Tom Presley was the principal designer at Westone, Electra-Westone, SLM and Alvarez Guitars, to name a few.
A few years ago he participated in a detailed Q&A on the Westone Forums, then "disappeared".
He's now back on a Facebook page started by a new Westone Forum member, and we're in the process of linking it to the existing Westone Forum for continuity and corrections, etc.
Tom was intimately involved with Matsumoku and pretty much every major Japanese builder of that era and can likely shed a lot of light on your favourite label. (He has a few things to say about Aria in particular during the Mats era).
If any Guitar Gallery members are curious about the brands mentioned above and would like to ask Tom a question you can do one of two things:
1. Funnel your queries via this post on the Westone Forum:
https://westone.forumotion.com/t7118-happy-birthday-tom-presley-post-your-questions-for-tom2. Connect with him on the Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/westone.electra/IMHO the Facebook format is a lousy one to discuss things like this and information quickly scrolls away and gets buried.
So far, Tom has been active only on Facebook but we're hoping he will also check in on the Westone Forum where his info can be searched and retrieved.
Regardless, the intent is to curate all info and amend the current website content where needed:
https://westoneguitars.net/history/Please join in!