Old Japanese guitars appreciation thread

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BucketBucket Frets: 7751
edited September 2013 in Guitar
Because there's some awesome guitars out there.

Some obvious stuff, the Ibanez AR:


The 2663 (later the Iceman) - this is actually my dad's, from around 1976:


The Aria PE series, this one being a high-end model (actually from 2007 but IIRC based on their old stuff, beautiful anyhow)


Some not-so-obvious stuff now - a particular favourite, the rare Westone Thunder III:


An Aria Pro II Mockingbird:


A Greco Bich, not sure there are enough switches:


I'd sell limbs for an Ibanez AFD:


Or a Yamaha Pacifica 1221M, the rare high-end model from the early 90s:


Or, indeed, a Yamaha Pacifica 1412, the really really really high-end one:


That's before some of the beautiful LP copies that came out in the 70s and 80s.

Any other fans among us?
- "I'm going to write a very stiff letter. A VERY stiff letter. On cardboard."
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Comments

  • daveyhdaveyh Frets: 681
    Bucket said:

    Some not-so-obvious stuff now - a particular favourite, the rare Westone Thunder III:

    It's interesting how this guitar, thought of as shit at the time (at least by every guitarist I knew), now seems to be a popular collectors ite.

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  • BucketBucket Frets: 7751
    daveyh said:
    Bucket said:

    Some not-so-obvious stuff now - a particular favourite, the rare Westone Thunder III:

    It's interesting how this guitar, thought of as shit at the time (at least by every guitarist I knew), now seems to be a popular collectors ite.

    This is the high-end one... neck-thru, 24 frets, active electronics, fancy woods etc. I've played one and it was pretty nice.
    - "I'm going to write a very stiff letter. A VERY stiff letter. On cardboard."
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  • Paul_CPaul_C Frets: 7670
    image
    "I'll probably be in the bins at Newport Pagnell services."  fretmeister
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  • daveyhdaveyh Frets: 681
    Bucket said:
    daveyh said:
    Bucket said:

    Some not-so-obvious stuff now - a particular favourite, the rare Westone Thunder III:

    It's interesting how this guitar, thought of as shit at the time (at least by every guitarist I knew), now seems to be a popular collectors ite.

    This is the high-end one... neck-thru, 24 frets, active electronics, fancy woods etc. I've played one and it was pretty nice.
    No, they were laughed at. A guy I knew had one like that and he couldn't give it away.
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  • OilCityPickupsOilCityPickups Frets: 9978
    tFB Trader
    I had a Wesatone Paduak 1 and a Washburn Raven and a Vox White Shadow! Happy days!


    Professional pickup winder, horse-testpilot and recovering Chocolate Hobnob addict.
    Formerly TheGuitarWeasel ... Oil City Pickups  ... Oil City Blog 7 String.org profile and message  

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  • BidleyBidley Frets: 2912
    Yes, the Vox White Shadow is a stunner!
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  • close2uclose2u Frets: 997

    in my avatar

    1982 SG400

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  • ICBMICBM Frets: 71951
    edited September 2013
    Even though I'm quite a big fan of most of them - and particularly Matsumoku products - I never liked the Westones. They always seemed 'lumpy' to me, and for some reason were less well-made than most of the others and had an air of being unfinished. A friend of mine had a Paduak too, it was like a floorboard.

    Westbury is quite a different thing though! They were much classier. Great bargains today for the quality and playability - I do sometimes wonder if the low values are because people confuse them with Westones.

    My favourite brand was always Aria, because I was lucky enough to stumble on one of their sort-of Strat copies as my first electric guitar. I also had an SB1000 as my first bass, which is now a true classic and worth serious money... wish I'd kept it!

    This is my Aria RS Standard -

    "Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski

    "Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson

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  • dogloaddogload Frets: 1495
    I had one of these bad lads:
    image
    It was fantastic- such a curvaceous, almost sensuous (Really!) instrument. The way the neck was contoured into the cutaways... mmmm...Enough!
    I sold it to a former girlfriend for next to nothing. What a spud!
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  • Flanging_FredFlanging_Fred Frets: 3007
    edited September 2013
    I agree with ICBM. The Westbury Standard I purchased the other day is an absolute belter of a guitar. The dimazio pickups on it are fantastic. It seems they were incorrectly installed in the factory though, they were obviously in the wrong position. Once I had swapped the neck and bridge humbuckers over it really took off.

    I can't stop grinning when I play it and for some reason it just invites you to hammer out some Black Sabbath riffs.

    Absolute bargain of a guitar.

    http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/bb102/flanging_fred/Music/my guitars/null_zpsf15c31dc.jpg
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  • daveyhdaveyh Frets: 681
    dogload said:
    I had one of these bad lads:
    image
    It was fantastic- such a curvaceous, almost sensuous (Really!) instrument. The way the neck was contoured into the cutaways... mmmm...Enough!
    I sold it to a former girlfriend for next to nothing. What a spud!
    That's awesome! What is it though?
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  • OilCityPickupsOilCityPickups Frets: 9978
    tFB Trader
    It's a Kay :) I believe ...
    Professional pickup winder, horse-testpilot and recovering Chocolate Hobnob addict.
    Formerly TheGuitarWeasel ... Oil City Pickups  ... Oil City Blog 7 String.org profile and message  

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  • impmannimpmann Frets: 12641
    edited September 2013
    Antoria Les Paul Copies - some of these were wonderful, especially if you junked the "Super 70" pickups for something with tone.

    I also had a superb Washburn Falcon that I swapped for... something, I can't remember. The pickups were a bit "sledgehammer" but in conjunction with a 70s Marshall combo that was a gigging monster. Sadly, it weighed the same as Luxembourg...
    Never Ever Bloody Anything Ever.

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  • I grew up using a Washburn Falcon. 

    Through neck, brass everywhere, weighed as much as Susan Boyle after a week on Pukka Pies.

    I bloody hated it.

    Even through my WEM and my Marshall.

    Win a Cort G250 SE Guitar in our Guitar Bomb Free UK Giveaway 


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  • And no mention of 80s Fenders? 


    The Bigsby was the first successful design of what is now called a whammy bar or tremolo arm, although vibrato is the technically correct term for the musical effect it produces. In standard usage, tremolo is a rapid fluctuation of the volume of a note, while vibrato is a fluctuation in pitch. The origin of this nonstandard usage of the term by electric guitarists is attributed to Leo Fender, who also used the term “vibrato” to refer to what is really a tremolo effect.
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  • ICBMICBM Frets: 71951
    impmann said:
    especially if you junked the "Super 70" pickups for something with tone.
    Those are quite desirable now.

    (Although I agree with you!)

    "Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski

    "Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson

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  • impmannimpmann Frets: 12641
    Too obvious!!
    Never Ever Bloody Anything Ever.

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  • OilCityPickupsOilCityPickups Frets: 9978
    tFB Trader
    I had an Ibanez 'medallion' flying V ... dear god that was the lowest, slinkiest action on the planet. Rocked like a rocky thing with added granite. Perfectly balanced ... unlike some Epi Vs ... light, resonant and full of pointy goodness.
    Professional pickup winder, horse-testpilot and recovering Chocolate Hobnob addict.
    Formerly TheGuitarWeasel ... Oil City Pickups  ... Oil City Blog 7 String.org profile and message  

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  • ESBlondeESBlonde Frets: 3576
    My first proper Electric that I have gigged for over 3 decades

    image
    Aria PE1000

    Gratuitous back shot.
    image

    Original case and candy
    image


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  • @stonevibe I knew someone who had a Washburn Falcon, it was a nice axe. Tone, sustain, high fret accessibility. If you didn't like yours you should have given it to me ;)
    "Working" software has only unobserved bugs. (Parroty Error: Pieces of Nine! Pieces of Nine!)
    Seriously: If you value it, take/fetch it yourself
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