The Epiphone Elites are made at Fujigen (solidbodies) and Terada (acoustics and archtops). Fujigen did make the Orville guitars for the Japanese market. Terada makes Gretsch guitars. [I'm pretty sure that Fujigen makes Tokai, Fender Japan and Fernandes.] All Epiphone Elites use 2 piece, bookmatched bodies. For example, the '61 SG and the LP's have a 2 pc Mahogany body. In the case of the LP of course, it has a 2 pc, bookmatched Maple cap as well. Epiphone has a USA production facility making Lennon Casinos and John Lee Hooker Sheratons but at this time, we don't produce custom-made instruments. The finishes are poly as opposed to regular Epiphones, they are significantly thinner. Elites are priced and sold by Epiphone with a hard case. Of course, we cannot guarantee that the retailer will not price them individually. [I'm guessing the Elites will use South American mahogany, considering how much these babies will cost. Have you ever heard of Orvilles? These were introduced to the Japanese market by Gibson in response to the glut of superior LP copies that were made by various Japanese companies. Also made in Japan, the Orville by Gibson series were truly Custom Shop quality, with a nitro finish, and a long neck tenon that extended into the front pickup cavity. Custom Shop features for under a grand! I'm not saying that the Elite LPs will have these features, but the Japanese are capable of making a more reliable and consistent guitar than Americans.] Wizard - I agree. Spec for spec, the Elites are better than the Orvilles. They feature made by Gibson USA pickups and nickel plated hardware. The Orvilles used Japanese pickups and chrome plated hardware. Additionally, the Elites have stamped serials numbers on the back of the headstock - a nice touch. quality-wise, they are made at the same factory as Orvilles. [Hi Jim...sorry to confuse you. If you're referring to plain old Orvilles, the Elites will totally outclass them. But Gibson also manufactured the upscale "Orville by Gibson" line. These are the ones I'm referring to-they had the nitro finish and a long neck tenon, just like a Custom Shop Gibson. Now if the Elites had these features, I'm buying two or three.] Wizard - here is a comparison of the retail prices for Gibson versus Epiphone "regular": Epiphone Gibson LP Std Plus $899 $4383 LP Custom $999 $3998 LP Std $819 $3306 SG Std $599 $2383 ES-335 $659 $2998 J-200 $629 $4199 L-00 $599 $2391 Hey Wizard - I just received confirmation from the factory that the mahogany used in the Elite line is African mahogany. How's that for quick customer service? Hi Kent! The Epi Elite LP's have a real carved maple cap with an African mahogany back. The pickups are made by Gibson and sent to Japan for installation. In my opinion and in the opinion of others who've played them, yes. They have the sound you expect from a Les Paul. On another note, I think it's worth pointing out that the Elite line is not just LP's. On the historic Epi side, there's a Casino, Riviera-6, Riviera-12 (very cool), a Sheraton (gorgeous inlays, multi-binding, etc.) and a Texan. Hi LittleBrother: I just wanted to say something about the "funny headstock" comment. The headstock used is an historic Epiphone "Masterbilt" headstock. This headstock was used by Epiphone in the 1930's and is generally considered by many to be very attractive. Seeing as how the headstock is a "signature" of the guitar and the brand, we felt it was important to distinguish it from the regular Epiphone line with a unique headstock. If you don't like it, that's OK. I just wanted to communicate that information to you and others. Could you tell me which Gibson model pickups do the pickups on the Epi Elite (50SR & 50ST) relate to in sound. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hi DaJazzMan! They are similar to '57 Classics US SUGGESTED PRICES Elite Gibson Elite Les Paul Standard Plus $1,614 $4,383 Elite Les Paul Custom $1,537 $3,998 Elite Les Paul Standard $1,460 $3,306 Elite Lefty LP Standard $1,537 $3,431 Elite 1961 SG Standard $1,229 $2,383 Elite EB-3 Bass (SG, 2-PU) $1,460 N/A Elite Thunderbird Bass $1,537 $2,291 Elite 1965 Casino $1,768 N/A Elite Riviera-6 $1,921 N/A Elite Riviera-12 $1,999 N/A Elite Sheraton $2,153 N/A Elite 1963 Dot $1,768 $5,373 Elite 1965 Texan $1,614 N/A Elite J-200 $2,152 $4,199 Elite J-45 $1,614 $2,402 Elite L-00 $1,537 $2,391 Tokai: Fender noticed Tokai's superb workmanship and high quality during the company's efforts to find a partner to build instruments in Japan. According to The Fender Book, written by Tony Bacon and Paul Day, they spoke with Tokai and others regarding possible manufacturing partnerships. Fuji Gen-Gakki Corporation was eventually chosen to build Fender's guitars in Japan (Fuji is the maker of Ibanez brand guitars). Korean: Korean acoustic guitars offer the highest quality at the lowest price. Samick and ALVAREZ are two of the premier Korean guitar brands today. Samick is the largest guitar maker in the world. They make 60 guitars per minute, 720 per hour, 1,380,000 per year, and 4000 different models under 400 different brand names. That's over half of all guitars made each year! Here are some brand names that buy their guitars from Samick: Gibson(Epiphone), Washburn, Aria Pro, Rogue, Silvertone, Abeline, Boston, and many more. Cor-Tek is another Korean factory that produces guitars for : Fender,Ibanez, Cort, Hohner. YOOJIN INDUSTRIAL CO., LTD. is manufacture of acoustic guitar, acoustic/electric guitar, acoustic base guitar, electric guitar and electric bass guitar. YOOJIN is exporting musical instruments to all over the world since 1973 year. So, the history of YOOJIN is over 25 years. We have two factory of guitar in Korea. Acoustic guitar is producing in Yangju factory of Korea and electric guitar is producing in Guangju factory of Korea. bought Kurzweil: Young Chang was the first musical instrument manufacturer in Korea, and has now been producing high-quality musical instruments for over 35 years. Today, Young Chang is one of the largest manufacturers of acoustic pianos in the world, and also manufactures a range of other instruments under various brand names. The original piano assembly factory was opened in 1956, and started manufacturing pianos, organs and harmonicas in mid-1968. Later, the company went on to make guitars. By 1971 the company was beginning to export its products successfully, and Young Chang opened a second factory in Incheon, Korea, in 1976. The 680,000 square-foot factory was completed in late 1979. The early 1980's saw exports exceed the US $10 million mark, recognized by an export award from the Korean government. Young Chang founded European, US and Canadian operations in 1984, and in the same year became the first public corporation in the Korean music industry. A second factory for export products was completed in April, 1987, with 633,000 square feet of floor space, and by the end of that year, exports had exceeded the US $50 million mark. In 1995, Young Chang opened its largest factory in China as well as a guitar manufacturing facility in Tacoma, WA. Ibanez: In 1995 Ibanez moved a great deal of their production from the Japanese plant to the Samick factory in South Korea. This is not something that Ibanez publicized much and I'm sure they'd like it swept under the rug but if you look on any RG series Ibanez from 1994 or before you'll see it was manufactured in Japan - and it'll play like a dream. From 1995 through about 1997 the RG series was produced in Korea and they will say so on the back of the head stock. It was at the same time that Ibanez discontinued several models; the 7 series RG's were shelved and I believe the 7-string Universes were not in production. Only a few JEMs and the custom series were still in production from Japan and one JEM look-a-like, the 555 I believe, was actually produced in Korea, and priced accordingly. "The Greco Iceman is often called the Rick Neilsen model (the guitar player from Cheap Trick), I have 2 of them, they are both blue with white binding. Both the Iceman and the Greco come from the same factory in Japan. The guitars were available in the US in the late 70's and early 80's but were mostly for the european market." Since the same factory (Kanda Shokai) was already producing a blue one, this made it easy for Ibanez to have a blue model Iceman (with white binding)in their 1995 line for the United States. Here is another explanation of the Greco/Hoshino/Fuji-Gen Gakki connection by Vintage Guitar columnist Michael Wright (as posted on www.ibanezcollectors.com bulletin board 6/25/01): "To correct myself, Greco was NOT an Ibanez brand name in Japan. First of all, the company was Hoshino Gakki Ten. Their own primary brand name was Ibanez, however, they would put any brand a buyer wanted on their guitars. In 1955 Hoshino stopped selling guitars in Japan, concentrating on exports. They made their own electric guitars from 1962-1965; due to high labor costs they switched back to OEM vendors in 1966. In 1970 they began working with the Fuji-Gen Gakki factory, with whom they worked thereafter. Fuji-Gen made guitars for sale in Japan carrying the GRECO brand name. This belonged to Fuji-Gen and had nothing to do with Hoshino/Ibanez, except, of course, they were the same guitars as those made for Hoshino. Hoshino Hanbai was established in 1981 to again sell guitars in Japan. So, from 1955-1981, no Hoshino guitars were sold in Japan. Greco guitars were the brand of Fuji-Gen Gakki, Hoshino's main supplier but not owned by Hoshino." Following negotiations with two Japanese distribution companies, Kanda Shokai and Yamano Music, Fender Japan was established in March 1982. Fender held 38 percent of the stock, occupied three of the six board seats and, of course, owned the all important product licenses. Fuji Gen-Gakki, best known for building Ibanez brand guitars, were chosen to build Fender Japan instruments. In fact it has been estimated that as many as 80% of the [Fender] guitars sold in the US between late 1984 and mid-86 were sourced from Fender Japan. Although Fender Japan still exists, their guitars are no longer imported to the US or Europe. Those markets are catered for by FMIC's US and Mexican factories. However, because of their justly deserved reputation for quality, the many Japanese instruments floating around on the secondhand market, particularly the Stratocasters, are becoming sought after. The Univox line first appeared in 1968. The company was American, although the guitars were built in Japan at the Matsumoko guitar factory, the same company that produced the Aria, Epiphone and Fender Japan lines. Univox was later (around 1978) put out of business when Gibson and Fender launched lawsuits against Japanese guitar makers for copying their designs. Those suits mostly centered around the fact that the Japanese guitar makers copied the headstock shapes of their American counterparts... After the lawsuits, Univox changed their name to Westbury and continued to market an original line of guitars, but never regained a real foothold in the American market. Their Univox effects were always much more successful then their guitars, and eventually evolved into the KORG line of electronic music effects which are still a big player in that market today. Univox guitars were built by the Matsumoko guitar factory in Japan, which were OEM suppliers to Aria, Westbury, Westone, Epiphone, Fender Japan and several other brands at the time. In 1988, a disastrous fire shut Matsumoko down for good, at which point, most of the other brands went to Korea's Samick Musical Instruments to continue production. Of course, Univox was already defunct. Nick Sugimoto Nick has been working in the stringed instrument industry for twenty six years. In 1976 after graduating from the university, he went to United States for 1 year and studied guitar repair from Kunio Sugai owner of Performance Guitar Co., also at Hoshino USA. After he came back to Japan he joined Fujigen Inc. from 1978 until 1992 and Fujigen Hirooka Inc. from 1993 when Fujigen Hirooka Inc. was established until 2002 . During this time he worked for 23 years in R&D, custom guitar building and engineering. He been the main force at Fujigen in the creation and engineering of all Fujigens design and manufacturing for twenty years.　His designs and abilities have been indispensable to customers like FENDER USA and JAPAN, IBANEZ, EPIPHONE, YAMAHA, GRECO, ROLAND, FERNANDES, CASIO, TOBIAS, and many other OEM customers and of cource Fujigen's own brands Heartfield and FgN. He has worked at the Fender Custom Shop in 1990 to help in the design work for a joint venture with Fender Musical Instruments and Fujigen Inc. In his 23 years at Fujigen he has written up more than 1,500 engineering spec. sheets and engineering packages for manufacturing. You can see a lot of his ideas in the catalogs of the brands listed above. Nick has worked for three different Custom Shops during his years in the music industry. First he worked for the "GRECO Order Made section" for two years. Second he established the "Fender Japan Order Made section" where he made or produced more than 500 guitars. Third he established the "Fujigen Custom Shop". He has been the General Director of Fujigens Custom Shop for the last five years. During his years of R&D and custom building he has had the opportunity to consult with or build for many leading artists including Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, George Benson, Pat Metheny, John Scofield, Steve Miller, Bob Weir, Sting, Paul Gilbert, Paul Stanley, Joe Pass, Billy Sheehan, Allan Holdsworth, Lee Ritenour, Steve Lukather, Phil Collen, Jaco Pastorius, Jimmy Page, Z.Z.Top, Victor Bailey, Adrian Belew, Yngwie J. Malmsteen, Air Supply, Kenny Loggins, Allman Brothers, Stanley Jordan and many others from Guitarist.UK The good news for Jaguar and Jazzmaster fans is that Japanese versions are back, and in your shops now. And for those who like Fender's most traditional guitar in less than traditional guise, you'll also notice these unsubtle additions to the line adorning dealer walls once more. Despite the success of Fender's Ensenada facility in Mexico, they've as yet been unable to reproduce certain models, so these latest reissues - or 'Collectibles' as Fender once called them - come again from Fender Japan. (Fender use Fuji-Gen Gakki, who also build Ibanez, and the factory has never stopped producing guitars for the American company, despite there being no UK imports.) from Bartolini Site under Japanese Guitar Mfgs: Aria Musical Instruments Shiro Arai, President Atelier Z Crews Ibanez (has link) P Project Tune Basses Indonesia: P.T. Samick Indonesia To maintain a strong presence in musical instruments market, Samick Korea has invested U$30.0 million in a 430,000 square meters( 130,000 Pyoung) plant which is the world's largest wood processing, guitar and piano factory located in Bogor, Indonesia, about 30 miles south of Jakarta. Presently, Samick Indonesia employs 2,500 and produces 15,000 upright and grand pianos, 500,000 acoustic and electric guitars per year as well as wooden piano and guitar components. China: Huansheng Musical Instrument Factory is a professional factory that cooperate with Japan and produce "STARSUN" brand electronic guitar and wooden guitar, the factory is based in Sihui City, Guangdong province. The factory implements standard as well as traditional technology based on the principle that provides superior products for the society. Its products are famous for their original style, subtle technology and good intrumental performance. Its products are sold very well to China, Japan, Eruope and America. The "STARSUN" brand guitar includes high, middle, low 3 series which have more than 300 models. HUASHENG factory was founded in 1993, with the great help and support of all industries and continuous improvement by itself, it has been a factory that has 35000square meters factory work shop and has been a very important base for guitar production and export base on its advanced production devices and strong technical capability. We gained ISO9002 certificate in Setp. 2000. We're willing to cooperate with domestic and international business partners to process guitars based on their preferred sample, designing and raw material. We also want to discuss and negotiate some thing we have interests.