Matao (musical instruments)

Matao guitars were low-priced, entry-level instruments made in Japan and Korea.

Company

Most of the guitars and basses were made from mahogany, ash, and alder with maple necks, and maple or rosewood fretboards. Some guitar/bass bodies were also constructed with cheap plywood. Matao guitars were manufactured at several factories over the years, including the Hoshino factory, and the Matsumoku factory for a time. The guitars/basses were replicas of Martin, Gibson and Fender instruments.

Matao guitars and basses were a popular alternative for aspiring West Coast musicians in the 1970s & 80s who wanted a professional looking and playable guitar or bass, but couldn't afford a Fender, Gibson or Martin.

The Matao brand was exclusive to the Music West franchise in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Nevada.^[1] In addition to the Matao line, Music West stores were licensed to sell Fender guitars and amplifiers, as well as Moog and Arp synthesizers, Yamaha pianos, and Ibanez, Electro-Harmonix, MXR, Shure, and AKG audio products.

Matao replica guitars and basses sold for $99.99 to $249.99 MSRP new, with hardshell cases included in the purchase price, and acoustic guitars with semi hardshell cases. They included a 90-day repair/replacement warranty on all their products.

Matao also made bass guitars, ukuleles, and banjos, and band instruments for school orchestras including drums, brass (trumpet and trombones), strings (violins, cellos) & woodwinds, (clarinet, flute).

In 1975 Matao Corp. in Bellevue, Washington changed its product logo from the neatly handwritten Matao with fonts in bold script, to the much larger graphical Matao with the large "T" in the middle that transforms into bullhorns to crown the logo. In 1976 Matao decided to replace the pickups in both their "P Bass" and "Jazz Bass" models to replicas of the actual pickups used on the original bass's.

In 1979 Matao premiered their own high quality guitar effects pedal line, including the "Phase Shifter", "Flanger", "Overdrive", "Chorus", "Compressor", and "Analog Delay" pedals which were priced from $49.99 to $129.99 MSRP. These FX pedals featured sturdy die cast housings, and could use either a 9 volt battery or an optional AC adaptor (wall wart) to power up.

In 1979-1980, Matao released and promoted their non-replica guitar line, the "Matao Artist" series. The Artist series were an exclusive design manufactured with high quality woods and electronics and featured "neck through body" construction. There were two versions of the Artist series, the economy "Artist" series guitars and bass's with dot inlays as fret markers, and the more expensive Artist "Custom" series that featured a mother of pearl "vine" inlaid along the entire length of the neck and active electronics. These same guitars and basses were also released around the world under different brand names, and those were stamped with their own company product name on the headstock, not the gold Matao logo.

To view the full color, ever expanding photo gallery history of *classic* Matao brand instruments guitars, bass's and effects, visit our WikiMedia Matao Guitar page: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Matao_guitars

Matao Corp. instruments and audio products were produced and imported to the United States for sale exclusively by Music West stores from 1967 to 1983, at which time Music West & Matao Corp. went out of business and ended their 16-year run due to low retail sales and declining profits.

References

Bibliography

• "Matao (1967-1983)". guitar brand directory. JediStar.com. 

External links

• Matao guitar effects at Effects Database

Media related to Matao guitars at Wikimedia Commons