Uploaded August 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 days ago
This MATSUMOKU made ARIA TE-500N, thinline Telecaster was manufactured in Japan in 1976. What a beautiful guitar. I love it. Quite possibly my guitar of the year already!
In this video there are a whole lot of sounds samples as well as a look inside this fantastic instrument.
I hope you enjoy - thanks for watching.
Dunsy
#telecaster
#ariaguitar
#madeinjapan
#guitarreview
Matsumoku Industrial was a Japanese manufacturing company based in Matsumoto, Nagano, between 1951 and 1987. Established in 1951 as a woodworking and cabinetry firm, Matsumoku is remembered as a manufacturer of guitars and bass guitars, including some Epiphone and Aria guitars.
By the early 1970s, Matsumoku had begun using CNC (computer numerical controlled) mills, routers, and lathes, one of the first guitar makers to do so. This created a significant economy of scale, allowing the company to rely upon factory automation rather than skilled labor for rough shaping of components and basic assembly tasks. Even so, 60% of the construction process was still done by hand, including planing, fretting, joining, and assembly. This machine-cut yet hand-worked process offered improved profit margins at lower unit prices and yielded high quality instruments with unique character.
Matsumoku produced guitars, or parts of guitars, for Vox, Guyatone, FujiGen Gakki, Kanda Shokai (Greco), Hoshino Gakki (Ibanez), Nippon Gakki (Yamaha), Carlo Robelli (Sam Ash), Hondo professional series (USA guitar company), Aria and Norlin (parent company of Gibson). American owned Unicord contracted Matsumoku to build most of its Univox and Westbury guitars. St. Louis Music imported Matsumoku-built Electra Guitars and Westone-Electra Guitars. J. C. Penney sold Matsumoku-built Skylark guitars through its catalog division. Matsumoku built many early Greco guitars as well as Memphis, Vantage, Westbury, Westminster, C.G.Winner, Cutler, Lyle and Fell. Washburn Guitars contracted with Matsumoku to build some of its electric guitars and basses from 1979 through 1984. Though the names above reflect Matsumoku's involvement, many of the names were later sold to other companies, which made guitars that were completely different in quality and sound.
Although its name began appearing on neck-bolt plates, headstocks, and sound-hole labels in the 1970s, Matsumoku's role in the making of guitars under contract was largely unknown outside of Japan's guitar-making circles. Matsumoku's contract with USA-based St. Louis Music had begun in 1971 with producing guitars under the Electra brand. (Electra branded instruments were also produced by multiple Japanese companies, though a majority were derived from Matsumoku.) In 1976 St. Louis Music would acquire the Westone brand from Matsumoku, a name the Japanese company had itself acquired previously to market their guitars to European and American consumers. Eventually in 1984 SLM would consolidate Electra and Westone together and create Electra-Westone branded instruments; a year later the Electra name was dropped and they would produce guitars solely as Westone. Matsumoku's final phase as a maker of guitars before shutting down in 1987 was under contract making Royce, Westminster, Westone and Westbury Guitars. (Westbury was a brand owned by American importer/marketer Unicord which named the brand after the location of its headquarters in Westbury, New York)
Arai and Company guitars were briefly labeled Arai, but switched to the familiar Aria around 1966. From the 1975 arrival of design engineer Nobuaki Hayashi (currently with Atlansia) onward, however, all Aria guitars were labeled Aria Pro II. Hayashi's pseudonym, "H. Noble", appeared on many of the Aria Pro II instruments he designed. Aria's guitars that followed showed remarkable design innovation and a definitive move away from Gibson and Fender formats. Hayashi is best known as the designer of the Aria Pro II, SB-1000 bass and the Aria Pro II PE-series guitars. Some of these were made with maple bodies, but higher-end models such as the PE1000 with Protomatic pickups and the PE1500 with DiMarzio pickups, had ash bodies. These ash-bodied guitars were produced only in relatively small numbers for the domestic market; most, however, had maple bodies. Some guitars were produced with the urushi finish and, again, these, in both red and brown urushi lacquer, were produced mostly for the domestic market. The vast majority of these have ash bodies, whereas the export models were made mainly of maple.
This MATSUMOKU made ARIA TE-500N, thinline Telecaster was manufactured in Japan in 1976. What a beautiful guitar. I love it. Quite possibly my guitar of the year already!
In this video there are a whole lot of sounds samples as well as a look inside this fantastic instrument.
I hope you enjoy - thanks for watching.
Dunsy
#telecaster
#ariaguitar
#madeinjapan
#guitarreview
Matsumoku Industrial was a Japanese manufacturing company based in Matsumoto, Nagano, between 1951 and 1987. Established in 1951 as a woodworking and cabinetry firm, Matsumoku is remembered as a manufacturer of guitars and bass guitars, including some Epiphone and Aria guitars.
By the early 1970s, Matsumoku had begun using CNC (computer numerical controlled) mills, routers, and lathes, one of the first guitar makers to do so. This created a significant economy of scale, allowing the company to rely upon factory automation rather than skilled labor for rough shaping of components and basic assembly tasks. Even so, 60% of the construction process was still done by hand, including planing, fretting, joining, and assembly. This machine-cut yet hand-worked process offered improved profit margins at lower unit prices and yielded high quality instruments with unique character.
Matsumoku produced guitars, or parts of guitars, for Vox, Guyatone, FujiGen Gakki, Kanda Shokai (Greco), Hoshino Gakki (Ibanez), Nippon Gakki (Yamaha), Carlo Robelli (Sam Ash), Hondo professional series (USA guitar company), Aria and Norlin (parent company of Gibson). American owned Unicord contracted Matsumoku to build most of its Univox and Westbury guitars. St. Louis Music imported Matsumoku-built Electra Guitars and Westone-Electra Guitars. J. C. Penney sold Matsumoku-built Skylark guitars through its catalog division. Matsumoku built many early Greco guitars as well as Memphis, Vantage, Westbury, Westminster, C.G.Winner, Cutler, Lyle and Fell. Washburn Guitars contracted with Matsumoku to build some of its electric guitars and basses from 1979 through 1984. Though the names above reflect Matsumoku's involvement, many of the names were later sold to other companies, which made guitars that were completely different in quality and sound.
Although its name began appearing on neck-bolt plates, headstocks, and sound-hole labels in the 1970s, Matsumoku's role in the making of guitars under contract was largely unknown outside of Japan's guitar-making circles. Matsumoku's contract with USA-based St. Louis Music had begun in 1971 with producing guitars under the Electra brand. (Electra branded instruments were also produced by multiple Japanese companies, though a majority were derived from Matsumoku.) In 1976 St. Louis Music would acquire the Westone brand from Matsumoku, a name the Japanese company had itself acquired previously to market their guitars to European and American consumers. Eventually in 1984 SLM would consolidate Electra and Westone together and create Electra-Westone branded instruments; a year later the Electra name was dropped and they would produce guitars solely as Westone. Matsumoku's final phase as a maker of guitars before shutting down in 1987 was under contract making Royce, Westminster, Westone and Westbury Guitars. (Westbury was a brand owned by American importer/marketer Unicord which named the brand after the location of its headquarters in Westbury, New York)
Arai and Company guitars were briefly labeled Arai, but switched to the familiar Aria around 1966. From the 1975 arrival of design engineer Nobuaki Hayashi (currently with Atlansia) onward, however, all Aria guitars were labeled Aria Pro II. Hayashi's pseudonym, "H. Noble", appeared on many of the Aria Pro II instruments he designed. Aria's guitars that followed showed remarkable design innovation and a definitive move away from Gibson and Fender formats. Hayashi is best known as the designer of the Aria Pro II, SB-1000 bass and the Aria Pro II PE-series guitars. Some of these were made with maple bodies, but higher-end models such as the PE1000 with Protomatic pickups and the PE1500 with DiMarzio pickups, had ash bodies. These ash-bodied guitars were produced only in relatively small numbers for the domestic market; most, however, had maple bodies. Some guitars were produced with the urushi finish and, again, these, in both red and brown urushi lacquer, were produced mostly for the domestic market. The vast majority of these have ash bodies, whereas the export models were made mainly of maple.
