To assure quality, he took an approach that would later be used successfully by some other importers. In any case, around 1959 Westheimer began to see enough improvement in Japanese guitar quality he thought the time right to begin importing. Recall that Shiro Arai brought over some higher-quality Japanese acoustics in the early ’60s, only to have them explode when subjected to winter heating systems due to inadequate seasoning of the timbers. The problem was that Japanese guitars were fairly primitive at the time (remember Aria?). It became immediately apparent that a guitar boom was looming, and he had excellent connections in Japan. This, of course, put Jack in the right place at the right time. The budding bongo boom quickly expanded into importing drum kits made by Pearl. Jack and his former boss decided to start a business importing hand-tunable bongos made by Pearl in Japan. The popularity of Belafonte, coupled, no doubt, with the somewhat related “beatnik” craze (poetry, dark sunglasses, coffee houses, and guitars), caused a surge in demand for bongo drums. It was about that time that Harry Belafonte and Caribbean music were coming on strong, so in a way you can say that Belafonte was indirectly responsible for the avalanche of Japanese guitars that was about to begin… Belafonte, whose most memorable tune was probably “Day-O,” was tangentially associated with the burgeoning folk revival gaining an audience in the late ’50s. The only problem was they hadn’t really figured out what business to go into. That sounded fine to Jack, and they became partners in what would soon become Westheimer Sales Company. In 1958 the firm was sold to Lionel, the electric train outfit, and Jack was given his walking papers.Ībout a month and a half later, his old boss, Bill Barnet, was also given the boot, and he contacted Jack about going into business. Following his hitch, he returned to the gig at World Wide. Shortly thereafter, Uncle Sam came knocking, and Westheimer was drafted into the Navy, where he served from 1955 to ’57. He went to college in the early 1950s and upon graduation went to work for World Wide Sporting Goods, Chicago, a company involved in the import/export trade. Westheimer didn’t set out to get into the music business. Some of what you are about to read will correct previous misinformation that has been perpetuated here and by other sources. VG recently had the pleasure of a number of long conversations with Westheimer, and we’d like to share some of what we learned, and use the opportunity to document the brand he’s currently most associated with – Cort. And it was Westheimer who, along with folks like Jerry Freed and Tommy Moore, brought Korea to the point where today more than half of all guitars made in the world come from that Asian peninsula. In fact, Westheimer was one of the earliest (and most influential) importers to cultivate Japanese manufacturing in the years surrounding 1960. Even if you haven’t played one of these guitars, there’s a good chance that if you’ve ever played a decent-quality beginner import, you’ve played a guitar associated with Westheimer. Among the brands associated with his activities are Kingston, Teisco, Teisco Del Rey, Silvertone, Emperador, Cortez, and Cort, not to mention a host of other monikers that have graced guitars coming from the Cort factory. Jack Westheimer – one of the pioneers of global guitarmaking. While there may have been a handful of intrepid pioneers who began developing international guitar manufacturing, it’s no exaggeration to say that no one has had a bigger impact on the globalization of guitars than Mr. “How” is a long, interesting discussion that covers most of the last century or two and that we’ll have some other time. How did we arrive at our current state of affairs, and who is responsible? Indeed, from the middle of the 19th Century until the 1960s, inexpensive guitars were the province of American mass manufacturers with names such as Haynes, Lyon & Healy, Regal, Stewart, Oscar Schmidt, Harmony, Stromberg-Voisinet, Kay, Valco, and the United Guitar Company. We’re in a global economy McLuhan’s global village instantaneously connected with e-mail. In fact, these days, where a product is made is almost irrelevant to the consumer. And you have to admit that, for the price, what we get is pretty darned good. Today we pretty much take it for granted that if you want an inexpensive guitar, you’re going to buy one made in Korea, Taiwan, Mexico, Indonesia, China, maybe even India.
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