The Kodaira AST-38 is very rare.

It is virtually the same as the AST-50 except it has unique dark wood grain patterns on the top.  The darker the wood the more dense and hard (stiff) the wood is, This gives the AST-38 a warmer tone.

The AST-38, AST40 and AST-50 all have solid cedar top which will give you a warm and radiating tome, while the AST-60 has a spruce top which produces a brighter and louder sound.

Which is better? 

It's just a matter of preference. Kodaira's cedar top guitars such as this one, tend to sell out faster than the spruce top version.

I have enhanced the bracing and the overall guitar to maximize its full potential.  The tone now is louder than the original and the basses and trebles are well balanced.

I have also tuned the soundboard to A on the bass area and E on the trebles. 

This guitar is beautiful to look at and to play.

Luthier's background

Eich Kodaira started making guitars in the 1960s.  Kodaira together with Hiroumi Yamaguchi and Masaru Matano (all master luthiers) set up the Asturias guitar label.

Asturias guitars have always been regarded as very high-grade concert guitars.

Kodaira continued to make guitars under his name while working for Asturias.  Kodaira guitars and Asturias guitars were virtually identical, even the labels were the same.  The labels read: Kodaira Asturias.  

The Kodaira workshop is still operational today with only 3 builders: Kodaira's son and two other family members. 

Specifications:

Top: High-Grade Solid Cedar with Ramirez bracing and supporting ring of wood glued underneath sound-hole/lacquer

Back and Sides: Rosewood 

Neck: Mahogany

Fingerboard: Rosewood

Frets: Mirror polished steel

Tuning Machines: smooth golden tuners

Scale: 650mm

Nut width: 52mm

String action is approximately 3.50mm under E6 and 3.00 mm under E1 with plenty of extra room on the saddle.