The Larson Brothers, Carl and August, were Swedish immigrants to the Chicago, Illinois area in the late 1880s. Working as craftsmen and luthiers for others, eventually they purchased the Maurer Company in 1900 and into the 1940’s produced many high quality guitars under that name, and also used other names such as Prairie State, Stetson, Euphonon, and Stahl.
The Larson Brothers built a one-off solidbody guitar, without pickups, for Les Paul during 1932, to which Paul added a pair of pickups and used for experimentation.
The company declined as Fender and Gibson took over the electric guitar market. In 2007, rights to the Larson name were obtained by luthier Maurice Dupont, who uses it in Europe.
