Who made Epiphone guitars in 1996?

In 1996, Gibson Guitar Corp. / Gibson Brands, Inc. (2013) / Gibson, Inc. (2024) controlled the Epiphone name. Its 3 lines on record were built at Samick Korea (Epiphone; city unverified), Japan special-model builder (Epiphone; FujiGen named generically) and Other Korean contractors (Epiphone; unverified) (South Korea and Japan).^{[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11]}

A Epiphone guitar from 1996 belongs to whichever era was running on its product line that year. An era is a stretch when the company that controlled the name and the plant that built the line both stayed the same. If you know the line, the table below tells you which version of Epiphone you have. The name dates from 1908^{no source}, 88 years before.

Line by line in 1996

Line	Controlled by	Parent	Built at	Era	Grade
Epiphone Japan	Gibson Guitar Corp. / Gibson Brands, Inc. (2013) / Gibson, Inc. (2024)	—	No plant on record	1987–2018	community^{[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9]}
Epiphone Japan special models	Gibson Guitar Corp. / Gibson Brands, Inc. (2013) / Gibson, Inc. (2024)	—	Japan special-model builder (Epiphone; FujiGen named generically) Japan^{no source}	1987–2018	unverified^{[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11]}
Epiphone Korea	Gibson Guitar Corp. / Gibson Brands, Inc. (2013) / Gibson, Inc. (2024)	—	Samick Korea (Epiphone; city unverified) South Korea^{no source}	1986–2002	community^{[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]}
Epiphone Korea	Gibson Guitar Corp. / Gibson Brands, Inc. (2013) / Gibson, Inc. (2024)	—	Other Korean contractors (Epiphone; unverified) South Korea^{no source}	1995–2018	community^{[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]}

What changed in 1996

Nothing changed in 1996. Every era running that year carried on from an earlier year, so a Epiphone from 1996 is the same version as one from 1995.

Where Epiphone was built in 1996

Japan special-model builder (Epiphone; FujiGen named generically), Samick Korea (Epiphone; city unverified) and Other Korean contractors (Epiphone; unverified). See every brand each plant built for, and every plant in the same country:

Other brands in 1996

Epiphone, year by year

1900s

1910s

1920s

1930s

1940s

1950s

1960s

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

2010s

2020s

Sources

Every numbered marker on this page points here: the document, its grade and the passages relied on. An era is computed, so it cites the facts it was derived from. A fact marked “no source” has no claim attached yet.

1
Wikipedia: wiki/Gibson (guitar company)graded community
- "acquired by a group led by Henry Juszkiewicz and David H. Berryman"Epiphone in 1996: owners and plants
2
Gibson Brands requested court protection from its creditors (May 1, 2018)graded secondary
- "Gibson Brands requested court protection from its creditors"Epiphone in 1996: owners and plants
3
Gibson Brands chapter 11 docket: Notice of Effective Dategraded secondary
- "November 1 2018 Effective Date - Notice of Effe[ctive Date]"Epiphone in 1996: owners and plants
4
Epiphone history 1957-present (Gibson era) - Blue Book of Guitar Valuesgraded secondary
- When Gibson was sold to Henry Juszkiewicz, David Berryman, and Gary Zebrowski in 1986Epiphone in 1996: owners and plants
5
Docket index, In re Gibson Brands, Inc. (Notice of Effective Date)graded primary
- Notice of Effective Date Notice of (I) Entry of Confirmation Order, (II) Occurrence of Effective DateEpiphone in 1996: owners and plants
6
Gibson Brands Plan of Reorganization Confirmedgraded primary
- the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware has confirmed the Company's plan of reorganization.Epiphone in 1996: owners and plants
7
Gibson Guitars Names New Leadership And Exit From Bankruptcygraded secondary
- the investment firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR) will assume majority ownership control of Gibson.Epiphone in 1996: owners and plants
8
TTAB Cancellation No. 92084591, filing 4 (Delaware certificate of amendment, Gibson Brands, Inc. to Gibson, Inc.)graded primary
- CHANGING ITS NAME FROM "GIBSON BRANDS, INC." TO "GIBSON, INC."Epiphone in 1996: owners and plants
9
Gibson Guitar Corp. Company Historygraded secondary
- new owners took over in 1986, Henry Juszkiewicz and David Berryman, who bought the company for $5 million.Epiphone in 1996: owners and plants
10
fandom: wiki/Epiphonegraded community
- "a few special models still made in Japan"Epiphone in 1996: owners and plants
- "Samick began building Epiphones in 1984… The Korean factory stopped making Epiphones in 2002."Epiphone in 1996: owners and plants
- "Epiphone began contracting out to a number of different manufacturers"Epiphone in 1996: owners and plants
11
Wikipedia: wiki/FUJIGENgraded community

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