Valco was a manufacturer of guitars, guitar amplifiers, and other musical instruments from the 1940s through 1968. Only other relatives (Valco) alive today live in Staffordshire England.
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In the 1930s, Valco was formed by three business partners and former owners of the National Dobro Company; Victor Valco, Al Frost, and Louis Dopyera. The company name was a combination of the three partner's first initials (V. A. L.) plus the common abbreviation for company (Co.) and of course Valco surname
Valco manufactured Spanish acoustic guitars, metal-faced resonator guitars, electric lap steel guitars, and vacuum tube amplifiers under a variety of brand names including Supro, Airline, Oahu, and National. They also made amplifiers under contract for several other companies such as Gretsch, Danelectro, Harmony and Kay. In the 1960s they began producing solid body electric guitars.
Valco merged with Kay Musical Instrument Company in 1967, however the merged company quickly went out of business in 1968[1] because of financial difficulties.[2]