Tweet
20 some years ago, this was an impossible dream, or so i though...
1st, I only remember ever seeing this guitar in a little tiny ad in guitar player waaaay back and i thought, that's the coolest frikin guitar i've ever seen.
I had to have one! however, there was NOTHING to be known about them.
This was at a time before the internet, when you could just click a button and find whatever your looking for.
So for a long time i had this image in the back of my mind, and a few years later 91 or so, i decided to build my own guitar and while drawing up shapes, i remembered that awesome guitar years ago so i drew up my own interperetation of this guitar from what cloudy image i had left in my head, but that's another story, anyway..later i'll add pics of it (still unfinished 17 years later lol) I guess this gives you the idea of the GAS i had for this thing for sooo long...So i am giddy...surry
So anyway, lately couple months i been scouting out the internet for one of these guitars, now that i'm a ravenous and my lust cannot be sated.
Only info about this guitar is basically all in japanese web sites, there is little to no info on it in english, and if you can find some more power to ya, cause i been searching for months.
So, i found this thing after getting pretty good at half deciphering the gobbly google translation of the japanese language, lol, i finally found one, which is exactly what i wanted and priced well, there was three small pics of it and it seemed in really good shape, translation of it's condition was literally nothing ledgable, however I was able to somewhat get the idea from - "Also, Fred dropped no big shots" into (I THINK) "Also, Frets are level with no big shots (dings) and "Remembering the way it once was" as "It looks just like when it was New" lol, so this is the one i HAD to HIT! ONLY, they didn't ship over seas!, in fact no Japanese site that i emailed and asked about them, they would not export these guitars.
So i was shut down, i thought of asking certain members of this forum to help me out, and i was damn near just going to riccoche rabbit on over to japan, for a 24 hour guitar bender. I should mention that these guitars are 1800, up to about 4.5+ grand new depending on the model, so what i'll show you here is the midrange model, which from all my research seems is the golden age of the production model for these guitars, basically now in the midrange original floyds are replaced with licensed and body woods are different further seperating them from the "Prime" models.....it's hard to find one of these in good condition, as these guitars are usually pretty beat and well played used.
So i opted to go with a trading company that will buy auctions or items for you and export them to you for a fee. I decided this was the fastest and i didn't care about the fee, because no way i was gonna get one of these at this price even with the fee, in my mind anyway. It was exactly the model, control layout, floyd route ect that i wanted at less than half the price. I has the same body wood as the top models, it has the Original Floyd, the same pickups, ony thing different as far as i can tell is the way the neck bolts on and a little bit of nit and pick. The trading company did a kick ass job and it was totally worth it.
Speaking of pics.....ahem
I had to work all day knowing this was delivered 40 minutes after i left home, it fucking sucked.
I will say now, that this far exceeded my expectations on a used guitar, with 3 pics and no description and having never had felt or seen one of these guitars in real life, i'm grinnin ear to ear.
Turns out, This is a 2000 model and is Damn MINT! HAHA, It's Damn near Unplayed !! I put more fret wear in six months than this thing has.
OK Then...
Arrived safe because it was packed tighter than J Lo's ass in tight denim.
Authentic Japanese News Paper, adds to the vibe
Is that a fender logo...yea but wrong.
Phase Two of the unpacking phase
Getting Stoked and nervous at the same time
HOW TO PACK A GUITAR
Time for a well needed Break
Hope i'm not busted
So some of you probably know what it is, just act like you don't or something..
Funny, because I actually absolutley HATE RED, i figured i'd paint it black, but once in my hands i'm like FUCK that looks SWEET!! lol.
Body: Ash
Neck: Hard Maple / VU Shape
Fingerboard: Hard Maple
Scale: 648mm
Frets: 22
Neck Joint：Free Access
Front Pickup：LQ-500 - produced by Akira Takasaki
Rear Pickup：Dyna-Bite - produced by Akira Takasaki
Controls：Master Vol、 Select SW、 Front Tone、 Direct SW
Bridge：Floyd Rose Original
1st, I only remember ever seeing this guitar in a little tiny ad in guitar player waaaay back and i thought, that's the coolest frikin guitar i've ever seen.
I had to have one! however, there was NOTHING to be known about them.
This was at a time before the internet, when you could just click a button and find whatever your looking for.
So for a long time i had this image in the back of my mind, and a few years later 91 or so, i decided to build my own guitar and while drawing up shapes, i remembered that awesome guitar years ago so i drew up my own interperetation of this guitar from what cloudy image i had left in my head, but that's another story, anyway..later i'll add pics of it (still unfinished 17 years later lol) I guess this gives you the idea of the GAS i had for this thing for sooo long...So i am giddy...surry
So anyway, lately couple months i been scouting out the internet for one of these guitars, now that i'm a ravenous and my lust cannot be sated.
Only info about this guitar is basically all in japanese web sites, there is little to no info on it in english, and if you can find some more power to ya, cause i been searching for months.
So, i found this thing after getting pretty good at half deciphering the gobbly google translation of the japanese language, lol, i finally found one, which is exactly what i wanted and priced well, there was three small pics of it and it seemed in really good shape, translation of it's condition was literally nothing ledgable, however I was able to somewhat get the idea from - "Also, Fred dropped no big shots" into (I THINK) "Also, Frets are level with no big shots (dings) and "Remembering the way it once was" as "It looks just like when it was New" lol, so this is the one i HAD to HIT! ONLY, they didn't ship over seas!, in fact no Japanese site that i emailed and asked about them, they would not export these guitars.
So i was shut down, i thought of asking certain members of this forum to help me out, and i was damn near just going to riccoche rabbit on over to japan, for a 24 hour guitar bender. I should mention that these guitars are 1800, up to about 4.5+ grand new depending on the model, so what i'll show you here is the midrange model, which from all my research seems is the golden age of the production model for these guitars, basically now in the midrange original floyds are replaced with licensed and body woods are different further seperating them from the "Prime" models.....it's hard to find one of these in good condition, as these guitars are usually pretty beat and well played used.
So i opted to go with a trading company that will buy auctions or items for you and export them to you for a fee. I decided this was the fastest and i didn't care about the fee, because no way i was gonna get one of these at this price even with the fee, in my mind anyway. It was exactly the model, control layout, floyd route ect that i wanted at less than half the price. I has the same body wood as the top models, it has the Original Floyd, the same pickups, ony thing different as far as i can tell is the way the neck bolts on and a little bit of nit and pick. The trading company did a kick ass job and it was totally worth it.
Speaking of pics.....ahem
I had to work all day knowing this was delivered 40 minutes after i left home, it fucking sucked.
I will say now, that this far exceeded my expectations on a used guitar, with 3 pics and no description and having never had felt or seen one of these guitars in real life, i'm grinnin ear to ear.
Turns out, This is a 2000 model and is Damn MINT! HAHA, It's Damn near Unplayed !! I put more fret wear in six months than this thing has.
OK Then...
Arrived safe because it was packed tighter than J Lo's ass in tight denim.
Authentic Japanese News Paper, adds to the vibe
Is that a fender logo...yea but wrong.
Phase Two of the unpacking phase
Getting Stoked and nervous at the same time
HOW TO PACK A GUITAR
Time for a well needed Break
Hope i'm not busted
So some of you probably know what it is, just act like you don't or something..
Funny, because I actually absolutley HATE RED, i figured i'd paint it black, but once in my hands i'm like FUCK that looks SWEET!! lol.
Body: Ash
Neck: Hard Maple / VU Shape
Fingerboard: Hard Maple
Scale: 648mm
Frets: 22
Neck Joint：Free Access
Front Pickup：LQ-500 - produced by Akira Takasaki
Rear Pickup：Dyna-Bite - produced by Akira Takasaki
Controls：Master Vol、 Select SW、 Front Tone、 Direct SW
Bridge：Floyd Rose Original
actually pretty heavy little guitar
The NECK IS Kick ASS feeling!!! Also it still totally has the ultra high gloss sheen on the fret board, literally it looks brand new, and the action i just
For all intents and purpose this is an ESP, Akira Takasaki designed built by ESP, his "Prime" models are essentially Custom Shop, built in House at Killer, and are upward 3.2k to almost 5k, so, not a lot of people have them, even in japan they seem to be sought after especially used and in good condition, they dissapear quickly.
This one still has Plastic Sheet over the control cavity covers!!
rant -On the issue of Bolt on VS Neck Thru, I personally don't believe that neck thru gives any more sustain or is in any way superior in sound to a bolt on, it's bullshit, i like both but neither is superior in my opinion, and if there is a difference it's due to body wood, or pickups, or string guage, build quality, all these things factor in "sustain". You may like the way a neckthru feels better but that's kinda where it ends, i personally like both, but mostly have played bolt ons.
Theres a huge cataloug of renowned guitar players past and present have used bolt on neck guitars without complaining about sustain issues. ;P
The neck joint on this feels great i have free access to all 22 frets without issue.
Just a thin U shape with 1 5/8 nut. The Akira Takasaki Prime models have what seems like basically a Boat neck Shape or Symetrical V shape, kinda different, and really uneasy about getting one of the Prime models for that reason, so this is the best of both worlds.
Actually the Prime models don't even have a stabilization strip up the back of the neck either.
The NECK IS Kick ASS feeling!!! Also it still totally has the ultra high gloss sheen on the fret board, literally it looks brand new, and the action i just
For all intents and purpose this is an ESP, Akira Takasaki designed built by ESP, his "Prime" models are essentially Custom Shop, built in House at Killer, and are upward 3.2k to almost 5k, so, not a lot of people have them, even in japan they seem to be sought after especially used and in good condition, they dissapear quickly.
This one still has Plastic Sheet over the control cavity covers!!
rant -On the issue of Bolt on VS Neck Thru, I personally don't believe that neck thru gives any more sustain or is in any way superior in sound to a bolt on, it's bullshit, i like both but neither is superior in my opinion, and if there is a difference it's due to body wood, or pickups, or string guage, build quality, all these things factor in "sustain". You may like the way a neckthru feels better but that's kinda where it ends, i personally like both, but mostly have played bolt ons.
Theres a huge cataloug of renowned guitar players past and present have used bolt on neck guitars without complaining about sustain issues. ;P
The neck joint on this feels great i have free access to all 22 frets without issue.
Just a thin U shape with 1 5/8 nut. The Akira Takasaki Prime models have what seems like basically a Boat neck Shape or Symetrical V shape, kinda different, and really uneasy about getting one of the Prime models for that reason, so this is the best of both worlds.
Actually the Prime models don't even have a stabilization strip up the back of the neck either.
So, here's the kicker, i was gointo set it up, and i realized i gave my last allen wrech away with the last guitar i sold, i was like ah crap, so i decided to go ahead and just look in the gig bag pocket in hopes....what's this?
Wrenches - CHECK - BAR - CHECK Original Warranty card ??? - CHECK, Free set of STRAP LOCKS ??? - CHECK
Wrenches - CHECK - BAR - CHECK Original Warranty card ??? - CHECK, Free set of STRAP LOCKS ??? - CHECK
Well, not bad score me thinks, more than i had hoped, and more so than anything, it's not just a wall flower, it actually plays fucking incredible, it feels great solid and a total KILLER!!
Hails to Akira and Loudness one of my very very first influences, i bought their double live on import on a whim in 84 before Thunder in the Eaast and that, and was huge influenced by Akira. So this rules!
Well, Hails to Akira and Loudness one of my very very first influences, i bought their double live on import on a whim in 84 before Thunder in the Eaast and that, and was huge influenced by Akira. So this rules!
I'll update with pickup and sound characteristics as well as controls.
and add more to this later, this took up a few hours, lol.Thanks for reading/ looking, and umm...yeah, Kick Ass!!
:ROTF:
I've always loved the look of it.
Comment