Magnum Guitars was a brand name of Arndt Anderson. Anderson's company started out as "Magnesium Guitars" in 1983 making "the magnesium guitar", on a very limited production basis. As a private consultant and mechanical engineer for "Missing Persons", Arndt Anderson created some of the most state-of-the-art musical instruments of the time. Magnesium Guitars then took a detour and began producing "The Shark", a piezo-electric drum trigger pedal used mostly with synth drums, by drummers all over the world.  Concurrently, along with the musical projects, Arndt also was doing precision-prototype machining for the aerospace/defense industry. He worked on component parts for the space shuttle, the stinger missle project, and the patriot missle project to name a few. He also made advanced automation equipment used in factories producing electronic and sensor technology. Introduced around 2000, Anderson's Magnum guitars had aluminum bodies with magnesium necks and were the culmination of his life-long quest to produce a quality guitar made out of metal but at an affordable price. The Magum Guitars website went offline around 2003.

Magnum is also a budget Australian electric guitar brand.

Source: Magnum Guitars website (archived 2002)