The Guitar Gallery Forums - The Guitar Legacy of Matsumoku

I am curious if anyone can offer a little more clarity as to who was actually building Washburn electrics in the 80s?

Matsumoku and Yamaki for sure - I know that part, but, were there others?

I ask, as I have read suggestions that Kasuga and Matt both built the Force Series Strats, but, I have seen early versions of these guitars with bolted on 'Wing Series' necks, which adds to the confusion.

Racing's comments that his newly acquired BBR Tele may be a Yamaki build adds even more confusion.

Then there is the G Series of Strats introduced in 1985/86, well within the timeline that Matt was involved. I have read these are NOT Matsumoku built guitars.

Is there a thread or post on the forum which digs into the details of who built what?

Appreciate the expert insights!
with regards.

No such post as i know of.
Now,i´m by no means an expert but conclude what i do from checking with other scandinvian owners and compare notes to my own.
(There´s a few of us,and "the" thread on the subject by now carries inxs of 32 000 hits...)

By now its been a few Uncle Mats as well as Yamakis we´ve looked at around here,where my shop has become sort of a transit point for many-but by no means all.
That is NOT to state it is the answer to all ills,just that the numbers that walked through here are stacking up.

What i´m getting at is that you over time kind of develop a "feel" for what´s built where and by whom.
IMO the Uncle Mats in general are well built guitars,and the highend ones sometimes through the roof,while the Yamakis are always more neat in build.
With a Yamaki built guitar,at least the ones i´ve seen,there´s absolutely not ONE miss anywhere.
(Edit.Actualy i´ve seen ONE Eagle with a skewed tuner...so correction there)

If you take my current BBR tele that ones simply ooze of exactly that.
Attention to detail.
Not better basic build or materials than an Uncle Mat,but more anal approach to details.
If i compare that one to Oscars current A20BBR his is much more along the lines of a typical high-end Mat.
All in all a very high-end guitar...that in this particular case carries evidence of that the plans for the bridge were changed half ways,and then adressed esteticaly accordingly.
However i want to be VERY clear and stress that i´m by no means any expert and could VERY well be wrong as what i´m proposing here is more of a feeling than anything else.
The small things.What basicaly comes down to the tiny impressions of the build.Down to stuff like how wires have been routed.

Take the bindings of my verified Yamaki Eagle.
Could very well be that Mat could have produced an axe like that,but what makes it a Yamaki in my book is that you could use the brass part of the bindings of the neck as a dayum straight level.Attention to detail on these guitars is absolutely bar none,and IMO downright customshop stuff by todays standards.
Ergo why i regard the BBR of mine along those lines,and why i dont when it comes to the BBR of Oscars-which in itself is an interesting proposition.

If we for instance go back a little and examine my old HM-5....Mat.
All the signs are there.
Typical build...pots,caps and what have you not.

We could go on,but i for one at least believe that Yamaki and Matsumoku were in bed with each others like two bit....yea well..
Hence,the differences are slight.

On the topic of late Mats.
It has been our findings that the builds and materials are more or less always what to expect,however...
-"Specifications to change without notice"- certainly apply,and this indeed gets worse for the later yrs of production.
It´s like at a given moment the workers used the hardware that happend to be left for a given model or line as economics went down the tube.
We´ve seen low end washies(ravens) that seem to more or less have been tossed together.
Likewise for the Westones.
Some of them showing sub par build quality vs what we´ve come to expect from Uncle Mats.
Guitars and basses that have been simply "dead" tonal wise asf.

As for Kasuga being involved with Washburn,sorry...no idea...but i guess some of the other very knowledgable members might very well know.
..and there indeed were many other active gakkis in japan at the time.
Fuji,Chuchin,Matsumoku,Yamaki,Kasugajust being a few of them.
Or maybe more to the point,more reknowned to us westerners.
In fact to the degree where i sometimes wonder if even the japanese themselves has this sorted out.

Thanks for the insights Racing,

I am certainly no expert on who built what, but I am confident that all the 'makers' mentioned shared parts and technologies, and subcontracted to each other, much like Sony, JVC and Panasonic and all the others do today.

For certain, of the guitars I own, the 1981 (Yamaki) Eagle is leagues above the others in terms of build and attention to detail, and 'saturates digital tape' as if it is almost double tracked(!) - although I qualify that by saying that the Eagle was the flagship of the Washburn electric launch in the late 70s, so they made sure they got it right.

I saw a Daion Power Mark XX and a late 80s Westone Spectrum II (HSS, root beer finish, with white pickups and white binding, plus Bendmaster tremolo) at the pawnshop today. The Westone was an impressive guitar - in all aspects, but the Daion was a piece of three dimensional art! Unbelievable. The owner wanted $1000 bucks. Craft and build-wise, it looked and felt like it was worth it. It had a 'harmonic lock' bridge, brass knobs and creme pick-ups that are identical to my Eagle. Serial number suggested 1983.

I appreciate your comments to with regards to building the guitar of the day with the parts 'available in the bin' too. I am an avid follower of Slingerland drums (same time frame as my Washburn fetish - 1978 through 86), and watched as their drums followed the same factory 'follies'- use whatever is available....today.

I bet that BBR Tele you unearthed sounds great - I have photos of a BBR Falcon (from someone's old Craigslist ad) with three pick-ups that looks.... stellar!

I will see if i can dig it up the images.

cheers

Thousand bux for a power XX?
Now,in that case it´s paid for at least!
Still on the lookout for one of those.
Couple of the boys over here owns a set and they all hail them.

If we compare a guitar like the masterpiece to the eagle they´re like night and day IMO.
The MP being the way more "sensitive" instrument,and more prone to react to how player attacks it.
The MP is a more simplistic setup though,but with that said just like with the Yamakis i´m yet to see a MP that carries a flaw-from the factory that is in both cases.
Which is "better"?
You tell me.