Magnatone

product types: 

  • electric guitars
  • lap steel guitars
  • tube amplifiers

Information: 

The Magnatone brand had its origins as a record player company, started in the 1930s by the Dickerson Brothers in Los Angeles. In the 1940s it became the Magna electronics company. Although the Magnatone brand is best known for their series of 1960s amplifiers, the company also marketed guitars from the mid 1950s to the late 1960s. Their first instruments were hollow-bodied electrics designed by Paul Bigsby.

Following a merger with Esty Electronics the guitar designs were overhauled in 1959/1960 with a redesign by Paul Barth (of National, Rickenbacker and Bartell fame) and the introduction of four new models. Magnatone also offered Estey thinline electric guitars in the late 1960s that were imported in from Italy.

Source: Tom Wheeler, American Guitars and Michael Wright, Vintage Guitar Magazine.

Location

Los Angeles , CA
United States
California US