In the early 1960s J.W. Gallagher and his son Don Gallagher helped set up a production line for the Shelby guitar in the Slingerland drum factory in Shelbyville, Tennessee. The Shelby was a budget acoustic model - J.W. Gallagher wanted to make a higher quality instrument so in 1965 made the first Gallagher acoustic guitar. There are also Shelby guitars from the 1970s that appear to be made in Japan.