http://www.guitar-resource-center.com/r ... uitar.html
Statistics: Posted by adamjosey — Thu Nov 03, 2011 1:25 pm
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Statistics: Posted by Freefromdex — Fri Mar 12, 2010 7:16 am
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Statistics: Posted by VintAxe — Wed Mar 10, 2010 7:55 pm
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I bought mine used around 1973. Intonation bugs me a bit, WAY TOO HEAVY, pickups are noisy and don't sound very good at all.
Fred
Statistics: Posted by fred roberts — Wed Mar 10, 2010 7:26 pm
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Specifically, the 3-screw pickup adjustment & arrowhead-shaped trc are very common Mat traits, which appear on many of their guitars. In addition to this yours has the same wood insets on the control knobs & large position dots, like the Univox. I'm inclined to think yours is a variation produced by the factory - detail changes in particular Japanese copies were very common.
The version yours most closely resembles is the Shaftesbury - despite what the article says, Shaftesbury guitars don't seem to have been sourced from Fujigen, but many do identify as Matsumoku. Apart from the pickups, yours appears identical to the Shafty.
I'd strongly disagree with the article's contention that the single-pickup Ventura is a Matsumoku - it bears no detail similarities to the confirmed Mats, and is in many ways much closer to the Fujigen version. I think the writer assumes that because some Ventura-brand guitars were Matsumoku, therefore they all were.
The Aria branded versions were made by Matsumoku - as were probably all of their "lawsuit era" guitars - the writer has his facts back-to-front here. Arai Co are believed to have moved production from their own facility to Matsumoku in order to cope with demand in the late 60s.
The single-pickup Greco version is particularly interesting, to me the general nature of construction & components make it plain that this is not a vintage copy. The C-prefix serial isn't consistent with the M/YY lettered format so I'm inclined to think this guitar's 90s or later. It was possibly made to tie-in with the recent Armstrong reissues.
I think on the whole the writer's too eager to ascribe all 70s MIJ production to the three factories he's aware of, whereas the reality is that there were likely ten times that or more, building copies at that time, with components, necks & bodies all coming from different sources.
J.
Statistics: Posted by Bassassin — Thu Jul 16, 2009 8:07 am
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Some fantastic photos & I'll have to go back for another read when I have a bit more time.
J.
Statistics: Posted by Bassassin — Wed Jul 15, 2009 5:43 am
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I should have read this article before replying. It appears Kasuga produced the Matsumoku/Fujigen hybrids with the characteristics of Freefromdex's copy.
Here's a link to the full four page article with excellent photo comparisons:
An interesting story told by Dan in the article occurred at the 1969 NAMM show. Dan noticed a couple of fellas at his booth taking pictures of his new guitar. Interestingly one fella always held the guitar while the other took the pictures. He then noticed that the guy holding the guitar was wearing a strange suit covered in squares. He grabbed a ruler and walked up to the guy and discovered the pattern on the suit were exactly 1 inch squares. Seems this crew was too cheap to buy a guitar to serve as a model to make their copies from. Wild
Statistics: Posted by VintAxe — Sun Jul 12, 2009 12:45 pm
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Statistics: Posted by Freefromdex — Sun Jul 12, 2009 11:14 am
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To compare, here's a Univox, from Matsumoku:
What's interesting is thgat freefromdex's Raven has features from both - it has the Gibson-type headstock of the Matsumoku but had the same pickups, tunomatic bridge & stop-bar as the Fujigen version.
Doubtless there were versions from other Japanese manufacturers too.
Either way it's a lovely & very rare guitar.
Jon.
Statistics: Posted by Bassassin — Sun Jul 12, 2009 10:30 am
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As far as I know all of these early 1970's lucite copies were made in Japan. I am most familiar with the copies produced by Matsumoku, but according to Michael Wright, other Japanese companies produced lucite guitars as well. I've seen the Matsumoku copies branded Univox in the States and obviously they were sold under other brand names worldwide. I'm sure your guitar was built by Matsumoku although yours appears to have a better bridge setup than the guitar described by Michael so it may be one of the later versions or the importer may have specified a different bridge. Here's a quote from Michael's article in VG magazine:
"The Japanese copy juggernaut got off to a fast start, and the second major Univox guitar was the Lucy, a lucite copy of the Ampeg Dan Armstrong, again produced by Arai, introduced in 1970. This guitar had a surprisingly thin bolt-on neck (especially compared to the Ampeg original) and a slightly smaller body. The fingerboard was rosewood with 24 frets and dot inlays. This had a fake rosewood masonite pickguard with volume, tone and three-way select. Like the Ampeg, the Lucy had a Danelectro-style bridge/tailpiece with little rosewood saddle. Unlike the Ampeg - which had Armstrong's groovy slide-in epoxy-potted pickups - this version had a pair of the chrome/black insert pickups jammed together at the bridge. Other Japanese manufacturers also made copies of the Ampeg lucite guitar, notably carrying the Electra (St. Louis Music) and Ibanez (Elger/Hoshino) brand names, with versions of the slide-in pickups. In '71, the Univox Lucy (UHS-1) was $275 including case. Just how long the Lucy remained available is unknown, but it probably did not outlive the original and was gone by '73 or '74."
Statistics: Posted by VintAxe — Sun Jul 12, 2009 9:45 am
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Got this really cool guitar a couple of week ago...It looks like a Dan Armstrong... But it says ''raven'' on the head. No serial number, no other inscriptions except for ''H.T.F. BRIDGE'' on the back of the bridge. I'd like to know what year it was issued, and from what country. (And sure, how much it was sold at the moment, or even what is it worth today!!)
Thanks for you're help!!
Statistics: Posted by Freefromdex — Sun Jul 12, 2009 7:03 am
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