1980's Kawai M-1000 Moonsault

I don't own this guitar, but I've written about the Moonsault a few times in other postings so I thought I'd include some information and pictures of one.

The MoonSault became one of the most popular models in Japan marketed by Kawai. As far as I know, no significant attempt was ever made to market MoonSaults in the U.S. It's one of the more unique guitar shapes ever created! This is the ULTIMATE ART GUITAR and from its introduction the MOONSAULT became a benchmark for guitar styling. Once you see one, you never forget it and they play great too.

Many MoonSault models were produced after 1975. The MS-700 was produced from December of 1982 through April 1983. The tell-tale blue/silver burst finish clearly dates it to that time. This was when Gibson and other companies were producing similar metallic sunburst guitars.

This is a great-playing, comfortable guitar, extremely well-made, with premium materials. Standing, it gives you a great image, and if you like to play sitting down, the moon shape cradles nicely in your lap. Like many other Japanese guitars of this time, the electronics are designed to give you a great deal of tonal flexibility. The guitar has a master volume with individual tone controls for each pickup. Each tone pot is push/pull, yielding coil tapping on one and phase reversal on the other. The wide fine-tune bridge was very popular in the early 1980's, and provides easy, stable intonation.

The rage for silverburst guitars was pretty short-lived, lasting only a few years at best, and this MS-700 was soon replaced by other MoonSault models. Sales of MoonSaults, however, were brisk enough to keep the model in production through the 1990s. At the end of the run there was even a clear plexiglass tribute model. By the late 1980's, the dollar/yen conversion rate was so unfavorable that Japanese companies could not afford to export to the U.S. and the age of Korean guitars began. High-end guitarmakers continued to produce guitars in Japan, but for the most part they are for domestic consumption only while budget guitars hailed from Korea, China, or elsewhere.

How many MoonSaults were made is unknown. Because they weren't marketed in the U.S. export numbers would be small. If the few that show up on the market are any guide, they're rare.

ABOUT THE INSTRUMENT PICTURED:

As best I can determine, this guitar was made in 1982/1983 (making it one of the originals.

MODEL: MS-1000, MLY (Moon Light Yellow).

BODY: Solid mahogany painted in “yellow burst” finish.

BODY SHAPE: CRESCENT MOON

BODY FINISH: Has poly finish with few scratches, wear spots, and some broken finish marks and cracks which give it pure character. There is slight damage at the top of the body that seems to have come from the guitar hitting something.

NECK: Set one piece mahogany neck. There is a slight crack near the HEADSTOCK which has been professionally repaired.

FRETBOARD: The fretboard is made of Indian rosewood and is well dressed with jumbo frets that are well honed. It has 22 Frets with a Scale of 24 ¾”. Beautiful moonphase Mother of Pearl inlays.

HEADSTOCK: The heatstock is bound and has wonderful celestial mother of pearl inlays (the cresent moon inlay matches the body).

TUNERS: Grover 102N

BRIDGE: “Leo Quan badass” (Made in Germany)

PICKUPS: Two (2) original "Aluminum shielded Kawai DSU humbuckers”

CONTROLS/SWITCHES: Three knobs, one 3 way, and 4 other switches.

PICKGUARD: Crystal

BODY INLAY: Beautiful inlaid binding on top of the body.

1980's Memphis Strat - SG Copy

this is a Memphis copy of the Fender Stratocaster with a little Gibson SG thrown in probably from the late 1980's. It is a very accurate Japanese copy and has a great sound from the vintage pickups.

I found some conflicting information on Memphis guitars in my research. One place mentionted that Memphis Guitars is a defunct subsidiary of Yamaha that produced guitars during the late 1970s and early 1980s. It said the company started when Yamaha saw an opportunity in the demand for Gibson style guitars. Yamaha formed Memphis Guitars to be a cheap affordable, guitar that had an in-demand style (much the same way Fender guitars make a cheaper version known as Squire and Gibson does with Epiphone). In the mid 1980's Gibson noticed that Memphis guitars where using their designs and sued. Memphis guitars then ceased production. Many people suggest that Yamaha foresaw the lawsuit and started Memphis Guitars as a way of avoiding a lawsuit against Yamaha while selling poorly-made guitars for a quick profit.

Other sources indicate that Memphis guitars were imported by the Kaman Music Corportation of Bloomfield CT which was sold to Fender in 2007. You can find information on warranty on the Kaman website so this does make some sense to me. Kaman owns Ovation Guitars, Hamer Guitars, Genz Benz Amplification, Gibraltar Hardware, LP Percussion and Toca Percussion. The company is also the exclusive U.S. sales representative for Sabian Cymbals and the exclusive worldwide distributor of Takamine Guitars and Gretsch Drums. Maybe the earlier Gibson copies were made by Yamaha and later sold the name to Kaman? If you know the entire history of this model, email me so I can make corrections.

This guitar will be sold on ebay soon. Check my about me page for the ebay listing.

1980's Westone XA1630 Genesis II

I acquired this guitar in the fall of 2008 and it has a market value of $91. It's a Westone Genesis II XA1630 from the 1980's. This model was produced in the Matsumoku Factory for the 65th anniversary of St. Louis Music. This thing plays well and sounds great and everything seems to work. As far as I can tell, this guitar is all original except I did replace a bad output jack. This guitar does have some nicks and dings in the finish as shown in the pictures. Note: Back cover plate, stringlock washers and bolts, whammy bar and Allen key holder from the headstock are all missing

Body is solid Poplar, Canadian Hard Rock Maple neck, Rosewood 350mm radius fingerboard (25.5 inch scale, 22 frets, 18% Nickel Silver), and graphite nut.

H/S/S pickups (All are Magnaflux V, 2 in the bridge position), 5 way switch, master volume and master tone controls, Mid/Shape control. Bendmaster Deluxe tremelo with fine tuners and locking nut.

Available in White Burgundy, Burgundy Pearl or Platinum Blue Burst

(Info from the 1987 'Limited Editions' catalogue) Appears in the april 1987 US pricelist at $499 and in the Sept 1987 and Jan 1988 US pricelists at $449

Electra guitars were imported from Japan by St. Louis Music from 1971-1984. Most of the instruments were made by Matsumoku in Matsumoto Japan. The Electra line replaces SLM's Japanese made Apollo and US made Custom Kraft lines. The first guitar, simply called The Electra, was a copy of the Ampeg Dan Armstrong lucite guitar and issued in 1971, followed quickly by a variety of bolt-neck copies of other brands. In 1975 the Tree-of-Life guitars debut with a leaf pattern carved into the top, and the Electra line expanded to 25 models. Open-book headstocks changed to wave or fan shape by 1978. By around 1981 ties with Matsumoku further solidified and decision eventually made to merge SLM's Electra brand with Matsumoku's Westone brand. Some Korean production began in the early 80's. In the fall of 1983, the Electra Brand becomes Electra Phoenix. By the beginning of 1984, the brand became Electra-Westone and by the end of 1984 just Westone. By 1987 or 1988 Singer Sewing Machines had bought Matsumoku and killed guitar production. SLM changed the brand to Alvarez (it's acoustic brand) and switched production to other plants, including Korea.

SLM was even competing with itself. Bernard Kornblum's Saint Louis Music (SLM) Electra brand competed with his own brother David Kornblum's California based Pacific Coast Music (PCM) Electra brand yet the two were not connected. Pacific Coast Music's Electra logo was nearly identical to the SLM Electra logo from 1972 to 1975 except instead of the SLM gold text, a black text on a white background was used. Both companies often imported from the same source. Pacific Coast often have an X on the headstock or the pickguard. In general, most favour the SLM versions to the PCM ones and the documentation and models are better represented by the SLM versions.

1980's Westone Spectrum ST X135

I picked up this guitar in January of 2009 and it has a market value of $78.00. I found out it was made in 1985-1987 by the Matsumoku plant in Japan. It's a great sounding guitar and has plenty of tonal options with the coil tap switch. These Westone guitars are a great deal for the price and if you come across one, pick it up!

1985-1987 Matsumoku built Westone Spectrum ST X135

Standard X135 description;
Body and neck are maple
Fingerboard is Rosewood
22 nickel silver frets
25.5 inch scale, with graphite nut
Machine heads - Gotoh TSA (Tremolo System Approved)
Pickups - Magnaflux I UBC (Unbalanced coil)
Controls - volume, tone (Push/pull switch for coil tap)
3 way pickup selector
Control knobs - Switchmaster
Bridge - Tekglide II trem
Hardware - Chrome

Here's a site with a bit more information and pictures.

Electra guitars were imported from Japan by St. Louis Music from 1971-1984. Most of the instruments were made by Matsumoku in Matsumoto Japan. The Electra line replaces SLM's Japanese made Apollo and US made Custom Kraft lines. The first guitar, simply called The Electra, was a copy of the Ampeg Dan Armstrong lucite guitar and issued in 1971, followed quickly by a variety of bolt-neck copies of other brands. In 1975 the Tree-of-Life guitars debut with a leaf pattern carved into the top, and the Electra line expanded to 25 models. Open-book headstocks changed to wave or fan shape by 1978. By around 1981 ties with Matsumoku further solidified and decision eventually made to merge SLM's Electra brand with Matsumoku's Westone brand. Some Korean production began in the early 80's. In the fall of 1983, the Electra Brand becomes Electra Phoenix. By the beginning of 1984, the brand became Electra-Westone and by the end of 1984 just Westone. By 1987 or 1988 Singer Sewing Machines had bought Matsumoku and killed guitar production. SLM changed the brand to Alvarez (it's acoustic brand) and switched production to other plants, including Korea.

SLM was even competing with itself. Bernard Kornblum's Saint Louis Music (SLM) Electra brand competed with his own brother David Kornblum's California based Pacific Coast Music (PCM) Electra brand yet the two were not connected. Pacific Coast Music's Electra logo was nearly identical to the SLM Electra logo from 1972 to 1975 except instead of the SLM gold text, a black text on a white background was used. Both companies often imported from the same source. Pacific Coast often have an X on the headstock or the pickguard. In general, most favour the SLM versions to the PCM ones and the documentation and models are better represented by the SLM versions.

1980's Electra Phoenix X-145VS

I picked up this guitar in August of 2008 and it has a market value of $102.50. I found out it was made in 1982 by the Matsumoku plant in Japan. It's a modified version of the X-145 (vintage sunburst color, X-145VS) guitar they produced. This one had the H-S-S (humbucker, single, single) configuration on the pickups while it originally had a S-S-S set up.

This guitar was a bolt neck double cutaway with ash body, maple neck, chrome hardware, and three single coil pickups with 3-way selector and fat switch (middle on), and brass knobs.

First Series Configuration:

X145R (S-S-S)(red metalflake)
X145B (S-S-S)(blue metalflake)

Second series Configuration:

X145VS (S-S-S)(vintage sunburst)

The first series was a deluxe version of the X130 model with special metallic paint and black pickguard like the X130, brass nut, trem bridge, brass knobs. Most had a brass '1982 commemorative anniversary' plate on the back of the headstock with an additional serial number.

The second series was almost a different model entirely- no pickguard, it had pickups mounted flush against the body, like all Phoenix models to follow. It was the only model in all the Electra Phoenix/ Westone Spectrum series to be available in a sunburst finish.

Electra guitars were imported from Japan by St. Louis Music from 1971-1984. Most of the instruments were made by Matsumoku in Matsumoto Japan. The Electra line replaces SLM's Japanese made Apollo and US made Custom Kraft lines. The first guitar, simply called The Electra, was a copy of the Ampeg Dan Armstrong lucite guitar and issued in 1971, followed quickly by a variety of bolt-neck copies of other brands. In 1975 the Tree-of-Life guitars debut with a leaf pattern carved into the top, and the Electra line expanded to 25 models. Open-book headstocks changed to wave or fan shape by 1978. By around 1981 ties with Matsumoku further solidified and decision eventually made to merge SLM's Electra brand with Matsumoku's Westone brand. Some Korean production began in the early 80's. In the fall of 1983, the Electra Brand becomes Electra Phoenix. By the beginning of 1984, the brand became Electra-Westone and by the end of 1984 just Westone. By 1987 or 1988 Singer Sewing Machines had bought Matsumoku and killed guitar production. SLM changed the brand to Alvarez (it's acoustic brand) and switched production to other plants, including Korea.

SLM was even competing with itself. Bernard Kornblum's Saint Louis Music (SLM) Electra brand competed with his own brother David Kornblum's California based Pacific Coast Music (PCM) Electra brand yet the two were not connected. Pacific Coast Music's Electra logo was nearly identical to the SLM Electra logo from 1972 to 1975 except instead of the SLM gold text, a black text on a white background was used. Both companies often imported from the same source. Pacific Coast often have an X on the headstock or the pickguard. In general, most favour the SLM versions to the PCM ones and the documentation and models are better represented by the SLM versions.