O-Om On-

made

info    updated 28/2/2010

Oahu

- 1985

The Oahu Publishing Company (Cleveland, Ohio) was established by Harry G Stanley, and one of their aims was to wholesale guitars to schools. Electric steel guitars and amps were made by Oahu with Harmony, Valco and Rickenbacker also producing guitars for Oahu. The Company closed in 1985. [Source:  The Hawaiian Steel Guitar and Its Great Hawaiian Musicians By Lorene Ruymar ]

Note some Oahu guitars are date stamped inside - see example from eBay.

http://www.rfcharle.com/HTML/PhotosInstruments/OahuCarre.html

http://www.guitarseminars.com/ubb/Forum1/HTML/013344.html

http://www.centervillemusic.com/history.html

http://guitars.net/elarcgal.htm

http://ushigomepan.cool.ne.jp/teiscotone/gallery.html

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

Image courtesy of Lowell Levinger , Players Vintage Instruments

see Valco

Fritz Ober

current

Munich, Germany. Classical guitars

Image: Guitar Salon

1995 to present

Made since" 1995, in my shop in San Marcos, California.
Every label has the year that instrument was built written on it." [Source: Peter Oberg, email, 23/7/2008]

Image courtesy of Peter Oberg:

Ocampos

Milton Ocampo, luthier, Cebu, The Philipines.

An owner's story

Reviews http://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews/Acoustic+Guitar/brand/Ocampos

Ochoteco Guitars

1984 to present

According to Vintage Guitar Price Guide Gabriel Ochotecho started building guitars in 1979 in Germany until 1984, he then moved to Australia.  Formerly Gabriel's Guitar Workshop.

Made since "1984. Workshop is at 115 Gotha St, Fortitude Valley, Queensland, 4006, Australia.

Acoustic necks block have stamped serial numbers with -model, consecutive number, year made." [Source and photos courtesy of: Gabriel Ochoteco, email 24/8/2008]

October Guitars

Handmade guitars, Savage, Maryland, USA

myspace

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

ODE

1961-1966

1961 ODE Banjo company founded by Charles Ogsbury in Boulder, Colorado. 1966 The Baldwin piano company, which was trying to expand into other realms of the instrument business, purchased ODE, including all fixtures, leftover parts, tooling, and the services of the ODE craftsmen who cared to relocate to Nashville. In 1971 Five years to the day after the restraint of trade provision was executed, Charles Ogsbury opened the OME banjo company, also in Colorado.  see OME. [Source: Whitreeaz ]

Dating ODE banjos

http://www.whitetreeaz.com/vintage/genbanjo.htm

Ode catalogs

http://www.omebanjos.com/odeinstruments.html

Images of ODE bass guitar eBay.

Odessa

1981-1990s

Budget line imported to USA by Davitt & Hanser (BC Rich) [Source: Vintage Guitar Price Guide ]

O'Hagan

1979-1983

Reviews http://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews/Guitar/brand/O%27Hagan

Images O'Hagan Shark eBay:

1959-1965

Electric guitars and basses made by France's Jacobacci. [Source: Vintage Guitar Price Guide]

Old Ghost Guitars

Steve Sylvester studied at Roberto-Venn in 1994 then did repairs at the Arizona Guitar Shack and Music Brokers, both in Phoenix, AZ. Now building custom custom electric guitars. [Source: Roberto-Venn ]

Hillsboro, Oregon, USA

Old Hickory

Mandolins, USA or cheap Chinese? Possibly same name used by different manufacturers - can anyone help?

Reviews http://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews/Guitar/brand/Old+Hickory

Gerhard Oldiges

current

Gerhard J Oldiges, Marburg

Image Kent Guitar Classics:

Old Kraftsmen

1930s-60s

Brand of the Spiegel mail order company. Most were made by Kay. Gibson made some from 1936 to 1937. [Source: Gruhn's Guide To Vintage Guitars ]

Reviews http://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews/Guitar/brand/Old+Kraftsman

Images Folkway Music and eBay:

2005 to present

Old School Guitars are hand made in Canada - no CNC necks!

"I started making under the name of Old School three years ago. I  operate from my home and workshop. My necks are serialed and, as of  yet, there is no way to date the numbers unless the owner gets in touch with me. Your mail has prompted me to change this to a dating  system.
I have been a musician for thirty some years and a woodworker for  most of that also. There was a 10 year stint as an antiques dealer in  the first while. It was the quality of the old style construction  techniques that really got me building furniture. I saw that all the  old pieces were built using certain methods of joinery and applied  same to my constructions. There is a reason they last for hundreds of  years.
I still have all my fingers, but because of arthritis they don't work quite as well as they used to.
I am now switching to making complete guitars. I do not have a set logo. I must stress that at this point of my life my woodworking has become more of a hobby rather than a living. I did it for a living for a long time and, for all intents, am now retired." [Source: Warren Biro, Old School Guitars, email 19/9/2008 ]

Michael J O'Leary

Made in Milford, Carlow, Ireland

Images courtesy of Classic Guitar:

Olivewood guitars

2001 to present

"I first started producing my parlour guitars in 2001, I have a small workshop here in Newark, Nottinghamshire. The date of the guitars is on the label visible through the soundhole. I only make 12 fret parlour guitars so typically the identifying numbers would be for example..... May 2007....... 0012/32    The 00 relates to the medium size body and 12 frets to the body, followed by the guitar number 32. If the guitar were to be a smaller body the code would be 012/. The label is also initialed by me." [Source: Malcom Weaver, Olivewood Guitars, email 12/7/2008 ]

Image courtesy of Malcolm Weaver:

OLP

current

OLP = Officially Licensed Product.

Officially licensed copies of upper end machines.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OLP_Guitars

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

Olson (James A)

1977 to present

James A Olson, handmade guitars since 1977 in St Paul, Minnesota, USA.

Dating and identifying Olson guitars

eHow

http://www.olsonguitars.com/faq.html#serial

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

Images courtesy of Sterling Guitars:

Olympia is Tacoma’s main import budget line. Some are made in Indonesia.

Olympia Price lists

2005 Winter Olympia pricelist

2005 Summer Olympia pricelist

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

1971 to present

In 1971 Charles Ogsbury opened the OME banjo company, in Boulder, Colorado. Prior to this he had made ODE banjos.

Dating Ome Banjos

http://www.omebanjos.com/omeinstruments.html

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

see ODE

Omega

1996 to present

Every guitar that I build has the date of the beginning of its construction and the model along with my signature inside the top of the guitar in the lower bout.
It can be easily viewed using a  small exam mirror through the soundhole.
I did use a date oriented serial number system for a number of years in the late 90s, but returned to a sequential numbering system after a while, but even those date marked pieces had the typical signature and date inside the top. [Source: Kevin Gallagher/Omega Guitars, email 21/3/2008]

About Omega from 2002 Internet Archive

Omega model basics 2002

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