The Guitar Gallery Forums - The Guitar Legacy of Matsumoku

So here's my S.D.Curlee Int. bass
http://i55.tinypic.com/2qw25om.jpg
Everything is original. hard shell case , tuners , Di Marzio Pick ups , mahogany body , 5 layer maple neck , brass nut , gold plated barrel bridge , 1 volume , 1 tone , 1 phase toggle .The case has Takabe Japan stamped on the hinges.
http://i56.tinypic.com/wwg3o3.jpg
http://i53.tinypic.com/2rp2zgl.jpg
http://i56.tinypic.com/2vmatxe.jpg
The serial number has me thinking 1980 but lets hear your guesses.
http://i51.tinypic.com/fsz5u.jpg
I also ripped her apart , how can you not , let's look inside . What do you make of these markings on the inside of the body and neck ?
http://i55.tinypic.com/2wco19g.jpg
http://i54.tinypic.com/2nk53s5.jpg
http://i52.tinypic.com/2v7vvw0.jpg

sorry , the board just seems to show the links no pics , same size pics as usual

Now that's an odd one.
I don't even know where to begin. . .

I know , not much info out there about these things. All I know is that when I felt the neck and looked at the " 5 layer sandwich " in the back of the headstock , I knew it was a Matsumoku neck . just like every other maple Mat neck

You know.. I'm not so sure this is a Matsumoku guitar.

Sure they did odd things, but the way that neck is mounted to the body is just too far out there.
Electronics do look like Matsu though, apart from all the colorful wires. That's the only odd part there.
As for the neck, it could very well be Matsu, but it's hard to identify by just looking at the layers.
Markings on body/neck, if it is a Matsu, is probably color codes(21 & 30). The other marking could be some sort of inspection marking.

Any markings on the hardware(bridge, etc?)

_________________
Confessed MAA member since April 21st 2011.
Went through MAA detox in April 2012.

Some aspects appear to be Mats, but...
Did they use a "skunk stripe" neck in 1980?! Doesn't feel right to me.

_________________
"A little song, a little dance. A little seltzer down your pants." -Chuckles the Clown
Guitars: https://legend.barryeames.com
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O.k. now Curlee was probably one of the first to actually license his guitar with Japanese manufacturers , this is NOT a Matsumoku design , they were just contracted to build it . So other than the construction , feel , precision , and the 5 layer sandwich there is no physical Japanese markings to indicate Mats except on the headstock , it has INT'L under the name indicating it was manufactured in Japan . My reference is the second post in this link

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/s ... =firefox-a

I popped this bass up here because I know some of you are way more up on your guitar history and also have information resources beyond just web content . Personally I think I'm going to start to look for some books.

As for the hardware everything is blank , no names , stamps or markings . Mats or not , this bass I will keep for a while.

I also hear Hondo/Samick references to possible manufacture of some Curlee's . I presently own a few Samicks , and have owned them in the past . I can say for certain that the quality/tone in this bass compared to Samick branded bass are night and day , I'm talking about Artist Series Samicks not the Greg Bennett stuff. I can't describe in words what exactly it is , but you can just tell an 80's Korean manufactured guitar from an 80's Japanese manufactured guitar .

Had a buddy in high school who bought an SD Curlee new in 1980.
We used to be under the impression that the SDs came from the same manufacturer as the Mann labelled guitars.
Not sure who did the builds, but they definitely shared distribution channels with the Mann line of guitars.

Found this as well , that's all I got

Curlee was also ahead of his time in planning overseas production (JAPAN-Matsumoku Co. and Hondo Guitars) of many U.S.A. designed models to prevent unlicensed foreign copies of his instruments.

(Source: Blue Book of Electric Guitars 9th Ed. Z.R. Fjestad/S.P. Fjestad).

If you have more please share , I want to know

from the "guitar block":
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:4gbcLyU_0vQJ:uniqueguitar.blogspot.com/2010/05/sd-curlee-basses-and-guitars.html+curlee+guitars&cd=3&hl=de&ct=clnk&gl=at

this article says: US based production + KOREAN manufactoring

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All vantage-branded guitars were lower-priced instruments aimed at the beginner-to-intermediate market. It has no interest to collectors and very little demand among players! (www.allexperts.com)

Like I was saying , not much info out there online , and what is out there is the exact , word for word , same article on different sites . That's why I put it up here ,for info that is not already on the web . If you don't feel this is a Mat , then please , move this thread to the appropriate place , either way , a sweet vintage bass that I will hold on to