in 2002, epiphone began producing a range of higher quality instruments under the "elite series" moniker which were built by terada and fujigen in japan. after legal action by ovation the name was changed to elitist in 2003. as of 2008, all of the elitist models have been discontinued with the exception of the elitist casino and the dwight trash casino. the epiphone elitist guitars included features such as higher grade woods, bone nuts, hand-rubbed finishes, "made in the usa" pickups and usa strings. japanese domestic market elitists used the gibson dove-wing headstock as opposed to the "tombstone" headstock used on exports.