Anyone Into Vintage MIJ Guitars??

[mkaufman]

Anyone else into Ibanez/Electra/Aria/Matsumoko, etc. guitars?

Michael

 

[musicofanatic5]

Burny and Greco here.

 

[rockinlespaul]

My woman has a Burny LP Custom that I would put up against any Gibson Custom. I had a Westbury Standard that was a great guitar as well.:AOK

 

[puls]

My favs these days. Have a mid '80's Westbury Series 200 from the Matsumoku factory. Strat-esk body, bolt-on three piece (4 if you count the fretboard) all maple neck (a Matsumoku trade-mark). Dual Dimarzio humbuckers, each w/ a 3-way toggle to select which coil(s) as well as a phase toggle. Currently my go-to guitar.
May be picking up a '79 Ibanez Roadster strat clone from a pawn shop. Finish is beat-up & typical bridge pitting for that era Ibanez, but everything works, sounds good, holds tune, & intonation seems good. Feels very solid in yer hands. Price is marked at $250, but they'll bargain if I have cash in hand.
Another used shop in town has a early-mid '80's Vantage SG clone. All mahoganey, set neck, thin-ish body, dual humbuckers w/ coil taps. Marked below $350. Really nice guitar, but doesn't sound different enough from the Westbury to justify. Westbury actually has a wider range of tones available.
Same shop has a Aria II Pro from the Matsumoku factory. Not as nice as the Vantage described above though. Don't get me wrong, still a nice guitar.
The quality on these guitars is high, but the prices are below new epiphone/fender MIM/MIK/MIC. Great value for the $$. Will probably never be considered "collectable", but great players.

my $.02

jwp

 

[RobertKeeley]

Does a 'vintage' MIJ Paisley Telecaster count?!?!?! Heck, love that thing! Funny story, my wife got me one for Christmas a few years back...then forgot she ordered it/paid for it...so she got me another one, XMASx2! Had Brad Paisley autograph one of them. Neat thing is that I got to mod one of them to make them both fun to turn to!
I had an 1984 Fender Squire Stratocaster, one of the REALLY good ones, it was a dream...darn, traded it off...
Oh Yeah, got an Epiphone Scroll guitar that is pretty strange... There's more in the herd, just drawing a blank right now...
I miss my 80's Ibanez Roadstar series II sometimes>>>
rk

 

[rockinlespaul]

My favs these days. Have a mid '80's Westbury Special(?) 200 from the Matsumoku factory. Strat-esk body, bolt-on three piece (4 if you count the fretboard) all maple neck (a Matsumoku trade-mark). Dual Dimarzio humbuckers, each w/ a 3-way toggle to select which coil(s) as well as a phase toggle. Currently my go-to guitar.
May be picking up a '79 Ibanez Roadster strat clone from a pawn shop. Finish is beat-up & typical bridge pitting for that era Ibanez, but everything works, sounds good, holds tune, & intonation seems good. Feels very solid in yer hands. Price is marked at $250, but they'll bargain if I have cash in hand.
Another used shop in town has a early-mid '80's Vantage SG clone. All mahoganey, set neck, thin-ish body, dual humbuckers w/ coil taps. Marked below $350. Really nice guitar, but doesn't sound different enough from the Westbury to justify. Westbury actually has a wider range of tones available.
Same shop has a Aria II Pro from the Matsumoku factory. Not as nice as the Vantage described above though. Don't get me wrong, still a nice guitar.
The quality on these guitars is high, but the prices are below new epiphone/fender MIM/MIK/MIC. Great value for the $$. Will probably never be considered "collectable", but great players.

my $.02

jwp

My Westbury was a Standard, although I had a Deluxe as well. Set neck, two buckers, controls ala Gibby. Basically a SG killer.

The Vantage guitars were great as well. I had a friend with one of the set neck models. Great axe.

 

[brandie_witch]

 

[mkaufman]

Besides Ibanez, I have an Aria Pro II PE-175 Herb Ellis - wonderful guitar.

Michael

 

[Majin GeoDooD]

I've seen a good handful of old Ibanez LP copies on eBay over the years that I'd love to have; some pretty cheap, too. I could never justify buying any of them at the time I saw them though. Maybe one day I'll pick one up. Part of me would just as soon pick up one of the sub-$400 Agile copies..

 

[chucke99]

Mostly Ibanez, but I have some Greco and Fernandes as well. Check out http://www.chucke.com/guitars for my collection. Top of the line guitars, all of them. I like Ibanez for their original designs (Artists, Musicians), Greco for the LPs and Fernandes for the Fender clones.

EDIT: lol, mk, that you?

 

[mkaufman]

Chucke - yup! Anyway to upload images directly like ICW or is uploading only link-based?

Michael

 

[jeffwith1f]

The ever increasing Bass!

Les Paul with vine inlay

 

[Stonehenge]

Anyone else into Ibanez/Electra/Aria/Matsumoko, etc. guitars?

Michael

Hi, Michael!

I got a 82 Vantage Avenger by Matsumoku... Always afraid to say it's my best guitar but that's true! I own it for 15 years now and would not sell it! Sounds better than most expensive guitars!

 

[dumbell78]

I love my Tokai EVH model, just a great guitar. Its from 81 so I dont know if thats vintage.

 

[chucke99]

Chucke - yup! Anyway to upload images directly like ICW or is uploading only link-based?

Michael

Only link-based.

 

[chucke99]

I really like this bass. I don't know why someone hasn't snapped it up. I bet it's killer.

The ever increasing Bass!

 

[eronson]

I had a 73 epi casino.(ea-255) but it had casino stamped inside it. Sounded old and worked for what i was going for. tuners sucked and for some reason frets wore out super fast. also weird neck but cheap and cool looking.

 

[marantz1300]

I used to have this 83 Squier JV Strat.I let it go in a trade.Doh!! USA pickups as a standard fit,truss rod adjusted from the body end of the neck.Vintage belly cut. It played like a dream and sounded superb.

 

[Stringz]

I have a Matsumoku built 335 copy. Most likely late 60's to mid 70's vintage, and only paid $200 for it.

Very bad camera phone pic.

 

[mkaufman]

Jeff - 2 nice Ibby's!

Off topic - what the easiest to post pics if you don't have a website?

Michael