Epiphone have been manufacturing guitars since the late 1870's. Epiphone were Gibson 's main rival in the archtop market before being bought over by them in the 1950's. Their range at that time included the Emperor, Deluxe, Broadway and Triumph rivalled, and some say surpassed, that of Gibson. Epiphone now manuacture a range of electric guitars , acoustic guitars , electro-acoustic guitars , bass guitars , amps and banjos.
