I am pretty sure that Epiphone truly hit the skids in the 50's. In 1951 their union went on strike shutting down production for several months. In 1953 they moved the factory to Pennsylvania. Left behind were many of their craftsmen. Curiously Guild Guitar company came into being (in New York) in that same period.

By 1957 when Epiphone sold itself to Gibson, for $20,000, the disastrous move to Pennsylvania had dragged the name into the dirt. Gibson can wear some blame thereafter, but the initial decline of Epiphone was on the family's (Stathopoulo) watch.

It's a similar parable to the perilous peregrinations of Gretsch, where they eventually wound up with a factory in Booneville, Ark. but no skilled labor.

I guess one of the constants here is that some business men don't want to pay the extra money for skilled labor.They feel that by force of will,the instruments produced will be of the same quality,albeit manufactured by skilled or unskilled labor.All things being equal,the name will sell itself.

We've all seen the results of that business strategy.

Steve B

Patrick, you are correct, just didn't want to go into the long history of the journey, but the late 50's early 60's model are considered very collectible, due to the artist associated that used them Lennon being one of them.

"My Ludwig snare is COB"