The Guitar Gallery Forums - The Guitar Legacy of Matsumoku

Q&A, discussion, and information for the labels covered by The Guitar Gallery (Specifically and exclusively guitars made by Matsumoku up to 1987)
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PostPosted: Wed 06 Jul 2016 10:00 PM 
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Hi all

New to this forum. Looks like a great group of people. Thanks in advance for your comments.

I bought a Tele which is entirely unmarked except for Made in Japan on the neck plate. The seller said it was a 'Diplomat' which is apparently a brand that Aria used in New Zealand only (import/export laws were restrictive in NZ back in the day).

The pickups, saddle and volume cover are not original according to the seller. It has 3 piece neck. I've taken the neck, pickups and control cover off and there are no markings. Its solid wood and I'm hopeful that its mahogany but you might be able to tell me better. Sounds great.

I think it could be a Aria 1582: http://www.matsumoku.org/models/aria/so ... /158x.html

What do you think?

You might be interested - Stevie Ray Vaughan bought a Diplomat Strat while here in NZ which is in the SRV museum, and apparently The Cure used to raid Diplomats for the pickups


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PostPosted: Thu 07 Jul 2016 01:46 AM 
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Location: Mount Hunter, NSW, Australia.
Chur, bro!!

Can't add much to your story, I'm sorry; I had a Diplomat tele, too, way back when and it was horrid. I went from that to a 74 Telecaster and the difference was night and day! Then, of course, I tore it to bits, threw the old bits over my shoulder and nailed on nice new bits.... :roll: .... Dunedin in the late 70s, man - you made your own fun!

I still have, however, a Commodore lap steel that I play from time to time which came to me as a box of bits in Milton.... for NZ$5.


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PostPosted: Thu 07 Jul 2016 04:25 AM 
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G'day Corsair - Thanks for your comments. Looks like the Queensland sun is treating you well! I get the feeling that Diplomats were unpopular just because they weren't Fender. This one plays and sounds great although it has a slight back bow which will be my first project. As for the colour, I'm not sure about that Brown! Ha ha. Were Diplomats commonly available? Do you know if there was a range of Diplomat Tele's. Any details or history is great. I'm keen to know more.


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PostPosted: Thu 07 Jul 2016 09:42 AM 
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Location: St. Catharines, Ontario Canada
Hi ReallyLongLogin! (that's what she said too Image )
Dunno nuthin' 'bout Diplomats but judging by the back shot that looks like something closer to Ash, definitely not Mahogany. If it's solid wood and not a veneer that should be a nice sounding guitar.

That doodie brown finish though is pretty awful looking and I suspect that it is not original? If it's as nice under the brown as the back is, I'd strip her down and show off the grain. Good neck construction, and no skunk stripe! Should clean up nicely.

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PostPosted: Thu 07 Jul 2016 04:49 PM 
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Hi Barry

Thanks for your comment on the wood. Yeah, in the neck pocket you can see its been painted (possibly red) at some point. Although not sure that's original either!

If its Ash then, we are probably looking at the Aria 1582 I mentioned above. Yeah? Is anyone able to date it?

Thanks
Rod


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PostPosted: Thu 07 Jul 2016 05:38 PM 
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Location: Mount Hunter, NSW, Australia.
G'day, Rod... yeah, they were quite widely available; I bought mine from a shop in Dunedin called Bristol Piano which was the Mecca for youngsters who fancied themselves! It was the butterscotch/black pickguard model and was horrid to play because of the neck profile; for me, at 17, it was far too fat. Or perceived to be far too fat! :lol: There were other Diplomat guitars on the racks, if memory serves - not always a given! - there was an LP in black and another Tele also in black. I think the older guys avoided them because they weren't Fender, but gee; we weren't exactly spoiled for choice in NZ in 1975!! A cobber of mine had a Holden LP which was very nice, and I'm equally sure it was a re-branded import. I do know as soon as I found a Fender for a reasonable price, I bit the sellers arm off....

Oddly, though, I had a German amp, not a NZ one - Jansen, Holden or Gunn - like everyone else; a Dynacord Imperator with a Jansen duo box and it was just epic!! Sold that in the 80s to fund my Holden Reverb 100 combo which I've used ever since, and now resides with a friend in Toowoomba - I've grown to like little combos because they're light to carry about; that Holden weighs as much as the Moon!!
And yes; Qld is lovely - warm and comfortable! We moved back here from Europe to be warm and it's worked a treat so far!


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PostPosted: Mon 11 Jul 2016 01:31 AM 
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any guesses on the model or year guys, is it not possible since there are no markings?


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PostPosted: Mon 11 Jul 2016 04:56 AM 
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Apparently the Thinline (with the f hole) 1972 model had the dual single coils

"This 1972 model was the only year where the 1592 featured a fixed-bridge and dual single-coil pickups before switching to a H-S configuration in 1973." quoted from an e-bay ad 1972 Aria Model 1592 Tele Thinline w/ OHSC Lawsuit Era Japan MIJ 1582 Matsumoku

So 1972? What do you think? Any ideas?


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