Japanese Mandolin Makers Suzuki
|
Suzuki Apparently, Masakichi Suzuki was Japan's first violin producer. In the 1880s, he started to make and sell violins. He founded the Suzuki Violin Factory in 1900, and by 1910, his factory was producing 65,800 violins per year. Nagoya became the manufacturing center of string musical instruments... Kiso Suzuki and Nagoya Suzuki were one company before WWII. But after the war they were split up into the Suzuki Violin Company (now Kiso Suzuki Violin Company) and Suzuki Violin Manufacturing Company (now Nagoya Suzuki Violin Company). There the relationship seems to have ended. Early Suzukis were made by Masakichi Suzuki, and they are very reminiscent of Italian instruments. |
||||||
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
perhaps pre-1900 |
|||
| Masakichi Suzuki | Masakichi Suzuki No.5 | Masakichi Suzuki No.3 mandolin and label | ||||
| Once the Suzuki Violin Co Ltd was set up the labelling changed, and several versions are found. As yet I cannot say when the changes took place. | ||||||
![]() |
probably dating from around 1900 |
![]() |
![]() |
|||
| No.6 | Early Suzuki Violin Sha label No.6 Kiso Fushima | No.60 | No.70 | |||
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
|||
| later Suzuki Violin Sha mandolin and label No.90 Kiso Fushima 1968 | No.190 | Suzuki Violin Co Nagoya no date | ||||
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
|||
| No.201 | more typical Suzuki label | No.226 1965 | ||||
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
|
| No.203 | No.206 | No.210 | No.215 | No.223 | No.226 1968 | |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
|||
| No.228 | No.230 | 1481 | 1900 | |||
| At some point models started to have M (presumably for mandolin) as a prefix. | ||||||
![]() |
|
![]() |
![]() |
|||
| M210 | M30 | |||||