Epiphone
Epiphone is the name of a guitar manufacturer. Before being bought out by Gibson in the late 1950s, Epiphone was actually Gibson's main rival in the archtop market. Aside from their guitars, Epiphone also made basses, banjos, and other stringed instruments, but the company grew weak after World War II; Gibson would soon absorb them.
Founded by Greek national Epimanondas "Epi" Stathopoulos (Επιμανόντας Σταθόπουλος) when he inherited his father's business, The House of Stathopoulo, in 1915, the name Epiphone would not appear until 1924. The company had a heated history of competition with Gibson until Stathopoulos died in 1943, when it fell into a commercial slump. Weakened, it would be bought out by the competition in 1957.
Epiphone is now an off-brand of Gibson, as Squier is an off-brand of Fender. Because of this, many of the instruments look the same as the more expensive Gibson versions. The instruments given the Epiphone badge usually have lower quality components than the Gibson ones, or aren't quite as elaboratly decorated (such as gold hardware on a Gibson model and chrome on an Epiphone model).
Casino
Before Epiphone was bought out by Gibson, it made some very good guitars. Among their finest was the Epiphone Casino. The Casino was made in the shape of a Gibson 335 guitar. They had a very heavy sound, good as a rythm guitar.
In 1966, while the Beatles were making Revolver, John Lennon purchased a Casino. He put his Rickenbacker back on the shelf and used the Casino as his main instrument from then on. In 1968, when the Beatles were making the White Album, John Lennon decided to sand his guitar down, recoat it with lacquer, and then take the pick guard off. His guitar, in that condition, is seen in the Revolution 1 promo movie.
Recently, Epiphone has rereleased the Casino. Is is available in its original Sunburst design or else in the "natural" Revolution look.
Modern Times
In recent years, the quality of Epiphone instruments has gone down drastically. Because it is owned by Gibson, it only sells cheaper versions or starter kits of famous instruments such as the Les Paul or SG. Epiphone caters mainly to kid beginning musicians, and sells mostly through the musiciansfriend.com catalog.