CRAFTER

The company that became Crafter was begun by Hyuanon Park in 1972 in the basement of his home in Seoul, Korea. It produced classical guitars for the home market, later adopting the Crafter name for its exports, which now cover a range of acoustic and electro acoustic styles. By 2001 it had a workforce of 140, producing some 60,000 instruments  a year. Former Ultravox frontman Midge Ure, Status Quo, and Katie Melua are among Crafter's user roster. 

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CORT

Based in Korea, Cort is one of the largest guitar manufacturers in the world, producing instruments for many other companies. It was founded in 1973 when American instrument wholesaler Jack Westheimer joined forces with Yung H. Park. Westheimer had previously imported guitars from Japan under the Teisco, Kingston, Cortez, and Emperador brands. The new company produced its first guitars using the Cort name (shortened from Cortez) in 1977. In acoustic guitars it made a breakthrough in 1994 with the Earth series, in OM, dreadnought, and classical styles, later expanded into twelve-string and parlor models. A second line of dreadnoughts, the NTL series, appeared in 1999. It began building electrics under the Cort name from 1984, starting with beginner-grade copies and progressing to its own designs. The Cort line today ranges from acoustics to solid, semi-hollow, and hollowbody electric guitars, as well as acoustic and electric basses. 

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CORAL

 ln 1966 the entertainment conglomerate MCA bought Danelectro. A year later it introduced a new line of Danelectro-made guitars, branded Coral. Coral produced solid and hollowbodied guitars, but its most famous product was the Coral Sitar. Introduced in 1967, it was co-designed by session-man Vinnie Bell, who had spotted a demand in New York studios for sitar sounds. The secret was the flat plastic "bridge" that gave a buzzy sound-and made intonation almost impossible. There was also a bank of thirteen extra ”drone" strings tuned in half-steps. Coral died along with Danelectro in 1969. 

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CONTRERAS

Manuel Contreras (1928-1994) Joined the Ramirez workshop in Madrid, Spain, in 1959, leaving in 1962 to start building instruments under his own name. They were large, traditionally fan-strutted classical models in the Ramirez mould, which he continued to burld throughout his career. But Contreras was also an experimenter. A conversation with a customer, Celedonio Romero, led him to build, in 1974, the first of his ”double-top” guitars. The second top, which resonates in sympathy with the first, is placed just in front of the instrument’s back. Then in 1983 a discussion with the Uruguayan player Abel Carlevaro led to a more visually arresting experiment. The Carlevaro model had a one-sided waist, a slot around the edge of the top instead of a soundhole, and double sides and back. Contreras’s son Pablo (Manuel Contreras ll), born in 1957, continues to balance tradition and innovation. 

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COLLINGS

Collings Guitars of Austin, Texas, is probably the most progressive of America's mid-size guitar companies when it comes to construction methods, yet the instruments it builds are highly traditional in appearance and always pay respectful homage to the originals they emulate. Whether it’s a DZH, patterned after a 19305 Martin 0-28, or a sixteen-inch arch-top design derived from a 19205 Gibson L-5, each model is distinctly a Collings from headstock to tailblock.

Recently the company has introduced a line of solidbody and semi-acoustic electrics. Rather than building copies, Collings uses classic instruments and designs from America's ! "Golden Era" of guitar-making as stylistic templates. Founder Bill Collings, who began ", building instruments in the 19705, now employs some fifty people in a factory of 22,000 square feet, and uses computer-controlled milling machines to cut parts to high standards of accuracy and consistency.

Collings customers include Lyle Lovett, Keith Richards, Pete Townshend, Emmylou Harris, Andy Summers, David Crosby, Chris Hillman, Joni Mitchell, Don Felder, John Sebastian, Lou Reed, John Fogerty, Brian May, Joan Baez, John Prine, and many more

ln 1996 Collings was one of twenty-one guitar makers commissioned to burld a blue arch-top for collector Scott Chinery. 

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CLEARSOUND

The concept of constructing guitars from unconventional materials has been explored by various makers over the past fifty years. Clear plastic proves a popular choice, being employed on both upmarket instruments and less-expensive alternatives. A low-cost example is this late 19705 Stratocaster-style solid, bearing the very appropriate Clearsound brand banner 

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CHARVEL

 ln 1974 Wayne Charvel set up a guitar repair business in Azusa, Californ'a, and began supplying hardware replacement parts, a line that expanded to include bodies, necks, p ckups and, ultimately. complete guitar kits. In 1978, after moving to nearby San Dimas, Charvel sold his company to employee Grover Jackson.

ln 1979, Jackson introduced the first Charvel-brand guitars. One of the early efforts was seen under the fast-moving fingers of a rising guitar star, Edward Van Halen. Then, at the start of the 19805, Jackson launched a new line under his own name. The Charvel brand was reserved for bo ton-neck guitars with essentially Fender-style bodies and necks-as well as Gibsonor Vox-inspired alternatives and an original four-point "star" shape. During the 19805, Charvel became a lead’ng builder of "superstrats," some featuring through-neck construction, slimmer-horned bodies, and pointy headstocks as well as humbucker pickups and vibratos. It began to manufacture in Japan and Korea, only restarting U.S. production in 1994.

The acquisition of Jackson/Charvel by the Japanese electronic musical instrument company Akai in 1997 temporarily marked the end of Charvel-brand instruments, but in 2001 the ' brand was bought by Fender, which restarted Charvel production in the United States. It now produces a range of Stratand Tele-based models, called San Dimas and So-Cal, closely modeled on the instruments of Charvel’s heyday.

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