The Company that now is Crafter was founded by HyunKwon Park in April 1972 in the basement of his home, four people working in a 20 square metre area. In that early period, the company produced classical guitars for the Korean domestic market and these quickly earned a good reputation, mainly for their high quality of sound.
The company soon had to move to new, bigger premises in order to build enough guitars to fulfill the demand and, in 1978, it moved again, this time from Seoul to the new area of Yangju-gun. At that time, the guitars were branded ‘Sungeum’ which means ‘accomplishing the sound’ and this is still a well known brand in the Korean market, today. HyunKwon’s ambition was always to supply instruments to guitar players throughout the world, however, so he then started to make acoustic and electro-acoustic guitars which had more international appeal. In 1986, Injae Park his elder son, also joined the company with HyunKwon Park remaining as chairman. InJae believed that ‘Sungeum’ was too difficult a word for his export market so he decided to create a new brand that would be both easy to remember and convey an appropriate image. He chose the name ‘Crafter’, which has connotations of high quality and also pays tribute to the craftsmen who create the guitars. The Crafter brand is now registered in more than 40 countries throughout the world. 
But the quantity produced is not the main objective. The emphasis is always to put care into the making of each guitar to produce the finest instruments. They are only released to players when it is sure that they are in the best condition and any that don’t make the grade are broken up. InJae Park joining Crafter was a most significant step for the company because, like his father, he has a talent for designing good guitars and a love for building them. He has developed and designed many new models that are protected by patents in Europe and the USA. for new products so that he can provide the instruments that are most needed. In this way, Crafter has developed new Travel guitars which will be launched at the 2002 NAMM Show. The model TRV-23 will have a solid sitka spruce top and a full sound, notwithstanding its small body. It will also feature a cutaway, requested by many players to enable them to reach the higher notes more easily. InJae Park believes that building instruments of the highest quality, of the best value, listening to the needs of the market and providing a continuous supply is the way to continue the progress and success that Crafter is enjoying throughout the world today. |
