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H... 21st C. Chinese Factories or Brands
There are a lot of Ukulele factories in China, usually in Guangzhou, and whilst some of them make the famous brands that are distributed internationally, (and some don't respect copyright), they also produce other less famous brands that only get very limited distribution. These may be the factory "house" brands or may be a limited trial run and they never really went into production, (but then a trial run of 500 is more than some luthiers will ever make)?
I haven't found the information to be more specific, but some of these brands are as good as the famous ones made along side them so deserve some recognition. Some of the factories will have used more than one of the brand names on otherwise identical models of Ukulele and I am finding the more I look into it that some of these "manufacturers" are really only internet distributors who may be fronts for factories or may be small businesses with a shop on Amazon, Ali Baba or similar market places
Anyway here is what I have found.
Primarily a Guitar manufacturer, established in 2003 in Shijing Town, Baiyun District, Guangzhou City. They say they have "3 production factories to make three quality levels to meet different needs". As well as Guitars they make Violins percussion and Soprano Concert and Tenor Ukuleles. Surprisingly on the website They say they are the OEM manufacturer for Lag(?) and I think they made Ukuleles for Team International at one stage. Their main own brands consist of Deviser, (I don't think it has anything to do with Deviser Co. of Japan, it does say on the website they are independent?), and they use this on all of their instruments including Ukuleles. other brands include Oriental Cherry that they use for Guitars and Ukuleles, and from the look of it Cowboy is their budget brand used on both Guitars and Ukuleles. Beyond this they have another brand, Sana that they use only on Ukuleles, a brand that is I believe called IZ (though with the logo it could easily be confused as ZI) that I have seen with what looks like the Lag soundhole rosette on a number of models, and another brand, Caravan that they use only on Guitars.
For all of the brand names, (and I have seen them use Aloha as well), I have not seen them making any Baritone scale or extra string models.
IZ Soprano
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