Just got this Les Paul Copy

[straightblues]

I was out at the swap meet yesterday and came across this cool Les Paul copy. I knew it was early 70's Japanese but I had never heard of El Degas before. I am on the West Coast and it appears most of these guitars were sold on the East coast. I did however see lots of Aria's, Ibanez and similar with the same build.

I got it home and cleaned it up a bit. It had a bad three way switch I had to replace. The pickups have a stamped Maxon on the back. It has 250K pots and little green caps.

I bought this guitar because I got it cheap and I thought I would give it to a kid who is just starting out. That was until I plugged it in. Man this thing sounds great. I play classic blues and this thing just nails the old blues sound. I will be keeping this one around for me to gig with.

From looking around I think it is around 1972(maybe ealier) and made by Matsumoku but I am not sure. You guy probably can tell me more. It has a bolt on neck but nothing is written on the neck plate. It has the rounded end of the fretboard and multi layered binding. The tuners are from a 70's Gibson and they say Gibson on the back.

It came in the traditional Japan case with the yellow interior. I am assuming it is the original case.

Any info would be appreciated. In particular, what woods were used. It looks like it has a thin cap on top.

Here are a bunch of pictures.

[straightblues]

[straightblues]

[charles]

From what I've read, the rounded end of the fretboard should mean this is an early copy. Very late 60s, or very early 70s.

It ought to be mahogany with a maple cap and a mahogany neck... but it can be hard to tell with these ones. I sometimes find that it's easiest to tell whether it's mahogany/maple or plywood when I have pickups out an control covers off.

I'd watch out for the foam piece added to the case - sometimes that old foam can... change. It can get sticky or flaky, and sort of reconstitute into a real mess.

[straightblues]

Thanks Charles that was fast. I was thinking the same thing about that foam. For now it isn't a problem, but I have had problems in the past.

Any other clues on nailing down the year of this thing? It looks a lot like the Univox that Earl Hooker owned and Magic Sam played in a few classic videos but his was a 1968. His pickups were a little different but the fretboard binding and shape was the same. The headstock shape and the bridge also looks the same.

I did take the covers off to look in the back and also the pickups out. This one does have a piece of wood on the top and back that is really thin, about 1/4 inch or less. It is hard to tell if the base body wood is solid or not. It is painted and has router lines so you can't really tell if it is solid or not.

I have about 25 guitars right now and at least 10 over $2,000 each including Historic Les Pauls. Toneally, this guitar is right up there and better than several of them. I will be seeking out these pickups to put in other guitars. If anyone has a line on where to find the pickups, please let me know. I didn't right down the number stamped on the back of the pickups. I will do that at the next string change. Those numbers might also lend a clue at to what year this thing was made.

[charles]

Unfortunately I don't know a lot about the Maxon pickups. Some of the sleuths out there might be able to come up with a better estimation on the manufacture year based on the pickup info than I would. I do believe Maxons are very common pickups on the Japanese guitars of that era.

[straightblues]

I pulled the pickup to check the date codes. The date code stamped on the back of these Maxon pickups is 12724. Still need to do some more researching to determine what these codes mean. I tested them and they are both right around 8.0 K.

[straightblues]

I just found this.

Ibanez and Greco Nisshin Onpa (Maxon) used a pickup serial number format consisting of 5 numbers up to and including those made through 1977. Ibanez Super 70 pickups have the same serial number format.

* First number = Nisshin Onpa (Maxon) pickup code (1, 2, etc)
* Second number = Year (7=1977)
* Third number = Month (0=Jan ... 9=Oct then .=Nov, X=Dec)
* Fourth and Fifth number = Day of Month (01-31)


If this is accurate, this would mean mine is a 1972 made on the 25th of July.

[charles]

If this is accurate, this would mean mine is a 1972 made on the 25th of July.

Well, it would mean that your pickup was made on July 25, 1972, at least. You could estimate that the guitar might have been manufactured sometime around the same time, but it's also hard to know if the pickups were put in by a third party at some point. You noted the green caps in the wiring and I am not certain if that would have been original. Puts some doubt into whether the electronics and/or pickups are original or not.

It's always tough with these old guitars!

[Barry]

Very nice axe!
Maxxon made pickups for Matsumoku in the 70's under their name. Later on when Mats became more of a visible producer (of their own Westone line in particular) Maxxon continued to build pickups for them, usually prefixed with a MMK designation.
Most likely you have a Mats made guitar there.

[straightblues]

Thanks for the info Barry. I have gigged this guitar a couple times now. It is really fun to play and It gets great old school blues tones.

[charles]

The rounded fretboard LP copies are pretty interesting pieces. Glad you're enjoying it, it's a great looking axe.

[straightblues]

I have been gigging this guitar for the past few weeks. It is fun to play and it really sounds great. I am really glad I discovered these guitars. I had always discounted them based on the bolt on neck and not solid body construction. I was wrong. These things really are something special.

[Barry]

There's really no magic in a set neck guitar.
Nice to have for sure, it's traditional, and looks neat and clean, but you'd be hard pressed in a blind hearing test to tell the difference from a properly designed bolt on.

[charles]

There's really no magic in a set neck guitar.
Nice to have for sure, it's traditional, and looks neat and clean, but you'd be hard pressed in a blind hearing test to tell the difference from a properly designed bolt on.

Hear hear. I still miss my tobacco 'burst El Degas LP copy - it really sang.

(I do cherish my set neck Les Paul copies, though!)