The Guitar Gallery Forums - The Guitar Legacy of Matsumoku

Hello all! My first post.

I was prowling the internet recently and found this image (click thumbs for larger images). It is a dealer flier for Aria guitars from the 70's.



To my surprise, it shows my guitar (on the left)! Check the wood grain. That is exactly my guitar:





I bought this guitar used in February of 1982 in a guitar store (now sadly defunct) in St. Petersburg, FL for $365. The salesman said it was one-of-a-kind, though I don't know if that is true. Serial number on the back of the headstock reads "058009", so perhaps not the only one of this model.

After a decade of daily playing, it has resided in its case since the 90's. Some unfortunate dings on the top (zoom in on the linked images see them) and the binding has become an uneven amber color, but other-wise in fine playing condition. The neck is fabulous for my (small) hands. The heel is smoooth.

Active humbucking pickups w/duo 9-volt batteries (it is hungry for batteries!), 25.5" scale, neck-through w/hollow body wings.

It was essentially everything I wanted at the time, but now single-coils have my attention almost exclusively, so when plugged-in the other day IMO this guitar sounds very "dark" through my Pro Jr.

Great fun to discover this forum.


If these links ever break, please post here and I will find another image hosting service.

Hi John, welcome to the Forum, great to have you here.
What a Beautiful Guitar.
Its quite rare to see a Guitar from one of the Flyers, very cool.
Maybe some new pickups might revive your interest in her, maybe some P90's if your into single coil sound.
From the serial number, your guitar was built May 1978, production number 9.
Cheers.

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Very nice. I don't think I've ever seen one with just one f hole before. I dig it.

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Quality service since 3:00 last Tuesday

Was all set to strip out the electronics and replace with a couple of TV Jones Duotrons but then I found the flyer and thought maybe I shouldn't mess with it.

I have no concept if the value would be damaged by doing that.

It is a beautiful guitar, though it has a very very (very!) thick gloss finish that I (in my "thin, natural finish" old age) find a bit off-putting.

This is a fascinating site, by the way.

What a gorgeous guitar!
I'm assuming you can cut the coils in this to approximate a single coil sound. But I'm with Trevor, if you're into a true single coil sound, P90's would be an outstanding alternative.

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

Owning the FS-1000 and FS-750 both..
Nah broh.
That IS a one of a kind. Never seen one,like Barry states,with only one F hole. In turn the lids out back out of brass. Front strap bung placed the way it is (on all other FS series guitars it´s bolted to the neck/body joint a´la an SG).
In turn the tuners seems to be MG-55´s instead of the perloids the rest of them sport.
Uses a trussrod cover instead of the "bullet" the others do..aso aso aso.

So yeah. Different.
I´d hang on to it.

Swappin pups tho is OK by "japanese vintage standard". Point being that many of them sported pups that were marginal at best. Keep the stockers tho..safe.
A pair of GFS Mean 90 would do the trick on a budget i´d say. REAL similar in performance to Phatcats..

Congrats on a real oddball!

The brass cover on the back side is an indication that it's made in the seventies. The next decade most of the brass covers had been replaced with plastic ones (or in case of the FS-1000 a wood veneer).

Thanks for all the responses!

I was thinking that if it wasn't collectible I'd redo the pickups (and save them, the harnesses, the pots, et al) but now it appears it may have a small curiosity value.

Since I don't collect (ha, my wife sez, "7 guitars, 5 amps, 20-odd pedals, ukelele, dulcimer, psaltery, and a Chapman stick?, you can only play one at a time!", and I say, "Yes but...") maybe I will post it on Reverb and put the money (if any) toward... another guitar.

Has anyone used Reverb to sell? Perhaps that should be in a new thread.

If you like the neck (and you will after playing it for a decade)... change the pickups.

The later pickups used on the SH-1000 (and FS-1000) are quite bright. For replacment I currently use a set of Seymour Duncan SH-2 (Jazz model pickups). Those are rather bright already and together with the pre-amp in your guitar should be good for biasing the sound a little more single coil like. If that's not enough, you could try a set of Sheptone pickups (http://sheptone.com) for example. The Heartbreaker set from Sheptone is quite bright.

Just don't forget, that your replacement pickups need to have a separate wire for the ground, when you buy the replacements. The preamp of the guitar is designed for symmetric input with the ground wire on the centre tab... so two wire pickups will not work.



Never tried Reverb, but it looks interesting.

JFC-

I think Wutz has asked the right question- do you like the way it plays and feels?

If I had it, I'd document the wiring, pull everything out (including the preamp), and put in something like Wilde L609s (noiseless, P90ish) or Dimarzio EJ Customs (clean brighter humbucker). Then you'd have something partway to single coil sounds but different than a Fender.

The only thing that stops me from rewiring my Aria TA-60 (335 style) is the difficulty of fishing around inside the semihollow body. The TA-60 doesn't have the access plates on the back like yours.

Seems perfectly normal to have a whole bunch of guitars and a Stick- I have one too.

There's no For Sale section here, but let us know if you list it on Reverb or somewhere else.

-Steve W.