India isn’t really known for manufacturing guitars or even hand-crafting guitars. Although there are a few companies that do make larger amounts of guitars, most of the guitar companies that I found are skilled luthiers who make custom-made guitars for their customers. I looked into some guitars that are made in India and you can read what I found out below.
Brands of Guitars Made in India
Astha Guitars
Producing acoustic, electric, and bass guitars, Astha Guitars is a Swiss-Indian Partnership that is committed to helping fight poverty in India by producing high-quality guitars and donating 10% of the sales to helping this cause. You can read more about their ideas here.
Astha Guitars is located in the Mylasandra district in Southern Bangalore where they have a showroom and you can also see some of the luthiers building guitars!
Avid Guitars
Avid Guitars make high-quality, hand-made guitars in Delhi, India. All of their guitars are custom-made and are built to the needs of individual players. Although there is limited information on the history of this company, it seems that they are making acoustic, electric, bass guitars, as well as violins.
Bigfoot Guitars
Karan Singh has been building guitars in his workshop for nearly a decade. Focusing on tone and playability, Singh strives to build unique instruments with elegant aesthetics which he says “adds a little flavor of India” into every build. Although he is self-taught, Karan sought out a mentor, Jason Kostal, from the USA to help grow his skill set.
Bigfoot Guitars is based in Goa, India, where Karan builds acoustic and electric guitars, as well as offers custom designs.
Cathode Guitars
Specializing in producing electric and bass guitars, Cathode Guitars are handcrafting their instruments in the region of Solan in the mid-Himalayas. All of their guitars are custom-made based on the customer’s wants and needs. They have a wide range of hardware and varieties of wood that they are able to build their guitars out of.
Cipriano Music
Auddie Dsouza began making guitars back in 1997 when he carved his first guitar out of a piece of lumbar block. Dsouzas background is in mechanical engineering and after his education, he got some experience working at an aerospace manufacturing workshop. He says that his experience and education helped him to realize his vision of having his own luthiery workshop.
By 2004, Auddie Dsouza started Cipriano Music in Thane and hasn’t looked back since. Now, Cipriano Music designs and builds custom guitars, basses, and even electric cellos.
Dehradun Guitar Company
Dehradun Guitar Company hand-makes custom guitars from their workshop in a small town near the base of the Himalayas. According to this article, their address is 52, Birgirwali, Rajpur, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, 248009 in India.
They aim to build guitars to help musicians sound and play their best. Their guitars are built at an affordable price point from wood sourced from India. Offering two series of guitars, the Himalayan and Signature range, Dehradun Guitar company also offers custom-made guitars where they work directly with their customers to build them great guitars.
Enzo Handcrafted Guitars
Enzo Handcrafted Guitars is a company set up by Samir Karnik, who left his bank job to build guitars and then began his company in 2013. Samir builds environmentally-friendly guitars made from indigenous wood in India. He tries to build as many of his guitars from the most eco-friendly woods such as mango, apple, and jackfruit trees. However, some of his most popular designs are made from Rosewood.
In an interview with RollingStone India, Karnik said, “Rosewood’s demand is really high, but supply is low. It’s kinda a threatened species of wood. Its supply is dwindling really fast. It’s putting stress on deforestation in places like India”.
Enzo Handcrafted Guitars is located in Mumbai, India where Samir handcrafts each and every guitar for individual customers. Thinking about the design and materials all with the player in mind.
Indische Guitars
Based in Kolkata, India, Indische Guitars is a custom guitar shop that makes electric, acoustic, and classical guitars. In addition, they also have a range of other instruments such as violins and ukuleles.
Indische Guitars make beautifully designed pieces, handcrafted to the highest stands while still maintaining an affordable price for their customers. They use a range of more traditional woods such as Rosewood, Mahogany, and Spruce, but also some exotic woods such as Cottonwood and Malaysian Blackwood.
Signature Guitars
Signature Guitars is a manufacturer that makes guitars in Kolkata, India. They make a variety of acoustic guitars mostly out of Rosewood and Mahogany.
The Thingsmiths
The Thingsmiths mostly specialize in making electric guitars and accessories, but they also do some work maintaining, modifying, and upgrading guitars. They are based in South Delhi.
Yamaha
Yamaha is one of the biggest guitar manufacturers in the world and has been making instruments for over 135 years. Although they are known for being founded in Japan, Yamaha makes guitars around the world.
For the most part, Yamaha guitars are made in Indonesia, China, and a custom guitar facility in Los Angeles, California. However, there are also some guitars that they make in India.
Yamaha manufactures a series of acoustic guitars in Chennai, India. They state that they produce their F-series of guitars in India. For example, the F-280 is a guitar that is made in India, exclusively for India.
Final Thoughts
While India is not exactly known for manufacturing guitars, after doing some investigation, it would seem that there are some incredible luthiers in India. Most of them produce only custom-made guitars, made to the highest standards.
