J-Jeg |Jen-

made

info    updated 29/1/2012

1995 to present

"I started making guitars in 1995. The date of manufacture is easy to determine on the instruments. All of the guitars are signed and dated on the underside of the soundboard. All of my instruments have access panels, so it is easy to access and read this information. They have no serial numbers." [Source: Chris Jenkins, email 20/3/2008]

http://www.guitarnation.com/jenkinsprofile.htm

Jennings

Jennings guitars.

Jennings guitars/amp advertisements

Jersey Girl Guitars

1991 to present

Kaz Goto and Akiko Oda. Made in Japan.

Jesselli

1976 to present

"The first instrument I made was in 1976.  It is painted green, with a  carved goldleaf carving around the edge.......yikes! ... that guitar now resides in Japan." [Source: Joseph, email 1/5/2009]

Joseph Jesselli apprenticed to James D'Aquisto.

Images eBay:

Jester

Factory operated in Holland between about 1981 and 1986 [Source: Used Price]

Images eBay:

Jester Guitars

2006 to present

"We have made guitars since 2006 under the Jester label, although the people involved have been making guitars most of their adult lives. Terry built his first electric guitar in 1961!

They are built in our unit in Lowestoft, Suffolk.
Dating Jester guitars
The guitars are Stamped on the neck plate, this identifies which guitar. we can then look at it's manufacture record. The date, and serial number are also under the heel of the neck, and in the neck socket where they join. Each is initialed or signed by the builder.

From these details, we can tell who built the guitar, who ordered and bought it originally, to what specification and colour.

should anyone not supply the numbers that correspond to the serial number we have registered, we know it is not genuine. The neck plate number is no use on it's own." [Source: Kathleen, Jester Guitars, email 16/6/2009]

Jet

Found this guitar on ebay.  Apparentky from the 1960s.

Jet Guitars

1998 to present

Jeffrey Earle Terwilliger started making around 12 making primitive ES-335's out of cardboard with rubber band strings. He then began taking tape heads out of old cassette recorders & putting them under used guitar strings screwed onto boards. the signal came out the recorder's little 2 inch speaker. COOL!  He made guitars as a hobby until 1998 when he began JET Guitars in earnest. [Source: The Gear Page]

Jet Guitars Forum http://theguitarwall.com/forum/index.php?PHPSESSID=210851aa7da167e9f3ec439cbd7d37a2&board=81.0

Reviews are at Harmony Central

Headstock image courtesy of JET 2008.

JG

Guitars made by Zerosette Goya, Italy

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

JG Guitars

1991 to present

Johan Gustavsson, Malmo, Sweden

Images ebay

JJ Guitars

Formerly JJ Hucke. UK based guitar manufacturer, producing hand made solid body electric guitars. The brand JJ Hucke appears in 1997 on Wayback Machine. Founded by British luthier Jens Jurgen Hucke

see DM guitars

JMG Instruments

1920-1959

JMG Instruments were made guitars in Perth, Western Australia from 1920-1959 [Source: Powerhouse Museum]

Image from 1940 guitar ebay:

John David Scott Guitars

1999 to present

John Harb, David Amirault and Scott Fraser formed John David Scott Guitars in 1999.  John and David formerly worked for Larivee.  [Source: Harmony Central]

"The guitars are made on Annacis Island Delta,  British Columbia (Canada).

The guitars have a cycling four digit #. The first two are 1-99 and the second is the year of manufacture.

For example 78-07 would be the 78th guitar I made in 2007 I am in the 100's now.
The serial # is Stamped on the block where the neck joins the body." [Source: David Amirault, email 4/10/2008]

Reviews are at Harmony Central

See R for Ray

Johnson

current

Johnson Guitars USA. An amazing array of body types inlcuding the classic AK47. Image Johnson:

A Harmony Brand

http://harmony.demont.net/brands.php

Johnson Musical Instruments

1993 to present

Established 1993. Johnson Musical Instruments - guitars (electric, folk), amplifiers, effects. Johnson is a Division of Musiclink, Brisbane, California, USA

Tom A Johnson

Northumberland, England

Jolana

http://www.cheesyguitars.com/jolana_sn.html

http://meatexz.com/cheesyguitars/guitars_jolana.html

Tornado http://www.galepp.com/gitarre/gitarre-e.htm

http://www.galepp.com/gitarre/gitarre-e.htm

http://www.jolana.info/

Forum Cheesy Guitars

http://home.tiscali.cz:8080/cz376062/seznam.html

Reviews are at Harmony Central

Edward B Jones

1979 to present

Started making guitars with David J Rubio in 1973 and set up won shop in 1979.

Image courtesy of Classic Guitar

Jerry Jones

1980s to present

Jerry Jones has been making guitars in Nashville since the early 1980s. [Source: Illustrated Directory of Guitars By Ray Bonds ]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Jones_Guitars

Dating Jerry Jones Guitars by serial number

http://www.jerryjonesguitars.com/faqs.htm#Where%20do%20I%20find%20my%20serial%20number

Reviews are at Harmony Central

Jones Kendall

Jones Kendall produce quality handmade acoustic guitars and stringed folk instruments in the North of England

TV Jones

1993 to present

Luthier Thomas Vincent Jones in Poubsbo, Washington, USA. Also builds pick ups.

Joodee

Joodee catalogs (fee required sorry)
http://www.vintaxe.com/catalogs_japanese_joodee.htm

Reviews are at Harmony Central

1979 to present

"The first guitar I made that still exists is from 1979. Acoustic guitars have paper labels that are dated and signed. Early electric guitars are brand stamped "HANDCRAFTED BY JOHN JORDAN" usually in a pickup cavity or tremolo cavity and dated. Later electrics sometimes (but not always) have "Jordan" or "Jordan Custom Guitars" logos on the headstock as black or gold decals embedded in the finish or as pearl Jordan logos (for fancier models) like the archtop on my website. There are no "standard"models as every guitar I've ever made was built to order often with unique designs for each customer.

I've always resisted serial numbers as I make many kinds of instruments, but my total output is over 400 instruments perhaps 1/4 of which are guitars and basses (I make more electric violins than anything else).

My website promotes mainly my electric violins, but there are a few guitars on there at this link. http://www.jordanmusic.com/custom.htm

There is another company under the name Jordan that made solid state amps and effect pedals and operated out of Pasadena, CA in the 1960s and 1970s that ceased business before I began. I have no connection to this company but I do own one of their wah pedals and every once in a while I get a call or email asking about their products. I hear their products show up on ebay occasionally which is why I get emails about them, so they must have made a fair amount of gear." [Source:  John C. Jordan, email 26/3/2008]

Jorgensen

Jorgensen archtop guitar - made in 1950s Dusseldorf Germany. found on ebay.

Jorstad

2006

Jorstad was founded in the San Francisco Bay area, California USA to make aluminium guitars.  When I came across this brand Feb 2010 the web site was not available and Googel cache was incomplete.

Information and images Waybackmachine.

Jorstad home page

About Jorstad

Jorstad FAQ

Joshia de Jonge Guitars

1992 to present

"I started making guitars in 1992. The year of manufacture can be found on the label and the date the top was glued on can be found on the underside of the top on the treble side next to the sound-hole." [Source: Joshia de Jonge, email 24/3/2008]

2006-

Luthier based in Ottowa, Ontario, Canada. As at November 2011 had been building guitars for 5 years. Completed a course with Sergei De Jonge on acoustic guitar construction and graduated Algonquin colleges Heritage Carpentry 2009. [Source: Ben van Dyk, Canada and Kijiji]

Juan Cortes

Juan Cortez

Juan Cortes sometimes written as Cortez is just a trade name under which some music stores sold this guitars. [Source and image:  Bruunari]

Label from circa 1975 Juan Cortes Madrid Spain classical guitar.

Juan de La Mancha

Image eBay

Jaime Julia

Jaime Julia is the head luthier and one of the founding partners of Alhambra, S.L. [Source and more info Zavaletas]

Image Kent Guitar Classics

Jumbo

Jumbo Musical Instruments - guitars made in Japan ? 1970s

Jumbo guitar catalog http://www.t-shiga.com/sub7-5-1-5.htm

JustIn

Thanks to Karsten I am informed that JustIn is the brand of a German music store

JVC

Victor Company of Japan or JVC is a Japanese international consumer and professional electronics corporation based in Yokohama, Japan which was founded in 1927. The company is best known for introducing Japan's first televisions, and developing the VHS video. [Source: Wikipedia]

Drowning in guitars article on JVC and Victor guitars

Images JVC Nivico Balladeer guitar ebay 2011

Image JVC Nivico record cover with JVC guitar from above article from Radiodiffusion

JVG

JVG gutiars Direct from the Aska factory in Japan , Home of Bacchus and Momose and other top Japanese brands. [Source: Japan Vintage Guitars]

JXG

Current at 2010

John X Gill a luthier with over 15 years experience makes custom guitars in his workshop in the Ouseburn Valley, Newcastle upon Tyne.

"I've been making guitars under the JXG brand since approx. 1997, my current workshop is in Ouseburn, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. I've used a couple of different dating systems - early stuff (1997-2000) has 'JXG' and the completion year stamped into the control cavity or on the body end of the neck. Post 2001 I started using the last two digits of the year, followed by how many guitars I'd made that year - for instance 0101 would be the first guitar I made in 1999. With the exception of a couple of 'replica' Fender style guitars that have 'JXG' stamped on the end of the neck and body (Fender decals on the headstock), the instruments I make are custom designed one-offs, made to customer specs - I don't really have models. Headstock shapes vary quite a bit depending on the guitar, but my logo has remained essentially the same. If an instrument is bound I always use double layer binding, which is pretty distinctive. I also tend to bind scratchplates and truss rod covers, and I almost always use wooden control plates.
My myspace page is more up to date than my website regarding completed guitars and works in progress www.myspace.com/jxgguitars [Source: Jon X Gill, email 30/5/2010]

Images below - old headstock, old date mark, new date mark.