Old Japanese guitars appreciation thread

ThePrettyDamned

Bucket;44001" said:

My dad recently bought an old Top Twenty, which is (somewhat surprisingly) really good. Nice low action and it plays really easily, it's in good condition, and it sounds cool as well - my fuzz likes it a lot. They have a pretty bad reputation and I thought he was mad for buying it, but I defy you to play this example and not be shocked at how good it is.

http://i1022.photobucket.com/albums/af347/ConnorF1995/DSCF09451_zps550ea8bf.jpg

Oh good god, that is fucking cool. What a find.

I think qc was dodgy in a lot of factories back then, so while some were awful, some were just very, very good. If there were ten people assembling them, and 2 enjoyed it, that means that 1 in 5 is probably pretty good.

Bit like gibson, really.

koneguitarist

ThePrettyDamned said:

Bucket;44001" said:

My dad recently bought an old Top Twenty, which is (somewhat surprisingly) really good. Nice low action and it plays really easily, it's in good condition, and it sounds cool as well - my fuzz likes it a lot. They have a pretty bad reputation and I thought he was mad for buying it, but I defy you to play this example and not be shocked at how good it is.

http://i1022.photobucket.com/albums/af347/ConnorF1995/DSCF09451_zps550ea8bf.jpg

Oh good god, that is fucking cool. What a find.

I think qc was dodgy in a lot of factories back then, so while some were awful, some were just very, very good. If there were ten people assembling them, and 2 enjoyed it, that means that 1 in 5 is probably pretty good.

Bit like gibson, really.

Sorry but they were awful for their time and worse now. I remember looking at one in Woolies when I was a kid, and my old man saying how bad they were, and they were about £16-17 in those days, probably equivalent to a classic vibe price wise today. But it was not about quality, as they were all fairly consistent, crap but consistently crap. Difference is nowadays our attitudes have changed, in 60's and 70's they were badly designed toy guitars, now in the 21st century they are classic kitsch and great for slide tones ? X_X

Bucket

koneguitarist said: Sorry but they were awful for their time and worse now. I remember looking at one in Woolies when I was a kid, and my old man saying how bad they were, and they were about £16-17 in those days, probably equivalent to a classic vibe price wise today. But it was not about quality, as they were all fairly consistent, crap but consistently crap. Difference is nowadays our attitudes have changed, in 60's and 70's they were badly designed toy guitars, now in the 21st century they are classic kitsch and great for slide tones ? X_X

Did you read what I wrote? I said that I thought he was mad for spending even as little as he did on it but that I was very pleasantly surprised by it - it plays well. Not just "well, considering it's a cheap, shitty 40-year-old beginner guitar", just "well", full stop.

I'd never claim it's the best guitar I've ever played, far from it, but it's nowhere near as bad as you're making it out to be.

ICBM

Some of them are actually OK - but it's not as many as one in 5, I'd say more like one in 25... at least going by the rough guess that I've seen about 25 and only ever one good one! But it really was OK - not Squier quality, no... but about as good as one of the new Danelectro models.

I agree that the basic parts quality is too crap to give them much of a chance, but just occasionally something seems to fall into place and they can be quite playable and sound good. The tremolo *is* shit on all of them though, it simply can't work properly by design. Best to keep the arm somewhere other than on the guitar .

Jaded

dogload said:

Jaded said:

I bought this at some point last year for real cheap. A mid to late 70's Aria 1802t. 

The pickups are pretty twangy and you can get some serious jangle when you use the bass cut switch. Wouldn't mind picking up another at some point!

That looks quite interesting- half Strat/ half Mustang! What's the neck like? I'd imagine being an Aria it'd be alright, but I can't help remembering my old Satellite plank.

The neck is pretty nice, it's got that sort of generic asian neck profile to it. Not too thick, not too thin. The radius feels pretty flat, flatter than any Les Paul I've played and if I remember correctly it's a 25" scale (like some old Martin's?). 

But overall it's very playable, aside from some minor fret buzz (it came to me with 9's and I'm using 11's at the moment) which can probably be sorted out with a little tweak to the truss rod. 

The trem system ain't half bad either as it's just a Jazzmaster/Jaguar trem moved closer to the body. So unsurprisingly it stay's in tune perfectly 

Jaded

Bucket said:

My dad recently bought an old Top Twenty, which is (somewhat surprisingly) really good. Nice low action and it plays really easily, it's in good condition, and it sounds cool as well - my fuzz likes it a lot. They have a pretty bad reputation and I thought he was mad for buying it, but I defy you to play this example and not be shocked at how good it is.

http://i1022.photobucket.com/albums/af347/ConnorF1995/DSCF09451_zps550ea8bf.jpg

Heck, even if it was total trash you could stick one of those pickups in the middle position of your Jazzmaster and play some early Cure! Totally worth it.

boogieman

ICBM;44346" said:

Some of them are actually OK - but it's not as many as one in 5, I'd say more like one in 25... at least going by the rough guess that I've seen about 25 and only ever one good one! But it really was OK - not Squier quality, no... but about as good as one of the new Danelectro models.

I agree that the basic parts quality is too crap to give them much of a chance, but just occasionally something seems to fall into place and they can be quite playable and sound good. The tremolo *is* shit on all of them though, it simply can't work properly by design. Best to keep the arm somewhere other than on the guitar .

A top 20 was my first electric. I obviously had one of the shit ones. Sharp fret ends, horribly high action, gloppy finish on the back of the neck & weedy pickups. It did look cool though and I loved it at the time. I paid £18 second hand in 1973, which included a massively heavy home made hard case. That was probably a weeks wages at the time. I would post the pic of me playing it live but it'll only upset Bertie

>:D<

Gizmo

Some sexy (and not so sexy) guitars in this thread

My Dad has an 84 Tokai Strat (maple FB) and while im not a strat man myself i can see why fender hit them with a lawsuit

Cant throw up any pics of her atm as we've just decided to strip her down and do a body refinish (going for a deep blue gloss)

Before i get hung out to dry for the above comment know that the original (soild black) finish had already been 90% stripped off (all but the edges) and the body badly re-varnished (might be why it only cost £25!) he'es lived with the half asses finish for about 15 years but after seeing the refinish im doing on my RG350 he decided to let me strip & refinish his Tokai


For myself Ive always fancied one of these Riverhead headless guitars or basses but they rarely come up and if they do there either trashed or missing parts.

JayGee

Gizmo said:

Some sexy (and not so sexy) guitars in this thread

My Dad has an 84 Tokai Strat (maple FB) and while im not a strat man myself i can see why fender hit them with a lawsuit

Cant throw up any pics of her atm as we've just decided to strip her down and do a body refinish (going for a deep blue gloss)

Before i get hung out to dry for the above comment know that the original (soild black) finish had already been 90% stripped off (all but the edges) and the body badly re-varnished (might be why it only cost £25!) he'es lived with the half asses finish for about 15 years but after seeing the refinish im doing on my RG350 he decided to let me strip & refinish his Tokai


For myself Ive always fancied one of these Riverhead headless guitars or basses but they rarely come up and if they do there either trashed or missing parts.

Wow! It's a headless Burns Flyte...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v118/turquoisemoleeater/guitars/BurnsFlyte.jpg

[Deleted User]

JayGee;45848" said:

Wow! It's a headless Burns Flyte...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v118/turquoisemoleeater/guitars/BurnsFlyte.jpg

Thank you! I knew I'd seen that shape before but could think where!

I once had a tour of the Shergold factory. There were unused Flyte bodies all over the place....

Bucket

richardhomer said:

I once had a tour of the Shergold factory. There were unused Flyte bodies all over the place....

Jesus, I wonder why

[Deleted User]

Bucket;45879" said:

Jesus, I wonder why

Yes, not a big seller....

Sarge

A little thread necromancy here
my '83 Westone thunder 1A pair

Sarge

'86 Westone Spectrum ST pair

TTony

2 nice pairs @sarge

Sarge

'81 Matsumoku Hondo Pro H1010 and H1013 bass, heavy but beastly

Sarge

'84 Westone Concords, IIT left and IIIT right, my babies!

Sarge

'81 old shape Westone Concord, similar in shape to the Kawai Aquarius range (must get an Aquarius!!)

Sarge

'Nother '81 Concord, maple board I sanded,oiled and refretted with jumbo's !

Sarge

'85 Westone Dimension IV, pointy shredmiester!