Country guitar with original body, Matsumoku one? Pre-Westone?

Hi all!

I totally love the Matsumoku guitars and I own few of them now, including a great Westone Thunder IA. I just put my hands few days ago on a weird one I could trade easily here in Paris, France, with a recent Danelectro re-issue I didn't really enjoy. Look at the very peculiar shape of this body!

It's a Country, says the headstock, and is feels and sounds like a Matsumoku. But that's all I know. Nowhere can I find any kind of serial number of a model name... When I unscrewed the neck I found the mention SV300 on the back of the heel, would it be the model? But I can't find nothing about a Country SV300 guitar on the net...

The bridge saddles make me think of a early model of a Mat guitar...

The guy I got it from told me that he never used it: a friend gave it to him few years ago, and he said he bought this brand new guitar in 1977 or 1978 in a guitarshop in France.

The pickups are nicely done, feels like quality stuff, it's printed "TWB-20" on it. I read somewhere that it was a japanese copy of the famous DiMarzio Super Distortion.
The mini-switch splits the neck pickup (humbucker to single coil), but not the bridge pickup. Seems to have been built that way on purpose.

So, anyone has informations about this guitar? The model name and the year(s) of production? I would greatly appreciate it!

(You can check the pics on my Flickr account greguti caude as a new member of this forum I can't add linkd yet )

Regards,

Greg

Hello Greg,

It would be interesting to see the pictures of this mysterious guitar, but I've been on flickr and your name greguti caude doesn't bring your account up in searches.

Hello,

here is a page on my website about the guitar, and several pics of it!

http://www.greguti.com/guitares/mij-sv300

And here is my Flickr account with some pics of it: http://www.flickr.com/photos/greguti/8386756612/in/set-72157632290525141

I'm still searching

Greg,
Paris, France

Yes, I think you are probably quite right to think its from the Matsumoku stable. I have a Thunder 1A with a similar bridge plate but the saddles are different (you show a comparison yourself to the same bridge on the website). The bridge used on the Thunders is a Gotoh GTC 101. It looks a delightful guitar, but there were so many different lines coming from that Japanese source that its difficult to pinpoint its line of origin.

Back in 2010 I emailed Quest International in Japan about finding a replacement bridge for the Thunder 1A that I had bought, which had a missing saddle. I'd found the Gotoh GTC 101 on the Gotoh website and I was looking for conformation that this was the original bridge. However, I have pasted the reply I received below which was from one of the original Westone team in Matsumoku. It contains his contact email which may still be valid. He may be able to tell you of the origin of your Country guitar. It's worth a shot. Do let us know if you have any success. Best of luck, Martin.

Dear Mr. Martin Gerrard

This is Quest International Ltd. from　Japan.
I received your massage through Gotoh parts.
Because I'm original designer of Westone and dealing the Gotoh parts today.

The Thander-1A Bridge saddle can use GTC-101 brass saddle p-10.5mm .

And also we can supply you through internet http://ssl.bfit.jp/~jby/

The charge of the person is Jun Hasizume .

Please contact to him.

If you have any question don't hesitate to contact to us.

Best Regards

Toshi Owa
Quest International Ltd.
Head Office: 2-6-6 3F Jingu, Atsuta-ku Nagoya 456-0031 Aichi.
Tel & Fax : +81-52-737-7160
Shiojiri Atelier : 1756-1 Takaide Hirooka Shiojiri 399-0703　Nagano.
Tel&Fax: +81-263-50-7608


mail: t-owa@quest-md.com /
www.quest-md.com

Wow, thanks so much! That sure will be helpful to me Already sent an e-mail to Mr. Owa. I'll keep you in touch if ever he finds time to answer.

Have a gander here sure you'll find it.
http://torchharrison.hubpages.com/hub/Japanese-Manufacturers-of-Made-In-Japan-Badged-Guitars-from-1950-to-1980

Thanks but I already dug that article. It says "Country" is a badge for Kasuga guitars, but I couldn't double check it somewhere else and in the chart at the end of the article it says "probable" origin not "for sure".

The sure thing is that "K Country" was a badge for Kasuga guitars! I'm trying to find an actual pic of my Kasuga or Matsumoku guitar in a vintage catalog, but for now I couldn't find it. I could stumble upon some vintage Matsumoku and Kasuga catalogs for free on the internet but none of them did show my guitar or any guitar related to this one (I mean, with this very peculiar body shape).

The Kasuga Scorpion series seem a bit like a cousin of mine yet. But this original bridge that came with my guitar is found on early examples of Matsumoku

And damnit, I'd like to know the actual name/model of that curious guitar! The tag "SV300" on the heel of its neck could be it, but I can't find any "Country SV300" on the net or even any "made in japan guitar SV300"... !

Oh and just for the fun, here is a part of my little collection of Matsumoku guitars


Petite collection de guitares Matsumoku by greguti, on Flickr

Hello again Greg,

I reckon that link from Westbone scores a hit. If you scroll down the section headed Matsumoku and read through the list of makes that the made, Country is there.

Yup. Took the words out of my keyboard!

Got in touch with a french luthier who was working with japanese brands in the seventies. He assures me the guitar is a Matsumoku one