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Guitar Brands That No Longer Exist

Some of these companies built more guitars in a year than every rival combined, then vanished so completely most players have never heard the names.

By Music Junky · Published 2 days ago · 5.4K views · Last updated 17 August 2026

14:07 runtime Watch on YouTube →

This video covers 12 brands. Each one below has its own full page with the founding story, key models, notable players, and where the brand stands today when that page is live. This page is the index; the depth lives on each brand's own page.

Brands covered in this video

01 WandreItalian aluminum-neck art guitars, now museum pieces Brand page coming soon

02 Micro-FretsBuilt wireless guitars a decade before anyone else Brand page coming soon

03 GuyatoneStarted Japan's electric guitar industry, closed with no headline Brand page coming soon

04 TeiscoDismissed as toys, now hunted for their gold-foil pickups Brand page coming soon

05 First ActA toy-aisle logo that also built for Maroon 5 Brand page coming soon

06 Travis BeanAluminum necks Jerry Garcia played on stage Brand page coming soon

07 BurnsBritain's answer to Fender, killed by a piano company Brand page coming soon

08 MosriteThe Ventures' guitar, later Johnny Ramone's Brand page coming soon

09 FramusOnce Europe's biggest guitar maker; John Lennon played one Brand page coming soon

10 ValcoBuilt the Airline that made Jack White's career Brand page coming soon

11 KayA blues-guitar giant that died almost overnight Brand page coming soon

12 HarmonyOnce out-produced every other guitar maker combined Brand page coming soon

Jump to a timestamp

0:00 Intro
0:00 Wandre
1:04 Micro-Frets
2:09 Guyatone
3:14 Teisco
4:19 First Act
5:24 Travis Bean
6:29 Burns
7:34 Mosrite
8:39 Framus
9:44 Valco
10:49 Kay
11:54 Harmony

Timestamps are estimated placeholders — replace with your actual video chapter markers.

More in this series

Part 1 (soon) Part 2 Japanese Brands Brands That No Longer Exist Full Brand Index (A–Z)

Note: Each brand card above links to that brand's full profile page once it's built. Brands without a page yet are marked "coming soon" rather than linked, so nothing here points to a broken page. See the full brand index.