Only Epiphone make their guitars in China, including their “Inspired by Gibson” line which can cause some confusion. If you see a Chinese-made guitar with “Gibson” on the headstock, this is a fake Gibson.
No Gibson guitars are made in China or any other parts of the world except the USA. By producing their guitars in China, Epiphone are able to produce more affordable guitars as the cost of labour is significantly lower compared to the USA. Prior to opening the Qingdao factories, Epiphone manufactured their guitars in other Chinese factories such as Dongbei, Muse and Mirr, and also in Taiwan, Korea and Indonesia.Įpiphone acoustic and electric guitars are cheaper alternatives to Gibson models. The Epiphone Masterbilt range of guitars are still made in Qingdao, China.Įpiphone was founded in 1873 and was only acquired by Gibson in 1957. These three guitars are very expensive, even more so than many Gibson guitars and cost between $2850 and $4000 on average (significantly more than Chinese-made Epiphone guitars). The following Epiphone guitars are made in the USA: There are however some exceptions to this. Since 2004, Epiphone has manufactured their electric guitar (solid, semi-hollow and hollow) and acoustic guitar in their Qingdao factories which is located in the Shandong province in China which have approximately 550 employees.
