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)
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PostPosted: Thu 25 Feb 2021 10:22 AM 
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Joined: Wed 24 Feb 2021 09:44 PM
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Location: Jax, FL
Hi everyone. I was given this VP-795 several years ago, but I just discovered this forum. Excellent resource for bringing this back to life. (With your help.)

It's in pretty good shape, except that it's missing all the electronics. I don't mind that because I'm a guitar tech, and probably would have replaced the old pots anyway. I would have liked to have had the pickups though. I'll probably put Seymour Duncans in there. I do have the brass nut, bridge, and tailpiece.

Unfortunately, the previous owner drilled two additional holes. I don't really mind that "third" hole, that's in a straight line, but I hate that 4th little hole that's off-center and misaligned. There was an LED in there when I got it. God only knows what they were trying to do. It's going to be hard to fill and hide that hole with this finish.

From my research, the pickups in this were listed as #450's. Does anyone know what their tonal "character" was. Were they like old PAF's, or what?
Also, any advice on filling and hiding that hole would be greatly appreciated. Anyway . . . nice to find this place. I'm a pretty good resource for wiring assistance. (I hope my link works for the pic.)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1FEl8L0DwpyAtyDdU8tRhfoNuAs_iCyOV/view?usp=sharing

P.S. Serial # on the headstock is: 010136


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PostPosted: Thu 25 Feb 2021 12:08 PM 
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Hi !

welcome to the Vantage madhouse !

Nice guitar, 1980 model, the VP-795 is a nice one. Good thing you still have the brass nut since not the easiest to replace. It looks to be in decent shape considering the mods. Based on the looks of it, active pups were added were an on/off switch an led light were added. Needing the 2 additional holes.

You could simply go the active pups route to fill in the holes or glue some hard wood dowels and color them to fill them.

Dimarzio super distortion would best describe what was in the guitar as sound. So you can put pretty much anything on this baby a replacement.

Here is my VP-795

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_V3MJ ... sp=sharing

Warning... These become addictive ! :loon:

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PostPosted: Thu 25 Feb 2021 01:53 PM 
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Location: St. Catharines, Ontario Canada
Looks like this will be a good little project!

I agree with Frenchy, that looks the previous owner had either an active boost or possibly a kill switch in the third hole?

But yeah, he must have used a rubber tape measure or something before drilling the LED hole!! :-?
Thankfully it's small enough that a repair won't be very noticeable if at all.

I do not have one of these but I do know that some Westone models have a serious problem with replacement stop tails and bridges, the stud centres are non-standard.

What's the word Frenchy, any problem there?

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PostPosted: Thu 25 Feb 2021 02:08 PM 
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Barry wrote:
What's the word Frenchy, any problem there?



Actually Barry,

Just last Dec I bought two MMK45`s, all 6 Vantage tuners, tail and bridge from a VP-795 model that the owner decided to go Gold hardware... ( dont hate me, got the lot for $40 :P ) Will be able to finish off 3 or 4 Vantage with this.

Seller told me he upgraded with better quality items and were direct drop ins... So I would imagine replacements are readily available on the market.

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PostPosted: Thu 25 Feb 2021 06:35 PM 
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Location: St. Catharines, Ontario Canada
:up:

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PostPosted: Thu 25 Feb 2021 07:19 PM 
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Joined: Wed 24 Feb 2021 09:44 PM
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Frenchy: Your 795 is gorgeous. I've saved your pic, and that's the inspiration I'm going to use to get mine back together.

My luthier friend also guessed that someone tried to go active. I don't really want to go that route because active pups don't lend themselves well to switching options, such as split, parallel, reverse-polarity, etc. I've got three "switch" holes to fill. I'm going to stay passive. 8-)

I'm going to try the "exotic" hardwood dowel. Woodworking ain't my forte, but we'll see. I think I might try Duncan "Whole Lotta's" as the pups. That's still up in the air.

Barry: Yeah . . . the bridge is an issue. I'm missing two screws and one spring. Fortunately, all the brass saddles are there. Temporarily, I'm going to use a roller bridge that I have on hand. Oddly, the original fits super loose. Almost like the bridge doesn't match the studs. The roller bridge fits perfectly. I can turn the guitar upside-down, and it doesn't fall off. And, this is easily reversible.

So, I'll keep everyone up to date as this project progresses. Thanks all for the support. I'm going to bring this back to life.

Film@11. :cheers:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1554t8JH2PRNt15sgrDCdu0gufHeV17TG/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/153jzTk7L5zw2tMWgH9QLj_t1TTDafnaX/view?usp=sharing


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PostPosted: Fri 26 Feb 2021 10:34 AM 
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---> "Access Denied" to your Google account <---
Quote:
I'm going to bring this back to life.

That's the spirit! Mats guitars are always worth the effort and you will end up loving the heck out of it!

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PostPosted: Fri 26 Feb 2021 07:55 PM 
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Joined: Wed 24 Feb 2021 09:44 PM
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Thanks Barry, for the vote of confidence. 8-)


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