by vaughn skow May 04, 2014 2 min read
WGS has been a secret weapon in the arsenal of many top-shelf boutique amp builders and in-the-know amp gurus for quite some time now. The WGS “family” has always been a fairly tightly knit fabric composed of like-minded tone aficionados who run the gambit from players to record producers and engineers to manufacturers. Now, it seems as though the WGS secret is out. Warehouse Guitar Speakers, once solely available “factory direct” (or as the stock speaker in a boutique amp), are now available to mere mortals through big-name retailers like Musicians Friend and Guitar Center. So, what does this mean? How will this effect quality control, customer service, and American production? Let’s talk about that.
The short answer is that nothing will change. Believe me when I say that all of us at WGS would just plain shut down production before we allowed ANY aspect of the most highly regarded guitar speaker company in the world to slip even the slightest bit. WGS is still a premium boutique speaker builder, and highly skilled craftsmen are still building our speakers by hand in Paducah, Kentucky. There are simply more people building more speakers.
Now, for the more elaborate answer … for those of you who have an interest in elaboration. If you are truly a WGS type, you’ll probably be interested, since we are, by nature, folks who devour any and all details of a subject in which we are interested. We make the FBI, CIA, & CSI seem like amateur investigators. So here goes.
WGS is built on the firmest of foundations in many ways. WGS can trace her linage quite directly back to the glory days of CTS manufacturing of guitar speakers in Paducah. WGS has folks onboard who know how to design and manufacture the world’s finest guitar speakers, but that’s nowhere near the limit of our combined knowledge; WGS also has folks with intimate knowledge and experience in the art of maintaining the highest quality standards even in the face of huge production runs.
WGS is also fortunate to have plenty of available space, and access to the world’s finest work force. Additional space and trained workers are easily added on an as-needed basis. And last, yes there have been some significant changes in a few areas of the plant. A beyond state of the art “paint-booth” now exists in addition to the original booth where David, WGS founder & President labored many late nights to come up with the just-right new powder-coat concoction for a new model. A jaw-dropping new metal & milling shop now exists side-by-side with original 1950’s CTS equipment. The system for filling orders and shipping them is significantly more robust than it was even just a year ago. In short, there are more people making more speakers on more equipment, but they are still conceived and designed by the same devout team, and they are still made in exactly the same way: One at a time, by hand, by people who care in Paducah Kentucky.
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