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Electric Guitars

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Instruments previously produced in Brooklyn, NY during the late 1930s and early 1940s.

Luthier Wilkanowski (his first name is unknown) built a handful of guitars during the late 1930s. Wilkanowski immigrated to the U.S. from Poland in the early 1920s and began building violins for Oliver Ditson. In circa 1938, he moved to New York City and began building violins for Gretsch. Before 1940, he opened his own shop and began building violins and violas under his own name. After establishing his violin business, he built a few guitars based on violin design. The body shape, soundholes, body edge/bindings, and pickguard are all very similar in design to a violin. It is estimated that he built around thirty guitars between the late 1930s and the early 1940s. Source: 20th Century Guitar.