Hi-Hor

made

info    updated 30/12/2011

T.D. Hibbs

2003 to present

T.D. Hibbs guitars, Cambridge, Ontario, Canada

High Desert, guitars and mandolins by Jason Chinchen. Jason started working with Breedlove in Canada. Now based in Bend, Oregon, USA

Highland Guitar Company

Bolton, Ontario Canada

Highland Strings

2005 to present

Maker of guitars and mandolins. Jason Harshbarger studied at Roberto-Venn, Arizona in 1997.

"I started making instruments under this name in 2005. I build them in Cincinnati, Ohio US The first four digits of the serial number are the month and year the label was placed in the instrument and the last three digits are the number manufacture starting with 001 and continuing. If i ever manage to build more than 999 in my lifetime that will become the second four digits in the serial number." [Source: Jason Harshbarger, email 27/8/2008]

1990 to present

"I finished my first guitar in 1990.

In the beginning I made 1 or 2 guitars in a year, but now I am making 6 guitars in a year." [Source: Jeroen Hilhorst, Concert guitar maker, email 2/4/2008]

Dennis Hill Guitars

1991 to present

Luthier Dennis Hill, Panama City, Florida, USA. Classical ,Flamenco, dulcimers, mandolins, violins.

Hill Custom guitars

Jon R Hill custom guitars. Cleveland, Ohio, USA

Myspace

Hill

1972 to present

Kenny Hill began building guitars in the mid 1970's, first in Santa Barbara, CA, then later in the Santa Cruz area. He took a hiatus from guitar building in the 1980s. In 1990 Mr. Hill returned to professional guitar building. Since 2002 guitars are being produced in China. [Source: Hill ] According to Vintage Guitar Price Guide, guitars also produced in Michoacan, Mexico.  According to the archive Master Series guitars were made in Mexico from late 1990s to 2004.

Budget line is branded New World Guitars.

Image courtesy of Guitar Salon International

Watch out for counterfeits: http://hillguitar.blogspot.com/2007/12/bogus-guitar-bogus-label.html

Reviews http://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews/Guitar/brand/Hill+Custom+Guitars

http://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews/Guitar/brand/Hill+Guitars

1986 to present

"I started in 1986.

Dating Stephen Hill guitars
All my guitars are dated on the label
I make in Granada Spain but worked for many years in Lewes, England" [Source: Stephen Hill, Spain, email 4/4/2008]

Hilo

"Hilo was an Oscar Schmidt brand name (along with Stella, Sovereign and La Scala). Hilo guitars were often sold by mail-order through the Schmidt-owned correspondence school: "The First Hawaiian Conservatory of Music"....Although a few were made with a conventional solid-neck, most Hilo guitars have hollow-neck design similar to that of the Weissenborn Hawaiian guitars. Several different Hilo models were made. but...

Although the Hilo Hawaiian guitar is purported to have been distributed by Oscar Schmidt, we have not been able to verify the actual manufacturer of these rather high quality Hawaiian guitars: [Source: Guitar Seminars]

Images eBay

Hinnenkamp Guitars

Brian Hinnenkamp,

Reviews http://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews/Guitar/brand/Hinnenkamp

Forum http://www.luthierforum.com/

Hippner

1994 to present

Darren Hippner, Point Roberts, WA, USA

Reviews http://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews/Guitar/brand/Darren+Hippner+Guitars

Image eBay

Hirade Classical

Mr. Mass Hirade joined Takamine in 1968, and made great improvements upon design and build quality. The factory began producing their world class "Classical" that to this day still carry the Hirade name. Through Hirade's dedication and commitment to Takamine, he was able to begin an overseas trading business in 1975.

Reviews http://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews/Guitar/brand/Takamine

see Takamine image eBay:

History

History guitars are an original brand for the Shimamura chain of shops in Japan. They are made at the FujiGen plant. [Source: Japan Vintage Guitars]

Japanese domestic market. [Soft.com]

Reviews http://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews/Guitar/brand/History

Image Yahoo:

Hobner

It appears that Hobner was an Indian brand - copy of Hofner.  This example from the 1960s was found on eBay. Apparently they are still made

Reviews

Hodges

2005 to present

"I began selling guitars in 2005 and they are made in my shop, which is a converted 2 1/2 car garage next to my home in Hilliard, Florida, U.S.A.

The first few guitars were hand signed and numbered on the backstrap down the inside back of the guitar.
 Beginning on #2005-18 I started using a label that has both the model name as well as the month and year of manufacture.  I start at #1 each year, so for instance right now I am on serial number 2008-31. This tells me it is the 31st guitar of 2008.
I don't know of any of my customers who would sell their guitar, but you never know if they may at some point. There are currently 58 of them in the hands of customers from all around the world." [Source: Ken Hodges, Hodges Handcrafted Guitars, Hilliard, Florida, USA, email 22/7/2008 ]

Hodges Guitars myspace

Forum http://theguitarwall.com/forum/index.php?board=22.0

Butch Hodgkins

Resonator guitar maker, Allardt, Tennessee, USA

DJ Hodson

1994-2007

David J Hodson, custom acoustic guitars built in Loughborough, Leicestershire, England.

Hodson 2001 pricelist

Hoffman

1971 to present

Charles A Hoffman, Minneapolis, MN, USA

Reviews  see http://www.graceworksmusic.com/Hoffman%20review.htm and at Harmony Central

Images ebay

Erik Pierre Hoffmann

Hofner

1953 -

The Höfner company was founded by luthier Karl Höfner in Schönbach, Germany in 1887. New factories were built in Bubenreuth in 1950.
In 1994, Höfner became part of the Boosey & Hawkes Group. In 1997, the company moved to Hagenau. After near-bankruptcy in 2003 Boosey & Hawkes sold its musical instrument division to The Music Group. In January 2005, it was sold again to Klaus Schöller, General Manager of Höfner for many years. In mid-2005, The Music Group stopped distributing Höfner in the USA, and the distribution was picked up by Chicago firm Classic Musical Instruments (CMI). [Source: Wikipedia ]
Hofner guitar dating

http://www.provide.net/~cfh/hofner.html

http://www.cooperweb.com/music/hofner/Dating.html

https://store.bluebookinc.com/Info/PDF/Eguitar/ElectricSerialization.pdf

Hofner reference books

The Hofner Guitar: A History

Hofner Violin Beatle Bass

History of the Hofner Guitar and Its Players (Essential Music Book)

Other Hofner resources

http://www.vintagehofner.co.uk/

http://www.hofnerheaven.com/

Hofner Verithin specialist site http://www.verithingeoff.110mb.com/

Interview http://vintageguitarpro.com/hofner.shtml

pictures http://jazzgitarren.k-server.org/hofner.html

http://www.hofners.co.uk/

http://wietsesguitars.nl/page24.html

http://www.musikkeller.com/d/hoefner.html

Hofner 173-II http://www.greenbuddha.de/guitars/index_b.php?mod=173II&lang=de

Hofner 177a http://www.greenbuddha.de/guitars/index_b.php?mod=177a&lang=de

Hofner 463 1961 http://www.vintagearchtop.com/61hofner.htm

Hofner guitar vintage catalogs

mid 60s http://www.stromgitarren.net/English/documents.htm#hoefner

1967 guitar and bass catalog http://www.vintageguitars.org.uk/catalogues.php

1968 http://www.excellentleads.com/oldhofner.html

http://vintage.catalogs.free.fr/Index.htm

Lots http://www.vintagehofner.co.uk/cont.html

2005-2007 http://www.hofner.com/

Hofner forum http://www.hofners.co.uk/

Reviews http://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews/Guitar/brand/Hofner

Hohner

Matthias Hohner, founded the company in 1857 to mass produce harmonicas. In 1893 the accordion was produced. In 1986 a US Division was created which included guitars (probably imported from Asia]  [Source: Active Musician ]

Dating Hohner Guitars

See HohnerUSA website - they invite direct contact

Professional Hohner German site

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hohner

Reviews http://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews/Guitar/brand/Hohner

Holiday

Holiday - formerly Alden was a catalog distributor [Source: Harmony Database]

http://harmony.demont.net/brands.php?id_brand=19

Holiday vintage guitar catalog 1965 http://harmony.demont.net/catalogs.php

Holiday guitar reviewshttp://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews/Guitar/brand/Holiday+Guitars

 http://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews/Guitar/brand/G+Holiday

see Harmony

Hollenbeck

?1970 to present

Bill Hollenbeck, Lincol, Illinois, USA

http://www.ducksdeluxe.com/hollenbk.html

http://members.cox.net/ruthster/hollenbeck/

Hollingworth Guitars

Graham Hollingworth, Mermaid Beach, Queensland, Australia

Holly

Holly is second brand of "Tomson [Source: Music Trade Japan]

Images Yahoo Japan:

http://www.fetishguitars.com/index/meazzi.html

http://harmony.demont.net/guitars/H39/120.htm

see Meazzi

Image Hollywood ukulele head eBay:

Holman Guitars

1965-1968

Holman Woodell guitar factory, Neodesha, Kansas. Founded by Howard Holman and Victor Woodell in 1965. Made instruments under the following brands:

Kustom, La Baye, Wurlitzer,Alray

Vintage Guitar magazine article Holman Guitars 1997

http://www.gearwire.com/wurlitzer-guitar.html

see Wurlitzer

Image Holman Woodell Alray Cougar ebay

Ondra Holoubek

Resophonic guitars made by Ondra Holoubek, Czech Republic

Holst Guitars

1984 to present

Reviews http://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews/Guitar/brand/Holst+Guitars

Holt Guitars

Thomas Holt Andreasen luthier

Hand made in Granada, Spain. Labels are dated and signed. [Source and image: Thomas Holt Andreasen, email 25/4/2010]

Holtier Guitars

1995 to present

"I started building classical guitars professionally in 1995. All my guitars are hand made and have the date, nr. and my signature on their label." [Source: Frederich Holtier, email 29/3/2008]

Image eBay:

Holzapfel & Beitel

The partnership of Holzapfel & Beitel only lasted from 1898 until 1905. Made in Baltimore, Maryland. [Source: Stella Guitars] Models included 12 strings

Honda

Vintaxe Honda catalog (paid)

Hondo

1969 to 1986

1991 to present 2005

Hondo was founded by Jerry Freed and Tommy Moore in 1969 with the aim to produce guitars in Korea. [Source: Michael Wright ] The Hondo brand was replaced by JB Player in 2005. [Source: wikipedia ]

Examples

http://www.wietsesguitars.nl/pagina9a.html

http://www.wietsesguitars.nl/pagina9.html

Reviews http://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews/Guitar/brand/Hondo

Hopf

1906 to present

Hopf classical, basses, mandolins and flutes. Electric guitars in 1950s to late 1970s, since focussed on classical.

http://jazzgitarren.k-server.org/hopf.html

http://www.fetishguitars.com/index/misc_de.html

http://www.musikkeller.com/d/hopf.html

Hopf Saturn 63 http://www.greenbuddha.de/guitars/index_b.php?mod=saturn63&lang=de

Hopf Jupiter 63 http://www.greenbuddha.de/guitars/index_b.php?mod=jupiter63&lang=de

http://www.blackguitars.com/gallery.htm

Reviews http://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews/Guitar/brand/Hopf

Image Hopf and Hopf Saturn 63 headstocks eBay:

Justin Hopkins

2005 to present

Makes a handful of guitars every year from a barn behind his home in Gladwynne, Pennsylvania, USA

Reviews http://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews/Guitar/brand/Justin+Hopkins

Horabe

Horabe guitars were Japanese made classical guitars. From discussion forums Horabe guitars were around late 1970s and 1980s at least.  Distributed out of Nashville.

Images Left from eBay unknown year. Right Gbase 1986 label

Horugel

The Hörügel (often mis-spelled as Horugel or Horügel) Company was located in Leipzig-Leutsch, in the eastern part of Germany (Saxonia). The company has been founded in 1872 or 1893 (sources vary) and went out of business in 1952.  [Source: Von der Schweineorgel zum Harmonium  ]

However it appears that Samick (established 1958) made pianos under the name Horugel name in the 1970s and 1980s.  [Source: pianos.ca ] Guitars under the Hourugel and Truxa were also made by Samick in the same period according to a number of forums.

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/charlottecooper/guitarsite/docs/Horugel.html

http://www.guitarsite.com/database/Guitars/rec/1067/wwwboard/messages/85.shtml

http://www.ramsband.com/andrea_pagina.htm

There is a Horugel brand banjo http://www.banjohangout.org/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=102079

Images courtesy of Gregor Koziczak, Poland

? Truxa