Les Paul with strange control panel

[jedistar]

This one has been sent to me for advice - no name on headstock. any tips?


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www.jedistar.com

[sneakypete]

Fresher? Theres one on line thats been there for some time now, maybe because of the 148,ooo yen they want for it.
I was watching some Genesis on you-tube today and saw Tony Rutherford playing one on a song, also played an Ibanez Artist on another...they were songs from the 2004 remastered series...can`t remember which songs...watched saw quite a few, used to be a a favorite band of mine in my youth but I`ve seen other bands from the '`80s playing Japanese guitars...I watch the reruns of Top of the Pops too just to see who`se playing what...seen MIJs there as well.
Mike Rutherford was playing what looked like a Greco Boogie too...but it had different controls from those I`ve seen...custom made perhaps.

[Spud1950]

According to this article about Fresher, these guitars were built by the Matsumoto.It talks about the Les Paul, Strat, and Flying V copies with the built in effects.



Looks like they were also sold under different brand names.Here's one branded as a Memphis.



Here's one branded as a Kay. I see quite a few references on the net to the Kay branded version.

[sneakypete]

just looked at the Fresher on line and it is different, but they were made for more than one year and maybe they changed the configuration of the controls. I`d have to look through the Japan Vintage book that has the article with numerous pics of the Freshers including the logo changes they went through.

[Michael Ambrose]

wait... where have I seen this before??

Oh, thats right!

hahaha...

http://www.vintaxe.com/boards/viewtopic.php?t=225

two years worth of debates on this beast... I've seen a million names on these... even have an ad for one in the '86 Sears Wishbook haha...

[johnnyb]

[cochise]

[jedistar]

[supercrew]

Thanks Paul and all you guys for all the help. The LP is mine and she is sure a strange one, but I had to have her no matter where she was from.

Again thanks,
Supercrew ( Gary)

[ZeroFret]

It looks to me like an "Electra". They made LP copies in the 70'-80's with built in "effects".

[Spud1950]

The Electra's look quite different as far as the controls and used interchangeable "MPC" effects modules. Here's an example of one of the Les Paul models.




Also, Electra was an importer and distributor,not a manufacturer.

"Electra guitars were imported from Japan by the Saint Louis Music (SLM) of Saint Louis, Missouri from 1971 to 1984 (most MPC models were made by Matsumoku of Matsumoku , Japan) ."

[ZeroFret]

[knigel]

[wietse]

[Bassassin]