About
C. Bruno & Son was a New York distributor of musical instruments which existed from 1868 to about 1971. It was founded by the German immigrant Charles Bruno who began his first music business venture in 1834. By the time of Charles Sr's death in 1884, his son was bestowed a massive musical merchandise empire which he ran until his death in 1912 [1].
C. Bruno & Son was a distributor of foreign and domestic goods and worked with manufacturers where the goods were purchased wholesale, branded for Bruno, and then sold through their catalog and storefronts. There is no evidence of a C. Bruno factory and some of the Bruno instruments display parallels between other builders. The catalogs refer to The Vernon as "our own make" which should be better interpreted as being made exclusive for the company.
The Vernon
The "Vernon" was a line of instruments that C. Bruno began in 1904, according to the trademark documents, and used through the 1920s. It was officially trademarked in 1942 [2]. The name was applied to banjos, guitars, mandolins, tiples, ukuleles, and banjo ukuleles.
Guitars
Who built "The Vernon" guitars? Bruno never shared that information
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| "The Vernon" Style 26, 28, and 29 |
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| "The Vernon" Style 22 and 24 |
Sources
[1] https://www.brasshistory.net/Bruno%20History.pdf
[2] https://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=191376&caseSearchType=US_APPLICATION&caseType=DEFAULT&searchType=statusSearch
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