This article needs additional citations for. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: – ( May 2017) () Matsumoku Industrial was a company in, Japan, between 1951 and 1987.

Established in 1951 as a and firm, Matsumoku is remembered as a manufacturer of and, including some and guitars. (There is occasional confusion between Matsumoku and Matsumoto. Is a town in Japan's, where FujiGen Gakki, Gotoh, and other musical instrument companies have manufacturing plants. Matsumoto Musical Instrument Manufacturers Association is also the name of a musical instrument manufacturing cooperative, headed by Gotoh.). Contents • • • • • • • • • History [ ] In 1951, Matsumoku was founded as Matsumoto Mokko ('Matsumoto Woodworking Company') by Mr. It was a family-owned woodworking business that specialized in building. Shortly after the (1939-1945), the had established a Japanese subsidiary, Singer Sewing Machine Company Japan, and set up production facilities in.

The Aria brandname was changed to Aria Pro II in late 1975, though this has been used mostly (but not exclusively) for electric guitars and basses. All guitars were made in Japan until 1988, when production of less expensive models (Magna MAB/MAC and Integra IGB series) was switched to Korea.

Singer contracted Matsumoku Industrial to build its sewing machine cabinets, and in 1951 Matsumoku became a partially owned subsidiary of Singer Japan. Matsumoku also branched out into building cabinets for manufacturers of televisions and amplifiers. Production [ ]. Label in Westone soundhole External image In the early 1960s (or mid-1950s [ ]), Matsumoku began to look into other woodworking markets when several subcontracts of Singer were moved to the Philippines and, as it had on its staff several skilled, [ ] ventured into guitar and violin [ ] production in 1963. Modest, small steel stringed, and violins were built and marketed in the mid-1960s.

However, as other Japanese companies were producing similar instruments, Matsumoku set out to distinguish itself by producing high quality acoustic and electric. Several of Matsumoku's early archtop guitars survive, most owing their basic designs to,,. By the early 1960s, [ ] Matsumoku had acquired new mills, and specialized presses and began to increase musical instrument production. Combined with its staff of skilled craftsmen, Matsumoku was able to realize the of high quality guitars. However, because it mainly manufactured guitars under contract, the role of Matsumoku was largely unknown outside of Japan's guitar making circles until its name began appearing on neck bolt plates, headstocks, and sound hole labels in the late 1970s. By the early 1970s, Matsumoku had begun using (computer numerical controlled) mills, routers, and lathes, one of the first guitar makers to do so.

This created a significant, allowing the company to rely upon factory automation rather than for rough shaping of components and basic assembly tasks. Even so, 60% of the construction process was still done by hand, including planing, fretting, joining, and assembly.

This machine-cut yet hand-worked process offered improved profit margins at lower unit prices and yielded high quality instruments with unique character. Matsumoku produced guitars, or parts of guitars, for,, Gakki, Kanda Shokai (), (), Nippon Gakki (), and (parent company of Gibson). American owned Unicord contracted Matsumoku to build most of its and Westbury guitars. Louis Music Company imported Matsumoku built.

Sold Matsumoku-built Skylark guitars through its catalog division. Matsumoku built many early Greco guitars as well as, Vantage, Westbury, Westminster, C.G.Winner, Cutler, Lyle and Fell. Contracted Matsumoku to build some of its electric guitars and basses from 1979 through 1984. Though the names above reflect Matsumoku's involvement, many of the names were later sold to other companies, which made completely different guitars in quality and sound. In 1979, Matsumoku began to market its own guitars under the name. • Various guitars by Matsumoku •. Main article: Shiro Arai founded Arai and Company in 1953 as an importer of classical guitars.

In 1960, Arai contracted Guyatone to manufacture guitars. At the time, Guyatone was one of Japan's leading musical instrument manufacturers.