He did a lot of work converting Gibson guitars for use by Delaware rocker George Thorogood. There, in 1978 or вЂ™79, under the supervision of John Marshall, Sutcliffe earned a masterвЂ™s degree in lutherie.ДЇollowing 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. вЂњDanaвЂќ 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 SLMвЂ™s electric line became Alvarez. ItвЂ™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 вЂ™87, the company was purchased by Singer Sewing Machines. In вЂ™83, SLM entered into a joint venture with Matsumoku, and in вЂ™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 вЂ“ maybe slightly earlier вЂ“ 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 YairiвЂ™s workshop, while Alvarez models were built elsewhere. An example of a happy accident is the invention of the Alvarez Dana Scoop.ДЄs 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 youвЂ™ve вЂњcreatedвЂќ a headless guitar. The Alvarez Dana Scoop by Michael Wright, The Different Strummer There are bad accidents and there are good, or вЂњhappyвЂќ accidents.

Westone guitar catalog