Estrella Classical - 1970’s Made in Japan 🇯🇵! - Matsumoku Factory! - Beautiful Guitar! -

This is a beauty! Really nice 1970’s Matsumoku-made classical guitar from the golden age of Japanese guitar production! Great songwriter, beautiful and punchy tone, low action, and a huge amount of space left on the bone saddle for the future!

In the 70’s Japan kind of ruled the world when it came to making guitars en masse. It’s one thing to make one nice guitar, it’s another to make 1000 nice guitars. I think back to when we met with the guy who catered our wedding. He disappeared behind some shiny kitchen doors and then reappeared with two plates of food and was like “here’s exactly what I’ll serve at your wedding.” I was like “ok cool but who can’t make two plates of food I wonder if you can you really pull this off.” How did it go? Well there’s a reason I’m using this as an example. Overall the wedding was a flawless victory. I’ve been to some weddings before where I swore to god I was eating asbestos and steel wool and this was nothing like that, but was the food on the day of days as good as those two plates that he so confidently emerged from the shiny kitchen doors with? Hell no. Making guitars en masse is a lot like catering an insanely huge wedding. If you can make two people on opposite sides of a banquet hall get the exact same food served at the exact right temperature at the exact right time then you win. Quality and quantity remain locked in an eternal struggle with each other, but for a time in the 70’s Japan really did seem to find a delicate balance between the two.

So this guitar rules. This was a model that would show up under a few different names that were made in the same factory. I had a Franciscan that was the exact same guitar that was also super killer. I love the headstock shape! That is hand carved with chisels made of Japanese steel, the Japanese have long had the best hand tools made out of the best materials. The chisels cut and sculpt the wood like butter.

Neck shape is super comfortable, beautiful woods all around, and it’s in super nice condition! Beautiful guitar through and through. There’s a few very minor blemishes here and there, but overall it looks really great for being 50 years old. Great guitar!