I recently bought a Les Paul. I bought it knowing all the controversy/mystery that exists around it, for a number of reasons that I hope to go through in the coming blog posts. I will also go through my thoughts on this guitar objectively and attempt to explain some of the mystery around it. Disclaimer: Any information here is either my opinion or is something that I believe to be true. I have named sources when possible.
First some history - let's go through the major players in this case...namely Epiphone, Gibson and Matsumoku
Gibson: One of the biggest guitar manufacturers in the world. They invented and first produced the Les Paul model. (Source: Wikipedia)
Epiphone: Gibson's main competitor for a time, before they got bought out by Gibson in 1957. Skip forward to the 70s: Epiphone production in the US shut down and moved to the Matsumoku Company in Japan. This continued on until 1983 when Epiphone relocated to Korea. (Source: http://www.epiphone.com/History.aspx)
Matsumoku: A Japanese manufacturing company that once existed in Matsumoto, Japan. They "mainly manufactured guitars under contract" and the Matsumoku "name began appearing on neck bolt plates, headstocks, and sound hole labels in the late 1970s.". The Matsumoku Company went bankrupt in 1987. (Source: Wikipedia)
Pretty straightforward so far, right? The problem is, when Matsumoku was contracted by Epiphone to produce guitars for them, the Les Paul was never a model that was "officially" produced. By that I mean that no one has been able to produce any documentation, be it a catalogue or a statement from Epiphone or Gibson, stating that Epiphone Les Pauls existed before the move to Korea.
So what have we got here? I suppose there are a few possibilities:
1. An outright fake from someone not associated with Gibson/Epiphone
2. A genuine Epiphone from a later era that is mistakenly dated to the 80s
3. A Les Paul copy by Matsumoku that was badged as Epiphone
4. A small run of Les Pauls commissioned by Epiphone that was never catalogued or officially released
In the coming blog posts I will go through each of these possibilities and hopefully have enough information that you can come to your own conclusion (because without a statement from Gibson/Epiphone or someone reliable that was there at the time, the truth may never be known)