Originally the makers of mandolins in the 1890’s, this American company has evolved through the years with its increasingly up to date models of guitars. They have taken the style and feel of the mandolins and created from this their ever changing and evolving modern guitars whilst still keeping the sound of these instruments absolutely perfect.

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Certainly the most well known and famous guitar that the Gibson company is known for has to be the Les Paul, a guitar that is still hugely popular and in demand today.  The company are also well known for their support of non-profit organisations, the Rainforest Alliance being one of the groups that Gibson Guitars have donated some of their profits to.  It is not unusual for this company to donate guitars signed by famous bands for auction to support these causes.

A lot of the big names in the music industry in the 70‘s and 80’s preferred to own a Gibson guitar, marc Bolan and Bob Dylan are just two of the many musicians that favoured these guitars, Paul McCartney also has quite a few of these Gibson guitars, with more modern artists such as Sheryl Crow and Frank Zappa making use of these magnificent musical instruments.

Fender guitar makers are a true professional company in every sense of the word and since opening its doors in 1946, it has evolved through history to make it now one of the world’s leading guitar makers, these guitars are literally used the world over by musicians.

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What makes Fender guitars so unique is that they were the first guitar to be made with a solid body. Founder of the Company, Leo Fender went on to further improve on his designs by inventing the Precision Bass Guitar which had frets and played like a guitar giving it the precision but the difference being that this guitar could be amplified, a big plus for Bassists.

There are literally hundreds of famous musicians that own a Fender guitar, The brilliant Eric Clapton is certainly a fan of these guitars with Iron Maiden also loving their sounds as does Sting, which is no surprise given the fact that the company is known for listening to what the musician wants and making sure that they incorporate this in to every single one of their guitars accordingly, even to the point of customizing a guitar with features that the musician has requested.

The Epiphone Guitar Company is probably one of the oldest, dating back to 1873, they have passed down through the generations their passion and skills and are still highly sought after today.  With a Greek founder initially creating and producing fiddles and lutes, the company started producing these awe-inspiring guitars in 1928.

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The Casino is probably one of the most well known models of the epiphone guitars and no doubt made more popular in the fact that it was a hit with Paul McCartney from the Beatles who liked the fact that it enjoyed a very heavy sound and is known to be a very good rhythm instrument, which probably explains why John Lennon and George Harrison where not far behind Paul McCartney in purchasing theirs.

Later on in1972 the actor Ronny Cox played an Epiphone guitar in the film “Deliverance”, which again hugely increased their popularity.

Now part of the Gibson Guitar group, the company still strive to make the musician’s dream in the shape of their guitars and more importantly however Epiphone still maintains its own line of archtop guitars which is a steel stringed acoustic or semi acoustic guitar quite popular with blues and jazz players alike.

English born Christopher Dean has always been passionate about music and guitars in particular, indeed by the age of 17 Christopher Dean had already designed and created his first guitar.

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It comes as no surprise then to understand the creativity and skilled engineering that always goes into each and every one of the Dean guitars which really does make sure that each one of their guitars seems to have its own unique character which is greatly echoed by some very fine artists, including Forbes Henderson, the greatly loved Moriss-Lenson Guitar Duo and even the Nocturne Guitar Quartet who are all the proud owners of a Dean guitar.

The fact that the Dean Guitar Company was responsible for the creation of the famous four necked guitar for Michael Angelo Batio speaks volumes about the dedication of this company and its vision in creating that something a little bit different.

Many people say that as soon as they play a Dean guitar, they immediately fall in love with its soft sounds and smooth feel and that coupled with the fact that they are great value for money just goes to show that this company is probably going to be making guitars for a long time to come.

The Crafter Guitar company although only established in 1972 earned their brilliant reputation through sheer determination and vision, a vision that was to carry them from their humbling workshop  where four people worked together in a small basement to their latest factory of 7,000 square meter building.

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It is their sound quality that makes their guitars so hugely popular, in fact around this time these guitars were actually known as ‘Sungeum’ guitars which when translated means accomplishing the sound, which makes no surprise of the fact that Crafter guitars are now sold in over 30 countries worldwide.  People just fall in love with these guitars and their beautiful sounds.

It goes without saying  then that the likes of Midge Ure, Katie Melua and even the hugely well known band of the 70’s and 80’s Status quo where all avid fans and players of the exquisite and well designed Crafter guitars.

It is not just the sound of these guitars that people love but the many different designs and no more so than in the ever popular choice of wood tops that this company design these guitars with, they really do create masterpieces in everything they do.

Alvarez Guitars really are that little bit different in that these stylish guitars were designed by the fusion of a Japanese acoustic guitar maker and an American guitar designing company. With that in mind you can imagine the sheer quality of craftsmanship that has gone into designing these beautiful guitars, literally handmade you will never find two Alvarez guitars that are identical.

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Alvarez is a very versatile guitar company in that they actually make a huge selection of guitars from acoustic to acoustic electric to classical guitars with their top-tier Alvarez-Yairi actually being hand made in their Japan workshop.

With their unmistakable sounds it is no wonder they are played by some very famous people with the likes of David Nash and Graham Nash amongst those who favour these very stylish but versatile Alvarez guitars. In fact many an artist have said that with an Alvarez guitar it will feel right, whatever melody you strum and in whatever way you wish to strum it.

The Alvarez guitars are also known to be really good workhorses and you will find many a person has had one of these musical instruments for an awful long time and still continue to play it.