1970s Yasuma Angelica Deluxe (Martin D28 replica)

Before 1970 the Japanese guitar industry had been cheap, low-quality guitars, usually made of plywood. Most were exported to other countries to be sold by different companies.

In the 1970s Japanese manufacturers began to get more serious with companies even attempting to pass themselves off as American brands such as Martin. These were high-quality and looked too close for comfort to the real thing. The Yasuma Musical Instrument Company was one of many who fell foul of US litigation and were ultimately put out of business.

This 70s Yasuma is essentially a Martin D28 copy. The sound this dreadnought produces is unreal. The guitar is noticeably light and has huge amounts of crisp bass response. These guitars are finished in nitro-cellulose (sprayed over the scratch plate). The familiar Martin dot markers were probably the last straw for US lawyers. It did however require a lot of work to get it playable. The string action was 10mm from the fretboard due to the height of the bone saddle. The machined work inside the closed tuners looks like it was precision built by NASA. Yasumas are a rare gem, but if you are buying one online without trying it first don't expect it to play out of the box, they do need setting up.



Maple top.
Mahogany back/sides.
20 fret rosewood neck with small vintage frets.
Nitro finish.

1982 Greco 'Mint Collection' Goldtop Les Paul EG57-50 - Made in Japan

In the late 70s and early 80s the Japanese company Greco started producing Gibson Les Paul clones which are in some respects far superior to the American Originals. This is a 1982 Greco Goldtop, a copy of a Gibson 1957 Goldtop Les Paul.



These guitars which have the famous 'long tenon' neck joint are becoming harder and harder to find with many being snapped up by collectors or as investments.



The guitar has a 2 piece mahogany back, fret edge binding and 2 original x Greco 'Screamin humbuckers. It has a medium weight for a LP at 9lb 4oz.



I can't over estimate the supreme quality of Greco guitars from the late 70's - 90's, and the tremendous craftsmanship, woods and materials lavished on these replicas.





This fine example from 1982 had a loose pickup wire.

2011 Fender American Special Stratocaster H/S/S

This is a 2011 USA made H/S/S Special. It has a 70s-style headstock and decal but the neck has a modern profile with jumbo frets. This is essentially a Highway One Strat with a poly finish. Customer needed a full setup including fret dress. The guitar had come from the Corona factory with quite a high bridge action. The ut channels had also been slotted in a hurry.



This body was made August 2nd 2011 by 'Chavez', however I doubt this person assembled the guitar and tuned it for the first time. There was an inch long piece of thick card placed inside the neck pocket to adjust the neck angle. This was not needed and was discarded.



The owner wanted a fixed non-trem bridge. This was accomplished by neutering the bridge with a block of mahogany placed between behind the aluminum block. If you have a Strat and you don't use the trem this is a great way to fix it in place and add a bit more sustain to your guitar.



Here the neck is placed on a donor work body ready for a fret leveling, dress and polish.



Strung back together with a set of Gibson bright wires, this is a beautiful guitar to play - with bags of sustain. The string action is now much lower making the guitar easier to play. With the bridge humbucker, this is a very versatile and great sounding guitar, which sells for a very reasonable price.



Fender American Special HSS specs: 3-Color Sunburst 3 piece alder body Maple, Modern C Shape neck, (Satin Urethane Finish) Fingerboard: Rosewood, 9.5″ Radius (241 mm) 22 jumbo frets Pickups: 1 Atomic Humbucking Pickup (Bridge) 2 Texas Special Strat Pickups

Washburn J58SW 6 String 'Timbercraft' Acoustic

This Washburn J58SW Timbercraft is an all solid wood jumbo with a flamed maple back and sides. It has a jumbo body with a tight focused low end and a crisp clean highs. The top is sitka spruce.



It has high end features like maple binding, rosewood butterfly bridge, rosewood capped headstock and a bone nut and saddle. These are no longer in production (2006-2007).



A very well constructed Chinese made instrument, this guitar needed considerable work to get it playable. The neck is very slightly under-set meaning the angle the neck meets the body left the guitar with pretty high action. This required considerable alteration to the bridge.



Frets were leveled, re-crowned and dressed to remove several years of playing wear. They were particularly high frets to start with - now 1.2mm height, which is great for bends without the feeling you are playing on a scalloped neck.



Restrung with a set of Martin SP bronze wound strings, with the action set low and the bone nut slotted correctly, it's a great guitar. If you are buying one of these Timbercraft models and it hasn't already been done, I would advise you to invest in a professional set-up to get the best out of it you possibly can.

1965 Gibson Country Western Acoustic Guitar

Here's a 1965 Gibson flattop acoustic I restored (serial 512184). It's a square shoulder Country Western model. This is the same model as played by Sheryl Crow (hers is a '62). It's a slight variation of Gibson’s renowned Hummingbird without the garishly ornate scratch plate. The body is similar to Gibson’s J-45 slope shoulder dreadnought design, but with wider, square shoulder accents on the upper bouts. The spruce top projects a full, balanced expression, with blended dark lows and brilliant highs. It good sound for vocal accompaniment.



The adjustable saddle has a bad reputation for killing tone and volume, but on this it sounds warm with lots of harmonic overtones.





Gibson had the reputation of having an easily broken neck joint, so from 1969 a wooden volute was added to the back of the neck which strengthened the neck where it joined the headstock to avert breakage. To further increase the strength, the neck woods were changed from mahogany to a three-piece maple design. This is a non-volute model with a very slim mahogany neck. No breaks on this.



The current Gibson reissue of this model is around £2,000 new.

Deluxe Setup - Gibson Customshop J200

Gibson Custom Shop J200. Deluxe set-up including leveling, fret dress, saddle shaping and nut slotting.

On the Workbench

On the workbench today is a 1997 Martin DM - in for a Fishman pickup upgrade. Very nice solid Sitka Spruce top, the rest of the body is laminated Mahogany.



The Martin DMs have a beautiful, bright sound with plenty of acoustic volume without amplification. The solid spruce top gives it a great tone. Perfect intonation up and down the fingerboard.