S-SD

made

Se-Si | SK-Sta |Ste-   updated 16/2/2010

Sada

SADA acoustic guitars were hand crafted by the Luthier Sadao Yairi,  in Nagoya Japan in the 1970's. Sadao Yairi is a cousin to the better known Master luthier Kazuo Yairi of Alvarez Yairi fame. Both were trained by Sadao's father Giichi Yairi who was apprenticed at the Suzuki Violin Company. Both Kazuo and Sadao established their own companies in the early 1930's. Sadao established the instrument company Yairi Gakki Ltd in Nagoya Japan, hand crafting violins under the trade mark SADA before moving into guitars . Sadao is said to have perfected his trade by dismantling Martin guitars and copying them. I believe this one is based on the Martin D-28.

The guitar is labeled SADA, luthier, Nagoya Japan. The original signature looks to have been scribbled over at some time...The name SADA on the head stock is in gold leaf. The number 227 is stamped on the neck brace inside the sound hole. Back and sides appear to be Brazilian rose wood while the solid top is cedar with rosewood fret board. The guitar is full size 41.5 inches and 16.5 inches at its widest part. [Source and images ebay Aug 2009]  Please note the above information has been corrected as follows courtesy of YL.

Sadao Yairi was the UNCLE of Kazuo, not cousin. I've found nothing that notes that Sadao learned from Kazuo's father, Giichi (Yes on finding notes of Kazuo learning from his father)... both Giichi and Sadao apprenticed at Suzuki Violin, so it appears that those two learned the craft there.
Another error is that Kazuo and Sadao established business in the early 1930's.. true for Sadao, but Kazuo NO... Kazuo came into the picture much later.

The photo shown of SADA guitar appears to be one made around 1980 (bridge design similar to those he did for Samick and Lowden)... maybe that is why the lower part of the label has been defaced, it would have listed the year made and SN.. and was not a place he signed (he didn't sign these later labels).

Sadowsky

 1979 to present

Roger Sadowsky makes guitars and basses in Brooklyn, New York [Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadowsky ]
New York Times article on Roger Sadowski from 1991
Dating Sadowsky Guitars

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

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

Prudencio Saez

1963 to present

Prudencio Saez guitars  was founded in 1963 by the luthiers Prudencio Saez, Senior and Junior. Today Prudencio Saez guitars are still built by hand by the  family firm of GUISAMA, S. L. in a factory in Valencia, Spain.

Reviews http://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews/Guitar/brand/Prudencio+Saez

Image eBay:

Saga

Saga Musical Instruments, San Francisco, California

Saga 2004 Retail Price list

Saga 2005 Retail Price list

Saga instrument catalog 2005-6

Eric Sahlin

1975 to present

Eric Sahlin makes premium classical and flamenco guitars, Spokane, Washington, USA

Images courtesy of Guitar Salon International:

Saint Blues

St Blues

St BLues guitars are made in Asia. Imported and set up in Memphis, Tennessee, USA.

see Custom

Saint George

St George

1963-1967

The St. George brand name is associated with 2 Japanese import companies, Buegeleisen & Jacobson of New York and WMI of Los Angeles. The St. George label was used on Japanese import guitars from the mid to late 1960's. They were entry-level guitars and weren't know for great production quality.[Source: Vintaxe]

The guitar pictured  for this entry is from eBay and apparently was owned by the son of the Los Angeles importer per:"St. George Music Supply out of Hollywood California. In business from 1963 to 1967 my dad had these guitars made in Japan and imported to the states"  The guitar was photographed with original packing indicating made by Pleasant, Shiro Musical Inst Mfg Co Ltd

Some further information was published on ebay in January 2010 as the son of the LA store owner sold another St George guitar...

A little history on St. George music stores, only because there has been a lot of questions on the other one I sold on E-Bay a few months back. My dad Paul George owned the music store in Hollywood and my Grandfather owned I believe 5 stores in New York. For the most part these were a Fender design and produced in Japan and imported to the states which were sold both in CA & NY. My grandfather Tony George and Uncle Herb who was also included in the business and kept the ones in NY running through the mid 70's. My father closed up shop in Hollywood in 1966 before we sailed off to Hawaii. There were two guitars that he had sent to my uncle in Florida that he kept and gave me some 15yrs ago. So being that I don't play and am not musically inclined I am going to part with little baby:( Anyway if you have any questions please feel free to ask. I will do the best to answer and will have some help from my mom on any info she can give. My father is now gone who was an avid sax player and had a love music and all instruments.

The emblem that is on this guitar (as pictured left) was designed by my father which dates this paticular guitar ie: 1963 to 1967. The guitars that have St. George written in script came for the east coast.

Reviews http://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews/Guitar/brand/St.+George

Saint Moritz

St Moritz

1960s

Japanese guitars.

Image Craiglist

Sakai

1960s to 1970s

This trademark has been identified by researcher Willie G. Moseley as a "House Brand" of the F. W. Woolworth (Woolco) department stores.
Further information from authors Tony Bacon and Paul Day indicate that guitars with this trademark originated in Japan (later Korea) during the 1960s and 1970s" [Source: Talk bass forum  ]

Examples
http://www.theguitarcollection.org.uk/gallery1/sakai.html

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

Headstock image courtesy of roj_mugwump, Melband forum 2008. Below Sakai Made in Japan on neck plate from ebay:

Taku Sakashta

1995 to 2010

Rohnert Park, California, USA

Taku Sakashta made archtop guitars.  He was murdered 12 February 2010. [Source: Guitarnoize]

Sakura

1970s to ?

Japan ? now China

example http://www.vintage-guitars.se/1970s_Sakura_C119_705116.htm

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

Sakuray

http://www.guitarsite.com/database/Guitars/rec/3006/wwwboard/messages/97.shtml

see Matsuoka, Kohna, Orozco

Salvi's

Steve Salvi, Handmade Acoustic Guitars, Electric Guitars, Lap Steel and Lap Slide Guitars, Dobros, Bass Guitars ~ based in Adelaide, South Australia

1958 to  present

Samick began producing pianos, adding guitars in 1965 under other brands.

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

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

Image eBay:

see Greg Bennett

Sammo

1897-192?

Brand name of Samuel C Osborn Mfg Co, Chicago, IL, The Osborn Manufacturing Co. was established in 1897 at Chicago, IL by Samuel C. Osborn. They built guitars, mandolins, banjos, ukuleles and other small musical instruments, along with a zither variant for which Osborn was issued patents in 1917. In 1921 they claimed the largest factory of its kind in the country. The instruments were marketed under the Sammo and the Sammos trade marks, the latter being made entirely from koa wood. [Source: Mugwumps]

Label from mandolin "Samuel C. Osborn Mfg. Co. Masonic Temple Chicago Ill." [Source: Mandolin Cafe]

Sanchis Carpio

1915 to present

In 1915 Ricardo Sanchis Nacher founded the Sanchis Carpio guitar shop.  He started working with the Valencian guitar makers and during military service made friendships with Domingo Esteso who later founded Alhambra guitars, Casa Ramirez and Casa Gonzalez as well as Ricardo Sanchis Carpio.

Reviews http://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews/Guitar/brand/Hermanos+Sanchis+Lopez

Lucas Sanchis

2002 to present

" I started in the guitar business on 1993, but in 2002 I started to build guitars with my own brand.  The date of manufacture is written on the label by myself." [Source: Lucas J. Sanchis, Luthier email 9/4/2008]

Reviews http://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews/Guitar/brand/Lucas+J.+Sanchis

Vicente Sanchez

Vicente Sanchis, House of Ricardo Sanchis. Massanasa, Spain.

Image of guitar from 1969 eBay:

Sanchis Lopez

Sanchis history of guitar making goes back to 1915 when Ricardo Sanchis Nacher (1881-1960) a talented luthier with close ties to Manuel Ramirez, Gonzalez and Domingo Esteso, founded his own shop. The Ricardo Sanchis factory is now led by his grandson, Ricardo Sanchis Carpio, born (1937). Ricardo has been awarded with a master degree in guitar construction since 1970. Recently, adding the fourth generation of luthiers to the Sanchis family, Ricardo's sons, David and Herman Sanchis Lopez, have joined him. Although their production line of flamenco guitars are still made under Ricardo's supervision, they are now marketed as "Guitarras Hermanos Sanchis Lopez". [Source and image eBay]

Sand

1979 to present

Luthier Karl Sandoval, Laguna Beach, California, USA

Sandberg

1986 to present

Image Jedistar - taken at Chicago Music Exchange 2008:

Ashley Sanders

current

Ashley Sanders, Australian classical guitars

Image courtesy of Guitar Centre Australia:

Sandlin Guitar Company

? -2008

Sandlin Guitar Co, Clearwater, Florida.

According to eBay Jan 2009 "Sandlin is a local company here in Clearwater Fl. that has recently had to unfortunately close its doors due to the economy."

Acoustic, electric guitar, banjos and mandolins

Pages printed from internet archive [2002-2004]

About Sandlin

Sandlin models, prices and specifications

Acoustic Sandlin Paradise | Sandlin Eagle

Electric Sierra Falcon| Sierra Hawk

Banjo Goldrush

Mandolin Sundance

Anton Sandner

German luthier.

Image eBay:

Sandoval Engineering

1979 to present

Karl M Sandoval, worked with the Charvel Custom Shop in Covina, California until 1979 when he established his own shop in Santa Fe Springs, California doing repairs and making Sandoval Custom Guitars.

Sandoval Guitars at wikipedia

Sano

?-1970

Circa 1940, Joe Zonfrilli, Sr., founded music schools called Major Music, in Irvington New Jersey. Around 1950, Nicholas Sano, wanted a pickup for his accordion, and Joe designed and patented one of the first pickups for this instrument. In 1951 Zonfrilli made the first Sano amps.

In addition to manufacturing the amps, the Sano company imported acoustic and electric guitars, and accordions from Italy. 

[Source: Larry John McNally]

A fretless bass bears the Sano name [Source: Yahoo Answers]

It is assumed that they were imported in the 1960s.

Image Rob Roberge ? by Goya

Santa Cruz

1972 to present

Richard Hoover began building guitars and carved-top mandolins in 1972. By 1976 his focus was on the modern steel string guitar. [Source: Santa Cruz]

Founded in 1976 by luthier Richard Hoover and repairpersons Bruce Ross and William Davis.  Hoover became the sole owner of the company in 1989.  Richard Hoover and a small staff (4-6) build each guitar to order, by hand. SCGC produces a few hundred guitars per year. [Source: Guitar Notes]

Dating Santa Cruz Guitars

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

Santa Cruz Guitar Company Catalogs and Pricelists

1998 Santa Cruz pricelist

1999 Santa Cruz pricelist

2001 Santa Cruz pricelist

2002 Santa Cruz pricelist

2005 Santa Cruz Brochure  |  2005 Santa Cruz pricelist

2006 Santa Cruz pricelist

2007 Santa Cruz pricelist

Image Trilogy Guitars:

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

Forum http://santacruzguitarplayers.com/scgc-forum/

Arturo Sanzano

Image Classic Guitar

Kazuo Sato

1974 to present

Kazuo Sato (b. 1946).  1965 apprenticed in Tokyo, Japan with Master  K Nobe. 1971 worked with David Rubio in England. 1974 established own guitar and lute shop in Hekelgem, Begium and in 1976 moved to Germany.

Image Guitars International:

Saturn

Saturn guitars - made in Japan by Kawai. (different to Saturn model by Hopf).

They appeared in the 1968 Canadian Eaton's catalog.

Saturn catalogs

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

Images Saturn hollow body guitar ? 1960s eBay:

Savage Guitars

Ken Savage

Sawchyn Guitars

1972 to present

Peter Sawchyn, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada

Saxon

1970s

The Saxon trademark is a brand name utilized by a United Kingdom importer (Selmer). Acoustic guitars made in Japan. [Source: Tony Bacon and Paul Day, TheGuru's Guitar Guide ].

Schaefer Guitars

1997 to present

Ed Schaefer, electric archtops Bastrop, Texas, USA

"I started about 30 years ago...We do have different numbers in different models so only we know when a guitar is produced. But mostly the date is simply on the label as well." [Source: Theo Scharpach, email 21/3/2008]

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

Henry A Schatz

mid 1800s

Henry A Schatz was a contemporary of CF Martin in the mid 1800s. [Source: 12Fret.com 27/10/2009]

Image of Henry Schatz guitar label from Frets.net 27/10/2009

Schecter

1976 to present

Established as a component manufacturer in California in 1976 by four partners - David Schecter's sounded the best. Complete guitars were offered from 1979. [The company was sold in early 80s and moved toDallas,  Texas.  By 1988 it moved back to Claifornia and in 1989 it was purchased by its current owner Hisatake Shibuya. Schecter Custom Guitars are made in Burbank, Califonia with the Diamond Series made in Korea. [Source: Vintage Guitar Price Guide ]

Dating Schecter Guitars (post 1989)

http://www.schecterguitars.com/faq.asp

Other Schecter resources

http://www.schecter.co.jp/

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

Schecter ads/ catalogs

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

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

Scheerhorn

1989 to present

Tim Scheerhorn, Dickson, Tennessee.

http://www.swer.net/english.gear.bars.html

Images eBay:

Schenk Guitars

Rod Schenk, Silverdale, Washington, USA

Schiller

1960S Schiller, handcrafted. STUDIO 19 AUSTRALIA

Gerhard Schnabl

Alfred Schneider

Builder Alf Schneider, Luby U Chebu, Czech Republic

Image courtesy of Dan Erixon

Schneider Guitars

David Schneider studied  with Jim D'Aquisto in his Farmingdale, Long Island shop in the 1970's.  He now makes guitars in Cincinnati, OH. [Source: Schneider guitars ]

Richard Schneider Guitars

1960s -1997

Richard Schneider (1936-1997) made guitars in Washington State.

Richard Schneider Bio

Tribute to Richard Schneider

1978 interview with Richard Schneider

Image Trilogy Guitars:

Schoenberg

1986 to present

"Eric Schoenberg started playing the guitar in 1959, teaching the instrument in the 1960s and then recording.  His search for guitars led him to believe that the Martin OM (1929 to 1933) was ideal.  In 1969 he convinced Martin to make a batch of 6 OM28s. In the early 1980s Dana Bourgeois built Eric a guitar based on a 1933 OM adding a 'cutaway' - the first Schonberg Guitar. Using this prototype Martin began building guitars for Schoenberg.  From 1986 to 1994, Schoenberg guitars would emerge from Nazareth, PA, with Martin serial numbers and “Schoenberg” on the headstock.   around 500 of these Schoenberg guitars survive today.

Since 1995 master luthier Bruce Sexauer has made about 3/4 of Schoenberg Guitars (52 examples). Others include Robert Anderson in Victoria, BC, Canada (about 8), Alan Perlman in San Francisco (2), James Russell in Redding, CA (5 or 6). John Slobod also makes for Schonberg. [Source: Schoenberg and Bruce Sexauer ]

Dating Schoenberg Guitars

Martin serial number system used from 1986 to 1994

Guitars made by Bruce Sexaur date is on label.

More info

http://www.gansz.org/David/Guitars/Schoenberg/Index.htm

see Sexauer Guitars

http://www.nsblues.com/gear/ns_gearns.htm

see Jackson, Larivee

1990 to present

David Schramm, classical and flamenco guitars made in Clovis, California.

Jason Z Schroeder

1988 to present

I started making guitars under the Schroeder Guitars name in 1988 while in high school in San Jose, California.  While in college at CSU Chico I built my next batch of guitars in 1994 and sold a couple in 1995.  I moved to Redding California and have been building here since 1999.  I write the date of the build completion and serial number on the back of the headstock and take photos so that we have record of guitars that were built.  See attached photo for typical headstock back." [Source: Jason, email 2/8/2008 ]

Schroeder guitar forum

Schroeder Guitars

1993 to present

Tim Schroeder repairs and builds custom guitars in Chicago, Illinois since 1993.

Eric C Schulte custom guitars made in Pennsylvania, USA

Search at http://www.vintageguitar.com

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

Schwartz Guitars

1992 to present

"I started building guitars in 1992.

With the exception of the first couple of guitars, all my guitars have a serial number on the neck block, which represents the number built.  Early serial numbers include the date. The date on all my guitars is written in pencil on the inside of the top on the bass side of the sound hole.  I've also signed the guitar there and written the information backwards so you can read it easily with a mirror.

Early guitars do not have a label, but the information is still in pencil on the inside of the top.
On almost every guitar, except for a few early ones and the guitar with  the wolf inlay, the neck is attached with an unglued dovetail that is secured by  a screw through the neck block.

Pre 1998  guitars have the 'cat's ears' headstock.

The guitars have been built in Loretto, Ontario, Canada since 2000.  Pre 2000 guitars were built in Toronto, Ontario.

Post 2003 guitars have my logo on the headstock.  Guitars with art work  may have the logo on the back of the headstock.

Post 2005 guitars have an 'X' braced back.

All my guitars have had bound fingerboards, usually Ebony on Ebony.

All my guitars have solid linings on the back." [Source: Sheldon Schwarz, email 24/7/2008 ]

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

ScoGo

2001 to present

Scott Gordon, Solid body custom guitars 442 West First Avenue, Parkesburg, Pennsylvania, USA. Website was not available Dec 2008. From internet archive:

Scogo Design 2002

Scogo Gallery 2005

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

Douglas Scott

1998 to present

Classical Guitars, Canada

Image Trilogy Guitars:

John David Scott

1999 to present

Annacis Island, British Columbia, Canada

Commenced manufacture "1985.  Stamped on the inner heel block inside the guitar is a series of numbers; for example  030784 .
This would indicate that the instrument was assembled in March of 2007 , and was the 84th guitar I had built." [Source: Nicholas ,email 3/4/2008]

S.D. Curlee

1975-1982

S.D. Curlee was founded by Randy Curlee around 1975 in Matteson, Illinois.  S.D Curlee came from the three original designers, Sonny Storbeck, Randy Dritz and Randy Curlee. According to Michael Wright (Guitar Stories), this independent entrepreneur built and sold around 15,000 handcrafted instruments, including 12,000 bass guitars, between 1975 and 1982. [Source: Wikipedia]

SD Curlee Guitar Catalogs

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

According to the ebay article with these pics from this particular model is made in Japan.

Reviews http://www.t-shiga.com/sub7-5-1.htm