My birthday was coming up, and my Wife was bugging me: "What do you want for your Birthday? I mean, NOT a Guitar...."
Well, I had no idea, until I spotted this at a local mall guitar shop: the kind that sells Samick guitars to parents who do not know any better....
Henway, they had this lil' puppy sitting there, with a a sign that read "USED: Must Go" and a bunch of missing/wrong parts (gibson speed knobs, Kramer (!) neck plate, no pickguard, missing tram parts). The guitar had been well set up, there was no neck bow, and it played and sounded pretty neato 60's cool. The price was $300, but I knew that was too much. After doing some research, I found out that this "Epiphone" is actually a Matsumoko (Aria) built guitar from 1974-5. I also got an idea of how much it would cost me to restore. So I went back to the shop, dealt directly with the owner. I pointed out all of the guitar's faults, and then whipped out two $100 bills. My strategy worked, and she is now mine.
One of the cool things I have discovered about the guitar is that I do not believe this is a Japanese copy of any Gibson or Epi. The narrow, bound neck, and the odd shaped pickups tell me that this is actually a copy of a Vox Aristocrat.
I have some parts coming already, but am still looking for original knobs and some trem parts. If anyone knows where I can find them, pls let me know. The guitar does sound cool, and when I crank up the fuzz, it feels like I am in 1967.
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