AntoriaвЂ“ UK market, imported by JT Coppock Ltd., Leeds.

AntaresвЂ“ 70s copy era, imported by Vega Int., California.

AngelicaвЂ“ UK market, Boosey and Hawkes distributor.

IвЂ™m talking directly to all dudes living in darkened rooms with only the flicker of a computer screen keeping you warm, YEAH YOU! And anyone else of courseвЂ¦ Please be aware that I wonвЂ™t be 100% on the dime with every brand name origin, so with that being said, IвЂ™m always open to corrections and suggestions. This is a dynamic list, meaning it will be changing over time as more and more information is gathered. The 70s Japanese guitars are pretty well documented, especially in comparison with the 60s stuff. IвЂ™m focusing on 50s and 60s Japanese electrics, but there will be some sneaky 70s names in here, some Korean models, and maybe the odd acoustic brand too. If you see a (?) listed, that means more research or proof is needed. Take for instance the Apollo brand we know from looking at one Apollo catalog from the 1960s that Apollo guitars were being made by Guyatone, Kawai, and Zenon, all within the same year!! IвЂ™ll be happy if we can figure out the market, the importer/distributor, and maybe even the store where the name originated. Many people will want to know which factory made their guitar, but that is a truly maddening process because of the way it was back then. But as you can imagine most are just not available, so weвЂ™re left to rely on secondary sources, our own eyes, and our failing memories rattling around up there like dried beans. Yeah, thatвЂ™s right, beer cans.ДЄs with any good research, primary sources are the best. A HUGE part of the fun with these 60s MIJ guitars is that theyвЂ™re still pretty cheap! And when they arenвЂ™t cheap and everyone thinks every old guitar is worth a boatload of money, then IвЂ™ll move on and start my beer can collection again. You get my drift?В Yeah, I can be idealistic at times, so screw you! This is not for profit or to raise prices on these Japanese guitars.

Maybe someone can actually LEARN something about that guitar thatвЂ™s been sitting in a closet for the past 50 years and maybe that guitar can get fixed up and handed down. Maybe someone can connect with that eager teenager that wailed away in a garage in the middle of nowhere. This is just to help people out, so maybe somebody can rediscover the guitar of their youth. Now before all you curmudgeons and codgers start blasting away at the information compiled here, I want you to stop and think about my mission for a moment. That fellow has done some really excellent work compiling all sorts of information regarding guitar brands from all over the world, both past and present. I also want to mention the great site Jedistar. So I really appreiate these fellers! As of late, the great Bill Menting has been filling in some of the missing information, and again, I appreciate it! Thanks Bill!ДЄlso, a million thanks goes to the excellent work of Michael Wright, who was writing and researching these guitars when people were just as likely to throw them in the trash. One thing I learned from this project is that some dudes are holding on to their information for various odd reasons and really donвЂ™t want to give it up. These three guys are just so great for sharing what they know.

Scott FreilichВ of Top Shelf Music filled in some missing pieces too. The great Jimmy NoiseВ worked on this list and added a ton of information, and Nate DeMontВ of DeMont Guitars gave up just about everything he had for this project. Many thanks need to go out to the main contributors to this list besides yours truly. Of course itвЂ™s a seemingly impossible task, so I did/do need help. So, I figured IвЂ™d give it a shot! IвЂ™m going to try to list every damn brand name that was ever placed on the headstock of a 1960s Japanese guitar!! A lot of this information is already out there floating around like tiny puzzle pieces, and all IвЂ™m trying to do is collect it in one place. At the end of his list he wrote that it was time to start tracking all the names down but in the almost 20 years that have followed, I havenвЂ™t seen anyone else try. What he did was compile a list of brand names and distributors/importers where known. Way back in the 1995 the early legend of guitar research, Michael Wright, published a short list like this in his book Guitar Stories Volume One.

OK, I think itвЂ™s time for a list like this.

Hagstrom condor 2