The Suzuki Violin Company was established in 1887 by Masakichi Suzuki and has been making guitars since the early 1900s. Following the second World War the company was restructured into two parts: the Suzuki Violin Company, which later became the Kiso Suzuki Violin Company (run by one of Masakichi's sons Kikuo) and the Suzuki Violin Manufacturing Company came to be called the Nagoya Suzuki Violin Company (run by another one of Masakichi's sons, Umeo).

In 1951 Kiso Suzuki started making guitars. Kiso Suzuki often made acoustic and classical guitars for other brands and distributors including: Iwama Trading; CSL Gypsy; Tomson; Kansas; Takeharu; Halifax. Kiso Suzuki finally stopped trading in 1987 and ESP bought their machines and wood supplies.

Nagoya Suzuki made orchestral stringed instruments, mandolins and guitars. It is still in business as an important violin maker but stopped making guitars in the late 1980s.

There was also a separate Suzuki Manufacturing Company, established in 1953 by Manji Suzuki, which has nothing to do with the Kiso or Nagoya Suzuki factories.

Source: Suzuki Guitars history (14 October 2017)