Matao Guitar

Matao guitars were good quality, low-priced, entry-level instruments made in Japan and Korea. Some instruments are made from 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 aesthetic 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 the expense of the original high quality Fenders, Gibsons or Martins.

The Matao brand was exclusive to the Music West franchise in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Nevada. 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.
Matao 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 Bellvue 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 transorms 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", "Distortion", "Chorus", 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" inlayed along the entire legnth 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.

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.

• The *infamous* Matao LP Custom style guitar in black

• Matao Jazz Bass sunburst with maple & block inlays

• Matao Flanger FX pedal

• Matao MW-1 classical guitar wide body/jumbo size

• Matao ROCKER strat white with rosewood

• Matao Prec. Bass black with maple

• Matao MW-401 Dreadnought acoustic

• Matao chrome snare drum

• Matao ES-335 in red

• Matao EB-2 bass in red

• Matao MD-8 acoustic 6 string guitar

• Matao MD-8 acoustic headstock

• Matao Tele Clear finish with maple

• Matao MW-21 acoustic 12 string guitar

• Matao ROCKER strat black with maple

• Matao Analog Delay FX pedal

• Matao LP Custom in Cherry Sunburst

• Matao MB-50 banjo

• Matao Prec. Bass natural Maple

• Matao wooden Flute/Recorder

• Matao Jazz bass sunburst with rosewood & block inlays

• Matao ukulele