Is this Matsuoka worth it?

[Alon]

Hi,

 

From what I know, Ryoji Matsuoka was a famous Japanese flamenco player who died a few years back. He also hand-made guitars both flamenco and classical.

 

I was at a guitar store the other day and they are selling on consignment a Matsuoka M80 classical guitar from 1976 for 1200AUD (880USD). The guitar has been really well maintained, hardly a scratch on it and perfect polish. Sounds absolutely beautiful. Apparently some girl inherited it and wants to sell it, I doubt she knows much about it's value/history. The price is thus negotiable to some extent.

 

SOME INFO:

- Rosewood back & sides

- Finished in traditional amber colour

- Hand polished nickel silver frets

- Carved mahogany neck

- 52mm wide rosewood or ebony fingerboard

- Fine wood mosaic rosette inlays around sound hole

- Natural colour mirror gloss finish

- "traditional one-piece Spanish classic neck construction"

- http://www.cspcorp.com/cosmicblues/RyojiMatsuoka.htm

 

 

My questions are:

 

1. Is it worth the price (say I could get it down to 1000AUD or 730USD)?

 

2. Is it a good investment? i.e. considering the maker was somewhat famous and is now dead, will this guitar's value appreciate with time? And am I likely to find buyers/collectors out there who are interested in this type of guitar?

 

 

My old boss has a Matsuoka flamenco guitar that cost him around 3000AUD but he couldn't help much with these questions, neither could the people at the guitar store, so ANY information you may have would be really helpful.

 

Thank you,

Cheers,

Alon

[DonK]

I think this is one that ultimately comes down to what you think the guitar is worth in terms of what it sounds like and how it plays. The Guitar Blue Book, 4th Ed., contains no pricing on info on this brand; all it has is a one paragraph blurb that says in part:

 

"instruments produced in Japan circa late 1970's. Distsributed by Unicord of Westbury, New York...offered these good quality classical guitars that featured ebony fingerboards, select hardwoods, and a hand-rubbed finish...."

 

That treatment suggests that there were a very limited number made, that they were good but unexceptional, and that the survivors haven't generated huge excitement in the market place.

 

So, to try and answer your questions:

 

1. You'll have to decide. Truly high quality classical guitars run a lot more than $730 these days, so maybe it's a bargain.

 

2. I wouldn't count on it. If it was the next Stradivarius you'd have heard about it. I briefly owned an electric guitar made by Ron DeMarino, a fairly well know luthier who worked with Jimmy D'Acquisto and worked for a lot of well-known players. He did a lot of work for John Lennon in particular. The guitar I owned was very high quality: birdseye maple neck with tons of flame; 24 frets (unusual for its time); Joe Barden pickups; very light. It had a really interesting body shape: sort of like a marriage between a Firebird and a Telecaster. I traded it in at a local dealer (he called it a "Gumby-caster") for a Tacoma jumbo and got $500 for it. The pickups alone were worth half that. A year or so later, I saw it hanging in a local GC for $600. I wish I had it back, because it was a fantastic guitar. Very rarely one comes up on eBay, maybe once a year. That tells me how rare it is. If they sell at all, its usually for about $800. There just isn't any demand, partly because most people probably think it's some cheap Harmony-like model.

 

I woudn't buy the guitar you're looking at for its investment value; that's probably nil, or at best a high risk gamble.

[Freeman Keller]

Alon, DonK makes some very good points. I'll add my 2 cents worth (and my disclaimer). Disclaimer - I'm not a classical player, I built one and studied them a bit, but there are some folks on this forum who know a whole lot more than I do. Find Nylon Rock's wonderful comments about what to listen for in a good classical.

 

First opinion - there are not many post war guitars that are now or will be collectable unless there is something special about them. Braz is one of course, a really quality builder or maybe a famous owner. In fact, for many marques the 70's were a low period for quality. Therefore, IMHO, don't buy it expecting it to increase in value.

 

Second opinion - the market for classicals is so much smaller that if you do want to sell it you will probably have trouble and may take a loss. Therefore, buy it only if you want it.

 

Third - find out how the current owner has set the price. Has she had it appraised or did she just pick a number out the air. Your specs are obviously from a catalog or web site - the rose or ebony fingerboard for example.

 

Fourth - do you want a classical? As you know the sound, technique, fingerboard feel, position and about everything else is different. Sure, some folks play jazz or blues or folk on them but they are really ment for, well, classical music.

 

Fifth - even tho classicals are built very differently from a steel string, I would not consider it unless it was structurally perfect. Whlile they seldom need a neck reset, it is a good thing because the "traditional... spanish heel..." neck joint is almost impossible to do. And they seldom have relief issues because the string tension is so much less, but there is no way to adjust the relief without planing the fretboard. There is a lot less tension on the bridge, which is good because it is not as tightly attached to the top. So, on a 30 year old guitar I would check everything very thoroughly because it will be really hard to fix.

 

My little Sick Guitar sticky at the top of the page would give you a good start on checking the guitar. The yardstick should hit the top of the bridge just like a steel string, 0.010 relief is about right, my technique for checking the nut is the same and action should be around 3.5mm low E and 2.5 high.

 

Now, go down to Nylon String's comments about how it should sound.

 

http://acapella.harmony-central.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1284687

 

Let us know if you buy it.