Epiphone Elites Make their Debut

Designed for the discriminating musician, the new Elite line from Epiphone represents a "step-up" from the standard Epiphone line and at a price point that is still well below its premium, high-end competitors.

"There has long been a rather large price gap between Epiphone instruments selling for typically around $500 and competitors' instruments that sell for around $1800 and up," says Epiphone president Jim 'Epi' Rosenberg. "At around $1000, the new Elite line fills that gap while providing musicians with a choice. To really appreciate the quality of these instruments, you have to play and hear one," continues Mr. Rosenberg. All of the Elite instruments are made in Japan and share features such as Epiphone USA pickups made by Gibson, premium book-matched tone woods, one-piece necks, Grover machine heads, nickel-plated or 24k gold hardware, stamped serial numbers, bone nuts and saddles, solid tops and backs on acoustics, USA strings and meticulous attention to detail and set-up. Every instrument also includes a premium hard case.

The Elite line represents a full line of instruments including solid bodies, archtops, basses and acoustics. The line-up includes 16 different models including the Les Paul Custom, Standard Plus, Standard and Standard Lefty, the '61 SG, the EB-3 and Thunderbird bass, the Sheraton, Riviera, Riviera-12, '63 Dot and '65 Casino, the J-200, '65 Texan, J-45 and L-00. (Other models are expected to be added later.) The Elite line is expected to be available beginning in late October 2002. You can download the new Epiphone Elite catalog at www.epiphone.com/news/2002/EliteCatalog02.pdf.

For more information, visit their web site at www.epiphone.com.