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PostPosted: Tue 05 Feb 2019 12:28 PM 
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Recently acquired a mystery, vintage LP copy with no branding except for a sticker on the back of the headstock that reads LP19B. After extensive searching, everything points to it possibly being an EROS? EROS seemingly used a headstock slide decal which was possibly (likely) removed. There is mention that Matsumoku may have been the source for EKO and it was rebranded as EROS and imported to UK by Rosetti? Email to Rosetti with response that they may have dealt the EROS brand in the past but their current records do not go back that far to confirm. EKO is Italian firm. Sending email to see if they can provide any info.

There are no other letters or numbers on the guitar other than what is on the pots.

Visually, the guitar looks like an known EROS guitar based on the following identification factors:

1. the strap knob is located on the heel
2. the truss rod cover is a unique shape, similar to the gretsch design cover.
3. the sticker on the back of the headstock
4. tailstop is not slotted around the posts.
5. back route covers are odd shape and ill fitting.
6. a zero fret below the nut.
7. the tombstone shape headstock
8. Plywood body
9. Block inlays but no headstock inlay

Any information or leads as to the identity of this mystery guitar

The original tuners have been replaced with grovers, and knobs are mismatched and likely not original, otherwise I believe it is pretty much original. Frets are pretty much worn out.

Third picture is one of a known EROS. First two are the one my son bought. BTW, this thing has some great playing potential once it is sorted.

Thanks for looking...


Attachments:
lp33.jpg
lp33.jpg [ 88.71 KiB | Viewed 1379 times ]
File comment: My guitar
lp11.jpg
lp11.jpg [ 177.05 KiB | Viewed 1379 times ]
File comment: known EROS LP copy
EROS1.jpg
EROS1.jpg [ 193.68 KiB | Viewed 1379 times ]
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PostPosted: Tue 05 Feb 2019 12:31 PM 
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More pictures


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lp22.jpg
lp22.jpg [ 237.3 KiB | Viewed 1378 times ]
lp66.jpg
lp66.jpg [ 155.2 KiB | Viewed 1378 times ]
lp55.jpg
lp55.jpg [ 84.3 KiB | Viewed 1378 times ]
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PostPosted: Tue 05 Feb 2019 01:12 PM 
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Welcome!
I with you on it being an Eros but it just doesn't look like a Mat to me.

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PostPosted: Wed 06 Feb 2019 08:07 AM 
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Jorg wrote:
Welcome!
I with you on it being an Eros but it just doesn't look like a Mat to me.


Thanks for the welcome and the reply. Are there any particular charachteristics one can use to determine origin? Would pictures of wiring, pots, spacing, jack plate, etc. provide any clues? I searched the forum and it appears this question on EROS has been asked before and some feel they were from matsumoku and others feel they weren't and there is no definitive answer. We have this thing apart and I can take pictures and provide details if there is anything that would help determine its origin.

I am not sure the pups are original. There was some electrical tape wrapped around the connection. There are no identifying marks on the pups that I can see. Neck pickup measures 8.7K and bridge is 8.8K. brass back.

Pots are 500K.


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PostPosted: Wed 06 Feb 2019 09:03 AM 
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Location: Grand Absurdity, TX
I believe it's Japanese but a few things make me think not Mat.
The first thing that really jumps out to me is the tailpiece and its distance from the bridge. I've seen that tailpiece before but not on a Mat that I know of.
The placement and spacing of the knobs is next. They start too far back and are too close to each other.
The pickups don't appear to be centered under the strings. The pickup rings look to be even(ish) with the bridge on the treble side but stick out beyond the bridge on the bass side.
I would also expect the covers to fit better.
These are all examples of "attention to detail" that are not characteristic of Matsumoku. They don't "prove" anything, just my observation.
They also don't make it any less of a guitar. We'd love to see pics, especially since you have it apart.

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PostPosted: Wed 06 Feb 2019 10:09 AM 
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I agree with Jorg. When you hang around Mats guitars for a good long time you tend to develop a "Spidey Sense" about them and pick up a vibe. It's difficult judging only by pictures but the overall quality and impression of this one just doesn't feel like a Mats. Generally, their quality tends to be higher than most other manufacturers of that era.

And BTW, is it just the photo angle or is that bridge sagging? It also looks to be way too high, which tells me that it has been raised in order to try and compensate for the resulting bad action. The strings are not tracking correctly over the pickup poles, and there appears to be string misalignment between the stop tail and the saddles. Likely the stop tail is the wrong part.

Again, only judging by the pictures is difficult but that's how it appears to moi. :toopid:

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PostPosted: Thu 07 Feb 2019 09:57 AM 
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Thanks for the feedback guys. We found this guitar in a pawn shop last week and gave up 100.00 for it. It has lived a full life. Yes, the bridge is sagging incredibly bad. It was set way too high to keep the strings from buzzing on the worn out frets. Even worse, they set the tailpeice too low which exaggerated the issue. We are planning to have it re-fretted and replace the bridge and tailpiece. The tailpeice is bowed forward. I don;t blame any of this on the guitar or its maker. All of this is owner issues. Likewise, I believe the pickups may have been replaced based on the shape of the cavity cut and the way they fit and were wired it is possible other parts are not original as well. I will post up some pics.

Email back from EKO was quick but yielded little result. I received the following response:

Hi
unfortunately it is hard to find more information about Eko vintage guitars.
We recommend to visit -> http://www.fetishguitars.com for more information about vintage Eko Guitars models.

Thanks for contacting us
Regards

I didn't find much on the fetishguitars website concerning EROS guitars.

Heres some additional pics.


Attachments:
pickup1.jpg
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pots2.jpg
pots2.jpg [ 216.22 KiB | Viewed 1363 times ]
pots1.jpg
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PostPosted: Thu 07 Feb 2019 10:00 AM 
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More pics.


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jack plate.jpg
jack plate.jpg [ 350.25 KiB | Viewed 1363 times ]
headstock1.jpg
headstock1.jpg [ 221.44 KiB | Viewed 1363 times ]
pickup2.jpg
pickup2.jpg [ 214.55 KiB | Viewed 1363 times ]
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PostPosted: Thu 07 Feb 2019 10:23 AM 
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Wow, you're going to end up putting a lot of dough into this guitar unless you plan on doing the work yourself.
A fret job is not cheap, and judging by the quality of the body construction, I expect that the fret board will suffer some chipping in the process.

This style of bridge and stop tail should never sag or distort like that, no matter what the height is. That indicates to me that the metal itself is sub-standard, no fault of the owner.

Frankly, unless you are doing the work yourself as a project or learning experience I would not be spending a lot of money to try and make it all right. The guitar just isn't worth it IMHO.

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PostPosted: Thu 07 Feb 2019 12:01 PM 
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Barry wrote:
Wow, you're going to end up putting a lot of dough into this guitar unless you plan on doing the work yourself.
A fret job is not cheap, and judging by the quality of the body construction, I expect that the fret board will suffer some chipping in the process.

This style of bridge and stop tail should never sag or distort like that, no matter what the height is. That indicates to me that the metal itself is sub-standard, no fault of the owner.

Frankly, unless you are doing the work yourself as a project or learning experience I would not be spending a lot of money to try and make it all right. The guitar just isn't worth it IMHO.



Yes, planning to do the work ourselves.

Interesting what you are saying about the bridge. My understanding from several reputable luthiers is that tunomatic bridge collapse is actually a pretty common occurance these days. Probably due to the combinations of growing popularity of heavy strings and people increasing the string angle.

If the guitar isn't worth much, we don't have to worry about ruining a collectible or irreplaceable vintage guitar so I feel better about the DIY approach. We ordered new parts last night.



Spinditty and a couple other various sources are listing Matsumoku as "Possible" origination for the EROS badge.

Matsumoku

Matsumoku is one of the Japanese manufacturers that did not survive long after the heyday of the 1970s guitar market despite having a long tradition of quality stringed instrument craftsmanship. Matsumoku produced guitars for major manufacturers Greco, Guyatone and Yamaha. Matsumoku made Arai, Aria, Aria Pro II and Aria Diamond badges, with Aria being their primary badge for a majority of this time frame. Badged guitars known to have been made by Matsumoku include Apollo, Arita, Barclay, Burny, Capri, Columbus, Conrad, Cortez (electrics only), Country, Cutler, Dia, Domino, Electra, Epiphone, Granada, Hi Lo, Howard, Ibanez, Lindberg, Lyle, Luxor, Maxitone (this guitar differs from Tama's Maxitone badge), Mayfair, Memphis, Montclair, Pan, Pearl (electrics only), Raven, Stewart, Tempo, Univox ,Vantage, Ventura, Vision, Volhox, Washburn (in 1979 and 1980), Westbury, Westminster and Westone. Possible Matsumoku badges include: Bruno, Crestwood, Conqueror, Eros, Mako, Memphis, Orlando and Toledo.


Another site lists Yamamato as possible manufacturer.


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