Friday, March 25, 2011

Fakenbacker


A funny thing happened to last Saturday... I stopped into a local "Antique" shop that sells collectibles and, well... higher priced junk. In their basement section, I spotted this:



 I scrambled over, thinking that I may have hit the deal of the century...

Unfortunately, this was not a bona-fide Ric. Despite my disappointment, I was pleased to see that is was a Matsumoku produced Ric 4001 copy with the ASPEN brand name on the headstock. There was no pricetag, so I brought it to the front desk and asked. The Lady who owns the place says to me: "I have been looking online, and Aspens go for about $150". I then proceded my song and dance about this being a cheap Japanese COPY of a gen-u-ine American Guitar. Also, it was banged up, very, very dirty, missing the bridge cover, had 4 mismatched strings, and had a home made, ill fitting ric-ish truss rod cover. Then, I went in for the kill: I had her sight down the neck at the considerable bow. I told her, only someone experienced in guitar repair could fix the neck. Then I offered $100, and she took it with no hesitation.




So, after explaining to my patient Wife why I came home with ANOTHER guitar, I plugged it in: no sound from the neck pickup. Yikes! I tramped down the basement and completely disassembeled every bit of the bass. It was really dirty, so I cleaned every inch inside and out. Then I polished then waxed the body. Only then did I set at the electronics. Both pickups ohmed out at about 5K, so I knew the pickup was OK. Whew! Careful checking showed me that the bridge pickup volume pot was bad. Out came the soldering iron, and in went a new pot. Then I assembled everything, put on a new set of steel strings, and plugged her in...



I was very relieved that the neck pickup worked. I quickly tuned up, and played a few minutes. The bass has a great trebly tone, and is a fair copy of a real Ric. All in all, it was a good day...







Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Vintage on the ¢heap

So 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 based 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 trem 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 $299, but I knew that was too much. After doing some research, I found out that this "Epiphone" is actually a Matsumoku (Aria) built guitar from 1974-5. I also got an idea of how much it would cost me to restore. So the next day I went back to the shop and 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.


My birthday was coming up, and my Wife was bugging me: What do yu 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.


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Based on my internet research, I do not believe that this guitar is not a Japanese copy of any Gibson or Epi. The narrow bound neck, and the odd shaped pickups convinced that this is actually a copy of a Vox Aristocrat
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I have some parts coming already, but am still looking for original knobs and some trem parts. The guitar does sound cool, and when I crank up the fuzz, it feels like I am in 1967...