Photos of beautiful and unusual guitars that I have owned or worked on.

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ISANA

JAZZ-GITARREN REFERENCE PAGE

Photos and Contributions welcome!

Josef Sandner (born 2nd September 1924) was trained in musical instrument-making by Rudolf Mettal in Schönbach, Egerland (North-West Bohemia, now part of the Czech Republic). In 1946, aged 22, Josef relocated to Nauheim, just south of Frankfurt Am Main in Germany.

On 15th April 1947, Josef Sandner in partnership with Franz Himmer opened a shop for plucked and bowed string instruments at Mühlstraße 4 and 16, at the premises of the Schupp and Wenner families. They built excellent concert and solo guitars in the mid- to high- price range. From 22nd November 1948 they also operated a wholesale business for musical instruments. Their partnership was dissolved on 15th March 1951.

Franz Himmer moved his production to Bahnhofstrasse 72, where he (perhaps briefly) manufactured guitars before he deregistered his business in 1955 and switched to a new industry.

Josef Sandner continued to hand-build ISANA guitars for discerning customers in his 'Specialist Workstation For JazzGuitars' at Weingartenstrasse 21 from 1951 until around 1970. On January 1st 1974 the business passed to his wife, Anneliese, who deregistered it on January 1, 1980, following Mr. Sandner's death on November 29, 1976.

The ISANA company name was a contraction of his own name and place of work: JSANA = J(osef) Sa(ndner) Na(uheim). Historically the letter I and J are closely bound, and it is understood that the brand name was pronouced ISANA but styled as JSANA.

Many thanks to Stefan Lob at schlaggitarren.de and to Karl-Heinz Pilz for sharing the above information.

General Isana Dating Information:

Month and Year of manufacture is ink-stamped (quite small!) inside the Archtop models, on the inside face of the backplate, directly beneath and visible through either (or often both) soundhole(s). It is usually very faded and faint, and hard to locate and read - try using a very bright torch!

ISANA Archtop Models, and Speculative Timeline 1951-1974

Josef Sandner is believed to have produced these guitars either alone, or in a small-workforce workshop. Despite the coincidence of a shared family name, he was not related by birth to either Franz Sandner of FASAN Guitars, or Alois Sandner who made ALOSA Guitars. Speculation and evidence abounds as to there having been collaborations, shared suppliers, and mutally assistive business dealings between these three during this difficult time where - fuelled by their shared goals, relative geographical proximities and broad stylistic similarities - 'everyone helped each other'. However there are many distinct yet subtle differences in the details of the output known from these brands...

That said, there are also many other similar guitars that display 'Isana-like' features, but which bear no branding, or a variety of other names, such as 'Oscha', 'S und S', and even Hopf- It was (and still is!) common practise for a distributor or even the original seller's shop to add their own perfectly professional-looking decal labels to guitars in these days, so the situation is by no means clear cut.

The following photos were archived largely from ebay listings during the 'early' days of the internet, ca 2002-6, with further images added as collectors have sent them to me. Below, I try to make sense of the chonology of these models... but PLEASE NOTE! Year(s) of production as claimed may refer to a model produced for several years either side of that date!

The method I used to develop the following chronology: Pictured guitars are sorted first according to known date stamps, then similar but undated examples were added in as and where the features correlate, with consideration of how this would relate to the stylistic changes with popular worldwide trends in guitar design, ie: full body jazz guitars> cutaways added> thinline bodies with floating electronics> move to electric beat guitars and budget plywood-topped models> double cutaway thinline electrics

Note: When I first assembled the following 'chronology', I believed the date of manufacture could be inferred by the style of tailpiece, but it appears Plain, Lyre, & Harp forms were all readily available from the same supplier continuously throughout the 1950s/1960s. Since the modest cost of a plain unit would be tripled for Lyre or Harp form, it is more likely to be an indication of the manufacturer's designation of Standard or Deluxe model. (Also, one should bear in mind that these tailpieces are very easily swapped!)

c.1951-54

Medium-bodied 'Deluxe' Non-Cutaway Models

Glitter Headstock Veneers with thin-stripes, Lyre-form Tailpiece

and a similar example:

c.1953

Cutaway Models introduced

pickguard shape is inconsistant, and with two mounting brackets?:

c.1954-56

Still with glitter on their headstocks, but the black stripes are becoming tapered

above: Dated Dez 1954 - Body Stamp

below: no datestamp recorded

Below: Headstock veneers come to a sharper point on this example, which otherwise looks like an early 'Elvis model(?). No date-stamp reported.

Non-Cutaway Model

Dot-Markers as used by Fasan, simplified headstock veneers and tailpiece suggests a budget model, traditional f-holes...

Unclear date stamp reported as either Sept 1954 or 1956?

c.1956-58

Black (above) and tobacco-burst (below) supplied with no date information

Photos supplied with unverified dates of "1956" above, and "1958" below

Similar cutaway model, but glitter on headstock, different tailpiece and pickguard shape. Also note 6 fingerboard inlays, including 3rd position, which I usually would associate with Gustav Glassl/Hopf models(?):

1956-61

The 'Elvis' Models produced

Elvis with Isana Jazzgitarre

Of all the ISANA models produced, the most iconic and desirable is the stylish black-lacquered archtop owned by Elvis Presley whilst stationed a few miles away in Bad Nauheim, on the other side of Frankfurt, Germany 1958-1960.

Elvis with Isana Jazzguitar

"Elvis' father Vernon bought the guitar on 20th December 1958 at the music shop 'Hummel' in Frankfurt for a price of DM 225,00, and gave it to Elvis as a Christmas present; a noble instrument finished with black piano lacquer. Later, Elvis added a floating neck pickup to the instrument and played it through a Dynacord amp."

(Quotation translated from http://www.elvisforever.de)

Elvis with Isana Guitar

For decades (until as late as 2004) this guitar's maker was notoriously unidentified in the Elvis fan and guitar collector worlds.

Elvis with Isana Jazzgitarre

In 2006, a guitar alleged to be Elvis' personal guitar came on the market mistakenly described as a 'Jsana' through a mis-reading of the company's admittedly confusing logo. A fanciful press-release from the time claimed it to be 'possibly the only remaining example in the world'. This guitar with it's dubious provenance (and brutally added humbucker pickup!) repeatedly failed to sell when offered by Heritage Auctions. It was subsequently loaned for display at the Memphis Museum of Rock 'n' Soul.

Elvis Exhibition of Isana Guitar

The above guitar is not unversally agreed to be Elvis' own Isana guitar. Scotty Moore wrote that Elvis gave his personal Isana - along with another guitar - to two young fans, and that Elvis also autographed them. It would appear more likely that his personal one has been on display at the newly-opened Elvis Presley Museum Dusseldorf since 2012 (below)

Elvis Presley Museum Dusseldorf Isana Guitar

Timeline of the 'Elvis' model pt 1, 1956-59:

Since the known production date of the 'Elvis' model spans 5 years (OKT 1956- MAI 1961), it seems a reasonable ballpark figure guesstimate that perhaps 100 examples were completed per year for an approx total of 5 years = 500 of this model may have been built, with perhaps fewer than one fifth of that (ie under 100 examples) in black. The most common finishes appear to have been the Red-black or Orange-Black Sunburst, with slightly fewer in Tobacco Brown Sunburst or Orange Sunburst. Only a very few examples (I know of seven including Elvis') have surfaced in Black finish. None are yet known to me in Blonde or Natural finish, which is strange.

***DO PLEASE NOTE that these numbers are pure speculation based upon what I imagine a small (assumed under 6-person) team could produce, and could easily be inaccurate by a factor of 10 in either direction!!!***

Earliest known black 'Elvis Model", dated OKT 56

Noted variations are few, but headstock proportions vary, possibly as a result of the handwork involved. Earlier headstocks are wider at the tip, and more paddle-like, while earlier tuner buttons are more squared becoming rounded later on. Headstock ferrules on early examples may be painted black, or white, bt later are usually bare polished metal.

The below example (my own) shows the production date, 'NOV 1957'

Isana Archtop Guitar

The next example I bought and sold before I knew about the internal date stamps. A close comparison of these two examples revealed different curves, points, and general geometry of the headstocks, while the body shape, bindings and other dimensions were very consistant.