The Guitar Gallery Forums - The Guitar Legacy of Matsumoku

http://www.g3h.be/wings/index.htm
Yes.
-81 vintage definetly means Yamaki.
Site owner is on here too btw.
Yamaki or not i for one at least think you can lean back into the fact as far as what the guitar in question is good for.

Apart from the really high-end Washburns they also made the Daion Power XX(google it).
In general the Eagles/Falcons are considered of VERY high build quality and at least IMO should be compared to the high-end uncle mats.
All in all one can always have opinions of a guitar,but let me assure you that the basic build of these guitars are absolutely top notch.
Even the OEM pups sound good being japanese.
Eagles and Falcons can be rather picky with pups due to the massive sustain of them coupled with the rather bright woods from a tone perspective.
The OEM pups are by contemporary standards rather mid range in DC resistance,but leave you with a sound that is one serious overtone machine when adjusted properly.

If you check the section further down dubbed "memebers treasures" there´s a bunch of rather explicit pics of my own -81 Eagle.

Axe have had a respray as neither the Eagle or the Falcon to my knowledge never were delivered in black.
The correct finish of your guitar,rosewood,can be seen on the skull of it.

If so inclined you could always put in the rather massive effort of getting rid of the black pain i guess...
Coloursanding it down with 1200 wet until you reach the original finish.
Rather massive project,but IMO it might be worth it as the OEM finish of it is downright beutiful.

Friend of mine just bought exactly the same guitar as yours only a much more common right hander.
I´ll take pics and post as it touches down at his place,and if nothing else pics might be able to help you determin what´s stock and not on yours as i suspect that the spec for lefty are to be similar of a right hander.

Hi Racing: thanks for the heads-up about Yamaki. As my guitar is an 81 Washburn by Yamaki, should I consider myself kicked off this site? (!)
I hear what you say about the respray. Given my own level of skills, I'll leave well alone and not attempt a sanding-back, even though as you say the body finish should probably match the colour of the 2 centre neck-through stripes and the headstock. The respray has been fairly well done, I think, and has started to acquire a lot of minor dinks and roadwear that don't show up on the thumbnails.

Ha! Hell no! If you like to read up on Matsumoku guitars, watch pics and chat along about them: you may stay
Gotta move the Falcon thread to a non-Matsu department, now that it's positively identified as being a Yamaki though (you're 100% sure, Jesper?) ... sorry

Edit - On second thought; the topic says 'Washburn - JAPANESE models only', nothing about Matsumoku there ... yours IS japanese, right?

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http://www.GuitarDir.com has been hacked by some mindless fool, destroying years
of gathering info on guitars by non-commercial guitar lovers. Why?

If it is a rattle can spray over rather than a pro job it may come off without sanding. Try a little paint thinner or acetone in an inconspicuous place. Niether will effect the bullet proof poly that was applied to most MIJ guitars of the period (I know I am refinishing an Electra, slowly).

Thanks for that, bro - what a stunner!! Just gorgeous and I'll bet there were feck-all lefties made to boot!! As for being railroaed off the site, I think not - Kees makes a good point about interest in Uncle Matt and his fine products being enough and besides, I don't think your guitar actually loses anything by being made by Yamaki - the build quality looks superb!

Yes Kees.
Absolutely certain.
It is Yamaki.

The Yamakis differ e little from the Uncles in how they come at you.
Both in build anf finish.

I've always assumed it to be a Japanese guitar because it's an old Wing model by Washburn.
And I've kind of assumed it's a Falcon, because of the construction; although nowhere does it say the model, it's just identified by maker and serial number. But the experts say it must be Yamaki because of the serial number and hence the date, and that's good enough for me.
The black spray job looks like a professional respray to me - the uniformly smooth and shiny finish indicate professional not spraycan to me. I might well see if a gentle acetone application takes any of the black off. It's somewhat beyond me why a previous owner would want to go black rather than stay with the rather gorgeous original finish - maybe an hommage to a particular artist...
....anyway, it's a Falcon lefty from Yamaki, and it's quite uncommon, that much we've established - thanks everybody.

Sweet guitar indeed and thanks for sharing the pics with us here! It's the very first evidence (in years!) that this particular model of the Falcon was made in a left-handed version... probably in very limited numbers. I'll add the lefty option to the specs on the Wings site. The re-spray is a bit of a mystery.. the Eagle of that same era was available in black. The paint job on your guitar looks well done indeed but re-sprays always makes me wonder: in what condition is the wood underneath? Any filler used to cover up damage?

About Yamaki: not a 100% proven yet but very, very likely. Most '79 Wings of this model have the electrics on a PCB that states "Made by Yamaki" and, like Racing already mentioned, if you take a close look on the Daion guitars (the Headhunter-model for instance) you'll discover a lot of things in common between the B-model Wings and some of the Daions. Uncle Matt made all the '82 - '84 (C-model) stuff.

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www.g3h.be/wings

My 1980 VA900 has "Yamaki" on the PCB, I'm sure...

Sooo, we'll have to kick Corsair and his VA900 off the board?