Canada isn’t exactly known for manufacturing guitars for big companies. However, they do have many smaller manufacturers dedicated to producing high-quality instruments. Mostly in the realm of acoustic guitars (but also producing electric guitars), these Canadian-built guitars are becoming more popular on the market due to their fantastic build quality.
Brands of Guitars Made in Canada
Although dozens of guitar brands are manufactured in Canada, I focused on some of the most popular Canadian brands. Here’s what I found out.
Godin Guitars
In 1972, Robert Godin started building guitars in La Patrie, Quebec. Over the last 50 years, Godin Guitars has remained a family business with Robert’s two sons taking an interest and continuing the Canadian family’s legacy.
One of the things that you can be absolutely sure about with this brand is that they are 100% North American-made. “From Forest to Stage”, everything is created in North America, with all manufacturing done in their own factories.
Godin are still producing the necks and bodies in the original location in La Patrie, Quebec before they are sent to be assembled in their Quebec factories. Producing a wide variety of guitars from electric to acoustic and bass guitars, they are all made in Canada.
In addition to Godin Guitars, the Godin family owns an additional four brands: Art & Lutherie, Norman, Seagull, and Simon & Patrick. All of these brands manufacture guitars in Canada.
Yanuziello Guitars
Joseph Yanuziello began making guitars in 1979 after graduating from art college a few years prior. Yanuziello specializes in making electric guitars, but also makes a few acoustic guitars as well.
Joseph began by making guitars in his house and shop in Toronto, before moving his crafting location to Winger, Niagara peninsula, still in Canada. This beautiful old post and beam building became Joseph’s new workshop.
What is unique about Yanuziello Guitars is that Joe handcrafts and builds all of his guitars by hand, one at a time. Joe creates one-of-a-kind instruments that often have input from the customer making for a completely custom design, specified to the customer’s wants and needs.
Beneteau Guitars
Marc Beneteau has been making Beneteau Guitars since 1974 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Like Yanuziello, Beneteau is a one-man band who carefully handcrafts every individual instrument by himself. This ensures the highest standards of acoustic guitars are made.
Beneteau said, “I can honestly say that it’s been my passion to understand the mystery and intricacies of building the perfect acoustic guitar – it just hasn’t wavered”.
Riversong Guitars
One of the newer companies on this list, Riversong Guitars, was founded in 2011 by Mike Miltimore, who strives to build innovative and high-quality guitars. Based in Kamloops BC Canada, Riversong Guitars mostly produce acoustic guitars (Pacific Series, G2 Series, Ukulele, and Custom build) but they also make an electric guitar (T2 Electric).
Although they have not been around for as long as some of the other guitar brands, they definitely produce guitars that you should consider. Having received a number of business and design awards, their innovation has seen them produce some important new guitar designs, such as the Neck-thru system. Their FAQ on their website has some great information on their innovative designs and how Riversong’s designs work.
Frank Brother Guitars
Known for their electric guitars, Frank Brother Guitars is also a new company. Founded in 2014, all of their guitars are hand-crafted in Toronto, Canada.
The three brothers: Jon, Nick, and Tim are the guys behind the brand. Together they work to operate their guitar company. They offer customization on all of their guitars and actively work with customers to tailor their brand-new guitar to the customer’s liking. You can order a custom guitar from them through their website. And they ship globally!
Beardsell Guitars
With designs for acoustic and electric guitars, Al Beardsell, handcrafts, repairs, and restores guitars in his workshop located in Winnipeg, Manitoba in Canada.
Built one at a time, Al Beardsell creates innovative and distractive designs of the highest quality. Like many of the other guitar makers we have discussed, Al works hard to ensure his instruments are the best they can possibly be.
His signature 4G body style is one of his most iconic designs and the one that landed him on the map. These guitars have a loud, rich sound, designed by lowering the bout and moving the bridge further back. They are also very comfortable to play and have great projection.
Boucher Guitars
Located in Quebec, Canada, Boucher Guitars began in 2005 with a dream of creating and developing “acoustic guitars whose sound, playability and aesthetics would match the talent of the best guitarists and inspire them.”
What I love about this and many other Canadian guitar brands, is the dream and desire to utilize the beautiful wood from the area. Boucher utilize the Adirondack’s red spruce wood to craft their guitars.
With a group of dedicated luthiers and craftsmen, Robin Boucher began working to create outstanding acoustic guitars that have been refined over the years to create the best instrument possible. They have built up a reputation for creating highly regarded soundboards that they now sell to other guitar manufacturers (keeping the best for Boucher Guitars of course).
Prestige Guitars
This next brand is known for producing a wide variety of guitars including acoustic, electric, bass, and custom designs since 2003. Prestige Guitars have dealers across the United States and also offer to ship to people who do not live within 30 miles of a dealer.
Although they are based in North Vancouver, BC in Canada, the build of Prestige Guitars is carried out in three phases. The initial and final phase is carried out at their shop in Vancouver and the middle phase of production is carried out in South Korea.
Sorokin Guitars
Alex Sorokin handcrafts guitars one at a time in Edmonton, Alberta in Canada. His unique style strives to capture the essence of high-quality guitars from the ‘50s. Alex deeply loves making guitars. He doesn’t do custom orders or have his own store or anything like that. He makes a guitar when he feels like it and then takes it to his favorite local guitar store to sell, Stang Guitars.
Sorokin Guitars website is more of a location for Alex to share what he has been working on, repairs that he has done, and a place for people to land if they are interested in his guitars or work.
These guitars will be hard to come by, but if you do manage to pick one up, you will know that it is a special piece. Sorokin has been more actively posting on their Facebook Page and Instagram account.
Retired Canadian Guitar Makers
Webber Guitars
In addition to these guitar brands, there are a few other names that you may come across when looking for Canadian guitars. Webber Guitars was owned by David Webber who built over 1300 instruments throughout his career, beginning in 1998. By 2021, David Webber was semi-retired and his website was archived in 2019.
As David is now semi-retired, he is only making a very limited number of guitars and any inquiries should be made directly to David himself.
Proulx Guitars and Mandolins
Proulx Guitars and Mandolins is another brand that appears to be retired. Their website appears to be still operational, but through some searching online, it seems that Mario Proulx may have retired from building guitars. It is unclear.
During his time building, Mario Proulx handcrafted acoustic guitars. Most of his builds were custom-tailored for each individual. As a guitarist himself, Mario helped his customers choose great options for each build. In addition to guitars, he also spent time building mandolins.
As a single guitar maker working by himself, Proulx guitars are not easy to come by.
Final Thoughts
With so many new guitar manufacturers popping up in Canada, this country is going to be one to keep an eye on going into the future. We will likely see more and more guitars made in Canada.
Hi folks, I have a Simon & Patrick guitar I bought brand new in 1987 from the arts music store in Newmarket, Ontario and still own it. I call it a poor mans Martin, as it sounds just like one and rosewood sides an back gives me such a warm smooth melody. I cant part with it, it’s so solid and well made. I love it so much I will leave it to my kids or grandkids. It is a true pleasure to play and I would say that in terms of bang for buck, you cannot beat the Godin family of guitars. A true Canadian treasure. Thanks for your time, Rick Harrison.
Thank you for your comment, lots of research goes into writing these articles and it is always nice to hear from readers that have personal experience with the companies we write about. So, thank you Rick.