 | |
| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Musical instrument |
| Founded | 1996 |
| Founder | KHS Musical Instruments |
Key people | Jonathan Lee (President) |
| Products | |
| Website | waldenguitars.com |
Walden Guitars is a guitar brand founded in 1996 by Jonathan Lee and KHS Musical Instruments and now owned by Jonathan Lee and Jaco Liao. Walden manufactures steel-string and classical guitars, and Baritone guitars. [1] [2] [3]
Walden Guitars were originally built in the small town of Lilan, nearby Langfang, China. Formed in 1996, Walden Guitars was a collaboration between CFox Guitars, Inc. luthiers Charles Fox and Jonathan Lee, [4] and Taiwan instrument manufacturer KHS Musical Instruments. [5] In 2019, Jonathan Lee, one of the original founders, and Jaco Liao, a long time member of the Walden Guitars team, obtained all rights to the Walden Guitars brand. [6]
Ibanez is a Japanese guitar brand owned by Hoshino Gakki. Based in Nagoya, Aichi, Japan, Hoshino Gakki were one of the first Japanese musical instrument companies to gain a significant foothold in import guitar sales in the United States and Europe, as well as the first brand of guitars to mass-produce the seven-string guitar and eight-string guitar. Ibanez manufactures effects, accessories, amps, and instruments in Japan, China, Indonesia, and the United States. As of 2017 they marketed nearly 165 models of bass guitar, 130 acoustic guitars, and more than 300 electric guitars. After Gibson and Fender, Ibanez is considered the third biggest guitar brand.
The ukulele, also called a uke, is a member of the lute family of instruments of Portuguese origin and popularized in Hawaii. It generally employs four nylon strings.
John Francis "Jaco" Pastorius III was an American jazz bassist, composer, and producer. He recorded albums as a solo artist and band leader and was a member of the jazz fusion group Weather Report from 1976 to 1981. He also collaborated with numerous artists, including Pat Metheny and Joni Mitchell.
William Sheehan is an American musician known for playing bass guitar with acts such as Talas, Steve Vai, David Lee Roth, Mr. Big, Niacin, and The Winery Dogs. He is also known for his "lead bass" playing style, including the use of chording, two-handed tapping, "three-finger picking" technique and controlled feedback. Sheehan has been voted "Best Rock Bass Player" five times in Guitar Player readers' polls.
The Fender Precision Bass is a model of electric bass guitar manufactured by Fender Musical Instruments Corporation. In its standard, post-1957 configuration, the Precision Bass is a solid body, four-stringed instrument usually equipped with a single split-coil humbucking pickup and a one-piece, 20-fret maple neck with rosewood or maple fingerboard.
The Fender Jazz Bass is the second model of electric bass created by Leo Fender. It is distinct from the Precision Bass in that its tone is brighter and richer in the midrange and treble with less emphasis on the fundamental frequency. The body shape is also different from the Precision Bass, in that the Precision Bass has a symmetrical lower bout on the body, designed after the Telecaster and Stratocaster lines of guitars, while the Jazz Bass has an offset lower bout, mimicking the design aesthetic of the Jaguar and Jazzmaster guitars.
Silvertone is a brand created and promoted by Sears for its line of consumer electronics and musical instruments from 1916 to 1972. The rights to the Silvertone brand were purchased by South Korean corporation Samick Music in 2001. Samick made new musical instruments under the Silvertone brand and relaunched some historic models. In 2020, RBI Music was appointed the exclusive worldwide distributor of the Silvertone brand.
A fretless bass is an electric bass guitar whose neck is smooth like traditional string instruments, and like the acoustic upright double bass. As a guitar-like amplified alternative to this large and cumbersome instrument, the Fender Precision Bass was introduced in 1951, with frets to help guitarists which are used to them, to provide precision, and to offer a different sound. This concept is since the standard, as other companies followed with similar electric fretted basses, like the Höfner 500/1 of Beatle Paul McCartney, which looked like a fretless violin yet had frets.
Stagg music is a Belgian musical instrument company headquartered in Brussels, currently a subsidiary of EMD Music. The company produce a wide range of musical instruments, which includes string instruments, percussion instruments, tuned metal, free reed and brass instruments as well as effects units and other accessories.
A multi-neck guitar is a guitar that has multiple fingerboard necks. They exist in both electric and acoustic versions. Although multi-neck guitars are quite common today, they are not a modern invention. Examples of multi-neck guitars and lutes go back at least to the Renaissance.
Theofilos Xenidis, better known as Phil X, is a Canadian musician, singer and songwriter. Since 2013, he has played lead guitar with Bon Jovi and officially replaced former lead guitarist Richie Sambora in 2016.
KHS Musical Instruments Co., Ltd was founded in Taiwan in 1930 as an educational products company, and gained success in the 1950s as a producer of musical instruments. In 2020, KHS is a full-scale musical instrument manufacturer of a complete line of wind instruments, percussion, fretted instrument, and stand products.
Vigier Guitars is a French musical instruments company based in Grigny, Essonne and founded by Patrice Vigier in 1980. In addition to manufacturing, the company is also active in the import and wholesale distribution of musical instruments, amplifiers and accessories through its division High Tech Distribution.
Elderly Instruments is a musical instrument retailer in Lansing, Michigan, United States, with a reputation as a "megastore", a repair shop and a locus for folk music including bluegrass and "twang". Specializing in fretted instruments, including acoustic and electric guitars, banjos, mandolins, and ukuleles, Elderly maintains a selection of odd or rare instruments. Elderly is known as a premier repair shop for fretted instruments, as one of the larger vintage instrument dealers in the United States, and as a major dealer of Martin guitars in particular.
A guitalele, also called a ukitar, or kīkū, is a guitar-ukulele hybrid, that is, "a 1/4 size" guitar, a cross between a classical guitar and a tenor or baritone ukulele. The guitalele combines the portability of a ukulele, due to its small size, with the six single strings and resultant chord possibilities of a classical guitar. It may include a built-in microphone that permits playing the guitalele either as an acoustic guitar or connected to an amplifier. The guitalele is variously marketed as a travel guitar or children's guitar. It is essentially a modern iteration of the Quint guitar.
The Guitarrón Chileno is a guitar-shaped plucked string instrument from Chile, with 25 or 24 (rarely) strings. Its primary contemporary use is as the instrumental accompaniment for the traditional Chilean genre of singing poetry known as Canto a lo Poeta, though a few virtuosi have also begun to develop the instrument's solo possibilities.
Taylor Guitars is an American guitar manufacturer based in El Cajon, California, and is one of the largest manufacturers of acoustic guitars in the United States. They specialize in acoustic guitars and semi-hollow electric guitars. The company was founded in 1974 by Bob Taylor and Kurt Listug.
Suhr Guitars is an American company that manufactures electric guitars and basses, guitar amplifiers, and effect units. The company is based in Lake Elsinore, California and was founded in 1997 by John Suhr, who "has a reputation for building exquisitely crafted guitars" and Steve Smith.
Gibson Brands Inc. is an American manufacturer of guitars, other musical instruments, and professional audio equipment from Kalamazoo, Michigan, and now based in Nashville, Tennessee. The company was formerly known as Gibson Guitar Corporation and renamed Gibson Brands Inc. on June 11, 2013.
The GuitarViol is a Modern Version of the Arpeggione built by guitarist/luthier Jonathan Eric Wilson. It has six strings, 24 frets, and is tuned E2–A2–D3–G3–B3–E4, though some models are tuned to B1–E2–A2–D3–F#3–B3. It is most often played in a semi-diagonal, guitar-like playing position and bowed with an underhand “German” bow grip manner similar to Viola da Gamba. GuitarViols exist in solid body electric, semi-acoustic, and acoustic configurations. Since the early 2000s, GuitarViols have been predominantly used by media composers in TV/Film/video game soundtrack industry. Notable examples of prominent GuitarViol use include movies such as 300 and all seasons of Game of Thrones. Wilson himself can be heard in Borderlands and his solo film library album “GuitarViol”.