The Guitar Gallery Forums - The Guitar Legacy of Matsumoku

Q&A, discussion, and information for the labels covered by The Guitar Gallery (Specifically and exclusively guitars made by Matsumoku up to 1987)
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PostPosted: Sat 05 Apr 2014 07:46 PM 
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Virtuoso
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Joined: Thu 13 Oct 2005 06:39 AM
Posts: 86
Location: Kawagoe, Japan
Hello all, I've got a feel-good restoration to report!

I got this padauk red SB-1000 in a sorry state a few months back...Gutted of the original pickup/electronics, it was routed (poorly) for P/J pickups. To make matters worse, the neck had warped making it virtually unplayable. It wouldn't even have made for very good wall art because of the ugly routing!

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With some luck, I came across an original SB-1000 pickup and then got an SB-1000 Re-Issue BB circuit to go with it. The next step was deciding how to restore the bass. With no real luthier skills of my own, I had to find someone else who could do the job. After searching around Japan (including Aria Guitars who said they could do it but at an astronomical price) I went back to my roots, so to speak, and had MD Custom Shop in Seoul, Korea do the job. Steve Kim is the luthier and I think he did a fantastic job (mdcustomshop.com). Aside from the refinish, he also did a re-fret in order to plane the fretboard and remove the warp.

Due to the bass being mangled to fit P/J pickups in it, I decided the only way to make this work was to go with an all black finish. Since Cliff Burton used an all black SB-1000 for a short time, I figured I'd turn this into a tribute bass. On the back of the headstock is the "serial number" which is 19621986 - his birth/death years. I had the serial number made in the style of Burton's serial number on his bass, rather than the normal SB style. FYI, here is what his bass looked like. It's the only all black SB-1000 I've seen (from the Matsumoku era):
http://ariabasses.blogspot.jp/2011/05/f ... on-sb.html

Finally, below are some pics of the process and final result. Again, all credit goes to Steve Kim at MD Custom Shop with assists from Bloodaxe for the awesome logo work and Prostheta for pickup/electronic work!
I am extremely happy with how it turned out! It plays, sounds, looks, and feels great!
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PostPosted: Sun 06 Apr 2014 02:32 AM 
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Joined: Wed 05 Jul 2006 03:40 PM
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Location: Mount Hunter, NSW, Australia.
That's a bloody magnificent recovery job; a big well done from me!!


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PostPosted: Sun 06 Apr 2014 09:22 AM 
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Joined: Wed 29 Apr 2009 12:32 PM
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Location: St. Catharines, Ontario Canada
Hear, hear!
That's a massively successful resto. Congratulations to all involved! :up:

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PostPosted: Sun 06 Apr 2014 10:09 AM 
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Joined: Mon 19 Mar 2007 08:50 AM
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I saw this one over at Talkbass. Nice job.


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PostPosted: Mon 07 Apr 2014 04:01 AM 
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Joined: Tue 27 Oct 2009 02:53 AM
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Location: Strailya
Luv it, just beautiful.
Good work Jason.

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PostPosted: Thu 10 Apr 2014 09:41 AM 
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Joined: Wed 22 Nov 2006 09:13 PM
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Location: London
Superb job, glad the artwork turned out OK. Looks like whoever made them has captured the slight green tint to the gold as well.

P.

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PostPosted: Fri 11 Apr 2014 07:36 PM 
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Virtuoso
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Joined: Thu 13 Oct 2005 06:39 AM
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Location: Kawagoe, Japan
Thanks everyone! I can't say enough how happy I am with the way it turned out. MD Custom Shop is the place to go if you're in need of big time restoration work in Asia.


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PostPosted: Sat 12 Apr 2014 06:46 AM 
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Joined: Sat 12 Oct 2002 09:20 AM
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Looks good.

MD guitars are rather expensive in Japan... so my guess it gets much cheaper, if can get their service directly in Seoul.


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PostPosted: Sat 12 Apr 2014 10:44 AM 
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Joined: Sun 15 Jan 2006 04:52 PM
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Location: Absolute Stupidity, Missouri
VERY NICE JOB!!! It's always great to see a derelict come back to life, to it's former glory.


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PostPosted: Sat 12 Apr 2014 07:16 PM 
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Joined: Mon 19 Mar 2007 08:50 AM
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Hey Crusty, good to see you are till around. :) You rescued a few hear and there too.


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