What Do You Wish Dana had developed for Westone?

by Westone Fri Sep 17, 2021 2:51 am

In the late 80's & early 90's, Luthier Dana Sutcliffe designed some ground breaking features on Westones like his "Dana Scoop" and active pickups. (According to Dana, his "Scoop" first appeared on Westone guitars before it appeared on Alvarez at the behest of Bernard Kornblum).

What features do you wish Dana had designed for Westones?

Dana worked for a time as a Luthier making plexiglass guitars under Marshal at the Renaissance Guitar factory. Do you wish Dana had developed a neon-lit Plexiglass guitar for Westone?

Or maybe fast connect interchangeable pickups? These would be similar to the Kwikplug system currently used on Xaviere Guitars sold at "GuitarFettish."

Or maybe a guitar that included an interchangeable kneck with fast release connectors that allowed you to swap in a Baritone & bass neck?

by Westone Wed Sep 22, 2021 9:45 am

Here's a picture below of Dana Sutcliffe with his famous "Scoop" model that 1st appeared on Westones before being added to Alvarez guitars.

Dana holds much animosity towards the now deceased former Westone owner Bernard Kornblum for making a series of additional "Scoop" models that Dana wasn't compensated for nor did he authorize (Dana held the patent on the "Scoop.")

westone - What Do You Wish Dana had developed for Westone? 831c1910

by **Barry** Wed Sep 22, 2021 2:45 pm

Who is Bernard Kornblum? Who did he represent? Never heard of him in connection with Westone.

The Westone brand name was owned by Matsumoku, and later controlled by St Louis Music and FCN Music, and even later by Musik-Meyer. I've never heard of a single individual having ownership of the Westone label.

by Westone Wed Sep 22, 2021 3:10 pm

Barry wrote:Who is Bernard Kornblum? Who did he represent? Never heard of him in connection with Westone.

The Westone brand name was owned by Matsumoku, and later controlled by St Louis Music and FCN Music, and even later by Musik-Meyer. I've never heard of a single individual having ownership of the Westone label.

For reference see this article where Dana Sutcliffe talks about Bernard Kornblum:
http://danamusic.com/category/westone/
(By the way, Dana writes that he tried to join this forum but technical issues prevented him.)

Bernard Kornblum was the owner of Saint Louis Music, Tom Presley's boss. Dana blames Kornblum for the mistake of dropping the Westone brand in favor of "Alvarez" which Dana called, "stupid."

As the owner of Saint Louis Music, Kornblum, owned the sole rights to be the Westone distributor in the United States for Matsumoku.

Dana Sutcliffe explained to me via Private messages on Reverb that the reasons that Bernard Kornblum dropped the "Westone" brand (around 1992-93) in favor of Alvarez was that St Louis Music was already producing acoustic guitars under the "Alvarez" brand & wanted to consolidate them. Secondly, Kornblum/St Louis Music owned the "Alvarez" brand globally outright while the "Westone" brand was shared with FCN Music.

In other words, it was Matsumoku who started "Westone" before St Louis Music ever existed so Kornblum felt he didn't fully control it. St Louis Music created & controlled "Alvarez" world-wide.

by Westone Wed Sep 22, 2021 7:30 pm

Barry wrote:Who is Bernard Kornblum?

Conversation with Dana Sutcliffe via Reverb Private Message:

To the buyer,
I hand wound the pickups hand built the DSR5. Back in the late 80’s.
Very special guitar.
Dana Sutcliffe
- Dana Sound Research, Inc.
- Sep 15, 2021 06:10 AM
You do know that I designed for Westone? 87-90. There are many Weston "Dana" guitars in the world. I don't have any designs that were rejected. All were used.
Thanks
Dana Sutcliffe
- Dana Sound Research, Inc.
- Sep 15, 2021 09:44 AM
The change from Westone to Alvarez Electric was a stupid move. The owner of St. Louis Music, Bernard Kornblum, wanted the Alvarez brand to be all inclusive. Acoustic and electric. Westone didn't germinate from SLM Alvarez did. So it was a personal thing for the owner. He also didn't grasp the electric guitar market. Westone is still wildly popular amongst enthusiasts. The Scoop was the flagship of the Alvarez electric line. The first Scoop was a Westone. Look at the article Vintage guitar mag. page 44 Jan 2010 issue. There is a picture of the proto type Westone Scoop! They are involoved with that side of the industry. Also all my designs were reproduced. I was never into strange materials for building. the weirdest I got was making Renaissance guitars for John Marshall in the late 70's. Those were plexiglass.
Thanks
Dana Sutcliffe
- Dana Sound Research, Inc.
  Sep 15, 2021 10:45 AM

by Westone Wed Sep 22, 2021 7:46 pm

Fun fact, St Louis Music's fiercest competitor was owner, Bernard Kornblum's own brother David Kornblum.

Bernard Kornblum competed with his own brother David Kornblum's California based Pacific Coast Music (PCM) Electra brand yet the two were not connected. Pacific Coast Music's Electra logo was nearly identical to the SLM Electra logo from 1972 to 1975 except instead of the SLM gold text, a black text on a white background was used. Both companies often imported from the same source. Pacific Coast often have an X on the headstock or the pickguard. In general, most favour the SLM versions to the PCM ones and the documentation and models are better represented by the SLM versions.

By the beginning of 1984, the brand became Electra-Westone and by the end of 1984 just Westone. By 1987 or 1988 Singer Sewing Machines had bought Matsumoku and killed guitar production. SLM changed the brand to Alvarez (it's acoustic brand) and switched production to other plants, including Korea.

Source: http://guitarhunter.blogspot.com/2009/02/1980s-westone-spectrum-st-x135.html?m=1

by **Barry** Thu Sep 23, 2021 10:43 am

Thanks for the info Bryant. To my knowledge Blumberg's name has not specifically come up before in these forums so that's another player in the Westone saga.

The timeline you relate pretty well matches our understanding of the Westone History posted on our website.

Sutcliffe's frustration is understandable in the context you describe. And I have no idea why there would have been any "technical issues" preventing his joining our forum, thousands have joined without problems.

I'm assuming the problems were at his end, either equipment? fire walled? political?
He's still very welcome to come join us if he's interested.
__________
And can you please refrain from using large fonts in on big blocks of text (post #5)? We've discussed this before.

it is annoying to read on any display and especially difficult on mobile devices, and it detracts from the content which in this case is important and relevant information.

The Quote option in the menu bar is available for this purpose, or you can simply use italics in quotation marks. That way your message is clear and easy to read.
Thx.

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