”It is a pleasure to have as guests Gianmaria Assandri and this historic Epiphone De Luxe which is for sale in his lutherie.
Lorenzo
Epiphone had its beginnings in 1873, in Smirne in the then Ottoman Empire (now Turkey), where Greek founder Anastasios Stathopoulos built his violins and lutes.
In the beginning of the twentieth century Stathopoulos moved to Queens in New York and from 1908 he continued to produce his instruments and added mandolins.
Anastasios died in 1915 and was succeeded by his son Epaminondas known as “Epi“.
In 1917 the firm became known as “The House of Stathopoulo” and immediately following World War I, the company started manufacturing banjos.
Four years later the company changed its name in “Epiphone Banjo Company” (a combination of its nickname “Epi” and the suffix “-phone” from the Greek phon-, “voice”), starting the production of guitars like the Epiphone De Luxe.
Epi died in 1943 and the company went to his brothers, Orphie and Frixo, who guided it until 1957, when they sold it to Gibson which moved Epiphone headquarters to its factory in Kalamazoo, Michigan.
Since then, the brand has been used for various series of guitars, some produced by Gibson itself in its own factories and others contracted out to other companies, first in America and then abroad such as Matsumoku and Terada in Japan and then Samick and Peerless in Korea to then continue in China to date.
However, here we face a splendid and rare sample of the original house, one of those produced under the guidance of Epi himself and Gianmaria describes it to us:
“Epiphone Deluxe, built in New York between 1938 and 1940, as the internal tag says. the instrument was purchased around the middle of the last century by the father of the actual owner, who played it professionally his whole life.
Abandoned and forgotten until the owner entrusted it to me for the restoration.
Now the guitar is in excellent condition, all parts are original and has been provided with a magnetic pickup identical to the one it probably had originally.
The owner wants it to be sold to the highest bidder. Whoever is interested can contact Liuteria Assandri, who is the intermediary of the selling.
For more info, you can contact me via email.
