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"In 1969, Norlin Industries bought the Chicago Musical Instrument company (which owned Gibson at the time), which heralded the "Dreaded Norlin Era" at Gibson, in which the quality declined greatly. Epiphone production was contracted to companies in Japan in order to cut costs. The Japanese Epis are good guitars, but they suffered both the "Made in Japan" and "Norlin" stigmas; they've always been under-rated as a result.
In 1983, around the time that Gibson was bought by a group headed by Henry Juszkiewicz (now President of Gibson USA), Epiphone production was contracted to Korean companies, most notably Samick (of which Epiphone/Gibson owns a significant percentage). With some exceptions, Epiphones are made in Korea to this day. (Note: Bob wrote this in early 2002 when all Epiphones were still made in Korea. Epiphone now has their own manufacturing facility in China. - Heliman)
Most Epiphones can be dated fairly accurately by their serial numbers. The exception to this is the Japanese-era guitars; the serial numbering doesn't seem to have followed any sequential pattern from year to year, which makes it *very* difficult to date them accurately."
Another reference indicates that this guitar was probably made between 1971-1981.
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