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The Shiro
Arai/Matsumoku Story (so far)
Shiro Arai and Shrio
Arai Co.
In The Beginning
The Arai Co. was originally
founded by classical guitarist Shiro Arai sometime in the early 1950s as
an importing company which expanded in the mid 1950s and began manufacturing
classical guitars. Electric guitar production began around the turn of
the decade and the Aria and Aria Diamond
names were adopted. Offerings at that time consisted of various solid and
hollow body guitars loosely influenced by western designs such as the "Bison"
and "Jaguar". Arai Co. also manufactured a number of re-brands and components
distributed by other importers. Evidence of this can be seen in the design
and construction of such brands as Univox, Conrad, Lyle, Domino, Maxi-Tone,
Pan, Arita, and a number of others.
The Copy Era
As fate would have it, Shiro
Arai decided to attend the 1968 NAMM show in the US and was greatly impressed
by the American designs on display there. In 1969 the first Japanese-produced
LP copy debuted, and no, Hoshino was not involved. Copies of other American
designs were not long in coming. The "Japanese Invasion" had begun! Most
copies were still of entry-level quality and incorporated bolt-neck design.
This was soon to change, as Arai Co. would be joining forces with another
Japanese instrument company which would change the direction of these instruments
forever.
The Arai-Matsumoku Alliance
In the early to mid '70s Arai
joined forces with traditional Japanese instrument manufacturer Matsumoku,
and hints of Matsumoku's beginning involvement can be seen in some of the
Aria models around this time including the appearance of set necks and
sealed tuners. (If anyone has any information regarding the history of
Matsumoku please contact me!).There was a general push during this time
to improve quality, and the intention may have been to compete directly
with the American guitar makers. In 1975 Arai launched the Aria Pro II
line, produced by Matsumoku which included set neck copies of the LP Custom,
LP Standard, and by 1975 included copies of the SG, S*****caster, T***caster,
P-Bass, J-Bass, a Ricky Bass, ES175 style jazz boxes, ES335 style jazz
boxes, and a copy of the Ripper Bass. Direct copies began to wane towards
the end of 1977 primarily due to the lawsuit threat by Norlin against Elger/Hoshino.
.
A note about the
"Lawsuit"
It is a common misconception
that the famous Gibson/Norlin lawsuit was filed against a number of Japanese
companies. It is also commonly said it was over the exact copying of American
designs. Neither is true. The lawsuit was filed by Norlin (Gibson's parent
company) against Elger/Hoshino (Ibanez's American division) over the use
of the "open book" headstock design which Norlin claimed as a Gibson Trademark.
It was not over the exact copying of body dimensions or construction. These
guitars were metric! Don't believe me? Just try putting your Gibson stop-tail
posts in one of those "exact" copies! When's the last time you saw a bolt-neck
genuine LP Custom?
The lawsuit was not "won"
by Norlin, but settled out of court. Most of the Japanese companies, as
a precautionary move, turned away from close copies but many still offered
their "version" of the classic American designs with at least minor departures
in design and appearance.
Often I see the term "lawsuit"
tossed around rather freely. Most often it is either hype to raise the
price of the copy someone trying to sell, or they simply don't know what
the "lawsuit" was all about. Too often it really isn't a lawsuit model
at all. DON'T FALL VICTIM TO THE HYPE! I see a lot of this in on-line auctions
and on-line guitar dealers advertisements. I have seen guitars go for much
more than they are actually worth simply because the purchaser has fallen
for the hype or actually didn't know what constitutes a "lawsuit" model.
Remember, the best customer
is a well informed customer.
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.
Enter the "New" Aria
Pro II - A New Identity
Arai, like other Japanese manufacturers
had begun bringing in skilled engineers and popular players to influence
the design of their guitars. The "new" Aria
Pro II line was designed by H. Noble
(Nobuaki Hayashi), and produced by Matsumoku. Quality was improved
considerably and the models sported unique and innovative designs. Many
models came stock with phase/series-parallel/coil-cut switching not commonly
found on other guitars. Other innovations included active power boosts
and unique tone circuits. Matsumoku's attention to quality and construction
techniques soon began to attract people's attention and the line had easily
jumped from entry-level to intermediate and even pro quality instruments.
At the top of the line were
the PE Prototypes which appeared in 1977. Many of you have seen some of
them as the PE "Masterpiece" or "The Aria Pro II". Many other high quality
models were introduced, and for a decade, the Aria Pro IIs continually
remained at the top of their class! Other notable models were the Thor
Sound, Tri Sound, Noise Killer, Cardinal, and RS series (some of which
are pictured here in the GG).
Matsumoku not only produced
the Aria Pro II guitars but a number of other well known brands such as
Vantage, Westone, Electra, some of the Japanese Epiphones, and the Japanese
Washburns. The most notable of the Vantage line were the VP and VS series
incorporating many of the same electronics features as the Aira Pro IIs.
A number of neck-thru models of extremely high quality were produced and
still command prices worth respect. Electra production began in the mid
'70s and also bore the same high quality and features but took electronics
and decoration one step beyond. Features such as active power boosts, active
EQ, MPC on-board swappable effects, fancy inlay work, and even faux tortoise
shell binding appeared on a number of models. The MPC models (a complete
line by itself) were unique in that up to two effects modules actually
plugged into a compartment on the back of the guitar and were controlled
through the use of universal controls on the front of the guitar. Modules
could be swapped at will and a number of modules were available.
For more information on the
Electra guitars be sure to visit the best
Electra site on the net!
Westone (as well as Electra)
were distributed in the US by Saint Louis Music. Westone was also distributed
in the UK and some models actually debuted there before they hit US soil.
The two most impressive of the Westones in my opinion were the Prestige
and Session II. Quite a few different models were offered including the
Spectrum series, Dynasty, Dimension, Concord series, Pantera series, and
Raider to name a few. If you love the Westones, your Westone search is
not complete until you have been here!
A number of other guitar
brands were also manufactured by Matsumoku, some documented and some not.
As time goes on, some are spotted and at least partially identified. Such
is the case with the mysterious Skylarks. The Japanese Washburn Wing series
as well as the Japanese Epiphone Scroll can be credited to "Uncle Matt"!
Production continued at the
Matsumoku plant until the latter part of 1987 when, due to production costs,
manufacturing was moved to Korea. Shortly after, the Matsumoku plant was
sold to Singer and all guitar production ceased. If I understand correctly,
the plant was destroyed some years later in a natural disaster (earthquake
I believe).
Several of the names survived
or have been revived originating from Korea and the UK. Aria Pro II and
Aria as well as Vantage and Epiphone are now produced in Korea. Westone
has been revived and several models are available in the UK and sport much
the same looks as the Prestige which it is modeled after. Aira/Aria Pro
II continues to live on and the model line has changed and expanded considerably
to meet present day demands. The TA, FA, and PE series are still alive
and kicking!
May "Uncle Matt" rest in
peace! "He" will be fondly remembered by those of us who still play "his"
guitars! At least some of the names he created live on today and with any
luck, will forever.
Sources:
1996 VG Magazine: The Different
Strummer By Michael Wright: Aria Guitars, From Classicals to Classics,
Part II
Guitar Stories Volume One
by Michael Wright published by Vintage Guitar Books
Electric Guitars, The Illustrated
Encyclopedia published by ThunderBay Press
(Please contact me with any
corrections, additions, or if you can contribute)
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