time to NYC and by 1907 they had opened a music shop.
When his father died of cancer in 1915 Epi took over the business. A reorganization of the company occurred in 1923 when Epi made himself President and General Manager and renamed it from the ‘House of Strathopoulo’ to Epiphone, combining his nickname with the Greek word for sound.
Epiphone vs. Gibson
Epiphone revealed their first guitar line in 1928 but they weren’t very successful. In 1931 they released their Masterbuilt Series of guitars which was based on the design of Gibson’s Loar guitar. They were able to get some artist endorsements and a war with Gibson was about to begin.
Epiphone’s popularity grew as they became known as one of the best guitar manufacturers based upon their quality. In 1939 they also started producing excellent stand-up basses.
The war years followed but then Epi passed away from Leukemia in 1943. His two brothers Frixo and Orphie assumed control but constant bickering prompted Frixo to leave in 1947.
With Orphie in charge and with union labor issues, which resulted in moving the company and losing their best craftsmen, the company was in trouble. Orphie had no choices left so he called Gibson’s Ted McCarty and told him Epiphone was for sale.
Gibson was very interested in their bass business which still had an excellent reputation. They purchased Epiphone for $20,000 in 1957 for which they received the entire company and even got the use of its name.
Enter the Epiphone Bass
Epiphone’s first electric bass was the Rivoli introduced in 1959. This was their version of the Gibson EB-2. It had a semi-hollow body, 30 ½“ scale and a single humbucker pickup. It was very popular in Britain and used by Chas Chandler (Animals), Andy Fraser (Free) and Paul Samwell-Smith (Yardbirds) among others.
They followed that up with the Newport bass in 1961 which was the equivalent of the Gibson EB-0. This had a double cutaway body, 30 ½” scale and also a single humbucker pickup.
The Embassy Deluxe bass followed in 1963 which was their answer to the Thunderbird IV, but without the unique styling. They shared the same hardware including two identical humbucker pickups, each had a 34” scale length and solid double cutaway bodies.
1960s Rivoli
1961 Newport
1965 Embassy
Collectibility
The Epiphone bass guitars never outsold comparable Gibson models and are not as much in demand.
In excellent condition an original 1959-1960 Rivoli bass will go for $3k, a 1961-1962 Newport bass will run $2k and a 1963-1964 Embassy Deluxe bass is in the $2k neighborhood well.
Through the years Gibson has used Epiphone to launch new products and to produce replicas of Gibson’s classic guitars. For example, if you want to lay your hands on a new Thunderbird IV you will find that it is now an Epiphone bass.
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