Japanese Guitars

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

VanZandt '57 model strat

VanZandt '57 Strat

Thin Nitro Finish + flame maple

Goodbye and farewell!

In the bowels of the Peninsula Shopping Centre in Singapore are several guitar stores. Hiding out in one was this Japanese ex-pat guitar, VanZandt stratocaster homage number 1833. Beautifully done thin nitrocellulose lacquer finish on a one-piece lightweight ash body. The flame-maple neck is has a fat C-shape and is also done in a thin nitro finish. 7 lbs 3 oz.

I haven't had the guard off yet but assume that it has VanZandt pickups. Fullertone pickups were used in some models.

I ended up trading the blonde VanZandt and a couple of other guitars for this one. Sad to see blondie go but it was a great introduction to VanZandt guitars.

VanZandt STV-R1 I presume

Tales From The Woodheap : So it arrived...along with 4 others =/This Ornetts...

Tales From The Woodheap : So it arrived...along with 4 others =/This Ornetts...: So it arrived...along with 4 others =/ This Ornetts is one killer machine...7.9 lbs, solid no chambering. Thin lacquer finish, 1 piece ...

Ornetts guitars have their own unique thing going on with the truss rod design and headstock. A brand to keep an eye out for. The new Greco guitar lineup is made by the same manufacturer and the discontinued LPs are selling these days at a large discount.

Saturday, February 16, 2013

A few good Burnys

From what I have seen 1980s were a good time for MIJ guitars, and Burnys were no exception with the FLGs and early RLGs. Here are a few "entry level RLG-50s" that I had the pleasure of seeing up close. For what were supposedly "plain-top" Les Paul copies they seemed to use a lot of nice maple for the tops.

You will notice in the photos belos the 30 degree angle pointers on the control knob. This is usually a pretty good indicator of an early-80's RLG Burny. These RLG-50s had the lower-end pickups and wiring and poly finish but were very well made guitars, if not a bit heavy on average. Three of the four I had were around or over 10 lbs!

These models can be deceptive due to their looks and lack of a model number on the guitars. I have seen more than a few owners of likely RLG-50s assuming that the nice top on their guitar means they must be RLG-120/150/custom orders. That is a pretty good compliment to for the lowly RLG-50!

Saturday, January 26, 2013

Deep in the Heart of Texas - VanZandt STV-R1

This recent addition is a VanZandt- brand Stratocaster model made for the Taurus corporation in Japan by manufacturer PGM (Professional Guitar Manufacture). I can't find any official page for PGM but the linked store has some pictures and Japanese info.

Taurus distributes several brands of musical equipment in Japan including VanZandt pickups. I got this one used in near mint condition from the good folks at A.T. Style guitars in Saitama, Japan.

This particular one has 22 frets, a 9 inch radius fretboard and larger frets than the vintage-correct ones which makes it easier to play with a lower action.

It reminds me a bit of David Gilmour's mystery strat from the 50's. The "vintage" VanZant pickups are excellent lower output strat pickups and the noise level is very low for single pickups. Perhaps the aluminum pickguard has a lot to do with that. I can't find anything at all about this guitar that I would change other than it would be nice if they came with a hard case for the list price ($3000 or so US equivalent).

Reproduction paper-in-oil capacitor

From what I can tell the VanZandt guitar line has been going for about 20 years. They have no real low-end guitars as almost all are made with top quality materials. Lots of the older rosewood-board strats/teles use Brazilian rosewood.

You can see the thin nitro finish that shows the grain of the ash body. No thick-finish Fender lacquer here.

VanZandt STV-R1

Part II coming soon - VanZandt gold.

Friday, December 21, 2012

Greco "Super Real" Mint Collection EG60-150

Greco "Super Real" Mint Collection EG60-150

A rare guitar made right at the beginning of the Mint Collection line in early 1982.It has serial number 2 0376. It is the second to highest model in the 1982 Mint Collection Catalog with the only difference between this and the top EG60-180 model being a higher quality flame maple top. This one has a pretty interesting top in that the flame is very even but is not always that strong or noticeable depending on the viewing angle.
The back is made of two pieces center-matched.

The guitar is very light at 3.8 kg and has a thin 60's profile neck. It plays and sounds as well as the other Grecos I have had. The top carve as seen below is fairly steep up to the pickups.

No black paint in the cavities here

Two-hole bobbin zebra DRY1982 pickups

The pickups are uncovered DRY1982 pickups with zebra bobbins. These have to be among the earliest DRY1982 pickups as they only have 2 holes in the bobbins like the DRY-Z pickups and do not have the 3-hole bobbins that appeared with the Mint Collection series to more accurately replicate the original Gibson PAF pickup bobbins. What does that mean? I think it probably means that they are essentially DRY-Zs that were ordered with no stamp or covers for production of this guitar. There are examples of DRY-Z pickups produced in 1982 and these would have been made during the same period. To my ears they sound very close to the DRY-Zs

The headstock has the "Super Real Model" script which only lasted for the initial period of the Mint Collection series. It was pictured on all the LPs in the 1982 Mint Collection catalog so it appears that there was originally an intention to continue using it but for some reason it was dropped on later models.

Beauty of the Japanese Burst ;-)

It came with the original Super Real hard case and all the original tags. You can see the Greco version of the original Gibson tag on the left, the blue"Mint Collection" tag with the model number, the Greco Handbook and a button from what was apparently a sales promotion at the time.

Super Real hard case with case candy

Long tenon. "ラ" is for lacquer (ラカー)

Friday, December 14, 2012

Demo of Tokai Love Rock LS-150 (1981)

New look for an old Tokai.

1981 Tokai LS-150
Here is a short sample of Aoyama Oyaji's playing. Hopefully the Tokai LS-150 will make you overlook a few of the bum notes. The Dimarzio Super Distortion in the bridge and the PAF in the neck were not great for this guitar but that is all up to personal taste. There is now a pair of hot W. Boggs PAF-type pickups installed (thanks Denny!!). Readings are mid-8k for the neck and mid-9k for the bridge and I have figured out that resistance readings don't mean too much when listening to the voicing of a pickup. You can have different pickups with the same resistance that will be louder/quieter and have completely different response. I understand the winder ended up having some business trouble but he sure knew how to wind a pickup.