Epiphone 150th Anniversary:
Featuring the Guitars of Noel Gallagher
Wednesday 27 September 2023 - Sunday 14 January 2024
Our current temporary exhibition charts the history of the iconic Epiphone brand through the guitars of one of its most loyal artists, Noel Gallagher.
From the timeless cool of the jazz age through the looking glass of 1960s psychedelia to the wall of sound of 1990s Britpop and today’s eclectic scene, Epiphone instruments have remained central to pop culture’s “big bang” moments. The Casino, the Texan, the Sheraton, the Riviera – model names that chime with guitarists everywhere, inspiring awe and desire in equal measure, whether you are a Beatle or a beginner. What most people don’t realise, however, is that Epiphone’s history stretches back even further than Gibson’s, beginning 150 years ago in a port on the Aegean Sea in what is now Turkey.
Moving into 2023, Epiphone has grand plans for its 150th Anniversary year, including a raft of exciting new product releases, special events, activities with signature artists, and much more besides. Here’s to the next 150 years – the House of Stathopoulo has never been in better health.
To mark the anniversary from a British perspective, this temporary exhibition will feature some of Noel Gallagher’s most treasured guitars. Noel Gallagher’s love for Epiphone started with The Beatles. Thirty years after Revolver, Epiphone instruments were used throughout the sessions for albums Definitely Maybe and (What’s The Story) Morning Glory, and, in 1996, Oasis headlined two epic shows at Knebworth, with Noel using a 1990s USA-made Sheraton for the era-defining performances. While he used a wide range of guitars, pedals, and amplifiers throughout his career, Gallagher often used a cherry sunburst Epiphone Les Paul, two Epiphone Sheratons, and the Beatles’ favourite Epiphone Casino.
Gallagher says “I wanted to start playing Epiphones because of the Beatles. I didn’t know anything about guitars then. They looked good; they felt good, I could make them sound good. I’m a songwriter, not a guitar player. You know, that’s my thing. I’m not one of those people who can sit in a guitar shop and play lots of things. I will literally play an E chord, and if it had sounded great and felt good, I would have just said, ‘Yeah, I’ll take it.'”
To mark 150 years of Epiphone, Noel has kindly loaned four of his private guitar collection for this exhibition, including his Epiphone Riviera with Bigsby from the Definitely Maybe album cover and his Epiphone Frontier FT110 used on the (What's the Story) Morning Glory recording.
We have a season of activity supporting the celebrations including the Epiphone take-over of our Gibson Brands Interactive Studio which has been refreshed and restocked with a line-up of the finest Epiphones for all visitors to play along with the Gibson App.
Epiphone 150th Anniversary: Featuring the Guitars of Noel Gallagher is included with all general entry tickets purchased.
To find out more about 150 years of Epiphone, head to https://www.epiphone.com/en-GB/150