ALVAREZ

The St. Louis Music Supply Company was originally founded in 1922 by Bernard Kornblum as a violin shop. In 1957, Bernard's son, Gene Kornblum joined the family business.
The Alvarez trademark was established in 1965, and the company was the earliest of Asian producers to feature laminate-body guitars with solid wood tops. Initially, Alvarez guitars were built in Japan during the late 1960s, and distributed through St. Louis Music.
St. Louis Music also distributed the Electra and Westone brands of solidbody electrics. St. Louis Music currently manufactures Crate and Ampeg amplifiers in the U.S., while Alvarez instruments are designed in St. Louis and produced overseas.
Alvarez does not currently produce electric guitars. There are several other series that have been produced in past years that include the Classic, the Dana Scoop, the Dana Signature, the Regulator, the Trevor Rabin Signature, and the Villain Series.
St. Louis Music now has the Austin line of guitars that produces about the same quality of electric guitars that Alvarez did. This allows Alvarez to focus entirely on acoustic guitars.