Cortley

Brand History
Cortley Guitars were sold and distributed by Southland Musical Merchandising Corporation of Greensboro,NC, Maxwell Meyers of Dallas, TX, and Harris Fandel of Massachusetts in the early 1970's and mid 1980's. The former sales managers of Southland Music stated their import agent was Jack Westheimer, and that the Cortley name was owned by Southland. In a telephone interview with Mr. Westheimer he indicated he did not remember the Cortley name in particular. He stated Westheimer Corporation had many different "stencil brands" manufactured in Japan for companies like Southland.

In the early 70's Westheimer was having a lot of instruments made at the same factories in Japan that produced other popular brands such as Ibanez, Cortez, Kingston, Terada, and Teisco for example. Therefore Cortley could have been made there or in different plants, depending on which one could handle the work order. Former sales rep Ed Rider stated that Terada and Daion were two of the factories he remembered that made Cortley.

There were one or two models that were labeled made in USA. Information indicates they were made exclusively for Southland by a private manufacturer in the US, who did not produce under any other label.

As a side note, The US Patent and Trademark Office shows the name Cortley was first used in commerce 6-6-74, was registered 11-22-78, and cancelled 10-23-84. The name Cortez was first used in commerce 3-12-67, registered 6-11-85 by Westheimer Corp, and is still active. Submitted by Rick Clymer

For more information on Cortley guitars, visit The Unofficial Cortley Guitars Website at http://cortleyguitars.tripod.com