References

[1] Director TAD, the Junk Guitar Museum. 2012. Matsumoto Guitars. http://garakutaguitar.com/MatsumotoGuitars4.html. Retrieved Oct. 2025.

[2] Director TAD, the Junk Guitar Museum. 2017. Matsumoto Guitars. http://garakutaguitar.com/MatsumotoGuitars5.html. Retrieved Oct. 2025.

[3] Director TAD, the Junk Guitar Museum. 2017. Harayama Guitar Factory. http://garakutaguitar.com/HARAYAMAguitar.html. Retrieved Oct. 2025.

[4] Director TAD, the Junk Guitar Museum. 2018. Matsumoku Industries Co., Ltd. http://garakutaguitar.com/matsumotoguitars-matsumoku.html. Retrieved Oct. 2025.

Plus translated & edited 2024 version at: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1G6fXEAT5ZzLg2GXu9PZv-HUJfS2Pkode/view. Retrieved Oct. 2025. 

[5] Director TAD, the Junk Guitar Museum. n.d. Matsumoto Guitars "Nagano Prefecture Guitar 1956-2000". http://garakutaguitar.com/naganoken-guitar1956-2000. Retrieved Oct. 2025.

[6] Shinko Music Pub. Co. Ltd. (Tokyo). 2004. Japan Vintage Vol. 5. Sound of Aria. Part 1 The History of Aria Pro II.

[7] Shinko Music Pub. Co. Ltd. (Tokyo). 2004. Japan Vintage Vol. 5. Sound of Aria. Part 2 The Greatest Four of Aria Pro II.

[8] Shinko Music Pub. Co. Ltd. (Tokyo). 2004. Japan Vintage Vol. 5. Sound of Aria. Part 3 Big Names with Aria Pro II.

[9] Shinko Music Pub. Co. Ltd. (Tokyo). 2004. Japan Vintage Vol. 5. Sound of Aria. Part 4 Aria Pro II: The Theory of Evolution.

[10] Shinko Music Pub. Co. Ltd. (Tokyo). 2004. Japan Vintage Vol. 5. Sound of Aria. Part 5 The Testimony, Special Edition.

[11] Calvosa, Antonio. 2024. Fujigen History. https://www.fuzzfaced.net/fujigen.html.  Retrieved Oct. 2025.

[12] Matera, Joe. 2023 July. The story of Aria Guitars: the unsung brand that has served metal shredders and jazz virtuosos alike for over 60 years. Bass Player magazine.

[13] Meyers, Frank. 2015. History of Japanese Electric Guitars. Anaheim Hills CA USA: Centerstream Publishing LLC.

[14] Japan Vintage Guitar Club. 2016. Japanese Vintage Guitars, Masterpieces Made in Japan. Tokyo: Graphic-sha Publishing Co. Ltd.

[15] Folly Publications Ltd. 1983. Guitar Special '84 - Westone, Background to a Breakthrough. Music U.K. magazine.

[16] Tom Presley, SLM Product Manager, comments as posted by Tim Jones in 2023. https://www.facebook.com/groups/westone.electra/posts/244047427785013.

[17] IPC Magazines Ltd, Northern & Shell Ltd. 1984 April. Five Days in Frankfurt. One Two Testing magazine.

[18] Torres, Dave. 1981 June. Japan, Guitar Production in the New Empire. Guitar Player magazine.

[19] Meyers, Frank. 2022 July. The Brains Behind Some of Matsumoku’s Wildest Designs. Premier Guitar magazine.

(Note for the record that this article includes the statement: "...Matsumoku burned down.". Matsumoku did not burn down.)  

[20] Toshio Toshi Owa, R&D Section Manager, comments in 2023. https://www.facebook.com/groups/267949426704780/posts/2607338509432515

[21] Meyers, Frank. 2020 May. Rare '60s Japanese JVC Victor Still Flies Today. Premier Guitar magazine.

[22] Wright, Michael. 2014 January. The Aria Pro II PE-R80. Vintage Guitar magazine.

[23] Bacon, Tony. 2023 October. Celebrating 150 years of Epiphone – from luxury archtop maker to budget builder and rock icon. Guitarist magazine.

[24] Fandom Music Community. n.d. Matsumoku Industrial Company. https://epiphoneguitars.fandom.com/wiki/Matsumoko. Retrieved Oct. 2025.

[25] Burrows, Terry. 2023 (first published 2011). Guitar Family Trees: The History of the World's Most Iconic Guitars. New York: Chartwell Books.

[26] Aria, A Great Sound (1970 Japanese catalog) / Aria Electric Guitar Diamond Series (1970 Japanese brochure).

[27] Merson Musical Products Corporation, 1966 Edition (English brochure).

[28] Univox Guitars, Basses, Amplifiers, & Accessories (1968 English catalog).

[29] Aria & Diamond Electric Guitars & Basses (1972 English catalog) / Greco Electric Guitar Catalog (1972 Japanese catalog).

[30] Aria Classic Guitars, Electric Guitars, Banjos (1974 English catalog).

[31] Aria Guitars / Aria Guitars, Mandolins, Banjos / Aria Electric Guitars and Basses (1975 English - 2 catalogs and 1 brochure). 

[32] Aria Mach 1 Guitars / Aria Pro II Professional Guitars / Aria Pro II Electric Guitars Vol. 1 / Aria Pro II Electric Guitars Vol. 2

(1976 English brochure / 1976 English brochure / 1975 Oct. [for '76]  Japanese catalog / 1976 Japanese catalog [assumed to carry over into '77]).

[33] Professional Series Aria Pro II / Aria Pro II Professional Electric Guitars / Aria Pro II Electric Guitars / Aria Pro II Electric Guitars Vol. IV / Aria Pro II Electric Guitars Vol. V / The Aria Pro II Masterpiece Prototype [identified as Vol. VI; possibly 2 versions]) / Aria Pro II New Lineup is Here.

(1977 English brochure / 1977 English brochure / 1977 English catalog / 1977 Japanese catalog / 1977 Japanese catalog / 1977 English brochure / 1977 Japanese Brochure).

[34] Electric Guitars Aria Pro II Prototype Series / Aria Pro II Electric Guitars Vol. VII / The Aria Pro II Prototype Line

(1978 English catalog / 1978 English catalog / 1978 Japanese catalog).

[35] Aria Quality / Electric Guitars Aria Pro II Prototype Series / Electric Guitars Aria Pro II /  Aria Pro II Electric Guitars / Aria Pro II Tri Sound Series Vol. IX / Aria Pro II Electric Guitars Full Line Up Vol. X / Electric Guitars Aria Pro II Vol. XI

(1979 English catalog / 1979 English catalog / 1979 English brochure / 1979 English catalog / 1979 English brochure / 1979 English catalog / 1979 English catalog).

[36] Aria World Wide / Aria Pro II Electric Guitars 1980 New Lineup (2 versions) / Aria Pro II Rev-Sound Series / Aria Pro II Electric Guitars

(1980 English catalog / 1980 Japanese catalog  / 1980 English brochure / 1980 Japanese catalog [rare version]).

[37] The Advanced Electrics Aria Pro II / LS and Others '81 Collection / The Advanced Electrics Aria Pro II Catalog All Line Up / The Advanced Electrics Aria Pro II NEW Models

(1981 English catalog / 1981 Japanese catalog / 1981 Japanese catalog / 1981 Japanese catalog).

[38] The Advanced Electrics Aria Pro II '83 General Catalog / The Advanced Electrics Aria Pro II Get the Aria Advantage

(1983 Japanese catalog / 1983 English brochure).

[39] The Advanced Electrics Aria Pro II '84 Catalog (3 versions) / The Advanced Electrics Aria Pro II 

(1984 English catalog x3 / 1984 English catalog).

[40] The Advanced Electrics Aria Pro II '85 Electric Guitar Catalog  / The Advanced Electrics Aria Pro II Gear 1985 Spring Edition / The Advanced Electrics Aria Pro II Electric Guitars & Basses '85 Catalog / The Heavy Metal Axes '85 Winter Edition, The Advanced Electrics Aria Pro II.

(1985 English catalog / 1985 English catalog / 1985 English catalog / 1985 English catalog)

[41] The Advanced Electrics Aria Pro II '86 New Line Up  / The Advanced Electrics Aria Pro II Gear '86 Electric Guitar Catalog (2 versions) 

(1986 English catalog / 1986 English catalog x2).

[42] NAMM Oral History Program. n.d. Shiro Arai. video (dated 2006) at: https://www.namm.org/video/orh/shiro-arai. Retrieved Oct. 2025.

[43] advertising brochures and music magazine advertisements and review articles from respective years on the timeline; Japanese/English/German.

[44] Aria's Distributors World Wide 1979. - music magazine presumed insert; listing of distributors and offices and some historical details. 

[45] The Aria Story 1979. - music magazine presumed insert, brief article/advertisement copy. 

[46] United States Tariff Commission. 1968. Summaries of Trade and Tariff Information. Schedule 7 Volume 3.

United States International Trade Commission. 1987. Tariff Schedules of the United States, Annotated. 

OpenAI. (2025). ChatGPT (Oct. 11 version). [Large language model]. https://chat.openai.com/chat.

[47]  Aria Pro II Guitars, Manual Book. 1979.

[48] Earl Hooker - Live at the American Folk Blues Festival [Colourized] 1969. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-HyCz6pHaI.

Magic Sam - Live [Colourized] 1969. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Oc8GFE5OHk. 

[49] Amethyst Guitars, 2017. 1980 The Aria Pro II PE-1000 Antique Brown. https://amethystguitars.hatenablog.com/entry/15459252. Retrieved Oct. 2025.

[50] Visit Matsumoto / Tag: Nanbu Park. 2025. https://visitmatsumoto.com/tag/%e5%8d%97%e9%83%a8%e5%85%ac%e5%9c%92/. Retrieved Oct. 2025.

[51] Gibson Les Paul Pro Deluxe, Dec. 1977 Japanese music magazine advertisement / and Gibson Japan ads from 1979/81/83

[52] Aria Electric Guitars and Basses (1971 English catalog).

[53] Vintage Guitar & Bass. 2025. Shaftesbury guitars. https://www.vintageguitarandbass.com/shaftesbury/. Retrieved Oct. 2025.

[54] Aria Detachable Series. 1969 (or 1970) Japanese music magazine advertisement. 

[55] Westone fan site contributors. 2021. Matsumoto City, The Real Home of Westone. https://westoneguitars.net/history/matsumoto-city/. Retrieved Oct. 2025. 

[56] Burrluck, Dave. 1985 August. Westone Spectrum GT Bass. International Musician & Recording World magazine.

[57] Folly Publications Ltd. 1983. Guitar Special '84 - Aria, the Importer's Tale. Music U.K. magazine.

[58] Tom Presley, SLM Product Manager, comments in 2019.  https://www.facebook.com/groups/105720173875/permalink/10156991614073876.

[59] Yochin's blog. 2022.  https://ameblo.jp/youchin1214/image-12758539927-15159868606.html. Retrieved Oct. 2025.

[60] Aria Guitars. 2025. History of Aria Guitars. https://ariaguitarsglobal.com/about-aria/. Retrieved Oct. 2025.

[61] Director TAD, the Junk Guitar Museum. n.d. 1967 Arai Diamond 1202T. http://garakutaguitar.com/AraiDiamond1202T.html. Retrieved Oct. 2025.

[62] Aria Diamond Electric Guitars (1968 Japanese brochure).

[63] Coast Wholesale Music product binder, dated 1968.

[64] Director TAD, the Junk Guitar Museum. 2025. Part 1: The History of Nisshin Onpa Seisakusho. http://garakutaguitar.com/matsumotoguitars-maxon. Retrieved Dec. 2025.

[65] Wright, Michael. 1998 Feb. Univox Guitars, Merson/Unicord Part 1. Vintage Guitar magazine. 

[66] Patton, Tim. 2001. The Univox Page. vintageunivox.com/guitars & /catalogs. Retrieved Dec. 2025.

(Note for the record that the 'History' page on this site includes the statement: "...a disastrous fire shut Matsumoku down...". Matsumoku did not burn down.)

[67] Vintage Guitar & Bass. 2025. Rose-Morris 1970 “Exciting Electrics, Wonderful Westerns, Celebrated Classics” & 1971 “Exciting Electrics / Wonderful Westerns” retail catalogs. https://www.vintageguitarandbass.com/rose-morris/catalogues/1970_index.php. https://www.vintageguitarandbass.com/rose-morris/catalogues/1971_index.php. Retrieved Jan. 2026.

[68] Bell Musical Instruments Ltd. 1970 & ’71 “Guitars, Amplifiers, and Accessories” retail catalogs.

[69] Aria Electric Guitars Diamond Series (1973 English catalog / possibly spanning '73-'82).

[70] Folly Publications Ltd. 1985 September. First Bass. Music U.K. magazine.

[71] Undated catalog page excerpts: Jedson, Santana, & Ventura. 

[72] Beat Publications. 1974 September. AMII Report, New and Interesting Items Seen at Brighton; & FCN ad copy. Music World & Beat Instrumental & International Recording Studio magazine.

[73] Wright, Michael. 2002 July. Stratospheric Variations, A History of Offset Double Cut Guitars. Vintage Guitar magazine.

[74] Aria Classic Guitars / Konzert Gitarren / Guitares Classiques (1984 English/German/French catalog).

[75] Beat Publications Ltd. 1969 October. B.I. Tours the 69 Instrument Fair, Our Verdict: Bigger & Better Sounds. Beat Instrumental & International Recording Studio magazine.

[76] Alcantara, Paul. 2006 November. From Arai to Aria. Guitar Buyer magazine. (incl. "FACTORIES WHERE THEY'RE MADE" – titled inset to main article).

[77] Japan Patent Office, Industrial Property Information and Training Center. 2026. https://www.j-platpat.inpit.go.jp/c1801/TR/JP-1959-008308/40/ja. Retrieved March 2026.