Luminous

Luminous Guitars is a one person operation in Portland, Oregon making electric guitars. Circa 2021 Luminous offered several standard models: Youngblood, Centerline (Custom, Deluxe & Standard versions) and Stroker Ace. They also make custom builds.

Source: Luminous Guitars website (23 November 2021)

Frank Brothers

Frank Brothers Guitar Co. was founded in 2014 by three brothers, Nick, Jon, and Tim Frank.  Twins Tim and Nick have been repairing and building guitars since they were teenagers and are the creative force behind Frank Brothers. Older brother Jon helps with the business side of things. They build electric guitars, aided by a growing team of workers, in Toronto, Canada.

Source: Frank Brothers website (17 November 2021)

Rathbone & Brown

Rathbone & Brown is a classical guitar brand sold in the UK. They are also the UK agent for instruments made by Niu Lihua.

AIO (All In One)

All In One (AIO) is a brand name of the All in One Guitar shop in Los Angeles. Jin Kim first opened the shop in 2014 to provide guitars made internationally with reasonable prices taking extra care to avoid the stress, wood shrinkage & fret damage often caused by overseas handling and weather changes. In 2021 they had two main product lines: AIO Custom and AIO Wolf.

Source: AIO website (15 November 2021)

Sano

Sano was formed as an accordion company in 1951 in New Jersey by Nick Sano, an accordion player; Joe Zonfrilli, an electronics technician; and Lou Iorio (Zonfrilli's brother-in-law) a music teacher.  Stanley Michael provided electronics consultancy services to Sano but was not officially part of the company. Michael developed an accordion pickup for Sano around 1951 and in 1953 Jack Gentul joined the company as an electronics designer. From 1953 until 1964 Gentul designed the circuits for all Sano's tube amplifiers. Being primarily an accordion company Sano's tube amps were initially voiced to fit accordions and vocal microphones but soon they developed amps for guitars as well. Sano mainly made amps under their own brand name, but they also made  Hohner and Excelsior branded amps. Sano amps are developing a reputation as an affordable option for great vintage tone. Sano also sold guitars - these were imported from Italy and Japan.

Wizard

Wizard guitars are made in Saint Hilaire de Chaléons in Fance by Maxime Mimil. Maxime began his woodworking training in the Compagnons du Devoir before going to work for a furniture restorer. He then gained the the ITEMM (European Technological Institute for Music Professions) for more in-depth and specialized training in luthiery. He went to work with several luthiers in order to learn the particular skills of each one (acoustic guitars, archtops, electric, basses etc…). He was was lucky enough to be hired by the prestigious Cartier house as a Jeweler, while continuing to work on his instruments.

Source: Wizard Guitars website (2 November 2021)

Vizcarra Guitars

Keith Vizcarra makes classical, flamenco, nylon string jazz, and steel string guitars. He builds to order and circa 2021 was not taking new orders - instead concentrating on decreasing his waiting list. He sometimes has a few of his previously owned instruments available for immediate purchase.

Source: Vizcarra Guitars website (2 November 2021)

Saito

Saito Musical Instrument Studio Co., Ltd. is a guitar and bass design, manufacturing, sales & repair company founded in 1991 in Adachi-ku, Tokyo. Their history is as follows:

Nude

Nude Guitars are custom made in Italy from aluminum & wood to a design inspired by Travis Bean. The heart of the guitar - the headstock, neck and central body where pick-ups and bridge are attached - is made from a single milled block of aluminum.

Source: Nude Guitars website (30 October 2021)

Wing Instruments

Wing Instruments specialize in making short scale electric and bass guitars. The product line started with the Wing Bass  - developed as a portable instrument for travel, performance and practice. The desgin is like putting a capo at the twelfth fret of a standard bass and chopping the neck off behind the capo. The result is the short scale Wing Bass… a compact instrument that feels, plays and sounds like a standard scale bass with a capo at the 12th fret. The Wing Bass is small enough to fit in a 21″ carry on, or to place under the seat in front of you, making it easy to take it with you on trips anywhere.

The Wing Guitar was launched at NAMM 2016 and employs the same concept as the bass - its like a full sized guitar capoed at the 5th fret and the neck behind the capo removed. This gives it the same overall size as the Wing Bass. The guitar can be tuned A to A, or with heavy guage strings it be tuned to standard E to E pitch.

Partscaster

Partscaster is not a brand name as such, but refers to guitars assembled from parts taken off other guitars - or bought from suppliers. These are usually Fender style guitars as these have interchangable necks and bodies and many players spend years swapping parts and installing upgrades to get their perfect guitar.

Rood

Bryon Rood started guitar building in 2015 at the Roberto Venn School of Luthiery in Phoenix, Arizona. After finishing the course in guitar building and repair, he was hired on as a shop supervisor for an extended study program. After spending 18 months at Roberto Venn, Bryon moved Santa Cruz California to begin an apprenticeship with Scott Walker Custom Guitars. Spending just under 5 years working with Scott, he then moved back to his home state of Pennsylvania to start his own shop.

Source: Rood Guitars website (28 October 2021)

Witkowski

Witkowski custom guitars and pickups are made in Poland by Marek Witkowski. It was established in 1981 building solid body electric guitars to order. As time progressed Witkowski began to offer his own designs as well as custom made pickups.

Source: Witkowski Guitars website (26 October 2021)

Woodson

Woodson Music Inc. / Woodson Electronics Inc. was formed by Michael D. Woodson in Bartlesville, Oklahoma but soon moved to Elgin, Missouri in 1973. They produced P.A., guitar and bass amplifiers in the 1970s. The company was dissolved in 1980.

Source: Woodson catalogs 1973, 1977; corporate records

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