 | This article needs additional citations for verification .(November 2024) |
Memphis Guitars were guitars produced during the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s. They made an inexpensive copy of the Gibson Les Paul; the copy was the first electric guitar owned by Slash as a teenager. [1] The company ceased trading in the United States in 1989. [2]
"Memphis"-branded guitars and signal processors were affordable music gear imported from Asia and distributed in the United States by C. Bruno and Sons from the mid '70's until the mid '90's. The product line included Fender- and Gibson-styled instruments. Some of their instruments were equipped with copies of Bill Lawrence rail humbucker pickups.
Internet users indicate that in the early years, Memphis was a house brand manufactured by Matsumoku Industrial of Nagoya, Japan. There is some consensus in the online guitar community, based upon the strong similarities between certain Memphis models and other guitars that are known to have been made by Matsumoku Industrial, that early Memphis guitars were manufactured by Matsumoku Industrial. Production of Memphis guitars was later shifted to Korea, followed by Indonesia.
The Memphis name also appears on various guitar-effects pedals, including delays, reverbs, overdrives, and the Memphis Fuzz. One pedal is the Memphis phase shifter, named "Roto Phase". It is a stompbox featuring single monophonic input and output jacks, and a single knob that controls the speed of the rotating-speaker effect.
An effects unit, effects processor, or effects pedal is an electronic device that alters the sound of a musical instrument or other audio source through audio signal processing.
The Gibson Les Paul is a solid body electric guitar that was first sold by the Gibson Guitar Corporation in 1952. The guitar was designed by factory manager John Huis and his team with input from and endorsement by guitarist Les Paul. Its typical design features a solid mahogany body with a carved maple top and a single cutaway, a mahogany set-in neck with a rosewood fretboard, two pickups with independent volume and tone controls, and a stoptail bridge, although variants exist.
Epiphone is an American musical instrument brand that traces its roots to a musical instrument manufacturing business founded in 1873 by Anastasios Stathopoulos in İzmir, Ottoman Empire, and moved to New York City in 1908. After taking over his father's business, Epaminondas Stathopoulos named the company "Epiphone" as a combination of his own nickname "Epi" and the suffix "-phone" in 1928, the same year it began making guitars. From the 1930s through to the early 1950s, Epiphone produced a range of both acoustic and (later) electrified archtop guitars that rivalled those produced by Gibson and were the instruments of choice of many professionals; a smaller range of flat-top guitars were also produced, some designations of which were later continued during the Gibson-owned era for the company.
Gretsch is an American company that manufactures and markets musical instruments. The company was founded in 1883 in Brooklyn, New York by Friedrich Gretsch, a 27-year-old German immigrant, shortly after his arrival to the United States. Friedrich Gretsch manufactured banjos, tambourines, and drums until his death in 1895. In 1916, his son, Fred Gretsch Sr. moved operations to a larger facility where Gretsch went on to become a prominent manufacturer of American musical instruments. Through the years, Gretsch has manufactured a wide range of instruments, though they currently focus on electric, acoustic and resonator guitars, basses, ukuleles, and drums.
Univox was a musical instrument brand of Unicord from the early 1960s, when they purchased the Amplifier Corporation of America of Westbury, New York, and began to market a line of guitar amplifiers. Univox also distributed guitars by Matsumoku, effects units by Shin-Ei Companion, and synthesizers by Crumar and Korg.
Steinberger is a series of distinctive electric guitars and bass guitars, designed and originally manufactured by Ned Steinberger. The name "Steinberger" can be used to refer to either the instruments themselves or the company that originally produced them. Although the name has been applied to a variety of instruments, it is primarily associated with a minimalist "headless" design of electric basses and guitars.
Kramer Guitars is an American manufacturer of electric guitars and basses. Kramer produced aluminum-necked electric guitars and basses in the 1970s and wooden-necked guitars catering to hard rock and heavy metal musicians in the 1980s; Kramer is currently a division of Gibson Guitar Corporation.
Orville by Gibson (オービルbyギブソン) or Orville (オービル) was a brand of guitars that was managed by the Gibson Guitar Corporation for the Japanese market during the late 1980s and most of the 1990s. The name is borrowed from Orville Gibson, who founded Gibson in 1902.
Matsumoku Industrial was a Japanese manufacturing company based in Matsumoto, Nagano, between 1951 and 1987. Established in 1951 as a woodworking and cabinetry firm, Matsumoku is remembered as a manufacturer of guitars and bass guitars, including some Epiphone and Aria guitars.
Greco is a Japanese guitar brand owned by the Kanda Shokai Corporation (in Japanese) 神田商会, a musical instrument wholesaler mostly known for being part of Fender Japan. Instruments manufactured with the name "Greco" are electric and acoustic guitars.
Burny is a brand of electric guitars produced by Fernandes Guitars. Initially used on their range of Gibson replica guitars, the Burny brand was also used as a name on some of their 1970s Stratocaster copies and later used as a brand line for original designs.
Aria Guitars Co. is a Japanese manufacturer of musical instruments. The company, sited in the city of Nagoya, produces electric, acoustic and classical guitars, electric basses and ukuleles through its brands Laule'A, Mojo Gig Bags, Fiesta, José Antonio, Pignose and Kelii.
Westone is a brand of musical instruments that has been used by various manufacturers of electric and acoustic guitars and basses. The name gained wide recognition in the mid-1970s when Matsumoku in Japan and St. Louis Music in Korea began marketing guitars under the brand. After production by Matsumoku ceased in 1987, the brand continued to be distributed by St. Louis Music in the United States and FCN Music for the UK and European markets, with guitars built in South Korea by Samick.
The Epiphone Texan is an acoustic flattop guitar of the (advanced) Jumbo type. Recent models have an integrated light-weight internal electric pickup fitted; the original model was acoustic only.
Lotus was a house brand belonging to Midco International of Illinois. The brand was applied to guitars, basses, banjos, and mandolins made in various Asian factories from the late 1970s until the early 2000s. Lotus guitars were usually copies of better-known, up-market brand-name guitars, such as the Gibson Les Paul and the Fender Stratocaster.
Lyle guitars were made in Japan between 1960 and the late 1970s in the Matsumoku guitar factory, which also produced Univox, Arai, Aria and other guitar brands. Some Lyle guitars were made in Korea, including the C-600 classical model.
An archtop electric guitar manufactured by Matsumoku and sold 1970 to 1974 or '75 in the United States under the Epiphone brand. Matsumoku also manufactured the nearly identical Univox Coily guitar and several related guitars sold under the Univox brand.
Gibson, Inc. is an American manufacturer of guitars, other musical instruments, and professional audio equipment from Kalamazoo, Michigan, and now based in Nashville, Tennessee.
Vintage musical equipment is older music gear, including instruments, amplifiers and speakers, sound recording equipment and effects pedals, sought after, maintained and used by record producers, audio engineers and musicians who are interested in historical music genres. While any piece of equipment of sufficient age can be considered vintage, the term is typically applied to instruments and gear from the 1970s and earlier. Guitars, amps, pedals, electric keyboards, sound recording equipment from the 1950s to 1970s are particularly sought after, while musical equipment from the 1940s and earlier is generally far more expensive and sought out mainly by museums or collectors to preserve historical equipment, rather than to perform with.
Kent was a 1960s/1970s guitar brand.