The Guitar Gallery Forums - The Guitar Legacy of Matsumoku

Hiya gang; the traffic in here has been a little quiet of late so I thought I'd throw something together for all to chew on....

Don and I have just been on a road trip - he can tell y'all about that if you want to know but it involved 2,222km in 3 days! - but back at his gaff I played with his PE-1500 and PE-R60(?) which he didn't have when we were last there. The unbound, simply gorgeous R60 had a pick up problem in that only one was working so we hied us forth to his shed to have a look under the hood! Turns out the neck pup was hard wired in but both pups were showing values; we wondered what was going on so decided to put everything to rights... which we did. The result - these are Dimarzio mini PAF Pros - left us completely underwhelmed as the sound was weedy and weak so I'm not 100% sure what the hell is going on there but I'm quite certain that a previous owner has hardwired 1 pickup in to try and get a sound that isn't just pants!

Any ideas or recommendations gratefully accepted!!!

The 1500 is a beast, just a beast: enormous power and articulation - the only time I have played "Smoke on the water" and not felt like a complete dork; Don had to leave the room and I'm sure there was glass shaking in the windows... goodness me; what an absolute gem! However, I don't particularly like it as much as the unbound R60, which just seemed a little more tasteful in appearance... YMMV!!!

Amp is an Aussie made Vadis 100W(?) tube head modeled - I think - on a Bassman and very very smooth to use.

Right. To business...

... Don's philanthropy knows no bounds and he let me walk out of his guitar room with the LC 440 mentioned in the title to this thread simply because he knows I like it more than just about any other of his guitars - the chances of getting out of Roma with the 696-12 are exceptionally remote - so I have it at home and am rather enjoying playing it, if I'm honest! I'll try to get a proper report of some ilk together in the near future with accompanying photos but for now, I'm liking what I'm hearing... especially allowing for chops which would look better back on a sheep!

K?!

Hi Johnny, long time no hear eh? Sounds like you and Saint Don are having way too much fun in the sunny Down Under.
Yeah this place is starting to develop echoes. Kinda empty. Blame the bloody SPAMers!

As to the pickup problem, I'm not sure I understand what you mean by "hard wired" in. The wiring surely must be hard wired in order to work, so I assume you're referring to summit else?

The thin sound you're describing could be caused by several things. Since the previous owner had been buggering about with it, are you sure that he hasn't simply wired it up in 'coil cut' mode, and then perhaps reverse phased it on top of that? Check the wire colour codes, DM's are different from SD's (and likely the original MAT's pups). Easy to mess up if you assume the wire colours go in the same way. http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/wiring-diagrams/schematics.php?schematic=color_codes

Other common causes are reversed wiring at the input jack. (it happens ) That usually results in an accompanying hum as well. And sometimes a missing or incomplete ground connection will degrade the signal, even without a hum to tip you off. Your multi-meter is your friend here.

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"A little song, a little dance. A little seltzer down your pants." -Chuckles the Clown
Guitars: https://legend.barryeames.com
Music/Pix/Videos: https://getback.barryeames.com

I'm with Barry, sounds like someone may have altered a connection or two. I have a RE-R60 if ya need pics.

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Quality service since 3:00 last Tuesday

Thanks lads; yeah, sorry about that Barry: what I mean is that one pickup was wired straight onto the the volume pot and there were wires hanging off everywhere!
Yep; onto the wiring - got a hold of the DiMarzio wiring diagram and followed that but will have to go through it with a finetooth comb and a meter to see exactly what's what.

So.... not interested in the 440 then?

Yeah, that's a good indication that things are not as they should be. The hot wire from the pickup should be going to the switch first eh? And it sounds like there's no grounding either.
Hey, I loves me a good Lester, especially if it's a Mats. But call me old school, 3 humbuckers in an LP is just wrong! Save that configuration for the Strats of the world.

I'm a simple man. It just confuses the hell out of me.
That, plus I whack the hell out of the centre pickup!

_________________
"A little song, a little dance. A little seltzer down your pants." -Chuckles the Clown
Guitars: https://legend.barryeames.com
Music/Pix/Videos: https://getback.barryeames.com

Hi all, Corsair, when you say unbound R60 are you possibly meaning to say PE-600.
Just that R60's have binding & I too like the clean look of the PE-600.
If I'm confused for no reason just tell me to shut up.
Cheers.
P.S. whats the build quality of the 440 like, its a transition headstock model yes?

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My Guitars- http://matsumokuguitars.com/

Okay, here we go in sorting out a couple of things on this post.
2222 ks in 2 days 12 hours = a lot of driving and not much stopping to smell the roses. Mind you the temperature was well on the way to the 40 degree mark and anywhere outside the cars air conditioning was not much fun. Apart from a coffee stop at a little hotel in a place call Eromanga (try pronouncing that after a few drinks) the rest of the trip was all go go go.
The no frills PE is indeed a PE600 that had been tampered with by the previous owner.
The Vadis amp is an LB40 that punches well above it's 40watts of pure grunt (easy to see why John thought it was somewhere up around the 100 mark). Anything above 3 on the volume dial tends to hurt the ears a bit/lot when in close quarters with the old girl

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You can never have too many guitars

So, this road trip Don, Guitars, Hookers, Moonshine Run or all of the above, c'mon spill the beans.

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My Guitars- http://matsumokuguitars.com/

It all started with a simple phone conversation a few months ago.
Our little K1W1 mate expressed a desire to pay a visit to a place called Cameron Corner in south west Queensland.
Being the glutton for punishment that I am, I said why not do a little road trip and have a look at it then.
So there we were a few months later with about 10 minutes planning under our belts getting ready to head west.
The mad Kiwi made his way from Hervey Bay on the Friday in preparation for our departure on Saturday morning.
With the trusty old Hilux loaded we made an early (well 9.30 is early) start on Saturday morning.
600ks later we found ourselves setting up camp in a place called Yowah. A nice little out of the way place that is populated by opal miners.
Day 2 saw an early start as we hit the road again, still heading towards the dreaded corner. We stopped for fuel in a place called Thargomindah and after a very short break we were the underway again. It was around this time we worked out that it was much too hot to be doing this, but as we are such a committed bunch decided that we would tough it out and keep going. Next stop was Noccundra, just to check out where we would be setting up camp later in the day. Once again we hit the road and continued heading for the corner. All the while with me telling the Kiwi that there is a whole lot of nothing to look at out here. That and how darn hot it was. About 3 hours later we arrive at the dreaded corner where someone gave me a blank look and said "is this it" to which I replied yet this is it. A crossroad and a pub and a post stuck in the ground marking the intersection of 3 states. Queensland, New South Wales and South Australia. After a few comments about how hot is was and a few photos it was off to the pub for a cold one. After just the one drink (me being the responsible driver that I am) we were on the road back the way we came heading for our dinner camp location. After a bit of a late arrival we set about getting dinner ready. It was right around this time that we were invaded by flying ants (or was this the night before. It was all a blur to me ). Monday saw another early start as we loaded up and headed towards a place called Eromanga. As we drove into town we noticed that the local pub also served coffee so in we went. I can't remember the last time I enjoyed a coffee so much (and not just because John played for it ). Refreshed by the coffee we headed off again. Lunch time saw us in a place called Quilpie. With nothing better to do we stopped a the only bakery in town and grabbed some much needed food. After this short interlude it was back on the road heading towards Charleville. A quick tour of Charleville saw us on the road again heading towards out next camping spot. An hour later saw us looking at about 6 million black ants crawling around with me saying something about not camping here. After a quick chat it was decided that we just keep driving back to Roma (about another 3 hours drive). So ended the road trip to beat all road trips.
I'm sure that John will add any of the bits I have left out.

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You can never have too many guitars

Thanks, all... PE 600 it is, and I liked it! Apart from the dodgy pickup situation!!

The road trip was, I suspect, probably much more fun for me than Don as he insisted on doing all of the driving and the cooking!!
The eastern desert area of Australia where Cameron Corner is situated is indeed a very empty, very big place - have a look on a map if you are doubtful!!

The LC 440 is indeed a Lester clone but with that glorious upper bout line, a pretty top with what sounds like cavities and with the 3 H/bs, of course! First impressions are very impressive, I have to say.... more on that later!!