The Guitar Gallery Forums - The Guitar Legacy of Matsumoku

New member, first post (god knows why i've not joined before as i love my cardinal series Arias - all four of them!).

One of them (serial number and pic below) has a 25.5" scale length (648mm) - is this unusual?

Just for ease of identification, it has the single mini toggle and 2 x tone pot coil cuts.

Model number: A812531

https://www.btnmusic.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/IMG_0710.jpg

Welcome Paul!
Dang thats nice! I'm a fellow CS lover but I only have 3.
I've not seen one in person to my knowledge but I was aware that some were 25.5. I'm pretty sure all of mine are 24.75.
Hopefully someone here knows more about this and will chime in.
Feel free to post up more pics. We love pics!

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Quality service since 3:00 last Tuesday

We need the drool emoji! Nice axe! Can't help about the scale length, tho.

Pete

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Uncle Mats ES-500, RS Wildcat, RSB Deluxe, FS-750, Magna MA 30 (non-Mat), TA-61 non-Mat), a Westone limited run/proto Thunder and an OAKLAND (Westone) XI100.

Pete

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Quality service since 3:00 last Tuesday

Love it.
I've only been aware of the G scale version which makes sense for this style of guitar.

A trans blue Cardinal has been on my "want" list it seems forever.
Just don't see them (or any for that matter) very often locally for some reason. And the one time I did find one the seller messed me about and backed out of the deal

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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 have a solid blue CS-350 with the longer scale length. I think the blue might be similar to the Gerry Cott PE model- seems like there's an ad that shows both. It has two mini switches. The neckplate says "MATSUMOKU" and has a C81 serial number. It weighs only 7.4 pounds, so with the 25.5" scale and bolt-on neck it's almost in Fender territory. I really like the neck and frets so I play this one daily. It has just enough dings that I don't have to be too careful to preserve it, just play it!

I'm always rewiring things so I'm thinking about putting in a set of old Wilde (Bill Lawrence, the man not the company) humbuckers. They have alnico magnet slugs in each coil so they're great for splitting. I might use two splitter switches and no out-of-phase switch.

I think that a longer scale CS-350 can be identified by the placement of the volume knob next to the bridge. Looking at the posted pic you can see the knob sits about halfway up the bridge. On the typical CS-350 the knob aligns with the bottom edge of the bridge. If you look at a lot of 350s you'll find the longer scale maybe 5% of the time, and many of those are this blue color.

I also have a red CS-400 that came with shoddy replacement pickups so I haven't done much with it- didn't feel quite the same as the blue one and was a bit heavier. Still a nice neck. Plus a CS-250 basket case that looks like someone poked it repeatedly with a soldering iron. That neck looks straight too.

-Steve W.

It seems most of the 25.5 CS guitars I've seen were blue.

A CS400 you say?

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Quality service since 3:00 last Tuesday

Some good observations there Steve! Makes sense to moi.

_________________
"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 have a UK-bought trans-blue CS-350 with serial A812138 (and coil taps on the tone pots) which I have had since 1987 and never measured the scale length of. Lo and behold, it's 25.5" (648mm). I have a CS-400 that is 24.75".

Personally, I've never seen a 25.5 CS but I'm willing to check one out if someone wants to send me one...
Feel free to post pics of both. I know I'm not the only one that loves CS guitars.

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Quality service since 3:00 last Tuesday