The Guitar Gallery Forums - The Guitar Legacy of Matsumoku

I just picked up a 1993 STG 02 3X and im fuzzy on when Aria moved from Japan other than an article in Wikipedia stating in the mid 90's which is Vague. can anybody tell me when Aria guitars became Korean/Indonesian/Chinese/? I have 6 Japanese Aria Pro II's from 1983-1986 which are high quality guitars. also if anybody can tell me what the difference between a STG 02 3X and a MST 02 3X? I know the mad axe was on the headstock on the MST models but the specs are Identical otherwise.

Welcome Mephestopheles.
Matsumoku closed its doors in 1987. If I understand correctly, some higher end models were still produced elsewhere in Japan.
I own an STG, it isn't in the same league with a Japanese guitar.
What do you have from the 80's? Those years should be what we cover here with very few exceptions.

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I have a white 1983 Aria RS Straycat with vintage bridge, 3 1985 Smooth Joints (Black/Turquoise/Red) all act 3 tremolo's, Blue/Purple 1986 The Cat and a Custom Natural Wood 1985 RS that I loaded with EMG's and a real Floyd. and this STG will make 7

You really dig the RS body, huh? I have 3 of them myself.
That 1986 The Cat is one of those "with very few exceptions" I mentioned.
Even though it falls within the Matsumoku years (all built in '86), it doesn't say "Japan" on it anywhere. So far, every one I've seen has a plyw- uh, laminate body.
The necks look to be first rate though. I believe the necks are Japanese but the bodies were built somewhere else. I kept the neck off my The Cat and put it on another RS body. It's actually a project I've had for a few years and just got it working this week. I'll post info and pics soon.

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Quality service since 3:00 last Tuesday