Cool Acoustics started as a PhD project in industrial design by Owain Pedgley in 1999. It is now a guitar innovation project, hosted by Loughborough University in the UK.

Togaman GuitarViols is the creation of Jonathan Wilson of San Fernando, California. During the 1990s Wilson experiemented with several designs for a hybrd electric guitar / viola with a fretted neck but played with a bow. Wilson patented the GuitarViol in 2003, the current version has a 21 inch scale length with specially designed Graphtech intonable bridge, piezo saddles and MIDI options.

The Romanian Hora brand has been around since communist times in 1951. As well as producing numerous orchestral stringed instruments Hora make classical, acoustic and electric guitars. Hora produce budget instruments, the top of the range electric sells for around $270 (in 2008).

Iner Souster makes experimental musical instruments. His stringed instruments are often made from salvaged materials, and are art works in themselves.

Designer Rich Roland founded NEO Products in 1989. In the early 90s NEO started research and development in the use of plastics in stringed instruments. Since then, NEO has developed a number of unusual plastic guitars and violins. NEO moved to Wildwood, New Jersey in 2000. Rich Roland is an expert in the use of neon, and has used neon lighting in some of his instruments.

Ben Crowe started Crimson Guitars in 2005, after managing Scorpion Guitars Ltd.He had become disaffected by the 'mass-production work ethic' at Scorpion, and established Crimson Guitars to make one-off custom instruments, and limited production runs of ten instruments of any single design. Crimson Guitars also offer hand-made guitar parts.

Steve Wishnevsky has been an instrument maker for over thirty years. He concentrates on making simple cleanly constructed string instruments with locally harvested woods at very affordable prices. His instruments are stripped of non-essential ornamental flourishes, giving them a home-made, folk-art look.

The violins of Antonio Stradivari and Guarneri del Gesù, have gained legendary status. Many change hands for millions of dollars, but are they valuable because they sound great or because of the legend that has built up around them? This subject is relevant to guitar players.

Silver Star is a brand name of the Korean Un Sung Musical Instrument Company, founded in 1987. Un Sung also make instruments for export under other brandnames, producing around 50,000 electric guitars every year.

In 2004 the Un Sung company employed around 160 staff, with exports worth $11,600,000.