|
Be-Bi |
made |
B-BC Rich |
Bj-Bo
| Br-
updated
20/10/2009 |
|
Travis Bean
 |
1974 - 1979
|
Less than 4,000 Travis Bean metal
neck guitars were produced in Sun Valley, California between
1974 and 1979. [Source:
autohobby digest ]
Dating Travis Bean guitars by model and serial number
The Travis Bean
resource centre with Message Board
Other Travis Bean resources
Search at
http://www.vintageguitar.com
http://www.metalnecks.com/index.php/mID/038dd74d/fuseaction/guitars.manu.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Travis_Bean
Reviews
http://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews/Guitar/brand/Travis+Bean
Images eBay:
 |
|
O.C. Bear |
2001 to present |
Clint Bear, Indiana, USA |
|
Bear Creek |
1995 to present |
Custom
ukuleles and Hawaiian acoustic steel
guitars, styled after the guitars by Herman Weissenborn.
Made by Bill Hardin, Maui, Hawaii, USA. Bill previously
worked for OMI Dobro and Santa Cruz. |
|
Beard Guitars
 |
1985 to present |
Paul Beard builds round- and
square-necked resonator guitars.
http://www.folkofthewood.com/page1726.htm
http://www.12fret.com/new/beard_E_model_flamed_maple_pg.html |
|
Beardsell Guitars |
1996 to present |
Allan Beardsell, Toronto, Ontario,
Canada |
|
Beauregard Guitars |
|
Quebec, Canada
Forum
http://theguitarwall.com/forum/index.php?board=22.0 |
|
Ken Bebensee (KB)
 |
1984 to present |
North San Juan,
California, USA
Dating KB
Guitars
http://www.ducksdeluxe.com/bebensee.htm
http://www.kbguitars.com/aboutken.html
Reviews
http://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews/Guitar/brand/Ken+Bebensee |
|
Rich Beck |
|
Arizona, USA |
|
Beck Guitarworks |
|
Dwayne Becknell |
|
Pete Beer Guitars |
2005 to present |
"Professional
manufacture started in 2005.
My workshop is in The Forest of Dean, South West England.
The year of manufacture is printed on the label. There are also
two hand written numbers, for example *7/10*: where 7 would be
2007 and 10 would be the tenth guitar of that year. I also sign
and date the inside of the soundboard, on the treble side of the
neck extension."
[Source: Peter Beer, email 15/7/2008 ] |
|
Beeton
Brass Guitars |
1994 to present |
"I began making metal bodied
resonator instruments in 1994. 2.I make my guitars at a
home based workshop in Lake Macquarie.
You can find the serial number punched in to the top of the
headstock of my guitars. Each model of instrument that I make is
on a separate serial number line. To date my earlier instruments
you would need to contact me directly.
My more recent instruments are now also labeled inside the
guitar with completion date, model and serial number. [Source:
Greg Beeton, email 26/8/2008]
|
|
Ron
Belanger |
|
Forum
http://theguitarwall.com/forum/index.php?board=22.0 |
|
Jesus Bellido |
|
Jesus Bellido (b. 1966) started
his apprenticeship with his father Manuel in 1979 and set up own
shop in 1995. Joined his father's shop in 1999.
See Manuel Bellido |
|
Manuel Bellido |
1960 to present |
Manuel Bellido (b. 1939) has been
making guitars in Granad, Spain since 1960. Image courtesy of
Classic Guitar:
 |
|
Bellucci |
|
|
|
Bellus
Custom Guitars |
|
|
|
Belman
 |
1994 to
2007 |
Belman guitars were handmade
in Melbourne from 1996 to 2007 by Tony Bell, Melbourne Australia.
Sadly Belman guitars are no longer produced.
Belman
guitars profile including models and specifications.
Dating Belman
Guitars
"...for the
serial numbers, ours work like this. You may have an instrument
that has HPG0124. The H is the shape so in this example Hornet,
the P is for the model which in this case would be a "Plus" and
the G is the alphabet number 7 (being the 7th letter in the
alpha) for the 7th guitar built that particular month. Hope I
haven't lost you yet. The numbers are for the year and month, so
the outer 2 numbers are the year, in this case "04" and the
inner 2 numbers are the month 12 which of course is December. We
then went to a simpler numbering system last year, which is for
example 06506. The first 3 digits are the number of guitar for
that year being the 65th instrument, and the last 2 digits are
the year 06. Hope this helps" [source: Tino, Belman, email
29/1/2007]
Images courtesy of
East Gosford Music Albatros, Aussie Guitar Gear Heads Forum:
Reviews
http://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews/Guitar/brand/Belman |
|
Beltona |
|
Beltona Resonators,
Whangarei, New Zealand |
|
Beltone
 |
1920s-1930s |
The Beltone brand has been around
since the 1920s if not earlier. House Brand of Monroe Catalog
House [Source: Blue Book]
Beltone guitars were made by Regal in the thirties, they would
have square headstocks, or rounded ones like Dobros from that
era. Later models were made by Harmony and have a slight point
to the headstock like many low end Harmony guitars form the
fifties. The Regal models are either fake resonators, or pin
bridge models. A floating bridge example is probably a Harmony.
Harmony may have made fake resonators in the forties and
fifties. The headstock would be the clue. [Source:
Vintaxe ]
In the 1960s Beltone was a Teisco brand guitar sold in US
[Source:
Carvin Museum ]
http://harmony.demont.net/brands.php
Images eBay:
Apparently this Beltone headstock on left was made by Harmony in 1940s/50s.
Item below ? Regal made.
 |
|
Benavente |
1996 - present |
1996 was first year of manufacture [source: Benavente, email
28/1/2007]
http://www.ducksdeluxe.com/benavent.html
http://www.benaventeguitars.com/benavente.html
Reviews
http://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews/Guitar/brand/Benavente |
|
Benedetto
 |
1968 to present |
Benedetto archtops have a 4 or 5 digit serial number ..the last 2
digits in the # are the year in which the instrument was made ..
The digits in front of the last 2 are the instruments place in
production
http://www.palmguitars.nl/archives/arch-git.html
https://store.bluebookinc.com/Info/PDF/EGuitar/ElectricSerialization.pdf
http://vintageguitarpro.com/ben.shtml
Benedetto
pricelists and catalogs
2005 Benedetto
pricelist
2007 Benedetto catalog
Reviews
http://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews/Guitar/brand/Benedetto |
|
Benedict
 |
1988 to present |
Roger Benedict, began making guitars in Elizabethtown, NY in
1974, and moved to Minneapolis in 1981 to build guitars for a
local manufacturer. Roger was also a luthier instructor at Red
Wing (MN) Technical College. In early 1988, Roger designed and
built an electric guitar that featured a semi-hollow spruce body
and state-of-the-art electronics. Later that year, he built a
version for Jackson Browne, who named the guitar "the Groove
Master" in tribute to its unique sound and playability. Roger
and his wife Laurel formed the Benedict Guitar Company and began
marketing the Groove Master and other models. In 1990, Bill
Hager, became Roger's apprentice later that year. Roger passed
away in 1994 and the company has kept going with . Roger’s wife
Laurel and Bill agreed to continue the company. [Source:
Benedict
Guitars ]
Reviews
http://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews/Guitar/brand/Benedict |
|
Beneteau |
1975 to present |
"I started building guitars
full time in 1975 and have always been a one man shop. In that
time I've built over 700 guitars.
I work out of my home shop in St Thomas,
Ontario, Canada and have had sales worldwide.
My serial #, stamped on the neck block, is the date that I start
the guitar. e.g. 070408 is the 7th of April, 2008." [Source:
Marc Beneteau, email 7/4/2008]
http://www.guitargal.com/beneteau.html
Reviews
http://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews/Guitar/brand/Benetea |
|
Benito |
2001 to present |
In 2000 Lito Benito was head
luthier for Taylor guitars in USA. Benito Guitars, Chilean
company established 2001. [Source:
Modern Guitars]
Reviews
http://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews/Guitar/brand/L+Benito |
|
Benjamin Guitars |
1998 to present |
"I
started working professionally in 1997.
I work from a small workshop
in
Castle Ditch Lane,
Lewes,
East Sussex,
UK as a solo
luthier. All my guitars have a dated
label and I usually sign and date the inside of the soundboard
in pencil on the bass side of the sound-hole.
I only produce about 12 guitars a year and each is
numbered as well as dated with guitar #97 being completed at the
end of 2008. Each guitar is custom built to order so
specification varies considerably. I have detailed notes for
every guitar built if anyone requires authentication."
[Source: Nick Benjamin, email 2/9/2008 ] |
|
Greg Bennett
 |
|
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greg_Bennett_Guitars
see Samick
Images eBay:
 |
|
Bently
 |
1985-1998 |
Student instruments imported to US
by St Louis Music
Bently Guitar
Catalogs (paid)
http://www.vintaxe.com/catalogs_japanese_bently.htm
Reviews
http://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews/Guitar/brand/Bently
Images eBay:
 |
|
Bentrup
|
1998 to present |
Johan D Bentrup, Mandolins,
Mineapolis, USA
http://www.mandozine.com/resources/MBSS/builders.php |
|
Dennis
Berck |
|
Eugene, Oregon,
USA |
|
Berg
 |
2004 to present |
Tobias Berg, Germany
Image courtesy of:
Guitar Salon International
 |
|
Paul Berger |
1972 to present |
Paul Berger acoustic guitars,
originally Apopka, Florida then Nazareth, Pennsylvania. |
|
Bergeron |
2004 to present |
"Bergeron guitars came into
existence Nov. 9 2004. Virtually every piece of the Bergeron
guitars are manufactured here in Norman Oklahoma. All of our
guitars have been inscribed with a serial number, and most also
have a date of the first notes played. We are currently up to
serial number 8." [Source: Barry Bergeron, email 2/6/2008 ]
http://www.metalnecks.com/index.php/mID/d7fe1209/fuseaction/guitars.manu.htm
Photo courtesy Barry Bergeron
2008:
 |
|
Mattias
Berggren |
|
Archtops.
Berggren Guitars,
Sjösabrinken 26, 124 55
Bandhagen |
|
Berketa Guitars |
1978 to present |
Australian made
guitars by Ray Berketa.
"I started making guitars in 1978
and registered 1980.
The guitars are made in Canberra.
The serial numbers are on the back of the head stock,the first
two digits is the number of that guitar type and the last two
digits is the year of manufacture."
[Source: Ray Berketa,email 6/8/2008 ] |
|
Berkowitz Guitars |
1995-present |
David D. Berkowitz,
Washington, DC USA
|
|
Paulino Bernabe |
1969 to present |
Apprenticed from 1954 in the
Ramirez workshop in Madrid, Spain. In 1969 established own shop.
Paulino died 10 May 2007 and his son Paulino Jr now continues
the tradition.
http://www.zavaletas-guitarras.com/files/bernabe.htm
Tribute to
Paulino Bernabe from Classic Guitar International
http://www.guitarfoundation.org/drupal/paulino-bernabe-remembered
Image courtesy of:
Guitar Salon International
Reviews
http://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews/Acoustic+Guitar/brand/Bernabe
http://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews/Guitar/brand/Paulino+Bernabe |
|
Bernaert |
|
Daniel
Bernaert, Granada, Spain |
|
Valeriano Bernal |
1962 to present |
Valeriano Bernal
Biography
Image 2005 Bernal courtesy
Classic Guitar:
 |
|
Bernd
Martin |
|
see M for
Martin |
|
Philippe Berne |
|
France |
|
Mark Berry |
2002 to present |
Sonoma County, California USA |
|
Vincent
Berton |
early 80s |
"Vincent Berton was a French Avant
Garde luthier in the early 1980s. He was the protege of James
Trussart, who recognized his art was beyond anything that had
ever been done. He was completely brilliant, maybe too much for
sanity, as he would spend months building one a kind creations
and BUILD EVERY SINGLE DETAIL BY HAND, even into the tiniest of
details, he would build the knobs, the saddles, the control
plates all from solid blocks of BRASS!, He also built his own
revolutionary pickups hiding the secret of his custom design by
integrating them inside the body, he also built his own cases,
but even down to the smallest of details like the hinges and the
handle, also built by hand from solid brass !!!! insanity caught
up with this TRUE GENIUS, and unfortunately Vincent Berton,
after he built a reported 2 dozen instruments, all unique,
committed Suicide in the mid 1980s, cutting short the
recognition that was never to be during his lifetime. Now his
creations are scarce and very sought after, as his Skills and
Total Mastery of the Art of Luthier survive in the less than a
dozen surviving instruments worldwide." [Information and photos
of VLINE LYRE courtesy of Romain Bidaut of
Foxyguitars
24/7/2008]
See Vincent Berton
profile March 2009
     |
|
Bertoncini |
1995 to present |
Bertoncini
Stringed Instruments by Dave Bertoncini,
Olympia, Washington USA |
|
Betts |
|
http://www.archtop-germany.de/-Hersteller/-hersteller.html |
|
Paul
Beuscher |
|
Paul
Beuscher guitar catalog |
|
Guitares Beuzon |
|
Gérard Beuzon, France |
|
Beyond the Trees
 |
1975 to
present |
"I built my first guitar in 1975, though I built (and sold) a
variety of odd stringed instruments before then.
Q. How can someone tell the date of manufacture for your
guitars?
This would be virtually impossible for my instruments built in
the 1970s and early '80s. These had no labels, signing or
dating. The only way to verify that an instrument from this
period was in fact made by me, as well as the date I made it,
would be to contact me personally. In most instances I have
dated templates, or photographs of the early ones. At some point
in the 1980s I began putting in labels. The earliest labels were
woodcut prints, hand painted and lettered with a date, Fred
Carlson and/or Beyond The Trees, and probably our address for
that period, in Plainfield, Vermont.
At some point, and I didn't keep records of this so I don't know
when it started, I began signing my name (Frederick Carlson),
with the date at time of signing, on the inside/underside of the
top, usually in the upper bout area. This signing would occur
before the back was glued on, so at some point well before the
instrument was actually finished.
In the early 1990s I began a system of numbering, to simplify
future dating of instruments. This system consists of a letter
or letters denoting the model, or type of instrument, followed
by a number indicating how many of that type of instrument ( up
to and including that one at the time of
labeling) had been made (in other words, whether that instrument
was the 1st or the 21st) and a hyphen followed by a set of
numbers representing the sum total of guitar-like instruments I
had built up to and including that one, and a two digit number
indicating the year the label was made (which is usually, but
not always, the year the instrument was actually strung up).
Example: my Sympitar known as The Star Traveler was finished
(and labeled) in 2004, and was the 54th guitar-like instrument
I'd built. It was also the 10th Sympitar. The number appearing
on the label, therefore was S10-5404 (10th Sympitar, 54th
guitar, 2004). Also on the label would appear the instruments'
name, my name and/or Beyond the Trees, and our shop address at
the time, or simply Santa Cruz, California." [Source:
Fred Carlson, Beyond the Trees, email 22/3/3008]
Reviews
http://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews/Guitar/brand/Beyond+the+Trees |
|
Big Heart Slides |
|
Porcelain,
glass, aluminium, bronze slides and extended its business to
custom guitars built by
master luthier Larry Pogreba
[Source:
Goliath ] |
|
Bigsby, Paul |
1947-1965
? to present |
https://store.bluebookinc.com/Info/PDF/EGuitar/ElectricSerialization.pdf
Search at
http://www.vintageguitar.com
http://invention.smithsonian.org/centerpieces/guitars/noframes/cs03.html
http://www.retrofret.com/Press/Bigsby_SJ-200_8.htm
Paul Bigsby
reference books
The Story of Paul Bigsby - Limited Edition: The Father of the Modern Electric Solid Body Guitar - Special Collector's Edition
|
|
Bill Lewis |
|
See L for Lewis |
|
Biltmore
 |
|
A Harmony Brand
http://harmony.demont.net/brands.php
Biltmore Catalog
http://www.vintaxe.com/catalogs_american_biltmore_1937.htm
Images Biltmore
Ace Guitar
Chicago Music Exchange:
Biltmore
Classic Head eBay
|
|
John Birch
Guitars
 |
1970 to
present |
John Birch died in 2000 [Source
and photos Rare Guitars
UK]
John Birch Serial Numbers and
dating.
" The
original series from 1970 made at the Birmingham factory will
serial numbers either in the pickup or wiring cavity, sometimes
on the bridge unit.
The present series built in Nottingham. Additional brand Eaton
Guitars are a subsidiary of John Birch Guitars UK.
Originality is important to the value of older guitars, parts
missing especially pickups reduces the value."
Q. Do the serial numbers have meaning date of manufacture wise?
"Yes up to a point as the sales increased in the later years to
about 5000 numbers."
[Source: John Carling, email
23/3/2008]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Birch_(luthier)
John Birch catalog
http://vintage.catalogs.free.fr/Index.htm
Reviews
http://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews/Guitar/brand/John+Birch
 |
|
Birdsong |
2002-present |
Scott Beck and Jamie Hornbuckle, Wimberley, Texas.
Dating Birdsong Guitars:
http://www.birdsongguitars.com/faq.htm
Big page, In Explorer go Edit, Find,
"serial" and you will go
straight there
Nb. Built under the name Scott Guitars from 1994-2001 - only 16
in circulation. |
|
Bischoff Guitars
 |
1975 to present |
Gordy Bischoff, Eau Claire,
Wisconsin, USA
http://www.wisconsincommonmarket.com/bischoffguitars/ |
|
Bishline
Banjos |
2003 to present |
Robert Bishline graduated from the Roberto-Venn
luthiery school in 1984. Now making banjos. [Source:
Roberto-Venn
] |
|
next page |
|
B-BC Rich |
Bj-Bo
| Br- |
