The Guitar Gallery Forums - The Guitar Legacy of Matsumoku

As my Aussie friends would say no worries mate!

A bit more than I would go for a bolt neck without the heel-less cutaway and covered gear tuners. It is tempting though. They make tension adjustable tuners to replace these now with an 18:1 ratio.

Oh my, that is tempting...

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Quality service since 3:00 last Tuesday

So, after an almost three week standoff, I was able to snag this guitar for just under $280 USD. Poor thing is so beat up. After I've given it a good cleaning I'll post some photos. Everything seems to work except one of the pots is very scratchy. I'll pull it out and spray it. I'll have to pull out one of the pickups as well to figure out what model it is.

That's GREAT! Please post pics when you can.

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Quality service since 3:00 last Tuesday

Pulled the pickups out of the guitar. The only marking on them is an "S". There is no sign of a serial number anywhere and there isn't one stamped on the plate for the neck. There is a number 81 (or I guess it could be 18) written in ink in the neck pickup cavity. One thing I discovered is the fretboard is detached for a few inches at the headstock end. I was thinking about working some Titebond in there and to re-attaching it.

After messing around with the Aria Pro for a while I'm not sure what model it is but I don't think it's a LC-750 because it has the wrong tuners and there is an air space under the cap (I think the LC-750 is solid). The hardware is gold so maybe it's an LC-550. Put new strings on it and a good cleaning fixed up the problems with the pots. The guitar sounds really good - has got a growl. I have an Epi Les Paul Standard and it sounds a bit silky compared to the Aria. Now to decide if I want to fix any of the dings or just leave them alone. One of the cool things about this guitar (at least to me) is it still has a sticker for the store that sold it originally. It's in a small town in Canada that I lived in for a couple of years as a kid. Store is still in business as far as I know.

Let me know if you can't open the images.

https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjAD4TH

That's a beauty, with just enough visual "mojo" to make it interesting!

Shame about gold plating though. It looks elegant as heck when new, then it always wears off and progresses from elegant, to funky to...nasty.

Uncle Mats liked to keep us guessing about his pickups sometimes. In my U60T Urchin, the bridge is a good 'ole '45, but the neck is a mystery. Same as yours, no markings, and it's about half the thickness of the '45. Sounds great though.

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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

Dang, I like that.
If you're taking votes, put me down for "leave it the way it is".
Bottom line though, it's YOUR guitar and you do what makes YOU happy.
We gonna love it either way.

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Quality service since 3:00 last Tuesday

If it were mine and none of the dings were painful I'd probably leave it as is. Keep in mind this guitar is pushing 45 years old and considering its age it looks pretty good.

I wish I looked that good...

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Quality service since 3:00 last Tuesday