v

manufactured

info    updated 11/10/2008...please email corrections/info

Vaccaro

1997 - present

Made in USA

http://www.metalnecks.com/index.php/mID/01cb0fca/fuseaction/guitars.manu.htm

http://www.harmony-central.com/Events/SNAMM98/Vaccaro/Vaccaro.html

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

see Kramer

Vachon

early 1990s to present

My first instrument was made in 1978, and then my own company was founded in the early 90's.

Right now I have a shop in downtown Montreal, and I am about to move it to the country side, in the eastern township.

All my instruments have a number and a inscription in latin that says
  " ARBOR  MAGNUS CANTE "

that are stamp in the tail block, and the  date is on the label paper with company name and signature." [Source: Bernard Vachon, email 24/7/2008 ]

Vail

Gary Vail, Hyde Park, New York, USA

1998 to present

I started building guitars in 1998, and when I sell a guitar I write the date in the inner sticker with my name." [Source: Raul Valazquez, email 18/4/2008]

Valco

1943 to 1968

Important dates [Source: Gruhns Guide to Vintage Guitars, 2nd Ed]

1943 National changed name to Valco.

1940s through 1960s Valco made instruments and amps under various brands for other companies including: Gretsch, Oahu, Silvertone, Airline, Norman English, Atlas and St Louis Music.

1967 Valco absorbed the Kay Company

1968 Valco went bankrupt.

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

Valco's Steel Guitar patent 1952

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

http://vintageguitarpro.com/valco.shtml

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

see Kay, National

old

Info needed

Valencia

current

a range of low priced instruments currently made in Korea or Taiwan?? info needed

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

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

Valley Arts

mid 1970s to present

Founded mid 1970s in Hollywood California. Sold to Samick in 1992, now owned by Gibson. [Source: Valley Arts fan site  ]

Valley Art catalogs and heaps of information on pre Samick Valley Arts guitars can be found at http://www.valleyartsguitars.com/

News group – Valley Arts http://www.valleyartsguitars.com/forum.htm

http://www.answers.com/topic/valley-arts-guitar?cat=entertainment

http://player.gibson.com/june03/valleyarts.html

Reviews http://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews/Guitar/brand/Valley+Arts

Argyll, Scotland.

"Mike Vanden's instruments are classics. He designed the Mimesis pickup which was sold to Fishman and became the Rare Earth. He has made jazz guitars, solids and some other stuff. He's very highly regarded [Source: derkeiler ]

Van der Gaag

Johan Van der Gaag, The Netherlands

van Gool

1978 to present

"I started my career as guitar maker in 1978.
I engrave the centerstrip on the inside of the back with my name number and year of making." [Source: John J van Gool, luthier, email 4/3/2008]

van Loben Sels

1986 to present

Amersfoort, Netherlands

Image van loben sels :

Vantage

1977-?

http://en.allexperts.com/q/Guitar-General-649/Vantage-v100-1.htm

http://www.matsumoku.org/models/vantage/vantage.html

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

Vantage Bass dating snippet:

Serial no. 108001 was dated as 1981 based on the SN and was made in the Matsumoku plant..
and another comment: The Japanese basses produced in the Matsumoku factory usually had six- or seven-digit serial numbers, with the first digit or two denoting the year. [Source: this forum in 2005: http://www.talkbass.com/forum/archiv.../t-186173.html ]

http://www.therathole.org/guitar/here/my_guitars.html

Vantage VS 600 http://wietsesguitars.nl/page44.html

Vantage catalogs

http://www.matsumoku.org/models/vantage/catalogs.html

http://members.dslextreme.com/users/jb007/vantage_cat/Data/page.htm?0,0

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

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

See Matsumoko

Van Zandt Guitars

http://www.nymphusa.com/tele/vanzandte.asp

http://elgitarrer.com/vintage-japanese-guitars/historik-japanska-gitarrer/van-zandt.shtml

Reviews http://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews/Guitar/brand/Van+Zandt

see PGM

Varita

Vega

1937-1961

A Harmony Brand

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

http://www.well.com/~wellvis/gitinfo.html#vega

http://en.allexperts.com/q/Guitar-General-649/Vega-acoustic-electric.htm

http://vintageguitarpro.com/vega.shtml

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

Veillette

1995 to present

Veillette Guitars are built by Joe Veillette, Martin Keith, and Ande Chase in Woodstock, NY. 

Joe Veillette co-founded Veillette-Citron (Harvey Citron) in 1975.  In 1991 he founded Woodstock Music with Stuart Spector (of Basses fame) until 1995.

1946 -present

Tribute at Cumpiano

Another at UFC news room

Image courtesy of Guitar Salon International:

Veleno®

1970 - present

"John Veleno and his son Chris Veleno were making and selling guitars from 1970 to present.  There were times that were difficult due to John experiencing two strokes in 1975 but he was back in his limited condition making guitars at various times through the years.  John directed in making three custom guitars for Todd Rundgren in late 1977 to 1978.  Chris Veleno was making and selling Veleno® guitars in the early 1990s at a show in Nashville." [Source: John Veleno, email 21/5/2007]

"Due to the extreme problem of counterfeited guitars using the Veleno® name and stating that they were made by me we are not divulging any dates of manufacture.  Investigation is still under way.  It is very unfortunate that some folks will not openly take credit for their personal and own accomplishments as we do here, but rather imitate that they are other people in order to make themselves look great.  Under those circumstances we do not reveal manufacture dates, however, we do give them to people who send us a Veleno® guitar for a verification inspection and receive a Certificate of Authenticity." [Source: John Veleno, email 23/1/2007]

http://www.veleno.net/history2.htm

http://www.autohobbydigest.com/aluminum_guitars/veleno.html

Search at http://www.vintageguitar.com

http://www.fetishguitars.com/html/misc/usa/veleno.html

http://www.metalnecks.com/index.php/mID/3a3621f0/fuseaction/guitars.manu.htm

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

Vendramini Guitars

Orleans, France

Vendramini Guitars at myspace

Roberto-Venn

School of luthiery, Phoenix Arizona USA

Ventura

1960s to 1980s

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

I started repairing  AND MODIFYING GUITARS SINCE I WAS KID IN THE 1970'S.  HOWEVER, I STARTED MAKING GUITARS AND SELLING THEM PROFESSIONALLY IN 2000.  THE DATE OF MANUFACTURE IS HANDWRITTEN ON THE LABEL ON EACH GUITAR.  THE SERIAL NUMBER INCLUDES CODIFIED INFORMATION ON TYPE OF WOODS, FINISH AND ANY OTHER SPECIAL DETAIL PARTICULAR TO THIS GUITAR." [Source: Pepe Vergara, email, 10/10/2008  ]
Image courtesy off Pepe Vergara:

Walter Verreydt

1985 to present

"Versoul is a one man company and founded in autumn 1994 by me and the first guitars were made in December 1994.
So far less than 300 instruments have been made.
Nowadays Versoul models includes:
- Acoustic classic guitars, brand name Touco
- Acoustic steel 6 & 12 string guitars, brand names: Zoel, Buxom, Baby Buxom, Junior Buxom, Minor Buxom, Kenny Burrell Jazz Models 6 and
12 string models.
- Electric solid body 6 & 12 string guitars, brand names: Raya, Henry
- Electric acoustic guitars, brand name Swan
- Electric acoustic resonator 6 and 12 string and baritone 6 string guitars; brand name ResoSun
- Electric solid body baritone guitars, 6 and 12 string models, brand name Raya
- Acoustic steel string baritone guitars, 6 and 12 string models, brand name Buxom
- Acoustic classic baritone guitars, 6 string, brand name Buxom
- Electric solid body basses, brand name: Raya
- Electric acoustic basses, brand name; Swan

Each guitar has "a running" serial number, starting 001 and now closing 0300 ( = almost 300 instruments made)
Also each guitar is dated and signed by me with following methods:

A. Electric solid body guitars and basses have serial number, model and company name handwritten on backside of the headstock with black or gold pencil.  Also the same information is written on the inner side of the pot cavity plate (on aluminium tape).

B. Acoustics and electric acoustics have labels inside the guitar.
1. Gold Label ( real gold leaf label) :
- Model and company name silk screened with black colour + hand written: dated and signed with black pencil by me.
Gold Label Guitar's body East Indian rosewood or curly maple.
Note; A few real Silver Label instruments were made during the 1990's (guitar body mahogany or plain maple)
2. Palladium/Platinum Label (real precious leaf metal):
- Model and company name silk screened with black colour + hand written: dated and signed with black pencil by me.
Guitar's body Honduras or Brazilian rosewood or superb curly maple

C. Custom Versoul Models: (includes for example a few Strat and Tele style guitars)
Each guitar has normal hand written serial number and company name on back side of the headstock + my signature on the face side of the
headstock ( black or gold pencil)." [Source: Kari Nieminen, Versoul Ltd, email, 26/3/2008]

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

Vester

? mid 80s

The Samuel Music company of Effingham, Illinois (founded 1946) decided to launch its own brand of guitars, Vester in the late 1980s. Vester used imported instruments, which were made by Saehan Guitar Technology, a subdivision of Zaozhuang Saehan Music Co., Ltd in South Korea (now known as Sunghan Music). The guitars were imported into the United States by Midco Music (now Musicorp). [Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vester_Guitars ]

Vester catalog http://www.vintaxe.com/catalogs_korean_vester.htm

Reviews
Reviews http://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews/Guitar/brand/Vesterhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vester_Guitars

http://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews/Guitar/brand/Vester

A Harmony Brand

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

In 1969 RCA began using franchised music outlets to distribute their records and apparently import guitars were sold as well. According to Willie Moseley, RCA house brand labels included Baron, Royalist and Victoria. [Source: Vintaxe forum ]

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

http://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews/Guitar/brand/Victoria

Vigier

1986 to present

Vigier catalogs http://www.vigierguitars.com/gcatalog/GMC.htm

On the left hand menu bar go to Guitars/Basses tab. Click date your guitar. Wait a while for a pdf to load.  It is not quite as easy as stated on Ducks Deluxe – you may have to remove the neck.

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

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

Robert L Vincent

Tony Vines

Kingsport, TN, USA

Vinetto Guitars

Made is St Louis, USA

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

Vintage

A Harmony Brand

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

Edward Franco Vivas

Vogel

1995 to present

Bob Vogel, Ecuador

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

Voice

Models included Voice Frontier Custom.  Made in Japan in 1960s [Source: Vintaxe ]

Voice instrument catalog

http://guitar.webinjp.com/70guitar_catalog/voice.htm

Heidi von Ruden

Berlin, Gemany

Otto Vowinkel

1984 to present

Vowinkel-Picado

Acoustic guitars made by collaboration of Otto Vowinkel of Amsterdam, Holland and Antonio Picado of Barcelona, Spain. The A2 student range was initially made by Otto Vowinkel in the Netherlands.  These models are now produced by Antonio Picado in Spain.

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

Vox

Jennings Musical Instruments was incorporated in 1957. In 1958 the Vox AC15 was built. 1961 the first Vox guitar. [Source: Bill Hillman]
http://www.voxshowroom.com/faq/index.html#date

http://www.fetishguitars.com/html/crucianelli/335/1964vox_chrono.html

http://www.coololdstuff.com/instruments1.html

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

Vox guitar catalog http://www.fetishguitars.com/html/eko/catalogues/64vox/index.html

Vox guitar advertisements http://www.vintageguitars.org.uk/advertisements/vox

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

Voyage-Air

Harvey Leach has been making guitars since 1972.   The Voyage-Air guitar is a full size acoustic that folds at the neck for compact travel purposes.