AXL Musical Instruments

AXL Musical Instruments


AXL are a Chinese musical instrument manufacturer and distributor founded in 1993.

The head office in in Shanghai and they apparently have about 20 factories throughout China. In addition to making OEM Instruments for other people and having a range of electric Guitars branded AXL, (I have seen a resonator Ukulele just branded AXL too), they have a number of other quite famous "Own Brands"

Johnson
Founded in 1993, the same time as AXL itself, this is their budget Guitar range and under this branding they also have some budget folk instruments including Dulcimers, Mandolins and Ukuleles.

The Ukuleles come as mahogany laminate Soprano, Concert or Baritone.

Koloa
This brand started in 2007 and is their best Ukulele brand. It has 4 model ranges in its catalogue, the 700 is solid koa and only comes as Concert. The 600 is high gloss solid mahogany and comes as Soprano, Concert or Baritone. The 500 range is matte solid mahogany and features a Tenor as the other 3 scales. The 300 range is solid top mahogany and comes in all the main scales but there is a cutaway electro/acoustic Tenor in the range as well.



Recording King
This branding was originally used in the 1930's by the mail order company Montgomery Ward and was possibly their most prestigious brand. AXL has resurrected the brand and use it on a range of Guitars, Banjos and some Ukuleles. The range includes a Resonator Ukulele and a Banjolele, (actually made by Daewon, AXL don't appear to make Banjos themselves).

Savannah
This is another budget range that includes a Baritone Ukulele along with some natural finish and the ever popular colourful range of Sopranos. This range has some Banjos, but not Banjoleles, and small Mandolins in too.