The fourth and fifth digits are the month of production – 12.

The first two digits represent the last two digits of the production year – 20.

The Chinese factory codes, including Qingdao, are:įor serial codes containing only numbers, an eleven digit serial number will be encoded as follows: CI and SI indicate Indonesian manufacture. A B factory code means the guitar is from the Czech Republic. The factory codes F, J, and T indicate Japanese manufacture. YY= year of manufacture, although 1990s models may only have a single digit.Įxample: S02021234 was issued in Feb. Typically, the serial number on a modern Epiphone guitar (or at least since 1993) adopts the FYYMMRRRR format. Pre-Qingdao Epiphone guitars, as well as many made since can be reliably traced to their country of origin by their serial number.Įpiphone’s serial numbers can indicate origins in Korea, China, Japan, the Czech Republic, or Indonesia. If you’re an Epiphone owner looking to determine the precise origin of your own guitar, we’ll look at Epiphone’s serial numbering system below. There are several distinct eras of Epiphone production, so determining the precise factory of origin since the Gibson takeover depends mostly on the guitar’s individual serial number and model. After all, those who want a USA-made Gibson guitar can simply buy a Gibson. Epiphone’s Made in USA Collection features three iconic Epiphone original instruments rather than Gibson copies. Today, three Epiphone guitars are made in the USA, comprising the brand’s Made in USA Collection. This includes both the Inspired By Gibson line and Epiphone’s own original instruments.Įpiphone occasionally returned production to the USA throughout its history, usually for a limited run. While that’s all super interesting, many people wonder where Epiphone guitars are currently made.Īlmost all Epiphone guitars are made in the Epiphone Qingdao factory in Qingdao, China, a major city in the Shandong province. He moved to New York in 1903, taking his business with him, and when his son Epaminondas took over the business a few years later, he rechristened the fledgling company “Epiphone”, combining his own nickname “Epi” with the Greek word for “voice”, “phone”.

A musical instrument builder by the name of Anastasios Stathopoulos opened a business in 1873 in Smyrna, deep in the Ottoman Empire. The Epiphone company’s origins lay in the late 19th century. Although today, Epiphone is probably best known as the affordable foreign-manufactured Gibson, the brand has a long and storied history of its own. Fittingly for a company first founded in the Ottoman Empire, Epiphone guitars are made in factories all over the world.

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