Westone/Electra Dynasty design beginning?

This is on Ebay right now.

S.D. Curlee Flying Vee

So that we have this in future (after the Ebay auction ends), here's the photo.


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Look familiar to anyone?! It does to me. I wonder if this was the design from which the Dynasty was based?

According to the auciton, only 20 were produced. In the 70's, supposedly. S.D. Curlee was an Illinois manufacturer who'd attained some status back in the 70's and later into the early 80's with their basses. I wonder if S.D. Curlee had based this unique flying vee design upon something else, or if they were the company who'd created it? I know that the original Dynasty did not have the little bits on the end of the wings, but otherwise it looks very similar. Anyone else know of another design that the Dynasty may have been based upon? I enjoy history, this is interesting to me anyway.

Nice find Chad, the Dynasty looks very similar to that there geeetar. Wouldn't be suprised if the design came from the Curlee, we'll probably have to dig deep to find out. Good detective work there Sherlock.

Certainly similar.. looks kind of ill with a maple f/board.

That seller in Germany has all his stock way overpriced, some of the stuff they've had for years and still it doesn't sell.
Had a deal going with them once but dropped it as the price rose halfway through the deal. Scheisters.

Great news for Dynasty fans like me! My detective work to discover the Dynasty origins comes to a somewhat neat end.

Although everyone else seems to have already known this, it appears that SD Curlee had hired Uncle Mat for production (this info was right under my nose all along...). This was the link that I was missing, that Matsumoku is the tie that binds SD Curlee and Westone together.

See the photo above. We see that SD Curlee had designed this strange Vee that looks like the base design for the Dynasty, perhaps it was designed in their United States facility, or perhaps it was not until SD Curlee moved production to Matsumoku that this design came into being, but one thing is for sure... that this design which had evolved into the Dynasty (again, see the design pictured above) had already existed in some form at the Matsumoku plant while the Electra/Westone brand was in formation. Whether it had existed physically at Matsumoku or whether the SD Curlee company had merely introduced this design to a Matsumoku designer, or whether SD Curley had hired Matsumoku to design this proto-Dynasty design, I don't know. But it was floating about over at Matsumoku. So how did Tom Presly become introduced to it? Perhaps a Matsumoku employee had introduced this SD Curlee design to Tom Presly? Because clearly this design had existed as an SD Curlee before it saw life as an Electra/Westone.

So there we go. From SD Curlee to Matsumoku to Electra/Westone to Westone.

Westbone wrote: looks kind of ill with a maple f/board.

Dose look a bit pale interesting though. D'ya recon chad may have to give it the kiss of life.