George Lowden designed the Flambeau for the Rose Morris Company in Japan. This was post guitar litigation period, when Fender and Gibson were suing guitar manufacturers in Japan for selling knockoffs of the telecaster, Stratocaster, and the Les Paul. Rose Morris company in Japan commissioned George Lowden to design guitars that were of high quality at a price point that would compete with the American made guitars. There's a hard and fast rule in the marketplace however, you can't spend more than you receive. Flambeau was built from the finest quality materials on the market, but selling in the economy range of the market. So they finally went under. I bought mine in 1980 and played with it on stage for nearly twenty years. It was one of the great joys in my life. Every morning before I left for work I played it for at least an hour. One morning I stood up to watch my children get on the school bus and the guitar strap disconnected and my Flambeau hit the floor. It cracked where the top meets the sides. I've had it repaired in a professional shop, but it's never returned to it's former glory. Five years ago I decided to get a Gibson Studio Pro. I played it a half dozen times and gave it to my granddaughter. My Flambeau and I have too much history to divorce now. I've realized we've both been through a lot, and really I don't sound as good as I used to either. M.y guitar is 38 years old and I am 63, to get mine you'll have to wait and pry it out of my cold dead hands