Vivitone

Vivi-Tone was a musical instrument company founded in 1933 by Lloyd Loar, Lewis A. Williams, and Walter Moon in Kalamazoo. Lloyd Loar is best known for his innovative work with Gibson from 1919 to 1924 and he carried on this inventiveness with Vivitone. The company made electrified guitars, violins, mandolins, a keyboard, and at least one amplifier - but was ultimately not a commercial success.

Vincenzo Miroglio

Vincenzo Miroglio & Sons were stringed instrument makers operating in Catania, Italy from the 1920s until the 1960s. They produced acoustic and classical guitars, mandolins and banjos.

Buzz Vineyard

L.M. Buzz Vineyard has been building flat-top steel string guitars, carved archtop guitars and mandolin family instruments since 1972.

Source: Buzz Vineyard Facebook page (8 June 2021)

Viccars

Andy Viccars specializes in vintage guitar repair, and high quality custom made guitars, basses, lap-steels and mandolins. He has been making guitars since 1979 and is based in Milton Keynes, England.

Source: Viccars Custom Guitars website (archived 2019)

Vibratone

Vibratone was a mandolin and acoustic guitar brand - made in USA by one of the big Chicago factories.

Van der Gaag

Johan van der Gaag was born in the Netherlands but emigrated to New Zealand at the age of 31. He became interested in guitar building in 2002 and makes acoustic guitars, mandolins and bozoukis.

Source: van der Gaag Guitars website (17 May 2021)

Vanden

Mike Vanden makes archtop guitars and mandolins in Argyll, Scotland. Varden has been making instruments since 1979 - inspired by Gibson archtop mandolins and early archtop guitars. Mike Vanden has also designed pickups for acoustic instruments since 1988 - including the Mimesis pickup.

Source: Vanden Guitars website (14 May 2021)

Bluestem Strings

Bluestem strings offered instruments and plans until 2016.

Source: Bluestemstrings website (archived 2015)

Tucker (Melvin)

Melvin Lamar Tucker (1947-2019) was born in Clarke County, Georgia. He started work with the Georgia State Patrol in 1970 as a radio operator and by the time he retired in 1997 he was a trooper first class. Tucker was a well known luthier in the bluegrass community, building fine mandolins and acoustic guitars. He was building instruments from around 1993 until around 2018. His son Brad Tucker also worked with him building guitars.

Source: Melvin Tucker obituary 2019

Pono

Pono is a ukulele, mandolin and acoustic guitar brand of the Ko'olau guitar & ukulele company in Hawaii. Pono instruments are made in Indonesia using solid woods, wood bindings, and bone nuts and saddles.

Source: Pono website (29 March 2021)

Tosch

Tosch was a distributor of musical instruments in the 1930s - including those imported from Markneukirchen.

Source: Tosch catalog 1934

Toredo

Toredo instruments was a brand name of C Meisel Music Co, of New Jersey. Toredo guitars were made in Japan - some at least made by Kiso Suzuki. The range included electric guitars & basses, acoustic guitars as well as folk instruments like banjos and mandolins.

Otis Tomas

Otis Tomas has been making stringed instruments since 1980. His works from his home in the hills above St. Ann's Bay on Cape Breton Island in Canada's Nova Scotia. He specializes in violins and to a lesser extent guitars, but has occasionally made mandolins, harps, and various other stringed instruments.

Source: Otis Tomas Stringed Instruments website (16 February 2021)

Tomas Leal

Tomas Leal Mejias makes classical guitars, bandurrias and mandolins in Casasimarro, Spain. Both Tomas Leal Mejías and his brother José Leal Mejías were trained by Vícente Carrillo Cantos, before his early death at the age of 45 in 1971.

Source: Zavaletas - historic makers of the Casaimarro school (15 February 2021)

Raffaele Tieri

Raffaele Tieri was an Italian-American instrument maker active in New York City from the 1920s to 1940s. He built mandolins, banjos, guitars and balalaikas as well as doing repairs.

Source: Pre-War Gibson L-5 Owners' Club (10 February 2021)

Terris

Michael Terris makes fine banjos, mandolins and resonator guitars by hand in New Jersey. Active since the 1980s.

Teo

Teo is an electric mandolin brand. Terry Ousley makes Teo mandolins in Muncie Indiana, inspired by 1960s the Vox electric mandolin.

Source: Teo Guitars website (15 January 2021)

Tenson

Tenson is a budget brand established around 2008 offering a wide range of instruments including electric, acoustic and bass guitars. Possibly related to Gewa?

Tennessee

The Tennessee brand was founded in the early 1970s by Tut Taylor & his son Mark. On moving to Nashville from Georgia, Tut bought the former Billy Grammer guitar factory and started manufacturing the “Tennessee” line of mandolins, resophonic guitars, banjos, and acoustic guitars. This company continued for several years. In 1977 Tut decided to move to Pigeon Forge, TN where he started a small retail shop. Mark continued to build instruments under the "Crafters of Tennessee" name.

Targ & Dinner

Targ & Dinner Inc. was a musical instrument distributor established in 1920 in Chicago. Their brands included: Marveltone, SS Maxwell, Olympian, Arch Kraft and Biltmore.

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