They were mainly responsible for producing acoustic and semi-acoustic rather than electric guitars for major manufacturers Ibanez and Yamaha.

Iida is still producing guitars, but mostly in their factory located in Korea. Iidi began manufacturing guitars in 1958 in Nagoya, Japan. Humming Bird made electrics that were copies of Mosrite guitars. Little-known manufacturer in operation in the early 1960s until 1968. I'm unsure at this point if this Tama had any relation to the Tama that existed under Hoshino Gakki Ten. There's some evidence that Tama began producing guitars under their own badge from 1975-1979. Tama eventually took over badged guitar production from STAR Instruments in the mid-1960s. Tama Industries began guitar production from 1962 to 1967 as a factory of Hoshino, producing more badged Ibanez guitars as well as Continental, Crest, Goldentone, Jamboree, King's Stone, Maxitone, Star, Starfield (some), Tulio and Jason. My sole purpose is to help people looking specifically for information on the maker of their MIJ guitar. I don't know if some of the listed guitars are indeed valuable. I have no idea what any given guitar from this period would sell for. In some cases, I won't know because the badge you have may be extremely rare and virtually unknown to even seasoned collectors.Īnd just a quick note: I do not buy or sell guitars. Listed below are the major manufacturers, known badges, and suspected badges to the best of my knowledge in written and list form to make it easy to find out who made your guitar. And sometimes, the guitar that is supposed to be an MIJ guitar is actually made elsewhere (Korea, Indonesia) because production was moved during this period in history. which doesn't always help in identifying a maker.

Parts from other guitars would be used in the making of a particular badge for a period of time because it was all the manufacturer had to hand.

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