Sk-Sta

made

S-SD | Se-Si | Ste-   updated 24/8/2010

Skau

Norway

http://www.steinnes.net/gitar/index.html

Skylark

1981

Skylark guitars were made in Japan by Matsumoku.  JC Penny purchased a single run in 1981.

http://www.matsumoku.org/models/skylark/skylark_info.html

Excellent example at The Rat Hole

Forum http://www.matsumoku.org/ggboard/index.php

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

Image the Rathole.

see Matsumoku

Skylark Guitars

2005 to present

Skylark Guitars was established in 2005 with the strategy of importing directly high quality guitars from selected manufacturers in the Far East. Their other brand is Acepro.

Image Skylark Guitars.

Shrewsbury, UK.
 

Slaman Guitars

1978? to present

"This will be the 30th year I make guitars; archtop guitars started in 1995
There is a written serial number and year of manufacture inside the guitar, visible through a soundhole often the name of the person that commissioned the guitar, and my signature." [Source: Daniel Slaman, email 26/3/2008]

Slammer

1990 to present

Hamer budget line. Originally Korean, then Indonesia since 1996. [Source: Vintage Guitar Price Guide ]

Slingerland

click for large size

1916 to present

Slingerland Banjo and Drum Company was began in 1916 by H.H. Slingerland. They jumped on the Tenor Banjo boom of the early twenties. They manufactured and marketed the Marvel, Maybell, Songster, College Pal as well as Slingerland brands of banjos and guitars. They discontinued banjo production in 1941, but continued to make drums through a military contract. Sales declined by the mid 1970's. Today they are owned by Gibson. [Source: Banjo Hangout forum ]

Slingerland made ukuleles around 1914-1917,  guitars, banjos, banjo-ukes, banjo-mandolins, etc. in the early 20's, They started making drums in 1927. [Source: dk, email 25/8/2009 www.slingerlandguitar.com ]

http://vintageguitarpro.com/sling.shtml

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

Image (from a May Bell guitar) eBay:

Irving Sloane

1950s-1998

Irving Sloane

In memoriam New York Times 1989

Author of Classic Guitar Construction 1966

Image eBay

Greg Smallman

1972 to present

Australian luthier, since 2002 based in Melbourne,

Greg Smallman at wikipedia

http://www.guitarcentre.com.au/smallman.html

Label image: Trilogy Guitars, Headstock Kent Guitar Classics

A Lawrence Smart

1986 to present

"I began building mandolins and guitars full time in 1986 although there  are a few Smart instruments that predate that time.  I work in a one person shop (myself) in McCall, Idaho which is located in the west-central mountains of Idaho.  All guitars and mandolin family instruments are sequentially numbered on a label glued to the back  inside the sound hole." [ Source:  A. Lawrence Smart, Luthier, email 15/8/2008 ]

http://www.mandozine.com/resources/CGOW/smart.php

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

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

http://www.spaceagepop.com/smeck.htm

http://www.broadwaymusicco.com/HARMONY.htm

See Gibson, Harmony

Images eBay:

George Smith

1959 to present

Flamenco and classical guitars, Portland, Oregon, USA.

Usually known for his Blackwood guitars, based on a modified Torres/Hauser Design. 

Current web site is very light on so the following is from the previous web site on internet archive.

George Smith web catalog / price list 1999

Gordon Smith

see G

Ken Smith Basses

Perkasie, PA, USA

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

Image Ken Smith Bass ad from 1985 eBay:

Lawrence K Smith

1989 to present

Handcrafted guitars and mandolins, instruments made in Thirroul, a small sea-side village just 1hrs drive south from Sydney,Australia.   

Smith Guitars

Walt Smith - see Mel O Bar

Sobell Instruments

1982 to presen

Stefan Sobell, Whitley Chapel, Hexham, Northumberland NE47 0HB, England

Solo2

Solo2 guitars were made in Belorussia. [Source: Cheesy Guitars]

Images eBay:

Solomon Archtop Guitars

Erich Solomon, New Hampshire, USA

Solwayer

2008-

Solwayer Guitars is a small firm based in northern Cumbria, UK.

"Solwayer Guitars started out in 2008. We are a small design / manufacturing business based in northern Cumbria in the UK, batch-building solid-body electric guitars to our own designs. We use traditional craft-based techniques and processes - all work is carried out by hand or with small workshop machines. Our guitars are simple and straightforward in concept - we source top-quality woods, pickups and hardware, we have a meticulous approach to construction, and we employ traditional finishing techniques, to produce guitars that are old-school workhorses with class.

Dating Solwayer Guitars

We stamp serial numbers on the back of the headstock of each guitar, in the format 000XXYZ, where:

- 000 is the number of the guitar, e.g. 010 is the tenth guitar we made (we don't restart the numbering each year)
- XX is the year, e.g. 10 is 2010

- Y is the guitar model (we have three models, Type 1, Type 2 and Type 3, denoting different pickup configurations)

- Z is the body wood, e.g A=ash, K=korina and M=mahogany.

We also stamp the number of the guitar only in a simplified form inside the neck pocket of the body, e.g our tenth guitar is simply stamped 10 [Source: John, Solwayer Guitars, email 31/5/2010]

Images Solwayer Type 2 Korina , logo and serial number courtesy of Solwayer.

Somogyi Guitars

1971 to present

"I started making guitars in 1971.

One can tell the date of manufacture of my guitars by looking at the label inside the soundhole: each guitar is identified by year and serial number. The serial number is the number of that particular instrument as it comes off the workbench. The year is self-explanatory. I make seven different models of instruments, but the serial number merely indicates the sequence in which it was made.

I do not have separate serial numbers for any of my individual guitar models. Therefore, if you find a Somogyi guitar (of any type) that is identified as, say, Number 348, then it's the 348th guitar I've ever made. The number refers to my total lifetime production of guitars ... which at this time is up to about #420 or so.

If someone were to track my guitar production by year, they'd notice that some serial numbers seem out of sequence. For instance, I might stick guitar #355 into the middle of a run of serial numbers in the 380s or 390s, if you went by year alone. This reflects the fact that mine is a very small shop, and sometimes projects get delayed or put on hold for any of a number of reasons. I might have started guitar No.

355 a long time ago and identified it as that number for purposes of record keeping. The next guitars would of course have sequentially higher numbers. And then time would pass . . . and I'd eventually complete guitar No. 355 two or three years after I started it. I'll deliver it at that time . . . but it will have the serial number assigned to it when the project began. It's one of the minor hazards of being a custom builder: Guitar No. 355 would have been tied to the fortunes of that particular client." [Source: Ervin Somogyi, email 29/3/2008]

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

Sonam

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

A Harmony Brand

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

SonFather Guitars

1994 to present

David A. Cassotta, acoustic and electric guitars, Rocklin, California, USA

S101

2002 to present

Chinese

Reviews http://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews/Guitar/brand/S101

Sonoro

Sonoro guitars OEM by Suzuki Violin Co, Japn.

Image Yahoo:

Sorrentino

1930s

Guitars made by Epiphone for Chicago Musical Instrument Co. [Source: Gruhn's Guide To Vintage Guitars ]

Click to enlarge 1935 Sorrentino brochure eBay cover

Sorrento

Sorrento guitars. Made in Japan.  Models include electric guitars and basses including Beatle violin style.

Images eBay, Craiglist:

Gary Southwell

1983 to present

Making guitars since 1983, since 2002 as Southwell Guitars Ltd.  Nottingham, England.

Sovereign

1899-1938

Sovereign was originally a brand of the Oscar Schmidt Company of New Jersey and used on guitars, banjos and mandolins. In the late 1930s Harmony bought a number of brands from Oscar Schmidt including Stella and Sovereign. Sovereign was no longer used as a brand from this point but Harmony did use it as a model name. [Source: Vintage Guitar Price Guide ]

http://www.broadwaymusicco.com/Harmony1.htm

http://harmony.demont.net/guitars/H1260/44.htm

http://www.vintage-guitars.se/1971_Harmony_Sovereign_Model_H164_1189H164.htm

Sovereign

Sovereign was Oscar Schmidt's deluxe brand. The Sovereign line included both six and twelve string guitars as well as banjos and mandolins. [Source: Stella Guitars]

Michael Spalt

Michael Spalt is an artist as well as guitar maker.  Famous for Totem, Dream Catcher and Spalt Bass.  Check out media publications on Michael's web site.

Dating Michael Spalt Guitars

"Generally the date the body is made is stamped on the neck plate, -year/sequential #- of body. I.e.: G0709 would be the 9th Totemguitar body made in 2007. Since it can take a while for the Totemguitar body (this is especially true of the first 7-8 years) to be made into a guitar this number does not reflect assembly date of the instrument. A more accurate indicator would be the code stamped into the headstock which is a combination of yy/mo/####. The sequence may however not be consistent, since over the years sometimes it was ###/mm/yy or various combinations.
S&S models, hybrid models, custom models follow the same pattern, with a different prefix, i.e: S&S 0709 is the 9th S&S made in 2007, SN 0506 is the 6th set-neck guitar made in 2005. With these there is no divergence between build and completion time, so they accurately date the instrument." [Source: Michael Spalt, email 24/3/2008]
Reviews http://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews/Guitar/brand/Spalt+Instruments

Specht

Oliver Specht

Specimen Products

1986 to present.

Luthier Ian Schneller makes aluminium and wood guitars, amps.

Chicago, Illinois, USA

"I began building Specimen guitars and amps over 20 years ago (circa 1986 or so).

I make them in my shop, by hand, now located in Chicago's Humboldt Park neighborhood.

For the past 12 years I have been consistently serializing all of my instruments as well as signing and dating them. Instruments made prior to this time were sometimes serialized, sometimes not.

Attached are photos of an instrument (an aluminum Mandola) I finished last week showing the headstock with serial # stamped into it and the wood burned Specimen logo I place at the neck heel. For the past dozen years or so, this is how I mark them." [Source: Ian Schneller, Specimen, The Chicago School of Guitar Making. email24/2/2009]

Spector

1975 to present

Stuart Spector made his first bass in 1974 on a work bench bolted to the wall of his bedroom in a communal house in Brooklyn.  He handmade the pick ups on a sewing machine.  He then rented space from the Brooklyn Woodworkers Coop in an old factory building.  He sold his first bass or about $450 to Bernie Gracin at Gracin & Towne Music on 48th Street New York.  Stuart formed a partnership with a former furniture builder, Alan Charney, and went into business as Spector Guitars. In 1976 furniture maker Ned Steinberger designed a bass for Spector.  The company was acquired by Kramer in 1985 and Spector by Kramer Basses were produced 1985 to 1990.    After Kramer went bankrupt, Stuart built basses sporting the SSD (Stuart Spector Design) label, and in 1998 he finally won his legal battle to recover the Spector trademark. Today, Stuart makes eight to ten Spector neck-through basses a month in his shop near Woodstock, New York, and he also offers production instruments built under contract in the Czech Republic, Korea, and China. [Source: Spector Bass ]

"The first Spector instruments were made in 1975, in Brooklyn NY.

Current production:
USA Series = our Woodstock NY workshop, by Stuart Spector and his 5 employees.
Europe Series = in our Czech Republic shop.
Professional Series = Asian factories.
USA models usually have at least a serial number on the back of the heastock. since 1992, even more info is included on the back of the USA headstocks, hand signed and written by Stuart.
Spector Model History

We are the original curved body bass, since 1977. Our world famous NS curved body was designed for us by Ned Steinberger in our Brooklyn shop, this was Ned's first musical instrument design." [Source: PJ Rubal, National Sales Manager / Artist Relations, Stuart Spector Design Ltd, email 2/9/2008 ]
Spector at myspace

http://www.vintagekramer.com/spector.htm

Spector catalogs - http://www.spectorworld.com/scatalogs.htm

Reviews http://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews/Electric+Bass/brand/Spector

SPG

2006 to present

Star Power Guitars / lapsteels made by Rick Welch, Farmingdale, Maine and Hanson, Massachusetts.

Spiegel

Catalog distributor

Spiegel catalogs

http://www.wishbookweb.com/

Ron Spillers

Images 1999 Ron Spillers Dyer_knutsen style guitar. Richmond, VA, USA

Jack Spira

1991 to present

Guitars, Irish bouzoukis and mandolins made in Dandenong ranges,  east of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

"The date and serial number of the instrument is written on the label. They are also signed and dated inside under the soundboard, usually towards one side near the finger braces, but not always in that spot. The soundboard is dated when the instrument is assembled, and the label dated when the instrument is finished, so these two dates may differ by a month or so. I also supply a printout with each instrument with more detailed information specific to each instrument. This paper also has the serial number and date. I also keep my own records and can usually identify one of mine if some details are sent to me." [Source: Jack Spira, email 3/8/2008 ]

Images courtesy of Jack Spira:

Splendor

Splendor brand was made in Japan by Hitachi Musical Instrument MFG Co Ltd as seen on the neck plates of electric guitars.  Note the example of a Splendor acoustic guitar which has Zeno-On Suwa Co Ltd.

Example

Image 1967 Splendor guitar.

Spodaryk Guitars

Steve Spodaryk, USA

Spruce Hill Guitars

Aluminium body guitars made in Perham, MN, USA.

Rolf Spuler

Guitars and basses, handmade in Switzerland.

http://matthias.grob.org/pParad/Parad.htm

http://onstagemag.com/ar/performance_fivestring_wizard/index.htm

Images Rolf Spuler, Paradis guitar eBay:

Squier

1982-3 to present

Following appointment of Bill Schultz as President of Fender in 1981 the Squier low price range was introduced. Originally made in Japan.

Fender Squier history

http://www.activemusician.com/Squier-History--t2i199

Fender Squier Pricelists

2005 Squier pricelist

2006 Squier pricelist

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

Squier forums

http://www.fenderforum.com/forum.html?db=&message_area_number=26

 http://www.instituteofnoise.com/squier51/forum/default.asp

see Fender Squier

S.S. Maxwell

1932-1947

S.S. Maxwell brand guitars and resonators were around from around 1932 to 1947. Made in Chicago. ? Kay  [Source: Stephen, USA, email 24/10/2010]

Stephen " bought [an SS Maxwell] guitar from the son of a black blues player who father played this guitar in 'Maxwell Square, Maxwell Street. His father came from the south for work as at that time thousands of black people went north. His name was ' Emerald J Johnson ', He was one of the men who asked Harmony to make larger holes in the guitars for extra amplification which they did as nobody of his back ground had amplifiers and people could not hear the music well enough."
Also Harmony link per http://harmony.demont.net/brands.php?id_brand=71

S.S. Stewart

1875-1904

SS Stewart was a prominent banjo and guitar maker in the late 19th and early 20th century to 1904. Brand was acquired by Bugellsein & Jacobsen of New York and the brand was used on guitars into the 1960s. [Source: Vintage Guitar Price Guide]

Mugwumps SS Stewart Banjo Page

Made by Martin, some by Harmony [Source: Harmony] and Gibson [Source: Gruhn's Guide To Vintage Guitars ]

S.S. Stewart’s banjo, guitar and mandolin journal - an amazing resource of articles from 1884-1900

Example SS Stewart Parlor Guitar

Stadium

old

The pictures here are of what was reported to be a vintage Stadium brand guitar on eBay.  According to Guitarsite Stadium guitar are made by Egmond guitars in Holland.  Apparently pre 1960.

Apparently in the sound hole there should be a "Made in Holland" stamp. [Source: All Experts]

Pictures are of a parlor size Stadium branded guitar.

The logo on the right is from a high quality instrument referred to me by Jim B.  Apparently Stadium is related to Orpheum. and Strad-o-lin [Source: Mandolin Cafe]

Stadium

current

According to Harmony-Central forum there is a current Stadium brand with electrics made by Shine.

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

see Shine

Stadlmair

1920s

Stadlmair guitars were Distrubuted by Henry Stadlmair a wholesale distributor.  They distributed and sold Stella, Sovereign and other guitars, also under the name of Avalon and Miami brand. [Source and images Guitar Museum]

Stafford & Co

1957 - ?

Stafford & o guitars, established 1957. made by T Kurosawa & Co Ltd, Tokyo, Japan

? Japanese Martin copies

Stagg

http://xoomer.alice.it/vintagestagg/

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

Stahl

1900-1941

William Stahl ran a publishing firm in Milwaukee and sold instruments from a variety of manufacturers. From at least 1906 some were made by Larson Brothers of Chicago.

By Larson Brothers.

http://www.larsonbrothersguitars.com/stahl_catalog.htm

Image Larson Brothers

Standel

1952-1974, 1997 to present

"In the late 1960's Standel, based in California, was an amplifier manufacturer that had made several half-hearted attempts to get into guitar production. Somehow they hooked up with the Harptone company of Newark, New Jersey which was a well-known case manufacturer with some background in guitar production. Harptone commissioned New Jersey luthier Sam Koontz, known for his original archtop creations, to design a line of hollowbody instruments and set up the production line. The guitars were offered in a range of models branded Standel, and distributed out of California.

Soon enough, the Standel company ran into financial trouble and the guitars were re-branded Harptone, and sold for another few years out of New Jersey. Although the Harptone line lasted into the early '70's the company soon focused on acoustic guitars and the electrics were discontinued. [Source and image courtesy of RetroFret]

http://www.standelamps.com/about_us/story/story_p11.html

http://www.vintaxe.com/cgi-bin/vintaxe_viewer.pl?standell_red&american_guitar_standell_red

Image Standel neck date eBay:

Stanford

1993 to present

"We started the company in 1992 and started to manufacture in 1993.  The label shows a serial no. So with that no. we can identify when the guitar has been built." [Source: Toni Götz, iMusic network, email 18/3/2008]
Reviews http://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews/Guitar/brand/Stanford

Les Stansell

1980 to present

Top class classical guitars. Pistol River, Oregon, USA

Starfield

late 1970s-1990s

Hoshino used Starfield name in 1970s on Japanese made guitars.  From 1992 to 1993 the brand was made in US and Japan, again by Hoshino (Ibanez). [Source: Vintage Guitar Price Guide ]

"I used to run a messageboard on the Starfield site which was fairly successful but I had to pull the plug due to the amount of spam posts.  However, the headstock serial numbers were discussed and there was a general consensus that there was no difference whatsoever between starfield serials and the parent Ibanez company and their guitars.  So the information on Jemsite appears to hold true for starfields:

"JEM & UVs with the All-Access-Neck have serial numbers engraved on the back of the headstock. Pictured is the serial number of a a 1993 JEM7VWH (top) and a UV777BK (bottom). Like the heel plate serial numbers, these serial numbers are untraceable by Ibanez for some sad reason.

"In any event the serial numbers have some meaning. The "F" indicates that the guitar was made at the Fugijen factory in Japan. The first digit represents the model year. For example "F336765 is a 1993 model. "Made in Japan" is engraved below the serial number."

One thing to note is that there was a USA range of Starfields - I have three of them - and whilst they definitely were assembled and finished in the Los Angeles custom shop(s), the basic woodwork (using very nice wood) was performed in Japan - hence my three USA guitars have "made in USA" on the back of the headstock but the serials begin with an "F" - indicating that they began their musical existence in the Fugijen factory." [source: Andrew, publisher of "Unofficial Starfield Guitars http://www.mortimer.f9.co.uk/starfield/ ,email 26/1/2007:

http://www.geocities.com/jack.stinson@sbcglobal.net/guitar.htm

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

See Ibanez

Starforce

1988-

Starforce started in 1988. Instruments previously produced in Korea. Initially exported by Tropical Music of Miami, Florida prior to their purchase of the Dean company  [Source: Guitarsite quoting Blue Book and Tony Bacon]

example Model 8007 the guitar collection

Starforce catalogs

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

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

Images eBay:

Status Graphite

1982 to present

"The first Status was exhibited at the 1982 Frankfurt show. We used various serial number systems over the last 26 years.. stay tuned..." [ Source: Rob Green, Status Graphite, Colchester, Essex, England email 26/3/2008]

Images eBay: