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High end Japanese Guitars


jwguitar

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It sure is. The pictures don't do it justice. It has the odd small mark and some of the gold plate has rubbed a bit thin, but i had it for 25 years and giigeg with it too. It's still in great shape.

Swapped the old knurled brass knobs for those Gibson ones because the grub screws always came loose and the knobs would fall off.

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Vinnie do you happen to know what kind of pickups are in that el maya? I've seen guitars from that period that have pickups labeled on the bottom as GOTO without the "H" at the end of the name. I'm assuming that is just another spelling of Gotoh which is know for their high quality pickups and tuners today.

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I had one of those Road Stars back in the 80's.

 

Mine was white with 2 push pull hummbuckers.

 

 

 

fast neck, if my memory is correct. The fretboard is on as flat as the RS's of today.

 

 

 

 

Speaking of Roadstars did anyone ever own an Allan Holdsworth signature Ibanez? I had one about 15 years ago. I'm curious if those are worth anything today.

 

 

 

 

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Vinnie do you happen to know what kind of pickups are in that el maya? I've seen guitars from that period that have pickups labeled on the bottom as GOTO without the "H" at the end of the name. I'm assuming that is just another spelling of Gotoh which is know for their high quality pickups and tuners today.

 

The pickups in are Cushin Gakki high gain humbucker clones of DiMarzio Super 2 - single core hookup wire with outer braid grounded to volume pots as per 1st gen Superdistortions. Resistance is 7.9 K for neck and bridge and use oversize ceramic magnets as per Superdistortions and super 2.

They are good heavy rock pickups with great harmonics but clean or low gain a bit too shrill. I swapped the mags for ALNICO 2 and they are still really bright / filtertrons or P90 bright !

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I have yet to own a bad Japanese guitar. The only one in my arsenal now is my Mustang, which is the beez neez.

 

Ironically, the worst instruments I owned were American made. My Gibson Faded SG, Gibson L6-S, and a Harmony Ric copy. The absolute worst was a Korean Eastwood Saturn 63. Japan has yet to let me down.

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My El Maya referred to earlier

 

 

I had a guitar exactly like that back in '81 - bought new for £150 then, sold a couple of years later for £135, it's one of the very few guitars I have regretted selling. They come up occasionally on ebay and tend to be around £400+ in the UK.

 

Good MIJ instruments I own:

Washburn Hawk from the eagle series.

Washburn A20V from the first series (appears to have been refinished black - it's pink underneath!)

MIJ standard Strat - bought new in '89 but the SN suggests made in '86

Tokai Love Rock - no idea on the model, apparently a '59 replica for the Japanese market only

 

Like Bucksstudent, I've yet to own a bad guitar from Japan.

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DSC_2089_zpstr6gvnuz.jpg

 

1983 Aria Pro RS X80. Was the top of their RS line at the time, as you can guess by the cat's eyes inlays.

Includes a pretty good boost and on board distortion too, and split up pick ups and out phase switching too.

 

Fantastic instrument. A bit bashed up which is a great shame. Still plays great. One of those neck through construction. If it wasn't for the blue burst finish, we'd see a laminate maple and walnut neck and ash wings. Ebony fret board too.

 

Great axe.

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DSC_2089_zpstr6gvnuz.jpg

 

1983 Aria Pro RS X80. Was the top of their RS line at the time, as you can guess by the cat's eyes inlays.

Includes a pretty good boost and on board distortion too, and split up pick ups and out phase switching too.

 

Fantastic instrument. A bit bashed up which is a great shame. Still plays great. One of those neck through construction. If it wasn't for the blue burst finish, we'd see a laminate maple and walnut neck and ash wings. Ebony fret board too.

 

Great axe.

 

Very Nice! I have a TS600 with similar features to that. The did make a very good guitar back in the day. Especially at their price point.

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. . . 1983 Aria Pro RS X80. Was the top of their RS line at the time, as you can guess by the cat's eyes inlays.

Includes a pretty good boost and on board distortion too, and split up pick ups and out phase switching too.

 

Fantastic instrument. A bit bashed up which is a great shame. Still plays great. One of those neck through construction. If it wasn't for the blue burst finish, we'd see a laminate maple and walnut neck and ash wings. Ebony fret board too.

 

Great axe.

Sweet looking guitar. Probably has a boatload of tonal settings. Not a case queen but some guitars are made to be played. :thu:

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Very Nice! I have a TS600 with similar features to that. The did make a very good guitar back in the day. Especially at their price point.

 

The Tor Sound have always been on my want to try list!!!!

They were pretty good value.... And because it's war wounds were already there when I bought it in 1994, it only cost me around £100.

 

It took me a few years to realise my luck!!!

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Sweet looking guitar. Probably has a boatload of tonal settings. Not a case queen but some guitars are made to be played. :thu:

 

That guitar can do almost anything. There were dimarzio dual distortion buy I got them replaced with Paf Pro neck and X2N bridge. Between those 2 and the coil split, it can do anything. The X2N is even very very good in coil split mode.

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I have a 62 tele RI that I got in about 1985, which is my grab and go. I also have to Gretsch guitar, a Power Jet and a Tenny Rose. All 3 were made in Japan and are really nice. The tele has some dings and mileage on it after 30 years, but it's doing ok.

 

 

Is it a bound body / custom? I had one of those years ago in Candy Apple Red. One of the prettiest guitars I've ever owned, and it had a spectacular neck on it... but it sounded rather thin and weak, which (after replacing the pickups and bridge) I put down to a poor piece of basswood for the body... I sooo wish it would have sounded as good as it looked!

 

My current Tele is CAR, but unbound. I try to keep my eyes open on Ebay from time to time hoping I can find a bound alder Tele body in CAR for a decent price...

 

As far as high end Japanese guitars, probably the best one I have is a bass - a late 80s Ibanez SR1100. I hardly ever see any others like it - even online. IIRC, it was the top of the Soundgear line in 1989 when it was made. I have a couple of other basses, but it's my main one.

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Yep JW' date='I bought a 78' Greco Explorer in mint cond. On the hunt for Roadstars & lawsuit Ibanez LPs & maybe a JV Squire[/quote']

 

I remember when the Roadstars were new and for whatever reason, they never seemed to become as popular as I thought they would - they are really good guitars that IMHO deserved to do better in the market than they did.

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I think it's a pretty good pick up that X2N. So is the Paf Pro to be honest!

 

I mistakenly wrote dual distortion instead of super distortion actually. They were pretty good pick ups too, but I much prefer the paf pro / X2N combination.

 

Incidentally, I have Di Marzio Virtual Vintage 54 noiseless single coils pick ups in my Vigier Expert (best Strat I've tried/owned), and they're excellent too, really fantastic pick ups.

 

All of my experience with Di Marzio has been great.

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