Epiphone

It traces its roots to a musical instrument manufacturing business founded in 1873 by Anastasios Stathopoulos in Smyrna, Ottoman Empire and moved in New York City in 1908. In 1928, after taking over his father's business, Epaminondas Stathopoulos named the company "Epiphone" combining his own nickname "Epi" and the suffix "-phone" (from the Greek phon-, "voice"). The same year, the company began making guitars. In 1957, Epiphone, Inc. was purchased by Gibson. Gibson relocated Epiphone's manufacturing operation from its original Queens, New York factory to Gibson's Kalamazoo, Michigan factory. Today, Epiphone is still used as a brand for the Gibson company, both for budget models of other Gibson-branded products and for several Epiphone-exclusive models.