after epiphone became a subsidiary of norlin (gibson's parent after 1969), many of its instruments were later patterned after the more expensive gibson versions. occasionally, epiphone models are of such high quality that sales of those less expensive instruments actually cut into the gibson's sales. case in point, the short lived solid body epiphone del rey model was modeled after a gibson les paul double cut. workmanship and manufacturing standards were so high that gibson killed the model. to help distinguish itself from the parent brand, epiphone also maintains its own line of archtop guitars and basses.