Epiphone has been an eye-catching brand pretty much from the company’s inception 140 years ago. In the early part of the 20th century, Epiphone’s ornate, stylish New York City guitars provided stiff competition for the more staid models coming out of Gibson’s Kalamazoo, Michigan, plant. So it is ironic that Gibson ended up owning the Epiphone brand, which it purchased in 1957.