Cimar 70's guitar

[maciekmaciek19]

Hi everyone.
I need your help identifying my Cimar guitar.
I could not find in the catalogues available online so I hope you can shed some light on it.
I would appreciate any info.

Here are the pics:

[Spud1950]

Cimar was a brand name of the Hoshino Gakki company, same makers of the Ibanez guitars. Some info here.



That's a very nice guitar. Looks to be of very good quallity.

[maciekmaciek19]

Yeah it sounds and feels really good. I think it's all mahogany.

Thanks for the link but I was unable to find one like mine in there...

[idtandy]

Very sweet.You have a beauty there.

[maciekmaciek19]

Yeah its really nice. Im getting the feel for it and im quite happy.
Any idea on the mOdel woul be really helpful.
Thanks

[Podd]

Ooooo, what a beauty, most say these were produced about 1975'ish at Hoshino Gakki's Fuijen factory, but they 'Out-sourced' a lot of guitars, so not sure about 'Actual' place of manufacture. I have never found a reference to the model number but it is based on the 'Les Paul' Double Cutaway and they are normally referred to as that, you are correct on it being a Mahogany body and neck, there were several variants i.e the pickups, sometimes they have been fitted retrospectively with Gibson Burstbuckers. These were produced at a time when there were some 'Quality' issues with American guitars so are actually quite sought after in the right circles. I am not sure how much the Gotoh Tuners and 'Possible' Pickup changes would affect the value (There a Pickguard missing as well?) 'Cimar' and sometimes 'Cimar by Ibanez' as they were called are extremely well made considering this guitar is about forty years old, you can see what I mean. As for the value, probably £300 - £400, look after it (I do mine)

[BluesHawk]

Good info, Podd. And I just want to add my agreement that these Hoshino Gakki guitars are very good axes. Before I read Podd's identification of the guitar, I'm looking at your pictures (thanks!) and wowing over the gorgeous finish and four-ply (or is it 5-ply?) binding.

Nice find...be a good steward, Macie.

[Podd]

Why thank ya for that, I just got my guitar out of it's case (I have rather a lot) and after seeing these pics mine looks a bit 'Tatty', so I am going to carefully restore it using Gun Oil as the finish, mine has 'Cream' coloured buckers and surrounds (The surrounds are disentegrating through age?), I pulled the pups out and amazingly they are made by Gotoh (A quick search on google reveals that Gotoh used to make Buckers and they were used quite a lot on what they termed 'Asian' guitars of this era.
I wrongly stated that the guitar pictured had a pickguard missing as I saw what looked like an unused screw hole between the pups, mine dosn't have this so I guess 'Mine' at least was never fitted with a pick guard.
The neck on mine was badly fitted originally with the bottom two screws only 50% in the neck, a previous owner temporarily repaired this by glueing the bloody neck in place (I didn't know about this until now) so now I have a tricky repair to sort out, fortunately for me they used the wrong glue so this has gone brittle and was easy to remove. I had forgotten about this guitar (I have about 26'ish), I do buy and sell and restore them, I have been a bit busy with a Firebird and an Ibanez AF125 Custom NT of late but I intend to restore mine ASAP.

[BluesHawk]

[Podd]

[BluesHawk]

I was not quite right about the name of that product, Podd. It's called Virtuoso Premier Guitar Polish, highly recommended by vintage guitar nuts and highly regarded vintage technicians:

http://www.virtuosopolish.com/

I was wondering if what you're doing is a re-finish but it sounds like it's thin layers of oil rubbed over the existing finish. Neither a polish or, technically, a refinishing but sort of a hybrid approach?

[Podd]

Well BluesHawk, that is actually a very good question as I am not sure yet.
The Guitar has a few 'Gouges' on the neck (Previous owner), so I removed the finish around these and have filled these with a Mahogany
coloured 'Plastic Wood', when I rub this down I will assess whether I
need to strip it back to bare wood or just refinish with a Nitro based spray.
As for the body, apart from one deep scratch on the front dosn't look too bad, some 'Bruises'
but these sort of add to the 'look' so I might leave as is.
The back of the guitar is another matter entirely, as there are three areas of damage and a lot of 'Buckle' rash I am not too sure I can fill these without them noticing.
I had a think and have purchased a Tru-Oil pack, this includes a water based colour which I could use to stain the back of the guitar a few shades after stripping thereby hiding the 'repairs'.
I should have been a bit clearer 'I say Gun Oil' when I should say 'Tru-oil' so it is a varnish of sorts, I buy the stuff in bulk from a gun supplier.
I did have Bass I used Tung-Oil on, I didn't like it though and there's no way back as the oil soaks in.
I am also going to use Tru-Oil on a Ash La Cabronita body I purchased, I have a Tele neck and all parts but no pickups as TV Jones's are a bit pricey so I don't want to Finish it until I see how the Pup routs look with pickups?
Regarding the Plastic Wood, if you leave it for a while the 'Solids' settle out leaving a 'Gooey' liquid on the top, this is 'Ideal' for small areas of damage, dries quick and polishes a treat.
Before I forget Tru-Oil is Flammable so be careful?

[BluesHawk]

You have so many options...thanks, it's helpful to hear these since I'm relatively new to electric guitars and DUI guitar projects. I'm just not aware of most options.

I refinished one guitar to natural. Used Gel-stain...a good product...and that was a great learning experience. But there's so much more to learn.

[Podd]

Well Doug, I havn't been too well of late so a lot of stuff is on hold.
I did purchase a 1985 Fender Contemporary Telecaster w/coil tap and TBX Tone control, it's a sort of Mauve/Burgundy colour with a System 1 Trem fitted, the headstock had a few 'Dinks' and I filled these with black nitro (Gotta Black Neck ya see), The body has a lot of chips but as there is no way I can get the right paint, it might stay like it. I did consider the 'Relic' route but may try that in Photoshop first, just to see what it 'Would' look like. However it is quite a rare sort after guitar (Some US Sellers ask $1,500 for them), so apart from a general tidy up and sourcing six fine tuners for the System 1 trem (I thought I had some but System 1 trems have a weird thread size so that might get interesting). If you are on FB, you can find me under Anthony Reynolds (Terminator 3 Avatar with Green eyes), there's a directory of guitar pics, I need to update them though.

[BluesHawk]

Hey, I hope yer feelin better soon, Anthony. And that your new '85 burgundy Tele is lifting your spirits. Sounds like a prize axe...

It's yours and I don't mean to cross yer boundary here, but one guitar lover to another, I'd seriously think about it before you change anything. It's vintage. Those dings & scratches are character. A refin will destroy the vintage value forever.

Post a pic of it here?