Washburn

Washburn electric guitars, acoustic guitars, electric basses, acoustic basses, banjos, mandolins, travel guitars, and amplifiers
Washburn Guitars is an American guitar manufacturer. Washburn guitar company started making guitars in 1883 in Chicago. The factory would later be involved and located near a musical movement in Chicago in the 1920s. The movement was a “Delta Blues” movement, which came as a result of an influx of African Americans to the area. This type of blues would change the way blues music was played, and would also change rock and roll. This blues movement helped in the success of Washburn guitars. Washburn guitars were very popular during the 1920s. The musicians played the guitars as well as making them by hand. The Washburn guitar and the blues movement that it was involved with are associated with Maxwell Street. This street is only a few blocks from the factory, and where Washburn guitars were first embraced.

Washburn makes electric guitars, acoustic guitars, electric basses, acoustic basses, banjos, mandolins, travel guitars, and amplifiers. The company also makes accessories including guitar cases, clothing, and other parts like tuners, pick ups, and straps. Washburn is mostly known for its electric guitars and acoustic guitars. The company makes eight different styles or “Series” of both electric and acoustic guitars.
Washburn guitars have been gaining much recognition in recent years. More and more bands - regardless of their success or popularity - have been playing Washburn guitars. This is particularly true within the extreme metal, hardcore punk and post-rock scenes.

Yamaha

Acoustics, classical guitars, Acoustic-Electrics, Electric Guitars, Electric Basses

Yamaha was established in 1897 as a piano and reed organ manufacturer by Torakusu Yamaha as Nippon Gakki Company, Limited in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka prefecture, and was incorporated on October 12, 1897. The company's origins as a musical instrument manufacturer is still reflected today in the group's logo—a trio of interlocking tuning forks.
After World War II, company president Genichi Kawakamisaki repurposed the remains of the company's war-time production machinery and the company's expertise in metallurgical technologies to the manufacture of motorcycles. The YA-1 (AKA Akatombo, the "Red Dragonfly"), of which 125 were built in the first year of production (1958), was named in honor of the founder. It was a 125cc, single cylinder, two-stroke, street bike patterned after the German DKW RT125 (which the British munitions firm, BSA, had also copied in the post-war era and manufactured as the Bantam and Harley-Davidson as the Hummer). In 1959, the success of the YA-1 resulted in the founding of the Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd.
Yamaha has grown to become the world's largest manufacturer of musical instruments (including pianos, "silent" pianos, drums, guitars, brass instruments, woodwinds, violins, violas, celli, vibraphones, and saxophones), as well as a leading manufacturer of semiconductors, audio/visual, computer related products, sporting goods, home appliances, specialty metals, and industrial robots.

Daisy Rock

Guitars for girls and women - Electric guitar accoustic and bass
Daisy Rock Guitars is a guitar manufacturer established in 2000 by Tish Ciravolo. The company markets guitars and bass guitars designed and marketed specifically for girls and women. Daisy Rock is currently co-owned and distributed by Alfred Publishing.
Daisy Rock guitars are designed with light-weight bodies and narrower necks. Some models also incorporate a shorter scale length, which reduces the spacing between frets. These design features are meant to make the guitars easier to play for girls and women with small bodies and hands. The colors, finishes and body shapes are also designed to appeal to girls and women. Most manufacture is done outside the United States (the location of manufacture was not readily indicated in Daisy Rock's marketing materials), with the exception of instruments in the "Rock Candy Pink Label" series, which are made in the United States.
Daisy Rock also markets hard cases and soft gig bags, guitar picks, cables, straps, pins, guitar instruction books and DVDs, and a variety of t-shirts, sweatshirts, hats, and other apparel with Daisy Rock logos in pinks, blues, and other colors similar to the available guitar colors.
The Daisy Rock web site contains a gallery of endorsing artists. Most are women or bands consisting primarily of women, although a few male artists are featured.
The site also features a gallery of signed guitars, which according to company sources are not sold directly but instead are usually auctioned to raise money for various charitable causes.