The Guitar Gallery Forums - The Guitar Legacy of Matsumoku

I bought a Franconia Les Paul copy recently. And i was wondering if anyone knew anything about the brand,this seemed like a logical place to start my search.
I cant find much about it. I stumbled across an extremely brief passage from some guitar history book. It said they were japanese made guitars for an english company. It said they were made between 1980 and 1985, which is wierd because when i saw it i assumed it was a seventies jap, even the tune o matic bridge is similar to that found on 60s/70s gibson SGs the rectangle one(look at claptons psychedelic painted "the Fool" guitar).
It has a set neck and a pressed top so its hollow under the cap (it feeds back like mother f#cker but has nice slightly hollow tone when played clean).
It has has an open book headstock and and a poor attempt at a custom gibson inlay which is almost identical to those found on japanese Kay guitars. I've never seen a jap kay with a set neck though???.
The control lay out is wierd too, its similar to a LP recording but with normal humbuckers. The electrics where partially missing when i got it so i've made it function like a regular LP and tried to cover some of the holes, i think some one tried to mod it but gave up half way. its a shame its not original but at least i've been able to cover the botched job and make it look normal!
sorry about the essay but i dont have a digital camera at the mo so i've tried to be as detailed as possible
Any help would be great!

Hi Andy - if you could find a way of showing some pictures, that would be a massive help.

The book you refer to is the Guru's Guitar Guide - that's about all the info on Franconia that's around - and I'm personally not convinced how accurate it is.

I recently had a Franconia Jazz bass copy - it had all the features you'd expect to find on a 70s jazz - maple fretboard & block inlays, thumbrest, ashtray pickup covers, Fender headstock shape etc. However, after owning it for a bit & dismantling it for some light restoration - I don't think it was Japanese. Components, materials, construction & build quality all said 70s Korean to me.

As far as I know, the Kay LP copies you mention were Korean - is yours like the FX Kays, with just a cover plate instead of all the gadgets:

http://www.univox.org/pics/guitars/lp_fx.jpg

I have seen effects-less versions of these - although you're right, these have bolt necks.

As usual with these things, it's all guesswork & speculation - the importer which owned the Franconia name probably sourced guitars from various different factories, as many brands did, so quite likely some of them were Japanese.

Anyway, it sounds like an intriguing guitar, & I do hope you can blag a camera & get some pics up.

Jon.

cheers for getting back to me. I suspected it was from the same factory as kay guitars. I think i just hoped it was a true jap.
I do know where theres an avon gibson Grabber bass copy i'll try and get my hands on it and upload some pics of that too.