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: Mon 25 Jul 2016 03:13 PM 
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Joined: Wed 26 Feb 2014 08:49 AM
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It's been a while since I posted anything here, so it's about time I showed you a few pics of different guitars I've been playing about with. Here's hoping I can post the pics without the hassle I usually encounter!

I followed Barry's advice in attemting to straighten the neck on a VP 795 but despite having strapped the neck to a bench with damp towels just below it ( no contact ) for months , nothing changed. As an experience I took the fingerboard off and then separated the neck from the body. I ordered a new maple fingerboard 10mm thick instead of the usual 6mm , stuck it on and used the extra thickness to get a straight surface. I gave the shaping job to a luthier but fretted it myself. Now the neck is ok, thicker but the guitar is playable ( not perfectly ) and personalized with a maple fingerboard;

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Next a VS 600 . I only bought the body ( from a guy selling off his unfinished - or unstarted - projects ) and thought the maple neck off a Vantage 113T would look ok ( it continues the yellow stripe ) and it's still a Vantage!

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Next an X88 bass - again I only bought the body ( got the pups as cadeau ) , found a neck to fit and a Chinese bridge ( not a perfect fit but then I'm not a bass player ). I took all the sunburst anf finish off and here she is!

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A Cardinal Series cs250 . I took off the brown finish and decided that the bare wood strips would be better in black and with relief. With a hard brush on an electric drill I removed some of the more tender veins ( sorry if my vocabulary is incorrect ) bafore spraying black and varnish. I love it especially with 2 Seymour Duncan P-rails!

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Last one An Aria Thor Sound which received the same treatment and is now my Telecaster

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I'd be delighted to read your comments!


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PostPosted: Mon 25 Jul 2016 03:29 PM 
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Virtuoso
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Location: Mount Hunter, NSW, Australia.
Yeah, that's nice work!!

Liking the APII TS as I'm turning a Westone Spectrum into a Telecaster, though one with a trem bridge!

How much thicker is the neck on the 795? Would it be possible to sand back the back of the neck to get it more playable?


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PostPosted: Mon 25 Jul 2016 04:48 PM 
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Outstanding work! :rockwoot:

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PostPosted: Mon 25 Jul 2016 09:21 PM 
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Really great work to bring all those babies back to life! That black finish is strikingly beautiful.

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PostPosted: Tue 26 Jul 2016 03:29 PM 
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Power Chorder

Joined: Wed 26 Feb 2014 08:49 AM
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Thanks for your kind remarks gentlemen. I enjoy the possibility of modifying these great guitars which remain quality instruments despite their low market values, and I very much enjoy seeing and reading about your finds and the work you do on them.

Corsair, I will get round to measuring the thickness of the neck but it's not that that prevents the guitar from being perfectly playable . One or two frets are still playing up a little and the neck is not perfectly set into the body. It's when I put the strings on it that I saw that the top E is nearer the edge of the fingerboard than the bottom E. I have no intention of taking the neck off again, I will just try and move the bridge a little sideways.


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PostPosted: Tue 26 Jul 2016 05:08 PM 
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Geez that's a shame.
Is there any way you have enough width on the saddles to perhaps re-notch and scootch the strings over without stressing the string anchor points too much?? Not ideal, but easier to change out the saddles than move the bridge.

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PostPosted: Wed 27 Jul 2016 03:18 AM 
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Virtuoso
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Yeah....moving the bridge would be a bear. Where are the strings relative to the pickup pole pieces; do they line up right over the top?


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PostPosted: Wed 27 Jul 2016 02:27 PM 
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Power Chorder

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When I talk about moving the bridge ( which is a Tune-o-matic type) what I mean is modifying the holes by which the bridge sits on its studs so that the bridge sits about a millimetre nearer the bass string side of the body. The photo shows that there's a bit of play already so a little filing should do the job. Photo also shows the guitar in its present state with Entwhistle P90s - it seemed a good idea at the time but I'm not overwhelmed by them.

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As far as the neck thickness is concerned I was wrong ; at the first fret it measures 20.38 mm ( my VP790 is 20.59mm) at the 5th fret 21.51 ( the 790 is 22.22 ), at the 9th fret 23.70 ( 23.73) and at the 12th fret 25.66 ( as against 24.40 for the 790) .

To be complete with my Mat builds/mods etc here is that VP 790 whose finish was in a very bad way. I took it all off, sanded it, glued a split in the back of the neck and oiled the whole thing. That's not the best decision I ever made but it's done now .

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PostPosted: Wed 27 Jul 2016 04:38 PM 
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I would discourage the strings being wrapped over the top of the stop tail. You defeat the break angle over the saddles that way and lose sustain. It also makes the strings less stable as well as scratching the chrome. :D

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