Our History
A name with history
Born in Nashville. Built in Japan. Reimagined for a new generation.
Nashville guitars first appeared in the 1970s, when a small company on Lower Broadway paired the musical character of its hometown with the precision of Japanese guitar making.
The result was a line of well-made acoustic guitars inspired by the great American instruments of the post-war era: traditional in shape, honest in construction, and built for musicians who cared about how an instrument felt, sounded and aged. Many of them are still being played today.
Built in Japan
The 1970s were an extraordinary period for Japanese guitar making. Builders studied the instruments that had shaped American music, from body shapes and bracing to neck profiles and woods, and interpreted them with remarkable care.
Under the Nashville Musical Instrument Co. name, R. T. Cromwell's wholesale business on Lower Broadway brought those guitars to independent music stores across the Southeast. They were straightforward instruments, thoughtfully made and meant to be played for years. Good guitars, built with purpose.
Made for players
Nashville acoustics found their way into music stores, living rooms, stages and collections. They were familiar in all the right ways: traditional shapes, strong projection, comfortable necks and honest construction.
Build it well. Stand behind it. Let the musician take it from there. That philosophy still feels right to us.
The name goes quiet
Collectors report that the company closed its doors around 1980, and the Nashville name faded from the market.
The guitars did not. They kept being played, repaired, traded, handed down and rediscovered. Decades later they still turn up in old cases, collections and guitar shops, reminders of an era when instruments were expected to stay around.
In memory of R. T. Cromwell
R. T. Cromwell, who stood behind the original Nashville Musical Instrument Co., passed away in 2020, leaving a small but memorable chapter in guitar history. We remember him with gratitude.
A new chapter
In 2022, Nashville Musical Instruments Co. set out to build instruments inspired by those historical Nashville guitars, and began asking what the name could become next.
We looked back not only at surviving Nashville instruments but at the whole period that shaped them: post-war American designs, Japanese interpretations from the 1960s and '70s, period catalogues, workshop drawings and construction notes. Not to reproduce it literally, but to understand why certain designs endured.
The proportions. The bracing. The neck shapes. The small decisions that made some instruments age beautifully while others were forgotten. That tradition became the foundation for the Nashville guitars we build today.
What that means today
Honoring that tradition isn't about making guitars that look old. It's about instruments that feel considered from the moment you pick them up: a comfortable neck, clean fretwork, tuners that hold and a proper setup.
Materials are chosen because they make the instrument better, not because they lengthen a spec sheet. Designed in the U.S.A. and built in Asia to a quality standard we stand behind, with features you'd usually find on instruments costing far more.
The best instruments feel simple in the end. That simplicity takes work.
Made to be kept
We love vintage instruments because the good ones were never treated as disposable. They were played hard, maintained, repaired, worn in and kept.
We want to make instruments that musicians grow into rather than out of: guitars that feel familiar quickly, develop character with use and stay worth picking up years later. Every one is covered by our 2-year limited warranty.
Good design should endure. Good craftsmanship should be felt rather than advertised. And a well-made instrument shouldn't need an extravagant price to prove its worth.
Nashville Guitars
Inspired by the past.
Built for years to come.