The Guitar Gallery Forums - The Guitar Legacy of Matsumoku

Just stumbeled on this Azumi , another not mentioned yet made in Japan electric . On the head there's a little sticker that says : V-SL2 .First I thought it was some sales sticker , but when I took the neck off I found some Japanes writings on the neck but evenso that same V-SL .I was very surprised that on this very simple guitar such a notition was added...The pu turned out to be a Gotoh humbucker,with single (one shielded and one hot-)lead . The Gotoh seems to me to be from the early 80's , I once saw the same with those robust hex-bolts in the 80's.
On the head the logo state :Azumi Victory Series .It's clearly an own design : original headstock and body .
On the pot there's the Noble brand name and on the trem there's S.T.C-B made in Japan .
Since the action was so low and playing her was so easy I took her to a lifetime long Fender Strat player . He gave her a 9/10 for playabillity , only the Gotoh was a little bit too harsh .
Can someone translate the Japanese charakters on the neck and/or has more info about this (well played)guitar ?
by the way , on the body is a little sticker " Tyler spania "...doesn't mean nothing , is just a sticker from some fruit ( oranges-) importer ...so probably the guitarist liked oranges a lot and glued this fruit sticker on the body ( while playing...???...or perhaps during a break ) ! I can tell for sure this baby has been played but was also as sticky and dirty as hell...due to the fruits ?

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lordbizarre's electric guitar and amp museum
Wange,belgium,€pe
electric guitar and amp repair & expertise
http://www.lordbizarre.com

Interesting guitar. I like it!
It has echoes of the Vantage Avenger Av310 and the Westone Spectrum X125.
But I'm guessing that is not the original paint? Kinda making me seasick.

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"A little song, a little dance. A little seltzer down your pants." -Chuckles the Clown
Guitars: https://legend.barryeames.com
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well yes , it's the original colour ! A sort of appleblue seagreen...ahum...LOL .No it's yeah sort of dark & lime green together ...I don't know.
The only thing I forgot was to get a pic of the neckplate , but as all the rest of the hardware there's also Made in Japan on it.
She's made out of two glued together slices of mahogany wood and really heavy for relatively less or total lack on hardware and embellisment.
Since the controlls cavity is pre cutt-out for more pot's I presume this model does exsist with two or even three pu's(perhaps single coils as Strats)

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lordbizarre's electric guitar and amp museum
Wange,belgium,€pe
electric guitar and amp repair & expertise
http://www.lordbizarre.com

Nice find, Ivan... long time, no hear, man!!

I'm with Barry; I kinda like it, and the colour's OK, as well....

Mahogany eh? Super!
In that case I'd be even more inclined to be rid of the paint. If you're still keen on green, I'd maybe consider a "limed" finish? But I'm not sure if the maple fretboard would suit it. Might look too washed out.

_________________
"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

Azumi's pop up here in Oz from time to time.
I have followed them with interest for a while.
The main reason that they interest me, is that they seem to share elecrtonics & hardware with the early low end Wing series Washburns, Ravens etc.
A friend of mine had an Azumi that in every way, bar the body shape was exactly the same as a series 2 Raven that I had.
Same pots, same wiring, same switch, same bridge, same nut, same neck profile, same pre logo tuners as the washy, even exactly the same color.
General Consensus from folks I have spoken to is they were a house brand for Chushin Gakki.
Most Azumi's also seem to be copys of other Japanese Brand Guitars.
Here is a link to an Azumi Bass thats for sale on Evilbay Aus, Look Familiar.
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Azumi-Bass-Made- ... 27b5b87551
Thats about all I can add.
Cheers.

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My Guitars- http://matsumokuguitars.com/

Interesting Trev. Thanks for the info.
That bass is really nice. I even like the trans green finish on that one. Looks like green might have been a signature colour for them?
One more label to be on the look out for.

_________________
"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

yeah ! thx ! interesting info
...but the explanation from the seller"It's a neck-thru design" made me laugh...if it's a neck-thru , why a neckplate ...?...but hey ,he's right ! it's a neck-thru design but it's not a neck-thru...or so..
never mind that , so this little baby is defined and can be added to the hughe 'made in Japan'- listing !
thx !!

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lordbizarre's electric guitar and amp museum
Wange,belgium,€pe
electric guitar and amp repair & expertise
http://www.lordbizarre.com

The bridge is a bit of evidence that might support the Chushin theory. I've recently picked up a Washburn B40 Vulture II bass, which has an identical bridge to the Azumi bass on Ebay - it's embossed Chushin on the back. It's been suggested that Chushin was originally a supplier of hardware prior to expanding into full instrument manufacture, and presumably continued to make metal components in-house.

Jon.