The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #94220   Message #1821072
Posted By: M.Ted
28-Aug-06 - 06:35 PM
Thread Name: Are ventura guitars still made?
Subject: RE: Are ventura guitars still made?
No--they haven't been made for about thirty years--they were basically very good copies of American guitars, made to the order of C. Bruno and Company-Here is a great site about them--The Unofficial Ventura Guitar Site --

I know that Barney Kessel was personally involved in the design of the Ventura Barney Kessel, which was an L-5S copy--my guitar teacher, who had been a longtime friend of Barney's, had a couple of them, which he had gotten from Barney, and that he used for gigging for many years--

I've run into a number of players who liked and used them, and still talk about how great they were, but they don't seem to have caught the attention of the collectors--

There is a luthier in the northwest who currently uses the name "Ventura" for one of his custom archtop instruments, and, I believe that Fender uses the name for a model, but
neither have any connection with the Bruno models.