Suzuki Guitars

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Tuesday, March 01, 2011

#7 front

unusually great shape...from the 60's. Thanks Darrin!

Some Suzuki History...

This is a blog dedicated to older Suzuki Guitars. Suzuki Guitars have been around since the 1950's and have attracted a growing interest by players and collectors alike. The company may be known by the generic label "Suzuki", but there are actually four different Japanese companies that have manufactured guitars under the name of Suzuki during the 50's to the present time - Kiso Suzuki, Nagoya Suzuki, M Suzuki (Manji Suzuki) and Suzuki (modern company) but Kiso and Nagoya have a common ancestry - maybe modern Suzuki too but I am not sure yet.

Kiso-Suzuki manufactured guitars in the region of Kiso-Fukushima, Nagano prefecture.

Nagoya Suzuki manufactured guitars in the region of Nagoya Japan. And they manufactured about the same number of models as Kiso, but with different numbers.

Some background...

Masakichi Suzuki (1859-1944)was Japan's first violin producer. His father was a samurai moonlighter who also made shamisens in Nagoya. Masakichi succeeded his father's craft business that soon failed. In the push for westernization in Meiji, he naturally became interested in shamisen's western counterpart: violin. In the 1880s, he started to manually produce and sell violins. He founded the Suzuki Violin Factory in 1900. By 1910, his factory was producing 65,800 violins per year. Nagoya became the manufacturing center of string musical instruments.

There was 'one' Suzuki company before the 2nd World War. After the war, a entity created by the US and allies called GHQ (for General Headquarters) dismantled some parts of 'Imperial' Japan and some companies were closed or restructured. In Suzuki's case, the company was separated into - the Suzuki Violin Company, changing to the Kiso Suzuki Violin Company and the Suzuki Violin Manufacturing Company came to be called the Nagoya Suzuki Violin Company.

Kiso Suzuki went bankrupt in 1987 and the machines and materials were sold to ESP.
Nagoya Suzuki stopped making guitars in 1989.

Many guitar players own more than one guitar, yet a common story it seems is that the Suzuki guitar is the one played most often, or that stays with them when all others are sold.

Model #'s...

Re: the serial number: on many of the models the first one or two numbers in the serial number stands for the year in which it was manufactured; from the 60’s to the 80’s. I have never seen a definite 1950's guitar yet, mainly because I don't know enough about them yet.The other prefixes/suffixes ...W, C, S, VS, D, G, A, T, R, O, J...may follow other common meanings.
W = Western model
F= Folk Model
FM = Flame Maple
C= Cutaway
E=Electronics
K=?
S=Spruce (top)
VS= Violin Sunburst color
D=Dreadnaught shape
G=Grand Concert shape for classicals; some 'G' acoustics however had a Gallagher type headstock
A=?
T=? Takeharu sometimes
R=?
O=?
J=Jumbo shape
(if you can help with understanding their system, please DO write me at suzukiguitars@gmail.com....Thanks!)

Hear Some Guitar Comparisons...
(click to listen)
Nagoya Suzuki
Suzuki "S" guitar vs Bruno "Conqueror"
Suzuki "#18" vs Aria "AC30"
Kiso Suzuki
Suzuki "W-300D" vs Atlas "F-211"

Suzuki Guitar Repair and Modification Info..
(for the hacker like me)

#1665 with major problems
#700 with high action

Questions...
"I have a Suzuki Guitar, but it doesn't sound as good as I had hoped for..."
If you have a Suzuki guitar that doesn't sound so great...
Not every Suzuki guitar is equal to an "inheritance" guitar.
But, some are.
Some may just require a setup to sound better; others may be too heavily built or have intonation problems (personal experience with some steel strings built by Kiso). BUT, it's possible to fix some of these problems and have your guitar sound a lot better.
Also, different years, different labels (jobbers?), and whether the guitar was intended for export or for Japan - seems to have made a difference.

Suzuki Guitars

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

W500 front

W500 headstock

W500 headstock

W500 back

W500 label

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

W150 front

W150 back

W150 label

W150 headstock

Sunday, March 13, 2011

WE200 front

WE200 back

WE200 label

WE200 headstock 1

WE200 headstock

Tuesday, March 01, 2011

#7 front

#7 back

#7 bridge

#7 side

#7 headstock

#7 label