The Guitar Gallery Forums - The Guitar Legacy of Matsumoku

i bought this bass a couple of months ago simply because i like the way it looked io've been trying to find info on it the latest story i got was that it was made by matsumoku in the 70's and they were sued by alembic inc and had to stop production can anybody give me any insight on this bass ? i'm determined to find out as much as i can about it any help i can get will be deeply apreciated

Can you post more pics of it? Front and back and try to show us more details like the tuners, the bridge, inside the cavity, neck joint... any type of markings or serial#...

I never heard of this brand. Where are you located? U.S., Canada, Europe....

P.

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MAA Member since June 29th 2009, taking one baby step at a time..... and failing miserably!

i live in greensboro nc ( usa) sorry about the shoddy pics all i have is a camara phone

It really does not look Matt to me but I am just going by the construction of the neck and joint... can you post pics of the bridge and control cavity in the back of the body, that sometimes gives us clues to who made it... Nice bass I would have been all over it ....

P.

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MAA Member since June 29th 2009, taking one baby step at a time..... and failing miserably!

Welcome BASSISTSUPREME.
I'm going to echo everything Frenchy said. Wow!

lol thank you and it sounds as good as it looks i'll take some more pics later on today and post them but as for the bridge its brass or something close its so old that its actually turning green ( i refuse to clean it) also the nut is brass as well as i said i bought it because it was so unique at that price i dont think the electronics are original because the cavity is so big theres room for much more looks like someone took out some actives and put in passives i want to change it to active i'm looking for the right stuff to put into it

ok i took it out side in the sun and took these hopefully they are good enough as you can see the electronics cavity is big and empty plenty of room for some serious work the bridge nut is both ivory (or fuax ivory ) and brass tuning machines are really un remarkable and its a neck thru there is a little paper sticker on the back by the strap holder with a number on it cant really read it its that old lol i'll try and take some real detail pictures of it and post them as time goes by

My only basses that have bone + brass for a a nut is my Ibanez's Musicien series basses... I never came across another type of intrument that had both brass and bone at the same time.... We might be looking at fujigen for a maker!....

The trc would have helped....

The large cavity and lack of other holes might indicated another version was available with more knobs or swiches... Active electronics might also be the reason...

Any markings on the tone or volume pots that might help?

P.

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MAA Member since June 29th 2009, taking one baby step at a time..... and failing miserably!

what you see is what i see there are no other markings on it at all i havent even polished this yet and you can see my reflection in the pictures ! this is a real scooby-do mystery lol

Hard to tell from the phots for sure but those pots look pretty small. While some would say that is an indication of MIK I have a MIJ APII Cat bass with the same pots. I'me not being much help am I? Anyway it looks like a nice bass and welcome to the wild, sometimes baffeling world of Matt.