Do you know about Joshua guitars?

[WhiteBeard]

I recently acquired a Joshua acoustic electric. Have not been able to find much information on these guitars. The label displays a cowboy mounted on a horse, but there is no serial number or country of origin. The back and sides are shaped as a unit from a composite material which may be a polycarbonate or similar hard synthetic. From web postings, this company was active in California in the 90s ... but other than that, I know nothing else. Help?
I am a brand new member and have not yet figured out how to attach photos but can do so for this guitar, once I figure it out. Frustrating.

[Wade Hampton]

WhiteBeard, your post is the first I’ve ever heard of Joshua guitars.

Sorry I can’t be of any help.


whm

[WhiteBeard]

Thank you Wade. That's the usual story, not much information out there on these Joshua guitars ... and many players, like yourself, have never even heard of them. I just discovered that Yamaha makes (or made) the APX-SL1 and SL-2. These two Yamahas are made in Taiwan and have hard plastic backs and sides, they are acoustic electrics. So, very similar to my Joshua. Thanks again for replying to my inquiry.

[Osage]

Joshua guitars were around for a few years in the 90's. They were budget Korean made instruments and borrowed heavily from Ovation in both design and styling. The bridges are identical to Applause guitars, with the two small white dots behind the pins and I've assumed they were made at the same factory or were even just Applause guitars sold in a different market but I don't know this for sure.

[Inyo]

Originally Posted by WhiteBeard

I recently acquired a Joshua acoustic electric. Have not been able to find much information on these guitars. The label displays a cowboy mounted on a horse, but there is no serial number or country of origin. The back and sides are shaped as a unit from a composite material which may be a polycarbonate or similar hard synthetic. From web postings, this company was active in California in the 90s ... but other than that, I know nothing else. Help?
I am a brand new member and have not yet figured out how to attach photos but can do so for this guitar, once I figure it out. Frustrating.

Here's one listed at Reverb. Says that Joshua guitars were "manufactured in Northridge, California, during the late 90's, to early 2000's."

One wonders if that's really accurate, though. Could be an urban legend based on a reference to the 1994 6.7 magnitude Northridge, California, earthquake that caused many walls in Northridge to come tumbling down (sort of a tangential homage to the song Joshua Fought The Battle Of Jericho, I suppose).

On the other hand, Joshua's with a J on the headstock, instead of the name spelled out, could have been manufactured in California, and distributed out of Reseda, California, which is only three and a half miles south of Northridge.

From a YouTube page over at YouTube video of work on a Joshua guitar:

Steve Allsopp
2 years ago
Okay, this is turning into a kind of a fun Easter egg hunt. The plot thickens, I found this info in a Google group pertaining to Johnny Reb guitars which were distributed by or synonymous with LA Guitar Works out of Reseda, California. That's where Schroeder's music store in Phoenix sent my Joshua for repair work when the bridge began lifting up. They did a great job and I suspect LA Guitar Works was a distributor for the Asian models. That could mean Korea, it could mean China. So, it's likely the Johnny Reb models and the Joshua model guitars were coming from the same Asian producers. I also suspect that the Northern California made Joshua guitars were the ones made out of all wood with the sound ports in the top, though I've yet to find anything substantial to back that hunch up with. They may well be the ones with the J on the headstock instead of Joshua spelled out. Who knows? At any rate here's some more mostly useless, slightly useful info. From a Google discussion group-
"The name sounded familiar so...

...I dug around and found this on the "Blue Book" site:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Instruments currently produced in Asia. Distributed by Johnny Reb Guitars (L.A. Guitar Works) of Reseda, California.

Those "Rock ´n Rebels" Johnny Reb models sport single cutaway ´Tele´-style bodies that combine a wood top to a fiberglass back and sides. The total weight of this traditional design (yet un-traditional production technique) is only 5 pounds - a welcome relief to those "chicken-pickers" playing 4 and 5 hour bar gigs.
The hollow Johhny Reb models are available with ash, figured maple, or mahogany tops with an f-hole, molded fiberglass backs, bolt-on maple necks with rosewood or maple fingerboards, 6-on-a-side chrome tuners, 2 single coil pickups, volume and tone controls, and a 3 way toggle selector. Retail list price is only $399. For further information regarding the Johnny Reb guitars, contact the company directly (see Trademark Index)."

End of quote.

Images of a Joshua guitar, from the Reverb site linked above:







A YouTuber works on a Joshua guitar, from the YouTube link, above:



Edit: More quotes from folks about Joshua guitars.

For example, another connection to LA Guitar Works for Joshua guitars. From a post over at Guitar-list:

Joshua guitar

Submitted by Mark Richards (not verified) on Wed, 2011-12-21 00:24

I bought a Joshua guitar back in the 90's. It is a Jae-500f, with an f-hole sound board. Sounds good accoustically, and sounds great through an amp. It is one of the best playing little acoustics i have played in all my yrs. It plays more like an electric, very nice neck and phenolic back like an ovation. I think i gave around 300 for it back then. The machine heads look like grovers though they are not marked grover. I think i remember it use to say "L.A. guitar works" on a tag or something. It's not a fat body like an ovation, it is probably 3-3.5 inches at the deepest point

And from the same page:

I have a tiger strip accustic

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, 2011-08-22 04:03

I have a tiger strip accustic/electric Joshua from the late 90's. It looks just like an Ovation. My father bought it new in South Koria. It plays ok, has a hump in the neck at the body. Had to do some work on the saddel to make it a player but it looks nice.

But, California is not yet out of the running for some of the Joshua guitars. From a tweet over at Tweet

pam richter
@richter76038
I used to have a Joshua guitar. Acoustic electric. Made in California in the nineties . It had a back like an ovation but flat.

But not so fast. West Germany enters the equation (W. Germany? That would suggest a pre-December 26, 1991 origin, es verdad?). Here's a Reddit quote from a poster over at Reddit:

Well anyways there is no model number, you can see a sticker that says "Joshua" through the sound hole and has a picture of a cowboy looking dude on a horse. Also the hardware on the back seems to be two or three different kinds. One older looking piece on the back says made in W. Germany. it looks like it has a nice hard wood backing and feels amazing to hold.