Lyle guitars were made in Japan sometime between 1960 to the late 1970s out of the Matsumoku

Matsumoku

Matsumoku Industrial was established around 1900 as a woodworking manufacturer of various items but is best known as a manufacturer of high quality guitars and bass guitars.- History :...

 guitar factory that produced Univox

Univox

For Univox portable keyboards, see Vox In the early 1960s the Unicord Corporation, a manufacturer of electronic transformers purchased the Amplifier Corporation of America of Westbury, New York. They began marketing a line of amplifiers under the name of Univox. The company was purchased by Gulf +...

, Arai

Arai

-People:* Akino Arai* Alberto Arai* Arai Hakuseki* Masaru Arai* Sasagu Arai * Satomi Arai* Hirofumi Arai* Minami Takayama's real name is Izumi Arai* Shoichi Arai-Companies:...

, Aria

Aria

An aria in music was originally any expressive melody, usually, but not always, performed by a singer. The term is now used almost exclusively to describe a self-contained piece for one voice usually with orchestral accompaniment...

 and other guitars.

History

Lyle guitars were distributed in the US solely by the L.D. Heater Music Company of Beaverton, Oregon, USA. It has been suggested that the Matsumoku Company (manufactured many Lyle branded guitars) in Japan from (approximately) 1965 to 1972 until they were bought and shut down by Norlin, Gibson

Gibson

Gibson may refer to:* Gibson Amphitheatre* Gibson Appliance* Gibson Girl* Gibson Guitar Corporation* Gibson * Gibson Generating Station-Places:In the United States:* Gibson, Arkansas* Gibson, Georgia* Gibson, Iowa* Gibson, Louisiana...

's parent company at the time. In fact, Norlin never purchased Matsumoku, nor did they shut them down. This rumor stems from a Gibson (Norlin) lawsuit against manufacturers (specifically Elger the parent company of Ibanez) copying their copyrighted "Open Book" headstock design. L.D. Heater Music Company was owned by Norlin. Matsumoku, as a sub-contractor of Aria (Arai and Company) manufactured instruments including Gibson Epiphone, Skylark, Cutler, Aria, Aria Pro, Aria Diamond and Washburn from 1964 into the mid 80s.

Models

Lyle Explorer Copy

Lyle 585

Lyle 630L

Lyle 680

Lyle 690-DL

Lyle 1100-L

Lyle C-600

Lyle C-601

Lyle C-610

Lyle C-630

Lyle F-500

Lyle F-520

Lyle G-640

Lyle HR-2 (335 copy)

Lyle L-2O

Lyle L-5 Copy

Lyle L-15

Lyle LEA40

Lyle Les Paul Copy

Lyle S-726

Lyle SG Copy

Lyle Strat

Lyle W-400

Lyle W-415 Dove

Lyle W-420-12

Lyle W-430

Lyle W-445

Lyle W-460 Hummingbird

Lyle W-465 Hummingbird

Lyle W-470 12-String

Lyle W-41

Lyle W-500

Lyle W-710

Lyle Z-535

Lyle l-260

Lyle 1203T

Lyle 1223T

Lyle 5112

Lyle 5120 EB-2 Copy

Lyle 5102T

L.D. Heater Music Company

The history of Alembic instruments of Santa Rosa, California, shines some insight into the history and business model of the L.D. Heater Music Company.http://www.alembic.com/family/history.html

"1973 A small music distribution company in Beaverton, Oregon, L. D. Heater Music Company, read the article (about Pro Audio Gear) in Rolling Stone and it interested them enough to take a little trip to San Francisco. They wanted to discuss the possibility of Alembic making a more standardized form of instrument that they could distribute to their dealers. L. D. Heater Music was owned by Norlin Inc.. Norlin was based in Illinois and owned Gibson, Maestro, Epiphone and other music related companies. We negotiated an exclusive distribution agreement for a limited time. They gave me the purchase order I required, and this was the beginning of the manufacturing of a standard high end instrument for Alembic and the entire music industry."