One of the people who called on him was the local sales rep for SLM, a non-musician who would seek help in adjusting the settings on his Crate amps. He did a lot of work converting Gibson guitars for use by Delaware rocker George Thorogood. There, in 1978 or ’79, under the supervision of John Marshall, Sutcliffe earned a master’s degree in lutherie.įollowing the Renaissance experience, Sutcliffe began repairing guitars, building custom guitars, and developing more pickups, including the active units that would make him famous. Thus began a lifelong interest in electronics, and his subsequent experience with guitars eventually landed him a job at the ill-fated Renaissance guitars. So he set about making his own replacements. “Dana” is Dana Sutcliffe, who at age 13 got a guitar with four of the worst pickups ever made. During this period, SLM began moving some production to Cort, in Korea. With it went the Westone brand, and SLM’s electric line became Alvarez. It’s not entirely clear, but Matsumoku may have continued making guitars until 1990. Matsumoku had started as a builder of sewing machine cabinets, and in ’87, the company was purchased by Singer Sewing Machines. In ’83, SLM entered into a joint venture with Matsumoku, and in ’84 transitioned the Alvarez brand to Westone, which had previously been used by the Japanese manufacturer. Many were made by the legendary Matsumoku Moto plant. Beginning around 1970 – maybe slightly earlier – SLM began importing electric guitars from Japan bearing the Electra brand. Louis Music (SLM) for its Japanese-made acoustic guitars beginning in 1966 Alvarez-Yairi models were built in Kazuo Yairi’s workshop, while Alvarez models were built elsewhere. An example of a happy accident is the invention of the Alvarez Dana Scoop.Īs a brand, Alvarez was a name originally used by St. Bad ones are when you bend over, your rear-end knocks over your axe, and suddenly you’ve “created” a headless guitar. In China, manufacturers have also commercialized copies of traditional US guitars with the Westone brand.The Alvarez Dana Scoop by Michael Wright, The Different Strummer There are bad accidents and there are good, or “happy” accidents.
Another revival of the brand came in 2010 when German company Musik-Meyer began producing Weston-branded copies of traditional instruments from other companies, such as the Fender Stratocaster, Fender Telecaster and Gibson Les Paul. In 1998, renowned luthier Sid Poole built some prestige guitars in England under the Westone name. Many Westone guitars and basses have since become collectors items. Though initially popularized as inexpensive, entry-level guitars particularly useful for students, the transition to Asian manufacturing in the 80s brought a fundamental change in production, with designers emphasizing features such as custom pickups and electronics. Louis Music replaced the Westone brand name by Alvarez in 1991.
With Matsumoku ceasing operations in 1987, production was moved to Korea in 1988 and most of the innovative models disappeared. The majority of Westone guitars of the 1980s were made by the Matsumoku factory in Japan and imported by St.
In 1984, they merged both brands to make the "Electra-Westone" brand, before dropping "Electra" from the name entirely from 1985 onwards. They began importing the Westone-branded guitars to the United States as a replacement for their previous line of Custom Kraft–brand instruments manufactured for them by Kay and Valco since the mid-1950s. Louis Music registered the Westone mark in the United States in 1976 to market Matsumoku instruments in the country. The first guitars to bear the Westone name were made by manufacturers in East Germany and Italy until 1975, when Japanese company Matsumoku acquired the rights to the Westone name, producing acoustic guitars and copies of some US models.