Mas-MD 

made

Masetti

Modena, Italy

http://www.fetishguitars.com/

Masada

1970s

From Guitarsite Masada guitars are copies of USA classic electric and acoustic guitars including Telecaster, Gibson Hummingbird etc.in the early 1970s.

Images of Masada headstock from Les Paul copy eBay:

Ikko Masada

current

Acoustic guitars from Japan.

"I'm an individual guitar maker in Japan , Ikko Masada Guitars.
Ikko Masada Guitars are made in Kanagawa , Japan.
I started building of handcrafted acoustic guitars and ukuleles in 2008 to present.
By the way , Ikko Masada Guitars is not related to Masada guitars- from the 1970's ." [Source: Ikko Masada, email 30/3/2009]

Pavel Maslowiec

Pavel Maslowiec Custom Guitars. Pavel is originally from Krakow Poland and came to the U.S. in 2000.

Mason

Image from 1960s ?Teisco del Ray 335 style guitar from ebay.  Made in Japan

Mason Bernard

1990-1992

Strat style guitars made by Bernie Rico, founder of BC Rich. [Source: Wikipedia]

Handmade in the USA.

Reviews are at Harmony Central

Image Mason Bernard guitar ebay

A Harmony Brand

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

Master Guitars

1985 to present

George Gorodnitski, Luthier

"Master" Guitar was founded in 1985. Location - Los Angeles, CA, USA.

Dating Master guitars

The date of manufacturing - month and year located on the label, together with serial number." [Source and images courtesy of: George, Master Guitars]

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

Matao

1967-1983

Matao Guitars were made in Japan and Korea Matao by the Hoshino factory. The  guitars were copies of Martin, Gibson and Fender instruments.
Matao were made from 1967–1983, production stopping after a lawsuit.
Matao also made bass guitars, ukeleles and banjos.
The Matao brand was sold through the Music West stores in Washington and Oregon. [Source: and headstock image courtesy of guitar2thestars]

Mastertone

1920s to 1940s

Mastertone brand introduced by Gibson in 1920s for high end (not budget) banjos ad guitars. 1941 used as budget brand for electrics. [Source: Gruhn's Guide To Vintage Guitars Updated ]

Image 1930s Gibson made Mastertone Special guitar from eBay France:

Matador

Matador guitar ? 1960s  images ebay:

Matheas Guitars

1994 to present

Jim Matheas, Melbourne, Australia

Matlin guitars

1978-

Matlin Guitars, by David Matlin Mendocino, California, USA since 1978: Custom acoustic and electric guitars, and fine repair work on fretted instruments.

See at Wayback machine

Maton

1946 to present

During the early 1940's, Bill May established a custom guitar manufacturing and repair business known as "Maton Stringed Instruments and Repairs".  This enterprise was successful and Bill was joined by his his older  brother, Reg, a wood machinist, to join him as a full time guitar maker.  In March 1946 the "Maton Musical Instruments Company" was born.  [Source: Maton ]

Dating Maton Guitar

"re electrics. ..the ‘Serial Number’ for the electric guitars can be found on the back of the headstock, can be difficult to see as the guitar gets older.  The first four numbers of a not too old electric represent the date of manufacture, the following numbers are where that guitar sits in the series." [source: De'arne, Maton, email 30/1/2007]

Acoustic http://www.ducksdeluxe.com/matongtr.html

Maton pricelists and product guides

2000 Maton pricelist

2001 Maton specs

2003-4 Maton Product Guide

2006 Maton Product Guide

Maton Electric Guitar catalog ? 2009

Maton Acoustic guitar catalog ? 2009

Reviews are at Harmony Central

Images courtesy of Albatros, Aussie Guitar Gear Heads

Images courtesy of Rak, Aussie Guitar Gear Heads

Petr Matousek

current

Guitars from the Czech Republic

Image: Matousek

Michihiro Matsuda

Oakland , California, USA

Matsumoku

1950s – 1987

Matsumoku began in Matsumoto, Japan, as a family owned woodworking business. After WWII, the Singer Corporation set up Singer Sewing Machine production in Nagoya and contracted Matsumoku to build cabinets. In 1951 Matsumoku became a partially owned subsidiary of Singer, Japan.
By the mid 1950s, Matsumoku ventured in guitar and violin production and set out to distinguished itself by producing high quality acoustic and electric archtop guitars. The Matsumoku name began appearing on neck bolt plates, headstocks, and sound hole labels in the late 70s.
Matsumoku produced guitars, or parts of guitars for the following brands
Guyatone, Greco, Yamaha, Aria, Univox, Westbury, Electra, Westone, Skylark, Vantage, Westminster, Cutler, Lyle, Fell, Washburn, Westone [Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matsumoku ]

Some sites suggest Matsumoku was burnt down in the 80s.  According to Shiro Arai, however, Singer’s depression brought about the plant closure in 1987.   [Source:  Paul Alcantara, Guitar Buyer, November 2006 ]

The best starting place for people interested in Matsumoku guitars is
http://www.matsumoku.org/guitars.html   This site includes the Matsumoku forum

Dating Matsumoku guitars
http://www.matsumoku.org/models/serial_no.html

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

Reviews are at Harmony Central

see Aria Pro II, Vantage, Washburn, Westone

Matsuda Guitars

"I started to making guitars around 1997.

Dating Matsuda guitars

Each guitar I make has label inside body. And there is date, number on label. (very early guitars may not have number on label." [Source: Michihiro Matsuda, email, 25/3/2008]

http://www.guitarnation.com/matsudasteel1.htm

Matsumura

Matsumura M, classical gutiars from Osaka, Japan - at least in the 1970s

Matsuoka

? Matzuoka

Ryoji Matsuoka has been making guitars in Japan since late 1960s see: http://www.delcamp.net/forum/en/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=3482&hilit=matsuoka

http://www.univox.org/guitars/matsuoka.html

http://orozcoguitars.blogspot.com/

Images  ebay (1972) and Guitar Salon:

T Matsuoka

T.Matsuoka seems a son of Ryoji Matsuoka [Source: Delcamp]

Image Guitar Salon Korea

Mattei

Bruno Mattei, Spezia Italy early 20th century.

Label (1911) courtesy of Harpguitars:

Mattschoss

current

Luthier Ivan R Mattschoss, custom guitars, South Australia

Mauel Guitars

1995 to present

Luthier Hank Mauel, Auburn, California, USA

Dating Mauel guitars

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

Reviews are at Harmony Central

Maurer

1897-1944

Robert Maurer built instruments under his own name and Champion brand in Chicago. Sold the shop to Larson Brothers in 1900.

Image Larson Brothers

Image from 1930 Maurer.  This guitar has August Larson's initials on the soundboard, flanking the stamp date of August 26th 1930.

Mavis

Mavis guitars - made in Korea by Ishibashi.

Images Yahoo:

clones http://www.star69music.com/

Maxine

Maxine brand - made in Beijing, China

Image eBay:

Maxitone

1960s

Maxitone guitars, made in Japan.

According to posts at Vintaxe and elsewhere "Maxitone" is a house brand of the New York importer "Bruno" like the Ventura brand...

The following quote is from Angelfire:

"My personal observation and experience tell me that Ventura guitars were sometimes feature by feature the same as the 60's to 70's Aria, Univox, Conrad, and many other "house brand" guitars that were reputedly made in the Japanese Aria and Matsumoku factories. They often share identical hardware and design, with the biggest difference being the name on the headstock.

I surmise that most, if not all, Ventura models were manufactured by the Aria / Matsumoku factories, who were also responsible for making other imported guitars such as: Aria, Aria Pro II, Diamond, Maxitone, Univox, Lyle, Conrad, Electra, Epiphone-Japan, Westone, Westbury, and many others."

Note this assumption that Ventura were made by Aria/Matsumoku may be incorrect and as a guitar labelled Maxitone at Vintaxe is identical to an Ibanez it is likely they were made in the same factory as Ibanez brand at the time ? Fufigen - or Aria [Source: Big Red Toybox ]

I received the following from Nate DeMont of DeMont Guitars Chicago who emailed me 20/1/2010 "I wanted to confirm your suspicions on the Maxitone brand -- many were made by Hoshino/Tama: the true Ibanez guitars" with this picture of a Maxitone labelled Ibanez 5901 Bass Guitar:

Note, however, the logo differences below - the white background is from a 335 style semi hollow body guitar.  Could there be two Maxitone brands?

Images eBay:

Maxtone

current

Maxtone is one of the largest musical instruments supplier based in Taiwan. They have several production plants in Taiwan. [Source: Renner Piano ]

Reviews are at Harmony Central

Maxxas

http://www.ibanezregister.com/history/history-maxxas.htm

Reviews are at Harmony Central

"Maya" was a brand named used by a Japanese Trading Company from Kobe called Rokkoman. [Source: EZ Folk ]

Maya guitars were marketed in the UK by Stentor [Source: Guitar site]

They were made in Kobe Japan by the Maya Guitar Co... Theplant where they were manufactured was destroyed in the 1990s by an earthquake. They made high quality knock offs of Gibson and Fender Guitars. [Source: Derkeiler]

They built medium quality guitars . There was an affiliate company El Maya whose Fender copies were better made than Maya and equal to what Fender was producing. [Source: Derkeiler]

Acoustic guitars with the brand are also around.

Maya guitar catalogs

http://www.vintaxe.com/catalogs_japanese_maya.htm
Reviews are at Harmony Centra

l

May Bell

May Bell was a brand of the Slingerland Company.  Guitars were made by Harmony and Regal [Source: Bluesbox Collection ]

http://www.tbcnet.com/~slingerland/maybells.htm

http://www.slingerlandguitar.com/

Image courtesy of Lowell Levinger , Players Vintage Instruments

Reviews are at Harmony Central

images eBay:

1923 May Bell guitar

see Slingerland

Mayes

John Mayes, Norman, Oklahoma, USA

Reviews are at Harmony Central

Image ebay:

Mayfair

1960s

Mayfair guitars, made in Japan, 1960s

http://en.allexperts.com/q/Guitar-General-649/Mayfair-guitar.htm

http://www.vintaxe.com/catalogs_japanese_mayfair.htm

http://en.allexperts.com/q/Guitar-General-649/MAYFAIR-DELUXE.htm

Images eBay:

Mayflower

First mentioned as a brand in 1899 - quite a story [Source: Harp Guitars]

Chicago

Image Harp Guitars:

Mayones

1982 to present

Handmade guitars from Poland.

Images eBay:

MB Guitars

Guitars originally designed and made by Christian Müller and Roland Bauer.

1996 to present

Reviews are at Harmony Central

Michael McBroom

2004 to present

Houston, Texas

Forum http://www.luthierforum.com/

McCollum Guitars

Pre 2001 logo

2001 to present

1997 to present

Lance McCollum was a house builder before making his first guitar from a Martin kit. Made in Colfax, California, USA

Dating McCollum Guitars

Use mirror to check inside top of guitar for date of manufacture.

 Label Cotten Music

McCollum Guitar Pricelists

2001 McCollum pricelist

2005 McCollum pricelist

2007 McCollum pricelist

Reviews are at Harmony Central

McCormick Guitars

1968 to present

In 1965 Mac McCormick apprenticed with Leo Erickson, a notable violin builder and repairman of all string instruments, in Omaha, Neb. Since then he has had workshops in Ralston, Nebraska, San Jose, California,  Lubbock, Texas and is currently based in Columbus, Georgia since 1987. [Source: McCormick web]. There are likely to be les than 400 of these instruments on the planet.

Image courtesy of Doug Heard, 2008

McCurdy Guitars

1983 to present

"I began building in 1983 in Santa Barbara, California. I moved to Manhattan in 1991.

Dating McCurdy guitars

At first, the numbers were impressed on the head block, like Martin Guitars or inside the wiring compartments on a business card. Now I put them on a paper label inside the sound hole.

The code marks when I assembled, not lacquered, the guitar the sequence goes Month/Year/Number" [Source: Ric McCurdy, email 21/3/2008]

Image left from 1984 guitar eBay

Robbie McDade

see RIM Custom Basses

Graham McDonald

Bouzoukis and mandolins, Australian Capital Territory

S.B. McDonald

1990 to present

S.B. McDonald Custom instruments. Scott B McDonald, custom guitars, Huntington, New York. SBM on headstock.

"I started my business in 1990.  They are made in my shop in Huntington Long Island,  NY.

Dating SB MacDonald guitars

I hand sign the back of the headstocks with my initials (SBM)  and a  date, and on my acoustics, I sign and date them inside as well.  Since  they are all custom made, each is different, right down to the headstock design." [Source and images Scott McDonald, email 24/11/2008]

McElroy

Brent McElroy, Seattle, Washington, USA

Reviews are at Harmony Central

Images courtesy of Brent McElroy

McGill Guitars

Paul McGill is based in Nashville. Worked for Gruhn from 1985 then set up his own shop. [Source: Guitar Nation ]

Other resources

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

Review http://www.guitarnation.com/mcgillmksreview.htm

Images courtesy of Classic Guitar:

Ed McGlincy

1970s-80s

Ed McGlincy , Toms River New Jersey USA

Images Ed McGlincy guitar signed by Gordon Lightfoot ebay Feb 2012

MCI

1967-1988

MusiConics International, Waco Texas, famous for the guitorgan - modified Gibson or Univox archtops. Check out the insides.

http://musicthing.blogspot.com/2006/05/ebay-of-day-musiconics-guitorgan.html

Reviews are at Harmony Central

Image Gear Page:

This brand seems to have been around from at least 1982 to 1988 based on examples of the guitars around.

Reviews are at Harmony Central

MCI Intertek guitars used Saxon pickups [Source: May Music Studios]

McIlroy

2000 to present

McIlroy Guitars started on 6th March 2000 but I had been building since 1990 and I had been a carpenter since 1979.
They are made in a 1300 sq ft factory workshop in Antrim town, county Antrim, N.Ireland.

Dating McIlroy guitars
All our guitars have a number stamped on the neck-block and all guitars are supplied with a birth certificate showing the date they were completed and all the woods used in their manufacture. Anyone who does not have a certificate can contact me at dermot<AT>mcilroyguitars.co.uk.  [Source: Dermot McIlroy, email 23/7/2008]

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/dermotmcilroy/

Image courtesy of didymus21:

Reviews http://homepage.ntlworld.com/dermotmcilroy/

McInturff

1977 to present

Terry C McInturff attended the Roberto-Venn School Of Luthierie and has been a fulltime luthier since 1977. [Source: The Gear Page]

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

http://www.destroyallguitars.com/pages/mcinturff.html

Reviews are at Harmony Central

McInturff forum http://www.thetcmforum.org/index.htm

Image Ben vam Dyk, Canada

McKerrihan Archtops

Glemm McKerrihan made archtop guitars in the USA

Dating McKerrihan archtops

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

McKerrihan Guitar owners Myspace

Reviews are at Harmony Central

Images Guitar Broker

McKinney Guitars

McKinney Guitars logo appeared on Lap Steels in the 1940s.  Also mention of McKinney amps as well.

Image of McKinney logo from Elderly

McKnight

1992 to present

"I began building in 1992.

Dating KcNight guitars

Each guitar has a serial number which is coded and printed on the label which is glued on the inside of the back, visible from the sound hole. If someone wants to know the date of mfg then just send me the number and I will tell them.

Each guitar is made by me in Morral, OH, USA." [Source: Tim McNight, email 17/9/2008 ]

McNight Guitars at myspace

McNaught

1989 to present

Solid body guitars built by David Thomas McNaught and finished by Dave Mansel in Locust, North Carolina, USA. 1997 DTM line introduced. [Source: Vintage Guitar Magazine Price Guide ]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Set-through_neck

Reviews are at Harmony Central

McNaught forum http://www.clubmcnaught.com/

Images eBay:

Alastair McNeil

Alastair McNeil (b.1946) Wiltshire, UK

Biography

McPherson Guitars

1981 to present

McPherson guitar made in Sparta, Wisconsin USA, offset soundhole.

McPherson guitars at myspace

McPherson guitar catalog

McPherson pricelist  ? 2009

McSwain Guitars

1992 to present

"I began building guitars in 1992.

Dating  Stephen McSwain guitars

I sign and date each guitar on the back of the headstock.
I stamp a sequential serial number on the back of the headstock." [Source: Stephen McSwain, MsSwain Guitars, email 24/3/2008]

MD Guitars

Marcus D? graduated from Roberto-Venn in 1004.  Building in Cheney, Washington, USA

1985-

Dwight Maddox. Every MDX custom guitar is a one of a kind.

Made sine "1985, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.

Dating MDX Guitars
By the logo, and the size of the owl tells what was happening in my life At the time.
I take the scrap left from making guitars for celebrities and make ink pens from it. The pens are sold through The Better Life Foundation as a fundraiser." [Source: Dwight Maddox,email 6/11/2010]