The story of WESTONE electric guitars and basses started in the late 70's of the last century with the Japanese company Matsumoku. They were manufacturing instruments for brands like Epiphone, Washburn, Aria, Vantage, Westbury and Vox. In 1979 Matsumoku decided tu build own instruments under the brand name WESTONE. The first original models were Thunder, Concorde and Prestige.
Since 1981 WESTONE instruments were also available in Europe and have been distributet by different companys to the dealers and the musicians. Matsumoku continuously enlarged the product range and gained great success in terms of quality and innovation.
In 1984 the international rights of the brand name WESTONE moved over to the St. Louis Music Company (SLM), a well known distributor of musical instruments in America. The manufacturing stayed at Matsumoku in Japan, but decisions about marketing and product politics were in the hands of SLM. New models, which were following the 80's style were developed and the initial models were discontinued. Guitars and basses like Pantera, Spectrum or Raider entered the market.
In 1987 the instrument production moved to Korea. Since that time Matsumoku wasn't involved in the manufacturing process anymore. Almost all innovative instruments left the market. The factory building probably was destroyed by fire or earthquake and wasn't built up again.
SLM continued the production until 1991, but didn't succeed in holding WESTONE steady against the amount of strengthening competitors in the big market of electric guitars. The guitar production was closed down and the brandname WESTONE was substituted by the Japanese brand Alvarez, which integrated some ideas of the WESTONE instruments into their own models.
In the middle of the 90's the name WESTONE appeared agian in the U.K., but only for a short period and with a completely new concept as well as different models, which were limited edition handmade instruments.
In 2003 the brand WESTONE was brought back to life again in Germany and enjoys a constant growth in product range and Europe-wide availability. Since than WESTONE stands for high value copies of well known and popular guitar models with a continuously expanding product range.
