Shiro electric guitar

[Enso]

Can somebody help me identify this Shiro electric guitar.

Couldn`t find anything about the guitar from the net

It has a bolt on neck and it says MADE IN JAPAN on the
neck plate.

[Spud1950]

I'll take a stab at it. I Googled "Shiro guitars" and found quite a few references to them, mainly from people, who like you, were trying to find out about the company. Nobody really knows, however the name Shiro Arai came up a few times. He is the man who founded the Aria guitar company in Japan. Your guitar definitely has some resemblance to the style of the Aria TS series from the late 70s,early 80s made at the Matsumoku factory in Japan.



So,while I can't find anything specific about the Shiro brand or the specific model designation, I'd take an educated guess that the Shiro brand guitars where another enterprise of Shiro Arai, possibly also made at the Matsumoko factory. Here's some info about the Arai/Aria/Matsumoko relationship.

[jedistar]

An intersting research challenge. Based on the info here and other searches I am adding a Shiro entry on www.jedistar.com as follows:

Shiro guitars, Japanese made in the 1970s. Copies of USA classics Les Paul, SG, 335 etc. plus some original shapes.
One guitar mentioned at Vintaxe had a manufacturers label, which reads:
CONSTRUCCION ARTISTICA
DE
GUITARRA
SHIRO
Model No.576N
Made in Japan

A German forum suggested a link with Aria as Shiro is of course the first name of the founder of Aria.

I did a Google search of the label information as the spelling is quite unique. Many other forums across the globe report Shiro guitars with a similar label and a variety of model numbers. Interestingly I came across the following label at Delcamp forum.

RYOJI MATSUOKA
LUTHIER
CONSTRUCCION ARTISTICA DE GUITARRAS
ANO NO. 50 NAGOYA JAPAN

The NO 50 is handwritten."

Note the following observation "For a few years during the 1960s and early 1970s , Matsuoka produced the higher end Aria guitar models for Shiro Arai, founder of Aria . These Aria models either have Ryoji Matsuoka's name on the label or are marked RM with a red stamp on the neck block. [Source: Orozco Guitars]

This is evidence in the direction of the observation that Shiro guitars were made by Matsuoka. Of course Matsumoku had a very significant relationship with Aria as well, but the similarity of the Matsuoka label pushes me in that direction.

Reviews http://reviews.harmony-central.com/revi ... rand/Shiro
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Any other suggestions???

[jedistar]