The Guitar Gallery Forums - The Guitar Legacy of Matsumoku

I bought this guitar about 15 years ago when I wanted an ES-175 style guitar. At the time I thought I had read online that these Miller guitars were imported by a music store in Nashville during the 70 and 80s. But memories fade and I can't find anything to confirm that rumor now.

It seems to be a lawsuit guitar by the headstock shape. It is a very high quality build; 5-ply top, 7 ply body binding and 3 ply neck binding. But it has no serial number, label or other markings. The Miller decal is confusing since it resembles, but not exactly, the Miller beer logo. I'm selling off some guitars and want to find some info on this guitar before I offer it for sale. Many years ago I did see another one of these, but in poor condition, come up for sale on eBay, so there seem to be more out there. Does anyone know anything about these guitars? Are they a Japanese build? I'd appreciate any info.

I would say this is definitely a Mats built guitar, specifically, a re-branded Westone Session II:
http://www.westoneguitars.net/guitars/session-ii/

There are some minor differences, notably the fret board position markers, the head stock shape, and the saddle design, which is not unusual for a "white label" or promotional build, but the body is the same.

The logo does look like the Miller beer brand and I guess this may have been part of some sort of promotion, possibly jazz festival related?

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Guitars: https://legend.barryeames.com
Music/Pix/Videos: https://getback.barryeames.com

I can't see the pics...

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Quality service since 3:00 last Tuesday

The website is up and running and the pix are there. It's a public information site, no logon needed, so there's no reason to block your bad self.

Have you been a naughty boy this year or sumthin'?

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Guitars: https://legend.barryeames.com
Music/Pix/Videos: https://getback.barryeames.com

Ok. I tried in another browser with same result. I'll try again when I get home.

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Quality service since 3:00 last Tuesday

I don't think the choice of browser is the problem, sounds more like a browser configuration work related issue. No Javascript maybe??

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Guitars: https://legend.barryeames.com
Music/Pix/Videos: https://getback.barryeames.com

I'm not sure those are the same guitar. The cutaway is shaped differently as well as the f-holes.

There are some minor differences there but that would not be unusual either on a "white label guitar". If the production run was high enough, Matsumoku would do some light customization to the basic design for the client.

All speculation on my part. Many Japanese builders at the time also "borrowed" generously from one another, so it could easily be someone else's product. Nice though!

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Guitars: https://legend.barryeames.com
Music/Pix/Videos: https://getback.barryeames.com

I'm not 100% sure that this is Matsumoku made.

The hardware is Matsumoku correct. The tuning pegs look a bit odd as does the scratchplate, but Matsumoku would have used whatever was available when needed.

The cutaway is what makes me think. I'm not sure it would have been financially viable for Matsumoku to make a another template for the body... for a very small number of guitars. Even the Westone Session and the Aria Pro II branded ES-175 (EA-650) copy share the same body shape.