The Guitar Gallery Forums - The Guitar Legacy of Matsumoku

I have been looking at a Lyle Model c-640 classical guitars and I see some with LYLE on the head stock and some without. When did Aria start putting the logo on the head stocks. Are all the lyles made in the Arai workshop or in the matsumoku factory?

Are the 640's solid rosewood?

Most of the Lyles had identical twin Arias.

According to the Matsumoku Wikipedia page Arai contracted Matsumoku in 1964. Before this it was Guyatone.

The classical and "medium grade" guitars were contracted with other companies.

Specs for the Lyle guitars are hard to come by but looking at the Aria twins may offer some info.

Thanks for the info. It would be interesting to find out who the subcontractors were for the classicals. In case of th lyle c640 I see two different type of bracing on the back. The second picture shows the brace with a pattern on the brace. The first picture shows a straight flat brace. The first one has a serial number stamped under the label, the second does not. The head stocks and inlay are then same. The word lyle on the headstock on the firsr appears to be painted on. I'm wondering if they switch to laminate from solid rosewood at any point