Buccigrosse

Richard Alan "Ricky" Buccigrosse was born in Riverside, New Jersey., on February 7, 1953. He lived in Beverly, New Jersey for most of his life, where he was a woodworking shop teacher for Florence Township High School. He was an accomplished musician and master carpenter by trade. He custom designed and built furniture and musical instruments and shared his love of the craft by teaching others. He died in 2009 aged 56.

Source: Richard Buccigrosse obituary. Burlington County Times, September 9, 2009.

Ritz

Ritz electric guitars were hand made in the USA. This short lived company was founded in 1988 with investment from Brad Becnel and Cliff Wildes, the creative involvement of Eric Galletta and his uncle Alejandro Soler and the manufacturing expertise of Wayne Charvel. Ritz focussed on superstrat electric guitars and basses. They were made in Wayne Charvel's workshop in Ontario and he supervised their design, assembly, testing and quality control. Around 150 were made in total. Their most eye catching guitars were the Neptune series models which had bodies completely covered in a cracked shell mosaic finish (invented by Alejandro S. Soler). Only around 25 of these Neptune guitars were made before the company went out of business in 1989. Neptune sea-shell finish guitars are still available from Eric Galletta.

Galletta Guitars

Eric Galletta started making guitars with his uncle Uncle Alejandro Soler in the 1980s. They used a patented natural seashell finish on their electric guitars. Galletta also collaborated / apprenticed with Wayne Charvel again making customized guitars with the natural seashell finishes (Ritz Guitars), as well as other custom instruments. He started Galletta Guitars in the early 1990s to build his own line of guitars. Galletta has made guitars for for many top recording artists and musicians including: The Allman Brothers, Gregg Allman, Dickey Betts, Warren Haynes and Allen Woody.

Source: Reverb.com - Galletta Guitars (19 June 2017)

Ricardo Sanchez

Ricardo Sanchez was born and raised in Mexico City and began making guitars in 2011. He has been a full time luthier since 2015 and he specialises in Fender style electric guitars. He currently (circa 2019) lives in Nashville, TN.

Source: Ricardo Sanchez website (19 August 2019)

Richmond Empire

Richmond Empire electric guitar

The Richmond Empire was introduced around 2010 and made until 2013. The Richmond Empire has a retro 70s style similar to the Ovation Viper.  The Empire features a 24 3/4 ” scale, a low noise single-coil pickup and a Custom Godin humbucker in the bridge or two Godin Kingpin P90 single-coil pickups (Mahogany model only). Pickups are housed in a single cutaway solid body with a silver leaf maple center and poplar wings or the solid mahogany body of the Empire mahogany HG.

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Richmond Dorchester

Richmond Dorchester electric guitar

The Richmond Dorchester was introduced in 2008 and made until 2013. The Dorchester has retro Mosrite inspired style with a 25 ½” scale, two classic sounding Lace Alumitone humbucker pickups, housed in a double cutaway chambered body with a silver leaf maple center and poplar wings. The pickups are controlled by separate volume and tone knobs, along with a 4-way switch that allows you to select between various sounds, including the first position which enables the neck & bridge to be in-series, giving the player a fatter tone and more output.

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Richmond Belmont

Richmon Belmont electric guitar

The Richmond Belmont was introduced in 2008 and made until 2013. The Belmont packed a full gamut of classic rock muscle into its vaguely SG styled solid mahogany body. This 24 ¾” scale axe is powered by two single coil Lipstick pickups by Seymour Duncan, along with a Seymour Duncan ’59 humbucker in the bridge. All of which is controlled by a 5-way selector switch and separate volume and tone knobs. The Belmont’s bolt-on mahogany neck features the worn in feel of an Ergocut rosewood fingerboard for a comfortable playing experience.

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Marris

Marris is a brand name of the Solvakian Dowina company.

Source: Marris catalog 2007

Dowina

Dowina began in 1979 in the village of Devín in Slovakia with the opening of violin workshop overlooking the castle. Later acoustic guitars were added to the product range. In 2010 they moved to larger premises in Devinska Nova Ves, encompassing a production center, warehouse, custom shop and administration.

Source: Dowina website (15 August 2019)

Rhoney

Rhoney electric guitars were made by Paul Rhoney. He rented a workshop from Doug Kauer in Elk Grove, California until 2017, then he moved back to his home town of Portland for other employment.

Source: Rhoney Guitars website (archived 2015)

Kauer

Doug Kauer was working in his family's wood working business when around 2003 a piece of figured maple came into the workshop. Kauer decided to have go a making a guitar out of this piece of wood, setting in motion a series of fortuitious events that culminated in the formation of the Kauer Guitars company. Kauer is a boutique maker of high end solid body electrics, notable for their use of cedar or ambrosia maple for the bodies. Kauer also make Titan branded guitars in partnership with Grover Jackson which are more affordable boutique instruments.

Source: Kauer Guitars website (25 February 2017)

Source: Premier Guitar - Kauer Guitars. Chris Kies Nov 16 2010

Beaver Creek

Beaver Creek acoustic instruments are made in East Asia and distributed in Canada by D'Addario. The range includes acoustic guitars, acoustic bass, mandolins, ukuleles and banjos.

GIG 10 (Guitar Productions)

All GIG 10 Guitars are original designed and hand crafted. They are not CNC machined or major factory manufactured. They are individually built by David Gregson (aka: Web Slinger) in a small shop in Washington State, USA. David has been a lover of guitars and a player for over 40 years. He's been building guitars and basses for the last 15 years. Go to "GIG 10 Productions" on Facebook and check out GIG 10 Guitars for lots of photos and names of the different guitar models

Source: GIG 10 Facebook page (13 July 2019)

Revelation

The Revelation brand was introduced in the 1990s by Hohner. The brand was discontinued in the mid 1990s and Hohner sold off its UK premises to Sutherland Trading Co Ltd. Sutherland became the official distributior of all Hohner products for the UK and Ireland and also inherited the Revelation name. Sutherland relaunched the Revelation brand in 2010, with input from Alan Entwhistle who had worked on the original Hohner Revelation designs. Revelation guitars are made in China.

Source: Revelation Guitars website (3 July 2019)

Wildwood

Wildwood Banjos is a small manufacturer of high-end banjos located in Bend, Oregon that started in Arcata, California. The company was founded by Mark Platin in 1972. Their product line includes several models of both resonator and open-back banjos in styles for the traditional frailing and clawhammer style players, and classic powerful bluegrass banjos for 3 finger pickers.

Wildwood mandolins and dulcimers are distributed in Japan by Hosco and in Ireland by Muzikkon - this brand appears unrelated to Wildwood Banjos.

Wildwood acoustic guitars and mandolins are also made by Nick Carpenter in Mount Franklin, Victoria, Australia.

Source: Wildwood Banjo Company website (archived 2005)

Source: Wildwood Instruments (Australia) website (28 June 2019)

Blanton

Blanton is a brand for banjos, Wiessenborn guitars and mandolins aimed at American Fok, Old Time, Irish trad and bluegrass musicians. Blanton instruments are distributed in Japan by Hosco and some are also made in Japan.

Blanton is also a brand name for US made pedal steel guitars.
 

Ruben

Ruben Beck was born in Heidelburg, Germany in 1977,  He studied Art in Monash University and then went to work in the final assembly division at Maton Guitars in 2005.  In 2009, Ruben graduated from Holmesglenn Institute being awarded the highest honours in Fine Furniture Making and receiving a Craftsmanship Award for his final creative piece.  In the same year, Ruben also received an award from the Australian Wood Review for his use of reclaimed timber in his guitars. In 2010, Ruben was selected to be the next head of Maton repairs, and apprenticed with Luthier Chris Ffinch for two years.  After completing a Diploma of Business Management in 2012  he launched Ruben Guitars as a bespoke guitar making company.

Source: Ruben Guitars website (27 June 2019)

 

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