The Guitar Gallery Forums - The Guitar Legacy of Matsumoku

Here´s my last acquirement :




click for more pic´s

I estimate this Aria Les Paul Deluxe was made in ´75.
Maybe a predecessor of the LD-700 - or is it even a LD-700 ?!?
Further information about this guitar are allways welcome !

Momentary it looks like a labor-intensive project, but i think she´s worth it - we will see .......

Listing of the things to do :
glue the "little" neck-fraction
remove the momentary lacquer of the forefront and repaint it
work off the complete backside of the guitar
polish the hardware, PU-covers, etc..

Ideas and suggestions regarding the new front color are very welcome,
but please NO goldtop - ´cause i dont believe i could lacquer it ....

Nikki

More details :

So how is the project going? Any updates?

Someday soon I'm going to tackle a project like you have. It looks like it would be fun.

Are those mini-humbuckers on that guitar?

If the wood grain is really nice, how about applying a nice rosewood or walnut stain, and then clear-coating the heck out of it? Put on a black pearloid pick-guard, black pup selector switch, and black knobs, and I think you may have something that would make a Gibson man envious!

Slowly, very slowly !
Meanwhile the brocken neck is glued, but must be still revised - the whole backsite of the body is ready and waiting for polish.
The finish from the top is removed and ready to stain or for repainting - we´ll see.



Yes - very funny, but sometimes i need spares, which are difficult to get or aren´t available here in germany.
This makes a project like this (for me) long and laboriously.


Yes - original maxon mini humbuckers in very good conditions. Never seen this pu´s before,
and still hope they have the tone quality which i dream of.



Unfortunately the previous owner had installed other pu´s, and so he drilled a few holes in the body
There´s also a damage near the upper binding in the veneer. All damages are repaired, but further visible.
Meanwhile i have chosen two options - mainly to hide the damages :
1. A dark blueburst with a black border - accomplished with stain and clear nitro varnish.
2. A goldtop-variation. One of my friends (a professional varnisher) has painted a sample.
Looks very nice, but unfortunately it´s normal paint.
.......my heart say´s "use nitro varnish" ..... i´m further on indecisively...

Nikki

Hi Nikki,
Nice guitar! I'm sure it will be well worth your efforts when finished.
I vote for nitro varnish!! Blue burst sounds really nice.
Best of Luck.
Regards,Al tetox310

what spares do you need? it's not so hard to send stuff to europe, i send goodies to my godson in Munchen all the time.

The cream pickup rings and the pickguard for a LP Deluxe as also my prefered gold reflector cap knobs are hard to get,
but meanwhile i know where i can get the missing parts.
Guitar Parts Resource (http://www.guitarpartsresource.com/) and Fake58 (http://www.fake58.co.uk/) are my favourites.

Annoying with guitar part resource is: every thing i order from outside the european union goes through customs and is
liable to tax. Customs and sales tax are calculate for the forwarding charges AND the value of goods. So i can add a
minium of 20% to all quoted prices ! Furthermore - the customs authority doesn´t work very fast

However - the largest problem is the NC-lacquer for the (top) clear finish. Guitar ReRanch and all other assimilable supplier
with a reasonable diy-product couldn´t ship overseas. It´s hard to believe how difficult it is to get a similar product in
germany, but after a long search i´ll find a aerosol can called CLOU SPRAYMAT.
Soon i will test it, but meanwhile and at first i´ll try to get a presentable blueburst stain sample - we´ll see


BTW - Relations in munich? If i remember rightly....didn´t you pay a visit last year to europe ?
Next time when you´re here we´ll organize a meeting and i´ll show you the difference between
a "Weizenbier" (wheat beer) and a real good one

Yes I did! Hope to get back there soon- probably not this year though.

You're right, Deutschland certainly has the best beer. I got really hooked on the non-alcoholic Weizenbier, wish we could get it here.

Ironically, americans use the term 'Hefeweizen' for any wheat beer- so when they import german beer, they get Hefeweizen and then can't understand why it tastes like yeast...

Obligatory Matt content: I picked up a couple of 85-86 Westone catalogs from germany, but I've never actually seen any for sale over there- they must be rare?

You are right. There are only a few westone, which are offered here.
That is (in my judgement) because of the very low resale price for some westone models.
Personally i´m allways looking for a Rainbow or a Prestige in good conditions at a resonable price,
but that seems to be a dead duck.
In contrast great britain looks like a real cockaigne for westone collectors.

Nikki

Nikki thats a lovely guitar good tonewood and with 30 years of settling and drys it out more ,
les pauls are my favourite but what yo going to do ,play it or look at it. Hows the neck on it after all these years hows the frets.
How about using switch pots to put the humbuckers in and out of seiries and out of phase etc. and/or A six way switch instead of the normal 3way.
Then theres the what type of bridge saddles will i replace them with stainless steel' , graphtech, or roller saddles . Its good to experiment but can be expensive.