The Guitar Gallery Forums - The Guitar Legacy of Matsumoku

Hello everybody,
first of all I am not a musician. I learned a lot from this forum and thanks to the knowleadge I gained here I bought several instruments for my kids. I have PE-140, CS-250, CSB-300 and VSB 600. See my previous posts:
viewtopic.php?f=13&t=3461
viewtopic.php?f=26&t=3571
I am glad my children did not give up since that time, my daughter even makes some money as a piano home teacher for a daughter of rather well-known Czech musician.
What I am glad too is that the instruments did not loose their value at all.
The 18th birthday of my son is coming slowly and he would like to get Gipsy/jazz Maccaferri style guitar. He likes the sound of Saga Gitane D-500 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_WHPlZFNkY . What I do not like is to fork out 750 EUR for apparently not bad, but Chinese guitar and loose a half of this value just after he will bring the guitar home. I would prefer for him ES-500 or VSH-455 for about 500 EUR.
So my questions are:
1) Are there any 30 years old Matsumoko alternatives I could look for?
2) What do you think about ES-500 or VSH-455 as an alternative?
3) If we choose hollow-body, what is the sound difference between guitar with sustain block and without it?

Thank you for your help in advance.

Bravo to you for supporting your children's musical interests. Aria makes some nice gypsy jazz guitar but I think they are all post Matsumoku. They still make two. Here is a link: http://www.ariaguitars.com/english/prod ... b114c53e29

I have not played wither of the guitars you are thinking of so you will have to wait for other opinions on that.

Hollow body electric guitars used for jazz usually don't have a center block. If you are looking for an instrument for gypsy jazz I think a guitar with a center block would sound too "electric" to capture the typical sound.

RSB, thank of the explanation of sustain block sound influence. Both Aria MM-10 and MM-20 have very bad reviews. Everybody suggests to choose Saga Gitane D-500 at least. But I would prefer to find an old Japanese alternative than to buy new Chinese guitar for 750 EUR.

Hmm, I have heard decent things about the Aria and have heard, but not played two of them. They sounded pretty good. Although some Chinese instruments can be good, I would shy away from a mass marked acoustic or gypsy style as many are made with wood that has not been properly dried. A few months down the road you can end up with cracks that cost as much to repair as the guitar is worth.