Dan and his wife Mary, owned C. Conn Corporation during most of the s. The Mardan name is a combination of their first names Mar y - Dan. The guitars were made in Japan--likely at Tokai Gakki--who also made the Conn branded guitars from the s. It is thought that the Mardan brand is one of the rarest of the Conn brands. There simply are not many of them around. Mardan, Continental and Drifter brands are not the subject of this site and therefore are not be discussed further. However, information acquired may be published at a later date.
Conn acoustic guitar manufacturing was discontinued after the model year, and Conn electric guitars were introduced in but were only made and sold for a short time. Catalog info for electrics is only available for , and that may in fact be the only year they were made, distributed, and sold. Like most guitar makers, Conn had their own unique patented acoustic headstock. Ackley, mentioned above, devised the first design that was used from through The only notable difference between some models was the Conn rosette emblem below the CONN name on the some headstocks, while not present on others.
It has been undetermined if there is some specific reason why certain models have the rosette and others do not. See these pictures of Conn's acoustic headstock design without rosette , and with rosette. In , the entire lineup of Conn acoustics was re-designed--including the new headstock design and logo.
Conn may have occasionally done some market testing by distributing limited runs of new models, some of which never made it into full-blown production, and never made it into their catalogs in Japan and other countries. Factual data to support that claim has been provided by former employees Jerry Ackley and Fred Evans. One limited production model is the F six-string guitar--one of which one is owned by Ron McCormick. Only of the F's were built according to Jerry Ackley. It was one of only four steel-string Conn guitar models that featured all solid woods.
Another model, the F twelve-string guitar, was also built there, and thus far only a few are known to still exist--one owned by myself thankyou Phil , one owned by Anna Lancaster of Portland, Oregon. Another was owned by Fred Evans--a former Conn employee in the Nevada warehouse, but tragically, that guitar was destroyed in an automobile accident in Other models made by Harptone for Conn were the F and F All of these models F, F, F, F were built in by Harptone and each was limited to a production run of The F and F had spruce tops, and solid maple backs and sides.
The F and F had solid spruce tops and solid rosewood sides and backs. Other luthiers including luthier Tad Adachi, built limited runs and sent them to Jerry Ackley in an effort to gain some of the business from Conn. Some of these one-of-a-kind models can be seen in the photos section. Others are in the hands of owners to whom Jerry gave them, and are not included here.
They may or may not have had the Conn logo. Jerry Ackley devised the first labelling scheme for Conn. And for the first 3 years of production, that original labelling scheme was consistently followed. Ackley's labelling methodology went like this: Every Conn classical model carried a gold label, and every steel string model carried a silver label. Serialization for these first guitars was actually devised by the Tokai Gakki factory in Japan, and followed a specific type of pattern that is described below, See further explanation below in the serial number discussion bold print: "The serial numbers of See also various departures from the explained schemes.
Nearly every Conn acoustic guitar made from through bore an adhesive-backed gold or silver label either very thin foil or thicker aluminum plate laminated to a thin plastic film backing material mounted to the inside back--visible inside the soundhole. Higher-end Conns that have inside graft strips 2-piece and 3-piece backs have either a a heavier label of thicker aluminum--more like the thickness of a credit card or hotel key card, or b model number stamped into the wood heel block inside where the neck is mounted to the body.
Almost all other models have a label similar to foil. Those thru Japan-made guitars that have the labels, on which model numbers and serial numbers appear, seem to have been hand written with a ball-point pen--and which most are legible.
Conn labels are found both very neatly written, or barely legible, and everything in between! This legibility issue stands to reason--try writing with a ball point pen on a piece of aluminum foil. Workers who wrote the information were likely unaccustomed to writing English characters see more below. The labels were made of a two-part laminate; a front part that is very thin gold classical or silver steel-string foil, and a backing that is some kind of adhesive-backed thin white plastic film.
The front foil also seems to commonly separate from the white backing on the foil-type Conn labels. As mentioned, the labelling followed a consistent method for the first three years; gold labels were initially used only on the classical models, and silver labels were used on steel-string models.
Evidence of a deviation from this original practice is seen in the variety of silver or gold labels used in later models mid and beyond. A couple of owners have sent pictures of Conn guitars that bear a red paper label--not unlike the ones found on the much-sought-after and collectible Yamaha Nipppon Gakki "Red Label" guitars of the late 60's and early 70's. On the red label Conns the numbers are not hand written but are instead stamped or machine-printed.
The foil or aluminum labels on the Conn guitars divulge both where they were made, revealing "Oak Brook, Illinois, Made in Japan", or "Made in Korea" very few in Korea , and what year they were made. Guitars made in Japan during the 's were generally very well made due to the Japanese industry's ever-growing emphasis on defect prevention, consistency in quality and continuous improvement during that time period.
A few owners are in possession of known models that carry a "Made In Korea" label. See above -- "A Brief History" for more on this. As mentioned, through part of , Conn guitars carried the year of manufacture as the first and second digits, and the month of manufacture as the third and fourth digits.
A couple of examples are shown here, that show the adherence to Mr. Ackley's color scheme, based on their model numbers. One owner, Charlie Evans, owns a model C purchased new by his father--photo not shown which has serial number indicating August manufacture, and the label is gold. To the right, a model F guitar owned by Rev. Christopher Scrivens carries a silver label, and serial number Still another example below shows a gold foil label on a C guitar made in February of Beginning some time in about April or so , Conn made a change in the serialization structure.
Coincidentally it appears that little to no guitars produced after had silver foil labels. It appears that about that time, Conn may have switched exclusively to gold foil labels. The serialization occurred, going forward, but it appears that they may have had some silver foil labels "left over" when they began using the gold ones. Some Conn Acoustics still have silver labels as late as indicating that the gold were probably "phased in" once the silver labels were depleted.
Unfortunately, reliable history on this aspect of the labelling is not available at this time. The only evidence that bears out the above information is that which has been accumulated from Conn owners. As seen in the third picture below right, the serialization change involved the use of the first two digits to indicate the week of manufacture 01 thru 52 , and the 3rd and 4th digits as the year.
In the example, reveals that the guitar was made in the 40th week of The is thought to be the 52nd guitar made, but this is still being verified. This photo is from my own Conn F As you can see, it is loosely secured, and coming off--as is characteristic of many Conn acoustic guitar labels. Many, including Fender, Washburn, Takamine, Godin, and others still use this type of date-embedded serializing system today. Some labels presented by Conn owners seem to deviate from the above explanation for post serialization.
Ironically, and although this is not understood, the deviation or departure seems to be unique to some of the F and F series. Several owners of a model F and some who own F models have sent photos of labels that appeared to begin with an 8. In one or two cases, high-resolution close-up photos of these labels were studied and first thought to be other numbers.
For example, on label thought initially to be , and later thought to be indicating week 51 of In another case, a serial number that appeared to be was considered possible to be In another case, an owner submitted a rather unfocused photo that appeared to clearly be a , and that one with the typical dark line at the lower left of the upper circle of the '8' couldn't be discerned as any different. It is odd how only the F and F models have displayed these exceptions to the standard numbering.
But at the same time, it is conceivable that an individual who was writing labels for a period of time had some difficulty with writing fully-legible characters. It would be no different than you or I trying to reconstruct Japanese characters without proper and thorough training. I spent some time in China, and took a year of Mandarin in college when I returned. I can relate first-hand to how difficult writing the proper character can be without instruction and without much practice.
This issue remains one that I have spent countless hours studying, and have decided to abandon--given that I cannot speak firsthand to the individual who wrote these numbers, and thus am only able to speculate on this seeming departure from the normal serialization scheme. I have provided a visual rationale here, but beyond this I have no plausible information.
It appears that a new serialization system was put in place some time in coinciding with the redesigned headstock and what appeared initially to be a re-energized and revitalized effort to capture business. This effort was cut short by the decision to disassemble the acoustic guitar business after the model year. The serialization system for at least part of the models departed from the common prior system and no information is available at this time about the structure or meaning of the serial numbers for that model year.
The label for models departed from the notorious "it fell off" label to a more reliable paper label that seems to stay on. An example is shown at right. Serialization etc. Additional Information on Post Labelling:. Some time after the , some Conn acoustic electric guitars that were similar in construction to Ovation a composite back appeared, and had a red paper label--not unlike Yamaha's notorious Nippon-Gakki red label FG models that were used in the same time period 's.
The Conn red labels that have been seen contain similar information as the gold and silver foil labels, but instead of having model and serial numbers hand-written, the red labels were apparently applied with an ink stamp or machine, making them much more legible and less-susceptible to "mistaken identity" than prior labelling.
Little is known about these "mystery" Conn guitars, but Thanks to Mel Davis of Parlin, NJ for providing photos and information that identified this later guitar and labelling. More information about specific models, and types steel-string acoustic, nylon string acoustic, and electric guitars made by Conn is detailed on the following pages. Ambassador french horn-- it's in good condition.
Conn single french horn in excellent condition with case, mouthpiece and extras. Conn french horn my son used for one year in band. For sale: free-blowing, rich-sounding conn 8d french horn. Holton regency single french horn and hard storage case for sale. Conn double french horn, i believe to be a model 6d. Looking to sell conn 8d. A simple instrument, a staple of classic musical imagery. Conn 9D -also varies on specifics.
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