The Guitar Gallery Forums - The Guitar Legacy of Matsumoku

Good lord, that's a magnificent guitar!

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Beautiful!
The back is just as pretty as the front.
What is the general neck shape? i.e. Thick/thin/C-shaped? Most of the neck-thru's have pretty substantial necks.
Congrats on your new guitar.

cheers

Not sure how to describe the neck...not great inthat department but it's finer than other neck throughs I've owned (Vantage models), and it's not as thick as a Les Paul 50s model. It's very comfy up and down...a joy to play really. Very straight too surprisingly. Sorry I can't be much more help in this dept.
Thanks
Kazz

Wow. That is a BEAUTY.

I'd gladly swap my Urchin for it (my Urchin is in good shape to be as old as it is, but nowhere near THAT good).

No need to reply. I already know you're not interested.

Thanks for sharing the pics.

I used to have an Urchin t-60 or was it U-60...it was very sweet and just so unique. Always wondered how the higher set neck model with all the coil taps and switching sounded. Which model is yours?

I think, Mind I say I think, that the eagles had a thinner neck compared to the falcons of the same vintage. The reason I could never get used to my rosewood falcon (79 by the way) was the neck seemed somewhat fat (bat like?) My friend who 3 eagles (and now my old falcon) thinks the necks are great. I am curious why you are SURPRISED that the neck on yours is straight.

With regards to the straightness of the neck...as I mentioned I owned 4 or 5 neck through models...all Vantage guitars. I am no expert but I found the necks to be unpredictable ...seemed somehow different everytime. The VA900 models I owned I believe has more open frets...is that possible...I recall that you could play way beyond the 20th fret....perhaps I found them a little awkward...and maybe my memory is fading. The Washburn just feels tight, solid, well balanced..maybe more like a Les Paul.

Hi Kaz,

I currently have 4 VA900 and they all have the exact same neck... All of them perfectly straight.... My VA800 has a thicker neck but very straight also... The VA900 are 24 frets...

P.

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

kazzelectro:

My Urchin is a U-70. You can see it on this thread:

http://www.matsumoku.org/ggboard/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=4214

The guitar doesn't look quite as good in person as it does in the pics. It has a lot of swirling in the clear coat (I took a lot of pics of the body & cherry-picked the one that didn't show all the swirls). I could buff that out, but I've never had any intention of selling the guitar since I got it back.

The 1982 catalog (a collector/dealer I know has the one that belonged to the original dealer, but he won't let anybody scan it) lists it as having a maple neck with alder wings.

Here's how the "provenance" goes:

(1) I bought it "shop-worn new" in late 1987 (it had been on the shop wall for over 4 years; virtually all of the scarring on it is shop wear)
(2) I rarely played it because the pickups feed back A LOT
(3) I put it on consignment in another shop (the original dealer closed); no bites
(4) I sold it to a friend who thought he wanted to learn how to play--he played it for about a month, broke a string, & decided that learning guitar was too much work
(5) He put it in storage
(6) His parents stop by to visit on occasion; a few years ago, I asked them if "there was any chance" he still had the guitar
(7) When they visited again several months later, they brought the guitar (it had the same set of strings I put on it, with 1 broken)
(8) It's been mine again for 2, maybe 3 years now.

I've had every intention of having the pickups potted, but I have a couple other favorites that I play a lot & never got around to it.