The Guitar Gallery Forums - The Guitar Legacy of Matsumoku

Q&A, discussion, and information for the labels covered by The Guitar Gallery (Specifically and exclusively guitars made by Matsumoku up to 1987)
It is currently Thu 28 Mar 2024 11:44 PM

All times are UTC - 5 hours




Post new topic Reply to topic
 [ 170 posts ]  Go to page Previous  1 ... 13, 14, 15, 16, 17
Author Message
 Post subject: Re: Urchin U60T
PostPosted: Mon 22 Nov 2010 01:57 PM 
Offline
Virtuoso
User avatar

Joined: Tue 26 Oct 2010 11:50 PM
Posts: 162
Tap washers are a touch harder than the original rubber feet , they were never that soft , even when new , they were hard,shiny and had a tendency to dry and chip off , not a good compound IMO . On the first Urchin I had I left the feet intact , this is in '86 . If really found them to be a pain in the @ss , they would constantly catch on carpets , case interiors , anything loose . After 6 months one foot had split off leaving just the screw ,I said screw this and took the other foot off , since then I go footless .


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
 Post subject: Re: Urchin U60T
PostPosted: Mon 22 Nov 2010 03:32 PM 
Offline
Virtuoso
User avatar

Joined: Wed 29 Apr 2009 12:32 PM
Posts: 3938
Location: St. Catharines, Ontario Canada
Madbert wrote:
...in both of my U-60T's the original neck and bridge pickpups were all MMK45's, so it seems that someone's replaced the neck pickup in your guitar.
Thanks for checking Marko. Well, I'm not convinced that mine was replaced at all. The wiring appeared to be all original and not tampered with. I'm now wondering if Mats used something else in the U60 (bottom end) model and MMK45's in the others? Really puzzling, there are no markings at all. The tone is good, but it just hasn't got the power of the 45's.
Quote:
To be honest I don't like much about the tone of the MMK45's, and they tend to give a lot of feedback pretty easily.
Oh, them's fightin' words around here! Most consider MMK45's to be a great all purpose pup similar to the Gibson PAF, versatile and powerful.
And I'm particularly surprised to hear you say this since these are shredder/metal rock guitars we're talking about! :-?

_________________
Guitars: https://legend.barryeames.com
Music/Pix/Videos: https://getback.barryeames.com


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
 Post subject: Re: Urchin U60T
PostPosted: Mon 22 Nov 2010 06:38 PM 
Offline
Virtuoso
User avatar

Joined: Sat 25 Mar 2006 09:25 PM
Posts: 3190
Location: Grand Absurdity, TX
Madbert wrote:
To be honest I don't like much about the tone of the MMK45's, and they tend to give a lot of feedback pretty easily.


For metal, I'm not overly fond of the bridge MMK45 in my CS Deluxe either. Luckily, I don't do that very often.
Pot that sucker if it squeals. :D


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
 Post subject: Re: Urchin U60T
PostPosted: Tue 23 Nov 2010 01:32 AM 
Offline
Gallery Friend

Joined: Sun 21 Nov 2010 04:21 PM
Posts: 4
Jorg wrote:
Madbert wrote:
To be honest I don't like much about the tone of the MMK45's, and they tend to give a lot of feedback pretty easily.

For metal, I'm not overly fond of the bridge MMK45 in my CS Deluxe either. Luckily, I don't do that very often.
Pot that sucker if it squeals. :D

Haha, I do mostly metal. I've taken the MMK45's off ages ago, I only have one MMK45 attached in my first U-60T (neck). Of course I've kept the originals safe 'cos hey, you just don't throw these away do you. Always gotta have the option to go back to the original.

But yes, like Barry said, it's definitely a metal/shredder guitar and since I love doing metal, this is my tool of the trade. For me the most important things in this model are the balance (of the playing position) and the fast neck. One more good thing is the close position of the volume control, I like to use it to mute the sound quickly if I need to. The shape is also very metal with all those sharp horns and curves, for me it's always a bit interesting to see if someone's using it for totally something else. :)

By the way, it would be interesting to know, how many Urchins were manufactured... Excluding my own guitars I only know of one guy in Finland who has an Urchin (a Deluxe V), he does metal too.


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
 Post subject: Re: Urchin U60T
PostPosted: Sun 11 Sep 2011 02:58 PM 
Offline
Virtuoso
User avatar

Joined: Wed 05 Jul 2006 03:40 PM
Posts: 2608
Location: Mount Hunter, NSW, Australia.
Lurchin wrote:
Tap washers are a touch harder than the original rubber feet , they were never that soft , even when new , they were hard,shiny and had a tendency to dry and chip off , not a good compound IMO . On the first Urchin I had I left the feet intact , this is in '86 . If really found them to be a pain in the @ss , they would constantly catch on carpets , case interiors , anything loose . After 6 months one foot had split off leaving just the screw ,I said screw this and took the other foot off , since then I go footless .


Just a little bump here... Barry, did you look at those feet for your Urchin? At a first glance, the 'Screw and tack 500MSB' looks pretty good...


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
 Post subject: Re: Urchin U60T
PostPosted: Sun 11 Sep 2011 10:23 PM 
Offline
Virtuoso
User avatar

Joined: Wed 29 Apr 2009 12:32 PM
Posts: 3938
Location: St. Catharines, Ontario Canada
Corsair wrote:
Just a little bump here... Barry, did you look at those feet for your Urchin? At a first glance, the 'Screw and tack 500MSB' looks pretty good...
No, never did follow up, not high on my priority list at the mo. But this one sounds promising. Thanks for the idea! :up:

_________________
Guitars: https://legend.barryeames.com
Music/Pix/Videos: https://getback.barryeames.com


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
 Post subject: Urchin U60T --Redux
PostPosted: Wed 13 Aug 2014 03:53 PM 
Offline
Virtuoso
User avatar

Joined: Wed 29 Apr 2009 12:32 PM
Posts: 3938
Location: St. Catharines, Ontario Canada
Things have been rather slow at the shop of late so I have been bringing in many of my own guitars for some routine maintenance.
In the process, I realized that I hadn't done much with the Urchin in "awhile". Because it's in a big rectangular case it was put at the rear of a corner rack and too awkward to get at easily.

But I finally did pull it out to have a look. To my horror, it had been 4 years since I had "finished" this gal and the original strings were still on it! :roll:
Bad guitar owner!

BRIDGE REDUX
What actually prompted me to look was that I found a brand new Strat trem bar in the gig bag which came with the Vantage that I just picked up just recently. Obviously it wasn't for that guitar, so maybe the seller gave me the wrong bag or summit. I scratched my head as to where I could use it, then I remembered that the bridge I put in the Urchin did not come with one and I just hard tailed it. Well, it fit perfectly!

I brought her into the shop for a restring, and setup the bridge to float. Wow! Really nice. Even though I seldom use it, it makes a nice option to have. And the tuning is nice and solid, so I have no idea what the previous moron owner was thinking by trying to install all that FR/locking bar rubbish.

PICKUP REDUX
I am now revisiting the question of that neck pickup which still has me wondering what it is. I don't think there's any question as to whether it's original, but I'd really like to know what it is. With a 7.5'sh resistance it's in PAF territory, not MMK45 like the bridge. Now I'm thinking it may be Alnico.

Since getting that Vantage VP710 with the 61/53 combo and the bone nut and steel bridge, I'm seeing many similarities now in this Urchin and scratching me noggin'. Anyone have anything definitive? Curious minds want to know.

I played her for the first time in a long while, and quickly forgot about all the pain and misery it took to get her to this stage. This is a first rate guitar with a lot of tonal range. Despite its odd shape it's nicely balanced and surprisingly light. Love it!

_________________
Guitars: https://legend.barryeames.com
Music/Pix/Videos: https://getback.barryeames.com


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
PostPosted: Wed 10 Jun 2020 09:36 AM 
Offline
Virtuoso
User avatar

Joined: Wed 29 Apr 2009 12:32 PM
Posts: 3938
Location: St. Catharines, Ontario Canada
Zombie thread alert!

This was a long, problem filled restoration and unfortunately, a lot of the pictures are no longer displaying either from Photobucket's bloody policy restrictions, or they've been lost in our database crash.

That makes this little update difficult to put into perspective but for the record here's what was done originally:

The plan for the resto was to have a butter cream finish with chrome/black accents. The original MIJ trem was black but the saddles were badly chewed up from years of metal rock playing and horrendous mod attempts by the previous owner. I decided to replace the unit with a chrome trem. It was a cheap and cheerful Chinese piece which worked OK.

And the overall look was what I was what I had in mind:
https://i58.servimg.com/u/f58/19/59/66/02/urchin18.jpg
https://i58.servimg.com/u/f58/19/59/66/02/urchin17.jpg

There was a side effect however. It was considerably lighter than the original trem with a very small sustain block and the saddles were pot metal quality. They looked good but...the overall result was that the guitar was now unbalanced and neck heavy if you can believe it!

I lived with it because it didn't get played much and I sat down to play it.
Well, one day I said, "ENOUGH ALREADY!" and reinstalled the original trem.

But those saddles were a mess. My solution was to order a set of SS saddles!
She now looks like this:
https://i58.servimg.com/u/f58/19/59/66/02/urchin14.jpg
https://i58.servimg.com/u/f58/19/59/66/02/urchin15.jpg
https://i58.servimg.com/u/f58/19/59/66/02/urchin13.jpg
https://i58.servimg.com/u/f58/19/59/66/02/urchin16.jpg

To celebrate the change I put on a new black and tan patterned Planet Waves strap which matches the guitar's finish very nicely.
Also, not seen in these pix is the new chrome output jack plate. It replaces the original black plastic one. Looks slick!

Uncle Mats had it right all along! I don't know what I was thinking to take the trem out in the first place. :doh:

The guitar now has more sustain and clarity and it balances nicely on the strap. The black and chrome theme is maintained, and instead of fighting to keep the neck up I can just play the thing. :D

_________________
Guitars: https://legend.barryeames.com
Music/Pix/Videos: https://getback.barryeames.com


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
 Post subject: Re: Urchin U60T
PostPosted: Wed 10 Jun 2020 03:48 PM 
Offline
Virtuoso
User avatar

Joined: Wed 05 Jul 2006 03:40 PM
Posts: 2608
Location: Mount Hunter, NSW, Australia.
Nice!! I hear what you're saying about neck diving, though; mine does too, a little, though the biggest problem is having the thing wanting to tip forward; possibly a bone of contention with any guitar with the strap button on the neck heel?! I find putting the strap over the top rear horn keeps everything just fine and dandy!


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
 Post subject: Re: Urchin U60T
PostPosted: Wed 10 Jun 2020 11:00 PM 
Offline
Virtuoso
User avatar

Joined: Wed 29 Apr 2009 12:32 PM
Posts: 3938
Location: St. Catharines, Ontario Canada
Yeah this strap is on the horn which solves that problem, but the strap opening is still a bit awkwardly narrow to put on because the bottom button is so far inward because of that curve.

The guitar isn't 100% balanced, still has a slight tendency to want to droop. But it's minimal now.

I only have one guitar that has the neck plate button so I know what you mean about falling forward. Fortunately it's a very lightweight APII TA-60 model so it's not that difficult to deal with.

_________________
Guitars: https://legend.barryeames.com
Music/Pix/Videos: https://getback.barryeames.com


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 170 posts ]  Go to page Previous  1 ... 13, 14, 15, 16, 17

All times are UTC - 5 hours


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 14 guests


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot post attachments in this forum

Search for:
Jump to:  
Powered by phpBB® Forum Software © phpBB Group