Guyatone was founded by Mitsuo Matsuki in 1930s Japan and was initially as the Matsuki Seisakujo company. The first products were Hawaiian lap steel guitars. In the early 1950s Matsuki started using the Guyatone brandname and also diversified in making amplifiers and audio gear. Production levels took off in 1956, as Guyatone began making OEM instruments for distribution under other brand names including Star, Ibanez, Antoria, Futurama and Kent.

In the 1970s Guyatone started contracting work out to other factories including Uni Musical Instruments & Cyushin Musical Instruments. By the 1980s Guyatone had stopped making their own guitars all together, but carried on selling Guyatone guitars made elsewhere - the LG-1200 & LG-2100M were made at the Tokai factory. Fujigen Gakki became the sole manufacturer for Guyatone guitars. Mitsuo Matsuki died in 1995. His sons Koichi and Hiroshi Matsuki took charge. Guyatone limited production of guitars to occasional re-issues of earlier designs (made by factories like Fujigen Gakki) and focused instead on effects pedals.

Source: Guyatone USA website (12 July 2017)