The Guitar Gallery Forums - The Guitar Legacy of Matsumoku

I didn't see an intro topic listing? Hopefully I'm not overstepping my bounderies by taking it upon myself to start one. If I missed it buried somewhere please forgive me for not digging deep enough. Maybe it could be "sticky'ed"

Anyways, I just found this board and it is great!!!!
My second ever guitar (first "real" guitar) that I owned was a Vantage "Ghost" that I purchased brand new in '77 or '78 when I was a youngster.
I still own it and it is my most prized of all the guitars that I have been fortunate enough to possess at one time or another. I still regret giving up a '78 Gibson Les Paul Custom w/protector case, but if hard pressed I would still probably let the Gib go before the Vantage because of sentimental value.
I thought that the Vantage was a real obscurity and unknown brand and I always found myself explaining what it was all about.
I'm so glad that I've found this site and that there is others whom share my enthusiasm for the little known metric guitars .
How I found myself here was that I decided to lookup a search of Vantage on E-bay just for fun. I found almost a dozen different examples listed and ended up bidding and winning a VLP-500 to go along with my Ghost..... Now I'm hooked!!! Man,,,,, did I get a killer deal on that VLP spirit!!!! because now that "I'm in the Know" and beginning to collect these instruments I can't win any bids for that low a price. I was trying to score another Ghost but they are all exceeding what I paid brand new for my original!!!! What I really want is a Entertainer 335 style,,,, shouldn't be too long a wait and then the 12 string electrics hmmm.... oh yes,, the fretless bass and,,,,,,,,,, addicting , I want, I want, I want, hmmm did Vantage do a 12+6 double neck!!!!?????
Oh I Love these guitars and they're so much more fun and affordable then the US made vintage stuff, and not too serious.
Well I could go on and on.... I got a good story about when I bought my first Vantage too.... for another time.
Let me just say Hello and introduce myself, my name is Brian and I'm here on the west coast stateside- sunny southern Cal.
I'm 40 something but I like to lie about it and tell everyone that I'm 30 something..... My screen name is derived from a Zep song on their last LP with J.H.B. My last name is often misspelled to resemble the spelling of the songs title. Only two letter are transposed but nobody has ever really noticed!
Now how cool is that!? Imagine high school and the new zep album comes out and one of the titles is your last name????? !!! Yeah pretty cool that I'm known as Southbound and my name ends in EZ!!!!! (good ol all american irish name!)
Hey Thanks to all that put these forums together. I hope that I can find many friends on here and I can be a part of your community .
Thanks ,,,, SouthBound Suarez

Well, g'day there, southbound - nice to see another fan find a spiritual home! You describe a condition that many here suffer and you will find us all very understanding and willing to lend an ear... but only if you show us what you've got!!

You may indeed join the hunt for a Matt 12 - Vantage and APII both did 'em and APII also did a 6/12 - our resident Swede has one of those and our Vantage guru - Squidhead - has a lovely Vantage 696/12 that many on the board covet... me included as I am a huge Vantage fan; I've been playing one since 1980 and like you, have had to suffer the slings and arrows of the ignorant!

All of the main Matt brands did a 335 clone and all of them are very highly regarded by their owners - APII TA60, Vantage VSH and Westone Rainbow are the ones that spring to mind, and they are all getting no cheaper...

Many of us in here started with one sort of Matsumoku and have gone on to grab anything that Uncle Matt made... and there are many brands to be going on with, so you have been warned!!

Welcome to "our" forums Brian, I'm sure you'll quicklt find out that the folks here are true fanatics, when it comes to their "Uncle Mats"...and very, very knowledgeable regarding guitars, in general, as well.
So enjoy the forums, and good luck finding more "Mats". (I think Frenchy & I have things covered, on the Eastern side of the continent:wink:)
Norm
P.S. I do know where there's a decent Aria Pro II RSB Deluxe for sale (rather cheaply priced too), PM me, if you want any info about it.