The Guitar Gallery Forums - The Guitar Legacy of Matsumoku

Hi all, I own and love a handful of early 80's MIJ guitars, and just picked up what I believe is an '81-ish Falcon. It seems like a great guitar and I'm looking forward to playing it. It needs a little work to be ready to rock; this one's been beat on a bit.

Anyway, it's a little different than the examples I've seen online; I'm hoping the brain trust here can help me out a bit with some details, and recommend a part.

Here's what I know about the guitar, and I believe everything is stock except the input jack repair.
* s/n barely legible on the back of the headstock - 87805E. not 100% sure the 3rd digit is an 8.
* The bridge isn't a "harmonic lock" bridge, unless I'm missing something obvious. And it looks different than the bridges I've seen pics of. It looks... simpler? Maybe it's not an original bridge, or maybe this guitar is a RI?
* Brass nut
* Dot inlays
* Plastic binding
* No name on the trussrod cover
* Wooden cavity cover
* foil-lined electronics cavity
* Push-push volume pots
* Tone pots stamped 50402 (1980?)
* "George Washburn" labelled tuners

So my two questions are:
1. What do you think it is?
2. Any idea where I can find the same type of push-push pot? This one is busted, the mechanism won't operate and it's stuck in single coil! (I may just throw a 500k pot in and call it a day, I won't use the split anyway.)

Here's a bunch of pics...










Thanks!

-scott

Yes.
As it is single layer plastic binding and carries push/pull pots i´d put it at as Falcon.

I´ve seen one of these in this setup before,and it is a "variety" one of the more regular Yamaki made Falcons.
(Just had a look at another very beutiful black coloured Eagle last night btw)

Another feature,or more to the point the lack of it,that sets it apart is that it lacks the otherwise stock Yamaki PCB for the pots/caps asf.
Ie;Question would be if these specific guitars really were made by Yamaki.?

Further,the lid for the electronics cavity on the Yamakis are more rectaunglar to shape and like the TRC these are made out of wood.
Another distinct feature is the rounding off of the horns and the Yamaki typical rather "exact" variations in angles where the body runs into the cutout.
On the Yamaki made guitars this is done at rather exact and specific angles,and the only real rounding off going on is the minute amounts where the different angles meet.

That they share the fact of wooden TRC seing the above really doesn´t say anything in my book.

Hardware is deadringers between the two variants tho.
Tuners,bridge,knobs asf.Absolutely the same.
Likewise the colour schematics.Burst of it looks exactly the same as for the Yamaki specimens

Btw.
500k push/pulls are readily available anywhere where guitar pts are sold.Make sure it is a logarithmic one as it is for volume.

Here.
For reference...
My two.
A Yamaki made Eagle and a Falcon.
Falcon being -79 vintage and the Eagle an 81.

http://www.matsumoku.org/ggboard/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=5056

http://www.matsumoku.org/ggboard/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=4967

Seing what i wrote above i believe that you´ll spot the differences soon enough

Thanks, Racing! So you're saying yes, early 80's Yamaki? I'm not sure what you concluded...

I did notice the lack of PCB and thought that was odd. I'm also bummed about the plain old fret dots... I really love those brass circles. But hey.

And to be clear, the knobs are push-push, not push-pull. I think I have that terminology right -- they're spring-loaded and you push them down, then they bounce back, and they toggle between settings as you do that.

Also, I wonder if I could find one of those Harmonic Lock bridges somewhere. They look beefier... oy, here we go.

Cool!
Wasn´t aware of that with the pots!
In that case...honestly i´d try and take them apart and just restore them.
From the pics it seems that one of the aluminium shafts have broken,and that shouldn´t be the end of the world.

No.
What i´m saying is that each respective jap Gakki had THEIR way of specing and putting together-albeit from time to time...."specifications to change without notice"...
What i´m saying is that this strikes me as NOT being made by Yamaki.
Basicaly leaving two options.

We know that other wings were made by Matsumoku...but they really don´t correspond to what you´ve got there either,which arises the question of Washburn could have-or one of the others(Yamaki/Matsumoku) could have subcontracted a THIRD party.

The thing is that from what we´ve gathered at least some of these gakkis were in bed with each other like there was no tomorrow.

Btw.
Serial on the axe would indicate it being of 82 vintage

If that bridge is of the same setup as on the Yamaki guitars there should be an allen setscrew running in from each side respectively to anchor the saddles rigidly in place.
Takes metric allen set to work on.

When set the allen screws basicaly locks that bridge dead in the track,hence you can more or less jump on the guitar without it losing pitch.

Right, that's what I thought -- similar to a G&L bridge, right?

This doesn't have that. Plain old metal. I saw a Hawk-like one with a similar looking bridge somewhere... right, this yellow one here: http://www.matsumoku.org/models/washbur ... /pics.html

Here's a better pic of the bridge on mine:


(As for the volume pot, I'll probably store it away for now. I bought this guitar to play the hell out of it and it's obviously not a museum piece anyway. I'll be filing out the nut and tuning it down pretty far. And crossing my fingers that I have enough play to intonate it...)

I see what you mean.

Bridges looks the same tho,so in that case why not just drill a couple of holes,wind em and pick up a pair of allen stop screws?
That would make that piece work as the Yamakis,and frankly...those DO stay in tune no matter what.

Another tip when working on the nut.
As you take the old strings off pick up a small can of fine grade valvegrinding compoun for engines at your local NAPA.
Costs of nothing.
Then add a small dab to each cutout in the brass nut and use your old strings to run through it all til happy.
With brass nuts this makes for wonders for making the nut work as it should seing its age.
They honestly seldome wear,but they do oxidize and this builds up over time.
Fine grade valvegrinding compound won´t really cut the nut just polish it out making for a rather large difference in performance.

Nice guitar....

P.

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