Ulster Firm Hopes to Call the Tune on the Global Stage; If Music Is the Universal Language, Then One Local Company Is Making Sure That, by Making Superior Musical Instruments, It Will Become a Universal Favourite. as DEBORAH DUNDAS Reports from Canada, It's Already Well on Its Way

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Byline: DEBORAH DUNDAS

IF YOU'VE not yet heard of a Lowden guitar, just wait a few years. The Newtownards-based Lowden Guitars, operating since 1987, is becoming known as much for its quality as it is for the stars who are using it - Eric Clapton, Van Morrison and Bob Dylan among them.

If the overnight success that took 20 years is a clich in the music industry, it's one that Lowden happily reflects. The Lowden guitar was first developed in 1974. But after a licensing deal with a Japanese company and a failed effort by the inventor of the Lowden guitar to manufacture it, the current company bought the license to manufacture the guitars. That happened in 1989. But by 1998, it needed a new management team. Part of that team was Steve McIlwrath, Lowden's general …