Guide / SELECTED VINTAGE GUITARS
Japanese vintage guitars: the history of their brands and factories
A guide to the brands and factories behind Japanese vintage guitars.
A name on a headstock is only the beginning
The Japanese guitar industry brought together brands, distributors and specialist factories. A brand name does not always identify the workshop that built the instrument. Our original guide follows this network through Fujigen, Matsumoku, Terada and other makers, and explores both acoustic and electric guitars.
Copies, reinterpretations and original designs
American designs provided an important reference point, but Japanese vintage guitars cannot be reduced to copies. Different series combined their own specifications, hardware and construction choices. The familiar “lawsuit era” label is a broad collecting term, not proof that a particular guitar was involved in litigation.
Read the individual instrument
Start with the complete model designation, label and serial number, then compare the construction with a catalogue from the relevant period. Look for consistency between the neck, body, hardware and electronics. Shared features alone do not prove a factory attribution.
The acoustic and electric paths
Our archive includes Yamaha, K. Yairi, Blue Bell, Thumb, Jagard, K.Country and Yamaki, as well as a wider introduction to Morris, Fernandes/Burny, Daion and other names. Each is a starting point for understanding a particular instrument, rather than a guarantee of its specification or condition.
At Selected Vintage Guitars
We bring that historical interest to the workbench. The condition of the neck and frets, previous repairs and the actual setup matter as much as the name on the headstock. Read the service information in each listing and ask us about anything that needs clarification.
