Early Matsumoku Les Paul Customs
The earliest Les Paul Custom copies made by Matsumoku evolved as of 1969 from the Gibson originals reissued in 1968. There is enough reliable information to create a timeline story of the early years. There is specifically enough catalog and advertising information, cross-referenced to physical examples, that model and badge names can be grouped together logically. Some feature and finish overlapping blurs the group transitions a bit, but in the interest of not doing a detailed badge by badge exercise, best efforts have been made to limit the groups to just a few. There are a couple associated badge names that had Fujigen based production, in whole or in part, but these have been left out for now, just to focus on what appear to be fully or dominantly Matsumoku builds.
The early Matsumoku LP Customs are presented in poster format with all relevant summary discussion included. Click the button below to open the poster in a new tab for viewing or downloading, or carry on reading the full story below.
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Timeline 1968-1971
1968 - Gibson reissues the Les Paul Custom and Standard at the Chicago NAMM Show in June. Shiro Arai is in attendance and returns to Japan with USA made guitars (unknown models) for reverse engineering at Matsumoku [6, 65, 73, 76, 81]. Nobuaki Hayashi designs an LPC copy for Matsumoku based on a photo supplied by Unicord (i.e. Univox parent company), assumed to have also been in 1968, or early 1969 [4]. Gibson made LPs may have been available in the Japanese retail market by the end of 1968, or certainly by some point in 1969. Direct scrutiny and measurements would then be possible going forward.
August 1969 - Shaftesbury Les Paul copy, with initial identification as a model 3400, displayed in London by Rose-Morris at British Musical Instrument Trade Fair [75].
October 1969 - Earl Hooker and Magic Sam are filmed at the American Folk Blues Festival (likely one of the shows in Germany) playing what appears to be one of the earliest badged Univox U1982 'Rhythm & Blues' Les Paul copies [48] .
October 17, 1969 - News Release from Merson Musical Products Corp. (Univox distributor) notes availability of U1982 'Rhythm & Blues' as of Nov. and Dec. [66].
1969 - Aria folk guitar ad includes inset picture of Les Paul copy 'Diamond Solid Custom' but is ambiguous whether available in 1969 or coming in 1970. This is likely the same as the DC models confirmed in 1970 references [54].
May 1970 - Rose-Morris, and 1970 - Bell Musical Instruments Ltd. retail catalogs include Shaftesbury "00" / 3400 Les Paul copy. Presumed to be the same as Univox U1982 and Aria 5522 identified as of 1971 [67, 68].
1970 - 'Aria, A Great Sound' catalog & 'Aria Electric Guitar Diamond Series' brochure & 'Aria Guitar Diamond Custom' ad copy, show DC-40N and rare DC-45S models [26].
Nov. 1971 - Rose-Morris, and 1971 - Bell Musical Instruments Ltd. retail catalogs include Shaftesbury '00' / 3400 Les Paul copy model [67, 68].
1971 - Univox price list shows name and number as U1982 'Rhythm & Blues' for black and U1983 for gold. It's apparent that 'Rhythm & Blues' was the original model name from '69 to '71, changing to 'Mother' also in '71. Univox ad copy in '71 and subsequent '72 price list shows model name and number as U1982 'Mother' for black and U1983 for gold. Red examples are also known [66].
1971 - 'Aria Electric Guitars and Basses' catalog shows three variants as 5522G gold (shown with a different style TRC, examples needed to confirm), 5522 black, and 5522N natural. Like Univox, red examples are also known [52].
Group Types
TYPE 1, 1969-1971 / Shaftesbury 3400 as of Aug. '69 and/or "00" as of May '70, Univox U1982 'Rhythm & Blues' as of '69, Aria 5522 as of '71, Emperador, and a no badge version.
Gold/brass plated hardware, Matsumoku factory neckplate w/"STEEL ADJUSTABLE NECK" & 7 digit serial starting 00 & lack of "MADE IN JAPAN" stamp, rounded heel pocket, 8 neck inlays, 2 or 4 ply arch shape TRC, plain offset 2 screw tuners, 2 screw pickups w/covers, nylon saddles on some bridges, slotted flat bar tail piece, gold tone plastic top hat knobs w/translucent cap, brass pickup selector w/no plastic tip, 4 ply pickguard, bent ply top.
TYPE 2, 1970-1972 / Aria DC-40N & 45S in '70, DC40 or DC400 in '72 joint Greco catalog, Univox 'Gimme' U1986C (burst) in '72, Jedson Super Jet 4449 as of ? (version 1), DIA, and a no badge version.
Burst and flame top models only (no black) w/2 screw neckplate (some w/strap button, some w/"JAPAN"), chrome hardware except gold for 45S, rounded heel pocket except square for 45S, 8 neck inlays, 2 ply arch shape TRC some w/"Custom" except bell shape for 45S, plain offset 2 screw tuners & many w/plastic buttons, 3 screw pickups w/one framed w/translucent sheet cover, nylon saddles on some bridges, slotted flat bar tail piece, silver tone plastic top hat knobs with translucent cap, some Jedsons & 45S w/black witch hat knobs, pickup selector w/no plastic tip, pancake body w/mid veneer layer, bent ply top, unique headstock badge for Univox.
TYPE 3, 1971-1973 assumed, except Kimbara which is '74 specific [72] / Aria 5522N (natural) as of '71, Univox 'Gimme' U1986C (burst, type 2) & U1987 (ebony, late '72 / early '73) & U1988 (flame veneer, late '72 / early '73), Jedson Super Jet 4449 (version 2) as of ? [71], Kimbara N117 (natural) as of Sept. '74, and a no badge version.
Very similar to Type 2 w/all badges still having a flame/natural veneer example, new change to full Matsumoku style neckplate or unique block 'U' graphic neckplate (most but not all) and unique headstock badge for Univox, plus Univox the only badge in this group to have black and burst examples, gold or chrome hardware, some w/bell shaped TRC, variations w/both pickups uncovered or both covered and some w/frame w/translucent sheet cover, some w/black witch hat knobs.
TYPE 4, 1971 - 1973 assumed, except Kimbara which is '74 specific [72] / Aria 5522 & 5522G as of '71 & 5522B (black) & 5522S (burst) as of '72, Shaftesbury '00' / 3400, Univox U1982 & U1983 'Mother' as of '71, Jedson Jet 4444 as of ?, Ventura V-1003 as of ? and V-2500 as of ?, Santana SE 1222 as of ?, Kimbara N114/15/16 (black/gold/burst) as of Sept. '74, DIA, Granada, Pan, Penco, Raven, Sekova, and a no badge version.
Many features of Type 1 & similar to Type 3 w/3 screw pickups except no flame veneer models, 2 ply arch or bell TRC, iron saddles, some not all w/closed bolt hole tail piece, some w/black witch hat knobs, some burst and gold paint, Univox some w/centre slot PU covers & some neckplates with no "MADE IN JAPAN" & some w/less headstock binding, some pickups w/frame w/translucent sheet cover on some Aria & Ventura (same as some Type 2 & 3).
Changed hardware (e.g. TRC, knobs, tail piece), square neck, and some but not all badges with extra neck inlays, is assumed to have started by late '73 with different feature integration staggered by badge, going forward.
Timeline 1972 +
As of 1972, Type 1 had ended and Type 2 was being ended. Types 3 & 4 were available to no later than 1973 presumably, except as noted Kimbara was first identified as of Sept. 1974 with these group features. Model numbers may have carried on, but hardware and/or inlay changes arguably resulted in a new TYPE 5 version going forward from '73. New Aria specific LPC copy models were also introduced in 1972 [29] as Aria 5532N and 5542 with maple and mahogany bodies, and 9 and 10 black inlays, respectively, and maple fingerboards. Versions were available until 1977 (based on serial numbers). Multiple additional Matsumoku badge names also emerged in the post 1972 period, doing Black Beauty style plus other finishes, and maple & mahogany bodies with maple necks. Some of these names, in addition to existing Type 4 names, changed features at different times or not at all. For example, rounded neck ends persisted on badges like Kimbara and Granada as late as 1977.