GENERAL VINTAGE GUITAR RESOURCES:
- US11 means 2011. The remaining digits are important for product identification, but the first few characters are all you need to determine the instruments age. Serial number coding for Mexican-made instruments is largely the same, except they will start with an M. MN2 for 1992 in Mexico.
- Ventura was a brand of stringed instruments imported from Japan by C. Bruno and Company during the 1960s and 1970s. Bruno was bought by Kaman in the early 1980s, after which the brand disappeared. Some of the Ventura guitars were knock-offs of the Martin line, such as the Ventura V-35 appearing similar to the Martin D-35, and the Ventura V.
- Fernandes created faithful recreations of Fender instruments; and Takamine and Suzuki both made acoustic guitars nearly identical to certain Martin models. Interestingly, most Japanese copies of the time didn’t have serial numbers — a great way to tell if an instrument is truly a “lawsuit” guitar, even today.
Vintage Guitar Magazine - this is Vintage Guitar 101 and all neophytes are advised to start here. Of course, my favorite part is Michael Wright's 'Different Strummer' column, which covers the history of all those wild, wacky off-brand instruments in elaborate detail. VG has also published several of my own articles over the years, some of which can be found on this site.
The Blue Book - if you're serious about buying and selling used guitars, the Blue Book provides the most detailed pricing, dating and identification info. Much of it is available online for free.
As for your guitar, who knows, but if it is a Yairi, Sadao usually used the Japanese Emperor Dating system. Add 28 years to the first 2 numbers of your guitar serial number. Example: 50234 would date the guitar to 1978. I hope that helps.
GuitarHQ - a nice all-around mainstream vintage guitar site. All the standard Gibson and Fender type stuff, plus some other interesting odds and ends.
ProjectGuitar.com- where the Internet goes to work on guitars! All about guitar maintenance and repair.
MIMF - the Musical Instrument Makers Forum is a goldmine of information about materials, construction and repair techniques, including a gallery of unique custom built guitars that range from inept to incredible. If you need professional advice about repairing your old guitar, this is the place to ask.
Stewart-McDonald - a good source for replacement guitar parts and repair tools to keep your junker running. Also check out WD and Allparts. I'm not sponsored by or affiliated with these or any other manufacturer or retailer, but I'm often asked to recommend good parts sources.Well, here you go.
Ampage - a nice info source for amp schematics and other guitar electronics.
GuitarElectronics.com - lots of wiring diagrams.
Dr. Duck's Dating Service - an excellent resource, lots of serial numbers for many brands of guitars.
OTHER 'JUNK GUITAR' SITES:
Cheesy Guitars - a true kindred spirit, Meatex Z has created a wonderful site dedicated to all those unplayable Russian and Eastern European guitars. He was also nice enough to give me credit for naming his site and helping him out with information initially. We were originally going to do this project together, but decided that two sites are better than one. Go visit Meatex and tell him Big Beat says 'hi'.
SovietGuitars.com - this cool Russian language page for fans of Soviet era instruments is rapidly becoming an important resource.
Vintaxe.com - an excellent site about some of the lesser known vintage guitars produced in the 60's, 70's, and 80's. Lots of pictures and vintage catalog scans, including some of mine that I have shared with them.
My Rare Guitars - a nice collection of cheesy offbeat axes by a very hip collector and dealer. Vintage Normas, Ekos and Dominos galore, plus some great modern reissues.
Fetish Guitars - a fabulous site about Eko, Wandre, Galanti and other Italian guitars of the 60's. Both visually stunning and very informative, it is an absolute marvel.
Lordbizarre's Electric Guitar & Amp Museum - The name says it all. This collector from Belgium has put some seriously weird axes on display for your viewing pleasure.
Cheap Trashy Weird Old Guitars - cool name, and certainly the right spirit! A small but impressive collection of Egmonds, Wilsons, Musimas and even something called a Horugel.
21 Frets - I just love it when somebody takes totally trashed Hagstroms and Melody Makers and restores them from trash to flash. This site chronicles some really cool restoration projects.
Gudok - a Russian site that showcases 'the weapons of the proletariat', old Soviet guitars such as the Tonika, the Formanta and the Solo-II.
Hendrix Room - a Japanese site with a neat collection of totally off-the-wall 60's guitars with names like Youngtone and Melodier.
Animal Charme - dedicated to all those pointy headstock axes of the 80's,
this is the home of the shred and heavy metal guitar!
Pointy Guitars - more 80's pointy guitar madness!
Guitare Collection - A wacky French site that showcases some totally bizarre Euro junk guitars, even including a couple from Russia.
Rockin' Hollowbody Guitars - a great forum for people of the thinline and archtop persuasion. If it's got F-holes, you'll find all about it right here.
Vintage Guitars - this Swedish dealer has a photo gallery with lots of Goyas, Hagstroms, Levins and other oddball Scandinavian beauties.
Vermona - here's a German page about those amps and synths, so familiar to professional Russian musicians of the 70's and 80's. Never mind Fender, Vox and Marshall, everyone behind the Iron curtain knew that the best amps were made by Vermona. This factory also produced the famous Weltmeister accordions and the Ionika electric organ. To many older Russians, 'Ionika' is still synonymous with 'keyboard'. See the old Vermona amps HERE and the original Ionika HERE.
VINTAGE GUITAR INFO BY BRAND:
Ampeg - Vintage Ampeg Scroll Basses
Aria - Guitar Gallery
Burns - Burns Guitar Museum
Carvin - Carvin Museum
Danelectro - Danoguitars
Egmond - Egmond Guitars
Eko - Fetish Guitars, My Rare Guitars
Framus - Vintage Framus
Futurama - Futurama Story
Grazioso - Palka.com
Galanti - Fetish Guitars
Goya - Goya Guitars
Hagstrom - Hagstrom USA, Hagstrom Canada, Hagstrom UK
Official Hagstrom Site
Harmony - Broadway Music Co., Unofficial Harmony Page, Harmony Thumbs, Hillman Guitars
Heartfield - Heartfield Central
Hofner - Guitar HQ, Hofner Club Guitars, Vintage Hofner, Hofner Hounds
Hopf - Hopf Guitars
Hoyer - Hoyer Guitars
Ibanez - Ibanez Vintage Page, Vintage Ibanez Museum, Ibanez Vintage,
Ibanez Collector's World
Jolana - Jolana Info, My Jolana
Kramer - Kramer Krazy, Kramermaniaxe, Vintage Kramer
Music Man - Unofficial Music Man Guitar Page
Ovation - Ovation Fan Club, Ovation Tribute Page
Shergold - Shergold Guitars
Silvertone - Vintage Silvertone
Starfield - Unofficial Starfield Guitar Site
Teisco - Teisco Twangers
Tel-Ray - Unofficial Tel-Ray Page
Tokai - Tokai Registry
Univox - Univox Page
Vantage - Guitar Gallery
Ventura - Unofficial Ventura Guitar Page
Vermona - Vermona
Vox - Vox Showroom
Watkins - Watkins Guitars
Westbury - Westbury Guitars
Westone - Westone Guitars
MISCELLANEOUS OTHER LINKS:
Guitars.RU - Russia's top guitar community. The place to go for information about Tonikas, Aelitas and other Eastern Bloc guitars. If you speak Russian, you can also hang out on their popular forum and socialize with other Russian guitarists. Even if you don't, many of the regulars do speak English.
Russian Rock Club of America - not really vintage guitar oriented, but these folks are my friends and associates. We keep the flame of the classic Russian rock tradition alive in our new homeland, promote independent Russian rock bands in America, stage concerts, music festivals and other cultural events. If you're a Russian rock musician or fan living in America, you're not alone!
© 2003 - 2008 JunkGuitars.com. All rights reserved.
: I bought this Ventura in 1980 at H & H music in Houston and I was just wondering what it is worth. It has a classical body style, not the dreadnought. The action is low and has an adjustable truss rod. The serial number is 60505 and the model # is V-200B. Does anyone out there have an accurate answer? Thank you for your time and effort in responding to this e-mail inquiry.
Have a great day.I ALSO HAVE A MATCHING PAIR OF V-11 BRUNO & V-15 12 STRING FROM MEMORIAL MUSIC JUST PRIOR TO H & H. THEY TOURED WITH BUFFETT IN 74-78 THROUGH CARIB/PROVO SOUTH & NORTH FLORIDA. NO ONE WILL VALUE THEM @ MORE THAN PURCHASE PRICE. : I bought this Ventura in 1980 at H & H music in Houston and I was just wondering what it is worth.
Ventura Bruno Guitar Value
It has a classical body style, not the dreadnought. The action is low and has an adjustable truss rod. The serial number is 60505 and the model # is V-200B. Does anyone out there have an accurate answer? Thank you for your time and effort in responding to this e-mail inquiry.
Have a great day.I have a Ventura Bruno V-12 I paid $110 for in 1972 at Hauschild's music in Victoria, TX. Don't know if they are still around as the owner was up in years then. I have heard they were made in Japan but I dont know this for sure.
Guitar ID and AppraisalThere are many reasons for determining the precise age of your used guitar. The most important one is probably pricing the instrument appropriately when you’re looking to sell it. Prices for certain vintage models vary by thousands of dollars depending on whether it’s a 1963, for example, or a 1964.
You’ll also need to know exactly what your guitar is worth for insurance purposes.One of the most valuable and often overlooked resources to help you identify and appraise guitars is your local used instrument dealer. It’s so important to establish a working relationship with these folks. While it may be tempting to call every store in the area in order to save a few dollars when you’re shopping for something, developing a loyalty to one or two shops pays off when you need service that goes beyond a simple purchase.
While most shops charge a fee for an official appraisal, it may take an experienced retailer only a second to realize that your old Epiphone is actually a Nova 390, produced from 1976 to 1980 in the company’s short-lived Japanese factory. The shop employee may be glad to look up the approximate value of your ax in a book and give you an opinion about what it’s worth. But if you randomly drop by a store that you’ve never been to before and ask for this kind of help, they might not take the time to look carefully at what you’ve got.LEARNING THE HISTORYIf you want to educate yourself to identify guitars, the first step is to become familiar with the histories of some of the larger companies.
In recent years, more and more books providing information on the major guitar manufacturers have become available, and they’re a great place to start. There are some basic questions to ask.
When did the company start building guitars? Where were the guitars manufactured? Did the company move in the course of its existence, and did it move its production overseas? Did the model in question change drastically during the years of production?
For example, Gibson’s J-200 started out with rosewood back and sides and fairly standard X-bracing in the late 1930s. It was changed to maple back and sides (except for a few rosewood examples) and a double-X bracing pattern in the ’50s. Yet another double-X bracing pattern was used during the ’70s, and then a more Martin-like scalloped X-bracing was adopted when the model was reintroduced in the late ’80s. These are all differences that would be difficult for the uneducated eye to notice, yet they drastically affect the guitar’s sound and value.At the very least, these books will identify the time period during which the guitar in question was produced, basic information that will, for example, keep you from paying a premium for a '1960s Martin HD-28' (you’ll know that this model wasn’t introduced until 1976). Sometimes you can narrow down even further the time period in which your guitar was built because of a certain distinguishing feature. For example, a volute or scroll at the back of a Gibson headstock usually indicates that the instrument was built between 1974 and 1981 (although some appeared as early as 1969).Another thing that the trained eye will immediately be able to pick up on is whether an instrument was built in the U.S.
Or imported from one of the many low-end Asian manufacturers. When I worked in retail, a customer once walked in with a Ventura archtop for sale.
Convinced that he had a guitar that was built in the U.S. In the ’50s, he stormed out after I told him what I’d be able to offer him for it. Even if I hadn’t known that Venturas were made in Japan during the ’70s (which was confirmed by a quick look in the Vintage Guitar Price Guide), I knew as soon as he opened the case. It was mostly the guitar’s thick finish that gave it away, complete with lacquered neck-to-body joints and drips through the f-holes. The wimpy hardware was another dead giveaway that this guitar was neither domestically made, as he thought, nor a high-quality import. The best place to gain this kind of familiarity is at your local music store’s used-and-cheap section; the more guitars you inspect, the more experienced you’ll be.One of the biggest roadblocks in identifying a guitar can often be the serial number.
These numbers are frequently inconsistent or missing from reference books. In many cases, a serial number by itself is about as useful as a phone number with a missing digit. Few companies have consistently used the same system of numbering during their entire existence (Martin is among those that have). For example, Gibson began using an eight-digit number in 1977.
Ventura Guitar Serial Number Lookup Serial
The first and fifth digits indicated the year of production (8XXX2XXX meant it was built in 1982). If you tried to apply this formula to a serial number on an older Gibson, or even a newer vintage reissue (which sometimes use 'vintage' serial numbers) you’d be making a big mistake.REFERENCE BOOKSSo, how does one go about accurately identifying a used instrument? Probably the publication most often referred to is Gruhn’s Guide to Vintage Guitars. Written by George Gruhn (of Gruhn Guitars in Nashville) and Walter Carter, the guide is a must-have for identifying older American-made guitars. Organized into brands, general information, serial numbers, specific features, and model designations, the book identifies most major-brand guitars of the past and offers meticulous descriptions and a wealth of helpful photos. It offers little or no information on smaller makers, budget instrument makers, and recent entries into the guitar market.Although designed to give approximate values for vintage instruments, the Vintage Guitar Price Guide is also quite useful in identifying instruments. While it doesn’t describe each model’s features in detail, it does provide a company history for most of the makers included.
The book’s many photos can be very helpful, and the general listings, which include many off-brands, are among the most complete available. As with all price guides, the dollar amounts shown are to be taken with a grain of salt, but having even a vague idea of an instrument’s value will make you a more savvy buyer or seller.Another excellent resource is the Blue Book of Guitars. This hefty book probably represents the most complete compilation of information on guitars that have not yet reached vintage status.
Ventura Guitar Serial Number Lookup
It’s one of the few books that lists instruments made by companies such as Kay and J.B. Player and by individual luthiers such as Dave Maize and Steve Klein. Besides retail price information, the book includes brief descriptions of most companies and models listed, as well as a unique section on grading the condition of an instrument. In a color section, a variety of guitars are pictured front and back, showing a range of possible conditions-from 20 percent (poor) to 100 percent (new).You can also join guitar-related newsgroups on the Internet, but beware of advice from uneducated participants posing as guitar experts. Of particular interest to acoustic guitarists are rec.music.makers.guitar.acoustic, rec.music.makers.guitar.jazz, and rec.music.classical.guitar.
1970's Ventura Acoustic Guitars
Find Guitar By Serial Number
You might also check out rec.music.makers.guitar and alt.guitar.These resources and the others in the Acoustic Guitar Owner's Manual should help you on your way to becoming a guitar expert. All you need is hours and hours of paging through every available book on the subject, countless weekends spent at guitar shops and vintage instrument shows, a careful examination of all of your picking buddies’ axes, and (let’s face it) the purchase of a lemon or two.Excerpted from Acoustic Guitar magazine, October 1998, No. 70.Toll Free 877-712-4747.