Michi Matsuda makes another dream come true with this 2019 M1. Cocobolo back and sides with rich ruddy reds, paired with Italian Spruce on top in a tasteful sunburst—then a splash of pearl inlaid at treble upper bout, add a voluptuously carved heel, and cap it all off with Larry Robinson maple leaf inlays along the fretboard. This M1 is dressed to the nines, and on the tone front it goes all the way to 11. The body is roughly an OM in proportion (15 5/8” across the lower bout), here with a 25 1/4” scale and 1 3/4” nut on a darkly toned Mahogany neck. Setup is effortless, and with a build weight of five pounds this Matsuda M1 feels solid and very real in hand.
A work of art from 2019 that is already fantastically wide awake: Matsuda M1 #119.

Other keywords: lutherie, ervin somogyi, somogyi, fingerstyle, flattop, brazilain, gotoh, scalloped nut, om, cedar creek

Here’s a Matsuda which stands out even among Matsudas! A fabulous M1 model from 2018 with Moena back and sides, Italian Spruce top, and a distinctive sunburst paired with a squared off pickguard. Deeply cut Florentine Cutaway gives you easy access to the uppermost frets, and the slinky setup makes for an easy picking experience every time.
The voice is characterized by a crisp, clean note definition; overtones don’t get in the way. Quick and responsive, focused. An excellent fingerstyle instrument, especially if you want a guitar to keep up with agile playing, or an aggressive attack.

Other keywords: lutherie, ervin somogyi, somogyi, fingerstyle, flattop, brazilain, gotoh, scalloped nut

Handsome as only Michi Matsuda can make it, with a voice like velvet on the ears. This 2013 M1 is a well-oiled fingerstyle machine, the very image of the modern flattop with top notch tonewoods and Michi’s unique aesthetic to tie it all together. (Gorgeous) Brazilian Rosewood back and sides pair up with an Italian Spruce top and an appointment package of arcing purflings and an interrupted, segmented rosette. A thing of beauty.
The trebles are characterized by weightiness and depth, and really ring out. Overtones are lush and replete across the registers. It responds especially well to a fingerstylist’s touch; DADGAD and even C9 are both exquisite on the 25.25” scale.

Includes brand new Hoffee carbon fiber flight case

Other keywords: lutherie, ervin somogyi, somogyi, fingerstyle, flattop, brazilain, gotoh, scalloped nut

Michi Matsuda—a category all of his own. This man blends the disciplines of sculpture and lutherie with a contemporary artist’s eye for contour and color in ways that the rest of us are only just now catching on to. This M1 was originally built for one of our clients in 2005, and it’s a wonderful opportunity for us to revisit with an old friend. Suspicions have now been confirmed: even 13 years later, Michi’s guitars are gorgeous, timeless, and incredibly resonant.

Rich, red Brazilian Rosewood make up the back and sides, and there’s a tight-grained Italian Spruce on top with a little bit of aged toner in the finish which pairs nicely with the Spalted Maple rosette, waist, and florentine cutaway inlays. Twin koi fish are inlaid in Abalone from frets five to nine, and just after the scalloped nut there’s a final touch of Spalted Maple veneered to the headstock with gold Gotoh 510 tuners and Ebony knobs. The bridge is Rosewood, as are the bindings, and the heelblock features Matsuda’s swoop relief carved into the treble side to coax your left hand a bit closer to the fretboard when playing the uppermost frets.

There’s absolute magic in the naked strings. The treble response is haunting, replete with overtones and palpable sustain. Notes from this M1 hang in the air like a cloud. It’s rare to find a guitar which really feels as comfortable with picks as it does with fingers, but this Matsuda is one such guitar. How Michi manages to coax so much color and dynamism out of his guitars, we’ll probably never know—but we’re glad he does.

Other keywords: somogyi, ervin somogyi, gryphon strings, frank ford, sculptor, functional art, luthier

A guitar from Michi Matsuda is the best of both worlds: contemporary aesthetics dovetailed with impeccable tone. We’re proud to offer this 2010 M1 with a set of Koa unlike anything we’ve ever quite seen before, and a tight-grained Italian Spruce top with Wenge-and-Abalone rosette. This one is gorgeous, lightweight (4lb 7oz), and the setup is slinky and smooth to boot. Michi’s heel has a thumb slot carved into it that helps the left hand get up and over to those dusty top shelf frets. The voice has a sweet, opened-up tone that’s you only find after a guitar’s had some time to stretch its wings.

This Matsuda M1 has definitely found its voice, and it’s one that’s smooth, easy, and well balanced. The bass and mids have a drier, crisper fundamental than the Brazilian M1s we’ve seen, and we think that’s a pretty exciting way to stand out. It doesn’t take much effort to get a lot of volume and sustain out of this Matsuda. Michi’s works of acoustic art are in a class all their own—and this one’s making straight A’s.

Other keywords: michihiro mastura, somogyi, ervin somogyi, finger style, fingerpicking, finger picking, gotoh

In the world of high-end lutherie, Michi Matsuda’s work stands alone. Here in our little corner of paradise, among the Somogyis and Traugotts, Manzers and Monteleones, this Matsuda M1 manages to stand apart from this singular crowd. It’s not just in the curve of the upper bout into the waist from the Florentine cutaway, or the asymmetrically grooved heel carve (the thumb slipping casually into place when fretting along the fingerboard extension). There are other forces at work than the purely visual. As mesmerizing as is Michi’s sense of line and curve manifesting across the segmented top inlays or headstock veneer, or the luster of the Brazilian Rosewood back, this M1 betrays deeper secrets than those found by sight or touch.

When the string are plucked, that’s magic. The voice transitions smoothly between subtle and triumphant, balancing the bell-like trebles with a middle register articulate and precise, and a bass response bearing just a hint of warmth to round out the bottom edge. No matter the tuning, this Matsuda remains clear, nuanced, and invigorating. Michi coaxed the extreme edge of energy out of the Italian Spruce top with his honed voicing techniques. Carving the neck profile into a shape as intimate a lover’s touch, Michi made an instrument which plays as effortlessly as breathing.

It would appear that Matsuda has mastered the ability to reduce Rosewood, Spruce, and Cedar to their natural essences, and to marry them together into a harmony not unlike love. We were transfixed from the first pluck. We still are.