Features
Guitar Craftsman Yairi Dies
Kazuo Yairi, who made custom-built acoustic guitars for many famous musicians, including Carlos Santana and Paul McCartney, died March 5 at a hospital in Tajimi, Gifu Prefecture, Japan, of multiple organ failure. He was 81.
Photo: Credit: Erik Kabik / Retna for RCA Records / Sony Latin Iberia
Arena VFG, Guadalajara, Mexico
Yairi traveled to the United States in 1962 to learn how to make guitars.
After returning to his native Gifu Prefecture in central Japan in 1965, he set up Yairi Guitar and began a collaboration with instrument maker St. Louis Music.
Together they produced a line of Alvarez-Yairi guitars that are still handmade at the Yairi factory in Kani, Japan.