The Guitar Gallery Forums - The Guitar Legacy of Matsumoku

Well I was all a "tingle", then I wasn't so much.
I thought I had found a MATS TA-60...I corresponded a bit and asked (I thought) all the right questions. Then I made a 2 hour road trip to pick it up...bladder a-bursting...but I digress.

It was (is) a beautiful guitar, and when I laid eyes on her I got a tingle in my naughty parts!
The room was kind of dark but I could make out that the colour was "twilight red". Excellent!
As I finished the cold drink offered by the seller I picked her up and looked her over. Not a mark on her! Amazing, since it was never kept in a case! Turns out the seller was the second owner and is a drummer, and never really played it. The original owner was much the same and bought it for display purposes, not played either!

As I looked her over some more the hardware was in great shape, no tarnish. I noticed that some dumb ass had reversed the bridge pup indicating some tinkering has gone on by someone. The plastic nut also shows some wear on the bass string slots indicating perhaps someone was messing about with heavy gauge strings?? The only slight "damage" was a bit of crazing on the fretboard edge binding at about the third fret (capo?).

All together, not so bad. Then I turned her over and saw it: "Made in Korea" stenciled on the heel.
My heart sank and I was so disappointed. I kicked myself for not confirming this before i made the trip. I did get the serial number which pointed to 1986, and I made a big assumption. In any event I did buy it, and it is a well made guitar.

Here are some grab shots (indoors 'cuz it's raining!) showing what she looked like "as received". She can only get more beautiful after a bit o' detailing:







I tuned her up and played her a bit. Really nice tone. Pups checked out as, Neck: 7.6K Bridge: 7.9K Not too bad.
Does anyone know what a "real" Mats would be? More to come as I strip her down. I'm particularly interested in what those pups are.

I'm really really hoping that this is an MIK-from-Mats-parts instrument. Otherwise the serial number of 6020487 makes no sense.

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I could care less where it was made, Barry - that's a very very nice piece of kit!! I only want a white one(!?), but that looks on beaut condition as well; well done!! I thought you were out of GAS tokens...

Nice guitar Barry!...

I went on Aria USA and saw your model in the 1989 Cat... Is it possible that it may be a 1996 model?!?....

Either way, like Corsair said it is a beaut.... Lots of great Korean axes out there and this one fits the bill...

Enjoy!

P.

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

Thanks John, and yes I am well and truly de-GAS'd. Shouldn't really have grabbed this one, but...you know.
The seller claims that the original buyer got the guitar in the "early 90's". That's about as close as we'll get I guess unless someone can crack the serial number code.

I still haven't done anything to her except get the tuning to settle down. It was wa-a-a-y sharp and a few strings were sticking on the nut. I think I may have to replace it with a Tusq one, it's a bit chewed up on the bass side for some reason and causing a bit of buzzing. Playing it for about a half hour last night, she has a very comfortable neck, very thin 60's Gibson style. Suits me just fine! The neck pup is has a nice sounding tone, the bridge sounds a bit 'thin' but that's likely because of the backwards installation. I expect it will improve when I turn it around.

The only other clunker so far is that the forward strap pin is located on the neck plate which is not at the right balance point for this guitar. As a result the neck nose dives; very annoying. So far, so good, and except for a lot of dust, there's not a mark on it, and the frets look brand new.

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Well, I can hope but it ain't gonna make it happen! Now that I've spent a bit more time with her, I'd say she's definitely not made from Mats parts (sigh).

On the positive side, the wood and workmanship are generally well done, but it's in the hardware details that you see the differences, mostly quality and fit. For instance:

• The pick guard is either not cut properly or the bracket location is off by a few mm, so that it rides up over the neck pup's mounting ring at one corner. That means that the whole thing sits too high and interferes with your picking attack.
• The selector toggle is poor quality and rattles in centre position
• The machine heads have a similarly 'light' feel to them, not a solid quality at all
• Bridge and stop tail are adequate, but again, of a lighter material and not as well finished (square-ish edges)
• Saddles and adjustment screws are crude and a bit flimsy looking but seem to be doing the job

Everything works. It's just that it doesn't feel "solid" like a Mats. Oh well...

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Well, Barry, that's exactly the reason, why I've sold my '90 korean TA-65 recently!
She's been probably the most beautiful guitar of my small collection, but the hardware and especially the pups
were under mat level! Too good for a guitar life as a wallhanger, not good enough for a gigging guitar.
She went to France and the new owner has told me he is very happy with her. So am I.
Still waiting for a TA-70 to come up somewhere, but I'd take a sixties 330 as well!

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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)

Yes. I do.

First nice catch. We sometimes got snobish about MIK guitars. We should remember that there was, and still is to a lesser degree, the same attitude about the MIJ ones we love. Tuners are an easy fix and I suspect some careful work with a hobby knife will correct the pickguard problem. I am surprised she is neck heavy with the strap pin at the neck plate. That is used to fix neck heavy problems when the strap is mounted on a shorter horn. If you can't live with a MIK in your stable, feel free to send her to me.

I´ve on occasion "tuned" a few of those korean "x00" models and altho they´re adequate guitars indeed Barry Matsumokus they´re NOT.
IMO there´s actualy quite a big difference in how they´re built as well as tone aso.

For lack of better words the korean made ones feel....less.
Just less of everything.

A little TLC though makes them korean built examples to much better performers as they can leave something to be desired stock.

Ya know that old saying about never getting a second chance to make a first impression? Well-l-l-l...
Now that I've had a chance to calm down some, I grabbed the TA60 by the neck and headed outside in the sun today for a strip and clean! Woo hoo!
The experience was not without a little eyebrow raising, but by the time I was finished, I think my opinion of this guitar has been raised some. Hey, it still ain't no Mats. But it ain't exactly junk either.

TEARDOWN
First things first. It was actually in very good condition, dust aside.
However, I was suspicious about the reversed bridge pup and annoyed about the pick guard fit. I pulled everything off, and turned the pups over.
This is what I saw!

Bad enough, but then I removed the tape!


The wires were only twisted together--no solder!
So, the history of this guitar starts to unfold, methinks. Looks like somebody decided to change the pups (heavy metal I'm guessing judging by the nut slots) and then replaced the originals--badly. That accounts for the reversed bridge pup, just sloppiness.

I soldered the wires before re-installing:


And here's a quick shot of the inside label for the record:


Looking inside I could also see that the construction is mainly mahogany. However, the top, and I suspect the back also, is a laminate. Not surprising I guess since the body is "sculpted" (press formed).

RESTORATION
I stripped her down completely, scrubbed and polished all the hardware, and gave the woodwork a good coat of Turtle Wax(!). Everything came up bright and shiny. No tarnish, just shine. (Yay!)

In the process I started changing my mind about the hardware quality a bit. The bridge and stop tail weren't all that bad after all, and have a good heft to them. The machine heads aren't exactly the top of the line but after cleaning and adjusting seem to be working just fine. The pups have a good weight to them and seem to be well made. Finally the pick guard that I was moaning about went together just perfectly. It now fits as it should. Obviously whoever replaced the pup messed up putting this back as well.

After a few hours of attention this is how she looks now:



Second impression: pretty darn good after all!
Sorry Slo. I'm keeping her!

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