Jorg wrote:
Hey Wutz, what stands out as inaccurate? Just curious because all I know is what I read. I know you're local.
It has nothing to do with "local"... I go with the flow of the article (and hopefully don't forget anything):
1. According to Mr. Arai, all electric guitars were made by Matsumoku (until they closed). I have reason to doubt his memory for the last one or two years of production... but not the early ones.
2. BC Rich guitars are neck through, the heel design of the PE has nothing in common with that (look for an upscale RS model, if you are into a BC Rich type neck construction.
3. The PE-R60 was replaced by a PE-60 in 1983... not 1984. Also there are quite a number of models not mentioned... and I've yet to see a Matsumoku made PE Image, Custom or Standard (not even the catalogs from 1986/87 mention them). There's actually a Japanese book detailing the models and years... there is no mention of them neither. I know that they are mentioned on this web site, but the list on this web site started from a list compiled by Michael Wright.
4. The "fancy limited 25th Anniversary Version", was actually called PE-R150 and produced in 1981/82 (Mr. Arai started his business in the 50's, go figure).
5. Japanese made PE's never went out of production. They were joined by a large number of Korean and Chinese made cheaper models, but there was always at least one Japanese high end model available.