Information
Background information about some of our items
Any information we collect here and categorise it over time.
Subcategories
Antoria
Antoria is a UK guitar brand dating back to the 1950s, which has changed hands three times. Originally the brand consisted of guitars made in Japan (first by Guyatone and then by FujiGen); contemporary Antorias come from South Korea and China. Current products commercialised under the Antoria brand are electric, acoustic guitars and basses.
Arbiter
Arbiter were a UK importer/distributor selling own brand Ibanez, Antoria, Teisco amongst other Japanese guitar makers. The Arbiter Fuzz Face pedal is one of their most famous products as used by Jimi Hendrix, David Gilmour, Duane Allman, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Pete Townshend, Eric Johnson, George Harrison and many more.
Barnes and Mullins
Established in 1895 by Samuel Bowley Barnes and Albert Mullins, a banjo duo that set the foundation for what Barnes and Mullins were and continue to be. Barnes and Mullins gained success early as a company and, even with the passing of the two owners, continued to do so. Today Barnes and Mullins are a distributor of some of the worlds biggest brands and still produce a range of acoustic instruments including banjos, ukeleles and mandolins under their brand.
Besson
Besson are a manufacturer of brass musical instruments formed in 1837 by Gustave Auguste Besson, who at the age of 18 produced a revolutionary design of cornet which surpassed all contemporary models. His products quickly gained a great reputation throughout Europe. In 1857, he moved to England where he built a large factory in London from which his instruments took a share of the English market and from where he exported to many countries including the United States.
Today, Besson produces a range of cornets, tenor horns, euphoniums, tubas, French horns and baritone horns. Besson has also produced a number of other brass instruments, including a huge ‘triple’ B♭ tuba.
Bontempi
Bontempi is an Italian musical instrument manufacturer established in 1937 and best known for producing low-priced, plastic-cased chord organs. These small keyboard instruments produced sound by air being forced over reeds by an electric fan.
Boosey & Hawkes
Boosey & Hawkes is a British music publisher, purported to be the largest specialist classical music publisher in the world. Up until 2003, it was also a major manufacturer of brass, string and woodwind musical instruments.
Formed in 1930 through the merger of two well-established British music businesses, Boosey & Hawkes controls the copyright to much major 20th-century music as well as publishing many prominent contemporary composers.
Dallas
1873 John Eastwood Dallas started to make banjos with J. E. Brewster, in Oxford Street, London. In 1875 he set up as a publisher and banjo maker at 415 Strand and grew to make many kinds of instrument. In 1914 the firm moved to 202 High Holborn and by the late 1920s the banjos and zither-banjos bearing the company’s name were truly mass-produced instruments and started to bear the trade name of “Jedson”.
Dallas sold five banjo ukulele models from A, B, C, D and E, with A being the basic to E as the top model. Dallas were endorsed by George Formby and bore his name and image on the headstocks. Final runs of the George Formby models were made by Musima in the DDR (East Germany).
Dulcetta London
Ducletta London was a subsidiary of John Grey. & Sons Ltd., making and selling banjos, ukulele banjos, banjo mandolins, guitars and drums.
Eko Guitars
Eko is an Italian manufacturer of electric guitars, acoustic guitars and similar instruments, catering to professional level and manufacturing largely for export. It is located in Recanati, Marche. Their products include classical guitars, 12-string guitars, arch top guitars, electric guitars and acoustic bass guitars.
Eko gained high popularity during the rock ‘n’ roll craze of the 1960s, becoming the largest guitar exporter in Europe.
E-ROS Guitars (Italy)
E-ROS brand were Italian made guitars imported by Rosetti from 1966 to 1970. E-ROS formerly made guitars for Eko under contract, which is apparent when studying the robust build quality of examples we’ve seen.
EROS Guitars (Korea)
Korean built guitars from the 1970s. They have a decent level of quality from what we’ve seen.
FCN Music
FCN, FCN-London or FCN-England were a UK wholesaler of guitars from 1968. Kimbara was one their brands. “Exclusive UK distribution by FCN Music, Tonbridge, Kent” has been seen on a José Más Y Más guitar label
George Houghton & Sons (GH&S)
George Houghton established his Reliance Works in Heaton Street, Birmingham in 1888 and the range of banjos and zither-banjos he made were branded “Reliance.” His well made inexpensive range of instruments quickly found favour with dealers and players alike and before long his factory was extended, his staff increased and the name changed to G. Houghton & Sons (aka GH&S, G. H. & S.) and production shifted to making white label instruments which would be branded with the vendor’s name and/or trademark. GH&S maintained a stock catalogue of instruments, most commonly marked with a gold-embossed lion and GH&S on the reverse. Many retailers and most of the wholesale houses made up their own catalogues.
Their budget “Melody-Jo” line was one of the most popular selling banjos at the time GH&S own stock instruments they would also copy other firms’ prototypes for them, to be branded with the latter’s name as ‘makers’.
In 1962, town-planning development in Birmingham plus staff difficulties led to George Houghton (son of the founder) closing down and moving production to London, and become associated with John E. Dallas & Sons Ltd. The plant, materials and a few key workers from Birmingham, established a factory at 12 Gravel Hill, Bexleyheath, Kent, and from that time until he retired in 1965 he made the inexpensive banjos sold under the Dallas label.
Gallotone
Gallotone are a South African guitar manufacturer becoming popular in the 1950s due to a Board of Trade ban on the import of American goods into the UK, and even when it was lifted the duties were heavy making Gibson and Fender guitars too expensive for aspiring guitarists. In contrast, guitars made in the Commonwealth and Europe were still affordable.
Henry Potter and Co.
Henry Potter and Co. was founded in 1810. The company initially produced fifes, drums, and bugles but soon diversified into other areas of music. Located in Charing Cross, London.
Höfner
Höfner is a German (originally Austro-Bohemian) manufacturer of musical instruments, with one division that manufactures guitars and basses, and another that manufactures other string instruments, such as violins, violas, cellos, double basses and bows for stringed instruments.
Much of Höfner’s popularity is down to Paul McCartney’s use of the Höfner 500/1 Violin Bass guitar. This iconic bass is commonly referred to as the ‘Beatle bass’.
UK distribution in the 1950s, ’60s and early ’70s was by Selmer of London. In 1994 Höfner became part of the Boosey & Hawkes Group and were distributed by them until 2003.
Hohner
Hohner are a German manufacturer of musical instruments, founded in 1857 by Matthias Hohner (1833-1902). The roots of the Hohner firm are in Trossingen, Baden-Württemberg. Hohner has manufactured a wide range of instruments, such as harmonicas, kazoos, accordions, recorder flutes, melodicas, banjos, electric, acoustic, resonator and classical guitars, basses, mandolins and ukuleles (under the brand name Lanikai). Hohner is best known for its harmonicas.
During the 1940s to the 1990s, Hohner made avariety of electric/electronic keyboards. In the 1960s and 1990s, they manufactured a range of innovative and popular electromechanical keyboard instruments; the cembalet, pianet, basset, guitaret, and clavinet. In the 1980s, several Casio synthesisers, such as the Casio HT-3000/Hohner KS61midi and the VZ-1/HS-2, were sold under the Hohner brand.
Today, Hohner produces harmonicas, melodicas, accordions and recorder flutes.
John Grey & Sons
John Grey & Sons (London) Limited, a subsidiary company of Barnett, Samuel & Sons, was established in Westminster in 1832. The company became well known for the manufacture of fine banjos, guitars and drums. The company was founded in 1832 and originally manufactured watches and steel pens and only distributed musical instruments wholesale. In 1928, the company was bought by Rose, Morris & Co.
“There was, at the turn of the century, a well established musical instrument house called Barnett, Samuel & Sons, and from this root had sprung the Decca Gramophone Company, amongst others. An offshoot of this organisation was the company of John Grey & Sons (London) Limited, established in Westminster in 1832, renowned for its fine banjos and by 1932 trading in the full range of musical merchandise in Worship Street, not far from the premises of Rose, Morris & Co. Ltd. After delicate negotiation, the John Grey stock and business were acquired by R.M.”
John Hornby Skewes (JHS)
Established in 1965 by John Hornby Skewes and his wife in Leeds UK. JHS proprietary brands, include Fret-King, Vintage, Encore, Santos Martinez, Pilgrim and Laka fretted instruments, KAM audio/lighting equipment, Antoni orchestral stringed instruments, Odyssey brass and woodwind, Kinsman musical accessories, PP Drums and JHS Hornby recorders.
José Más Y Más
Read about Jose Mas Y Mas here…
Joseph Higham
British brass instrument maker based in Manchester, were the longest-lasting and the most productive and innovative. Competing with the major London makers such as Distin & Co (later Boosey & Co, and Boosey & Hawkes) and F. Besson (later Besson Co). Established by Joseph Higham in 1842 and operating independently until 1923, and then as a subsidiary until 1939; the name was revived as a brand for some 20 years after the war. Joseph Higham and latterly J. Higham Ltd did most of their business with brass bands in the North of England, but also exported worldwide. Their instruments were mainly mainstream models similar to those of their London competitors or French imports. Their production did include instruments with characteristic features and some with innovative designs.
Keech
In 1917, Alvin D. Keech became one of the inventors of the instrument known as the banjolele, banjulele or banjo-ukulele. The instrument is a smaller version of a banjo with a ukulele fretboard. This development was driven by the need for more volume by vaudeville performers who played ukulele on stage. Early Keech banjuleles date from 1917 to 1930 and include three models: A, B and C. The top model was C.
Kimbara
Kimbara is the brand name of a range of guitars which were commissioned by the UK-based musical instrument wholesaler FCN Music.
Kimbara first appeared in 1968 and the guitar production involved FCN Music commissioning guitars from various factories across the Far East.
First produced in Japan till the late 1980s and then Korea until the late 1990s when production moved to China.
Kimbara brand appears on classical, steel strung, electric and bass guitars.
Marshall Amplification
Marshall Amplification, commonly known as Marshall, is a British company that designs and manufactures music amplifiers and speaker cabinets. Founded in 1962 in London by shop owner and drummer Jim Marshall, the company is based in Bletchley, Milton Keynes.
The company first began making amplifiers to provide an alternative to expensive, American Fender amps, releasing their first model, the Bassman-inspired JTM45, in 1963. Following complaints over limitations in amp volume and tone, Marshall began developing louder, 100-watt amplifiers. These early amps were characterised in part by their Plexiglass control plates, leading to models such as the 1959 Super Lead (released in 1965) being popularly known as “Plexis.” Their adoption by guitarists like Townshend, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, and Jimmy Page helped establish the brand’s legacy. Further development led to the JCM800 series in 1981, which was widely adopted by the hard rock and metal community. Marshall updated the JCM lineup in the 1990s (JCM900) and 2000s (JCM2000) and developed new amp lines, like the DSL and JVM models.
Many of the current and reissue Marshall amps continue to use valves (tubes) rather than transistors, as is common in this market sector. Marshall Amplification also manufactures solid-state, hybrid (vacuum tube and solid state) and modelling amplifiers.
Musima
Musima were located in Markneukirchen, East Germany, close to the Czech border. Musima existed from 1953 until 1990 and continued until 2005 after the German reunification. The area’s Ore Mountains had the right conditions for high-grade Spruce, essential for violin and acoustic guitar-making. Luthiers have been present in the area since the 1700s, giving Markneukirchen a distinguished pedigree. Famous for its orchestral instruments, Markneukirchen had the highest concentration of instrument-makers in the world, when most inhabitants would have been involved in musical instrument production or raw material supply.
After the Second World War, the new Communist regime were keen to make the most of Markneukirchen’s reputation and expertise. In 1952 Musima was created as a cooperative, centralising many of the town’s craftsmen and family enterprises under one collective management.
The Communist government were keen to make Musima a flagship example of a communist industry, and so supported the company to quickly grew into the biggest in the GDR. With 1,200 employees in the 1980s and a peak production of 360 guitars per day, Musima was exporting electric and acoustic guitars and instruments to 53 countries around the world.
Christian Frederick Martin, founder of C.F. Martin & Co emigrated from Markneukirchen where he had gained his instrument making expertise in the early 1800s.
Known for good materials, robust build and often with a good sound, not so much for refined design although they often have some nice detailing.
Proamplifers
British amplifier manufacturers. We’ve sold a Proamplifiers Demon 65 Super Guitar Amplifier Combo which was rather nice.
Reuge (Switzerland)
Rosetti
Rosetti Limited are UK distributors of musical instruments and accessories, distributing many brands to a network of retailers throughout the UK. form the 1960s.
Selmer
Established in France in 1885 and originally known for its clarinets and saxophones. Today, Selmer is a large distributor of musical instruments and still trades today as Conn-Selmer a subsidiary of Steinway Musical Instruments. Guitar brands include Saxon.
Sigma Guitars
American company C.F. Martin created the brand Sigma in order to compete with cheaper guitars that were imported from Asia. Sigma released a wide series of acoustic and classical guitars, which initial construction was in Japan by various manufacturers/factories from 1970 through 1983. C.F. Martin discontinued the Sigma brand in 2007 and AMI Musical Instruments acquired the brand, producing guitars in China.
Stridente of Naples, Italy
Stridente were one of the best known mandolin makers of the late 19th and early 20th century. They made superb mandolins in the pure style of Neapolitan manufacturing of the time, often rich in decoration and very delicate violin making. Label address is Via Antonio 22, Napoli.
Torre
Torre Guitarras de Calidad (Tower Quality Guitars) Dallas London was a classical guitar brand name of Dallas/Arbiter of London.
Triumph
Triumph were owned by Geoff Johnson and headquartered at 118 Brighton Road, Purley, Surrey, England. Established in the late 50s in England, Triumph produced amplifiers for Vox with runs of AC4s, AC10, and AC50s for Vox. From 1966 Triumph also produced a small number of AC100s.
Triumph later produced amplifiers for Jennings Electronic Industries (founded by Tom Jennings after JMI/Vox had folded), Vamp, and Sound City.
Numbers of these amps were marketed under different brand names – Leo, Johnson, and under Triumph’s own name. Also produced amps for Selmer and Crown.
Vicente Sanchis Guitars
Read about Vincente Sanchis here…
W. E. Hill & Sons
British firm based in London that specialises in violins and other string instruments, and bows. Also known as William Ebsworth Hill & Sons or William E. Hill & Sons. First established in Wardour Street in 1880, moving to 38 New Bond Street in 1887 and ten years later relocating to 140 New Bond Street. W. E. Hill & Sons are still trading today.
Yamaha Guitars
Yamaha Guitars have been producing guitars since the 60s and have a reputation for high-quality, affordable instruments for musicians of all levels. Yamaha were founded in 1887 making piano and reed organs in Japan. Their first acoustic guitar, the FG180, was produced in 1966. In the 1970s, Yamaha expanded into electric guitars, with the SG series popularised by Carlos Santana and The L Series acoustic guitars gaining a good reputation. From the 90s the Pacifica series catered for the all levels of players and continues to be popular.