The Guitar Gallery Forums - The Guitar Legacy of Matsumoku

I am new to this forum and I usually don't do this kind of thing but I feel I can ad a tidbit to the group and maybe find out a little info about what I have. Let me start by saying I live just outside of Portland Oregon and I went to the bank sale when the L. D. Heater music company went out of business. I was maybe 16 years old when I was driving by their warehouse just outside of Oregon City Oregon (the canemah dist to be exact) I talked my folks into stopping since I was a guitar player. I begged and pleaded with my parents to buy me these guitars and I spent every weekend till I moved out mowing the lawn to pay for them.

At the time the L.D. Heater music company offered two names LYLE and Heater. The blonde guitar has an "h" that stands for heater and the other two are LYLE's.

The blond is a neck through with two Rose wood or ebony layers that form two nice accents to the guitar the back plate was missing when I bought it but it still played like a dream.

The red one has a very unique solid sound and is very comfortable to play

The brown les Paul copy has a built in effects package that is Unique it takes a 9 volt battery and all your effects are on board. This is a factory item and I think it's pretty rare the warehouse had one more with this feature but it was disassembled so I didn't buy it

I was wondering if anybody knows model numbers or styles or possibly values for these guitars anything would be great

[img=http://www.freeimagehosting.net/uploads/th.f9ac0f37fe.jpg]

[img=http://www.freeimagehosting.net/uploads/th.a184bf95f7.jpg]

[img=http://www.freeimagehosting.net/uploads/th.3c91d53789.jpg]

[img=http://www.freeimagehosting.net/uploads/th.06e6c332e7.jpg]

[img=http://www.freeimagehosting.net/uploads/th.97787e8a13.jpg]

[img=http://www.freeimagehosting.net/uploads/th.caea7bdf3a.jpg]

[img=http://www.freeimagehosting.net/uploads/th.f921d96f54.jpg]

[img=http://www.freeimagehosting.net/uploads/th.3e38dcca63.jpg]

[img=http://www.freeimagehosting.net/uploads/th.900d9b1dc6.jpg]

Thanks

Russ.........

Heya Russ - welcome to the madhouse! Pretty guitars, man - nice!! The built in effects were available on another Matsumoku brand as well - the Electra MPC models have the same sort of thing....

http://www.rivercityamps.com/electra/modules.php

I'm new to the forum but not new to Matts guitars. I have several and will post them soon - just wanted to say how cool i thought this thread is. I have 2 Heater guitars with the "h" logo and was able to help identify them because of this thread. I also live in Oregon so its cool to have Lyle history here and own a couple of them. Great story too - Thanks Russell!

Boy the bridge on the blond neck thru looks just like Westbury bridges. Howcum you got no strings?

Hi Hobster, i put a post about my Lyle 335 on others guitars, maybe you can help me to know the exact model and maybe you have the Lyle catalogs…

Solaris

Sorry Solaris for taking so long to respond but i do not have info on your guitar. Wish i could help but info on Lyles is hard to come by. I'm not aware of any catalog scans out there either. I did, however just find a nice acoustic Lyle 1280 L for $30 at a pawn shop and hope to clean her up and see how she sounds!

Great Story ! Nice Guitars, and Welcome ! Guess I'll have to keep my eyes peeled for "Heaters" now too. Add another brand to the list..............

Well, here are some pictures of my new Lyle. I remember reading about one of these in a thread around here and the owner was raving about it. I'm getting new Gotoh tuners and giving her a tune up. There was a low e and high e when purchased and there was no buzzing on either and the neck looks straight. Beaten up pretty bad but that gorgeous vintage wood could have the tone i've wanted. I'll keep my fingers crossed but she could be a beauty!

With a bit of luck she should come up a treat. Good luck and keep us posted. There is little information on the acoustics around.

Whoah, poor baby! What an awful life she's had.
Regardless, she should respond to a little (OK a lot) of TLC.

If that's black "permanent" marker pen I'm seeing, you can remove it very easily with isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol. It should quickly dissolve and help clean up the finish in the process without damaging it. Unfortunately if it has scratched the finish down to the raw wood all bets are off and you're looking at a more intensive refinishing process.

Similarly, the adhesive residue from the stickers can be loosened and removed using a few drops of vegetable oil. You can try warming them up gently first with a hair dryer to lift up the surface paper/plastic. Give it a bit of time but it should work, again without any damage.

Good luck with the resto.

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