The Guitar Gallery Forums - The Guitar Legacy of Matsumoku

Just copying and pasting a review I did on this over at a reddit subforum. Thought this forum might be interested. Below are some embedded pics.

Pics: http://imgur.com/a/ilFgG
Video (warning long and rambling): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjScTVPYoyU


Picked this up as a gift for Christmas to myself. A little back story it was sold to me by a very nice older woman who said she bought it brand new in 1976 and had it every since. She sold it to me for $500 and I jumped on it. These guitars somehow are very difficult to find, I suppose people who own them just do not get rid of them often. It's a Martin D42 clone right down to the bracing. The reason she sold it is because she purchased a Martin D28. This fact is important.

So about these guitars. You hear ALOT about how they are Martin killers, or how they are just as good. Well I can tell you they are not and the video above explains it in some detail. First though let's go over specs:

Top is solid spruce (looks like sitka)
Back and sides are laminated Brazilian Rosewood D35 style three piece back (again D42 clone with appointments)

The neck is just like a Martin, outside of the laminate back and sides if you put this up to a Martin and took both of the names away from the headstocks you wouldn't be able to tell either apart. The fretboard appears to be brazilian rosewood as well.

Now the big thing here and what is making these guitars collectible is the Brazilian Rosewood back and sides. Remember though this is laminate, a high end laminate but laminate none the less. This comes out most in the sound. While the guitar is nice and boomy, it just doesn't have that bass complexity you get in a good Martin and especially a vintage Martin. The mids and highs are fantastic and very complex. This thing is loud and in fact it's strong enough for my 72 Guild D50.

The final verdict IMHO is that this guitar despite all the hype around them is NOT as good as a Martin or Gibson acoustic especially the vintage ones. I would say sound wise it's probably worth around the $500 - $1,000. Of course these are now getting sought after so they typically fall to the higher side. If the bass tone was there this thing would be a Martin killer, but it isn't and you will never be able to change that.