1965 Mory Jazzmaster

[sleepkid]

So, in my ongoing personal obsession with Mory Jazzmasters, I've managed to track down another. This is the most complete one I've found, all original except the bridge and upper roller knobs, and it's missing it's volume and tone knobs.



This would appear to be the second version, so probably around March or April of 1966. It's got the more Fender like tailpiece, but has slide switches for the pickups instead of the toggle switch that came on the later ones. (The earliest ones, with the door hinge tremolos, apparently came with rocker switches, but while I have a door-hinge tremolo version, it didn't have the original pickguard when I got it...) 4-piece Alder body. The other two that I have are 3-piece alder bodies. (still very remarkable, as no one else in Japan was using alder at that time. The vast majority of Japanese guitars from the 60's were mahogany, luan, or on the low end - ply.)

One thing that is interesting is that the original roller knobs (which were included in the case when I got this guitar) are slightly bigger than the Jazzmaster roller knobs, and they are also glued on to the stem of the pot! They don't have a machine screw holding them on, just a slight touch of epoxy! Not sure if these were replaced because the pots were bad - whoever replaced them didn't even wire up the new pots correctly - at all - so I may change that back. Cosmos, the manufacturer of the original pots, is still in business today, and I might be able to find some that fit these roller knobs. I like the original metal look over the black of the Fender, and also they fit better in the pickguard (obviously)


I am also trying to arrange a meeting with one of the people who worked with Moridaira back in the day when they were making these. Hopefully that will come together.

[HorseyBoy]

^ You may well be the only guy on the planet actively hunting Mory Jazzmasters. More power to you!
This last one is a real looker. Love the striped wood on the fretboard. Frets look nice, too.
Keep going at this rate and you're bound to end up with a closet Mory JM classic

[Sound for Sandwiches]

No comment on Mory JMs other than they look great! I am in the camp of liking the weird copies often more than the originals.

These pups however... I have a pair in my junk pile and never heard how they sound. I have never seen another like them until this thread. This makes me want to build up a guitar just to try them out! Are they particularly microphonic? I always assumed they would be, for some reason.

[sleepkid]

^ You may well be the only guy on the planet actively hunting Mory Jazzmasters.

Well, it's certainly cheaper than hunting up vintage Fender Jazzmasters! And (shhhhh!) the quality is just about as good as anything Fender made at the time.

After fixing them up though, I'll probably be selling them on, as I pretty much only keep 3 guitars for myself at any given time. It's more just about documenting them.

No comment on Mory JMs other than they look great! I am in the camp of liking the weird copies often more than the originals.

These pups however... I have a pair in my junk pile and never heard how they sound. I have never seen another like them until this thread. This makes me want to build up a guitar just to try them out! Are they particularly microphonic? I always assumed they would be, for some reason.

Interesting that you have another set of those pickups! Those only ever came in one guitar (pictured earlier in this thread) and that guitar is particularly obscure. Now, having said that - I have seen a picture of one of those guitars where the pickups have been swapped out - so maybe you have the missing set for that guitar!

I can only say how the pickups in my guitar sound: Hotter than a Jazzmaster (they read just about 10k), just a touch less bass, and more midrange bite. Very clear. Not microphonic. I like it a lot in the neck position. In the bridge position it's so-so, though that may be a bridge to pole-piece alignment issue since I have a Mustang bridge on that Mory instead of the original bridge, which spaces the strings out a bit more than the originals did. I've never been much of a bridge position player anyway, so I don't worry about it too much.

I have known another person who had one of those guitars, and said they sounded awful. But he also had them in the original guitar, which is a fairly awful (yet awesome looking) guitar. I am in the process of stalking another one of these guitars, so then I will have another set to compare it to.

Build-wise, they are very solid pickups - very heavy. The bobbins in mine are slightly cracked around the edges, and one of the leads from the coil had to be repaired.

As far as what I did, putting them in a Jazzmaster (albeit a Mory) - you have to deepen the cavity for the neck pickup slightly (about 3-4mm) to allow the neck pickup to drop down (they are height adjustable) far enough so that the pole pieces don't pull the string and ruin your intonation (on the low E) - because the pickup doesn't sit flat like a Jazzmasters, but instead has that curious up angle towards the string. You also have to drill two small holes for each pickup ring into your pickguard. Other than that, I think it fits in just like that. Of course, putting it in another guitar is always an option as well.

They're good pickups. I can't tell you if they're good enough to build a project around, because I've only played the one set, and they may be different from set to set. Also, I'm not sure what sound you like. The best thing to do would be to drop them into a guitar and play them. In my workshop I have an old SG knock-off that has a giant swimming pool route. I've removed the pickguard and all the electroncis and just have an input jack with some clips soldered on to the leads - this way I can drop any kind of pickups into the guitar with minimal effort (I have some spacers for adjusting the height) and play it a bit to get an idea of how pickups I wind or repair sound before slapping them back into the original guitars. It's a crude, but effective way of testing pickups.

If yours are dead, or even if they're not dead and you just don't decide you want them, I'd be interested in buying them off of you, as I have a friend who is looking for a set after having seen mine, and I can repair dead pickups.

[mgeek]

I would totally go for one of these if the price was right...love the 'not quite, but close' days of early copies. Big fan of the Jansen stuff from New Zealand as well.

How much do these generally go for?

[debudavid]

They are quite rare and you may see one for sale on Yahoo auction once or twice a year. As they are relatively unknown they can be gotten quite cheap, usually in the area of about 10,000 to 25,000 yen (about US$100-250). Here is a nice one which was for sale a couple of years ago. If you find one for sale on ebay etc., you are not going to get one that cheap. Expect a big mark up.

[sleepkid]

They are quite rare and you may see one for sale on Yahoo auction once or twice a year. As they are relatively unknown they can be gotten quite cheap, usually in the area of about 10,000 to 25,000 yen (about US$100-250).

That was the price for them about 2-3 years ago (and I'm talking about 25,000 - I've never seen one go for 10,000). They're generally more expensive now, as the MIJ Fender stuff keeps climbing in price here, and so people have been turning to alternatives. The cheapest I've seen one go is 22,000 - and that was for the 65 model that I have which was marked as a "mystery Jazzmaster". All the others have been more expensive than that, even if they are missing parts (like the neck!) - if they are actually labeled as a "Mory" (i.e. seller knows what he has, or they still have the logo on the headstock) you're probably looking at 40,000 - 50,000 or more now. There was one for sale in Ochanomizu recently for 63,000. Rough shape but still had the logo, and the original tremolo arm. Still, overall, not a bad price for a quality vintage instrument.

They are very rare because they were only made for 2 years, and were never made in massive quantities. I'm still waiting to get an interview with one of the older people at Moridaira to find out how many were made, and some other details about them.

The only guitar which is probably rarer in the offset Japanese guitar realm is the Voice guitar. Iwase-san (who I had the pleasure of meeting recently, and who is still super active despite being 90 years old) said he made roughly 200-250 of them total, and that includes all the models (Delicate, Frontier, 12-string, etc.).

[debudavid]

There was one for sale in Ochanomizu recently for 63,000. Rough shape but still had the logo, and the original tremolo arm. Still, overall, not a bad price for a quality vintage instrument.

Did you buy it? I think not at that price.

I will agree the prices for vintage Japanese guitars are slowly increasing, but the increases are not that dramatic. Bargains can be found at many second hand stores and even still on the net. But as more and more Yahoo auction sellers and buyers are using international proxy shopping services, it is only natural that final prices sold will increase.

As for Fender Japan guitars, I have not noticed a marked increase in prices here yet. In fact, the prices for new guitars still on shelves in the shops near me have fallen as they try to clear dead stock.

[sleepkid]

There was one for sale in Ochanomizu recently for 63,000. Rough shape but still had the logo, and the original tremolo arm. Still, overall, not a bad price for a quality vintage instrument.

Did you buy it? I think not at that price.

I will agree the prices for vintage Japanese guitars are slowly increasing, but the increases are not that dramatic. Bargains can be found at many second hand stores and even still on the net. But as more and more Yahoo auction sellers and buyers are using international proxy shopping services, it is only natural that final prices sold will increase.

As for Fender Japan guitars, I have not noticed a marked increase in prices here yet. In fact, the prices for new guitars still on shelves in the shops near me have fallen as they try to clear dead stock.

I didn't buy the one in Ochanomizu. Obviously as that's a retail store, it's going to be more expensive. It played well, as they'd given it a set-up and cleaned it up a bit - and even at that price it's a very worth guitar (considering it's about $2000-$3000 less than a Fender Jazzmaster of the same age, but just as playable), but I already have two in that colour now (the pearl-off white) - I believe they came in 3 different colours: sunburst, pearl white, and red. The one white one I have used to be red I believe, but I still haven't had a chance to confirm this.

I suppose I should clarify when I say the Fender Japan stuff is getting more expensive. The Fujigen-era Fender Japan stuff is more expensive, the Dynagakki has not changed in price, and indeed, in some cases has fallen. Of interest, there is no more Fender Japan though - from what I understand Fender will be handling it's sales in Japan directly from here on out, and they've changed from dealing with something like 250 retail outlets down to something like 84. Dynagakki will continue to produce Fenders, but at a reduced rate, and Fender will be filling in excess demand with guitars made in Mexico (already fairly common here) and (ugh) China.

As for second hand stores, I make the rounds of the ones nearest me quite regularly, sometimes hitting 8 or 9 in a weekend - but turnover is slow, and vintage gems are very few and far between as they are mostly overstocked with chinese knock off brands. It's disappointing.

Yahoo Auction has seen several vicious (as in almost unlimited funds) buyer/resellers enter the market in the last couple of years, and they certainly have driven up prices on things.

[frelonvert]

Yes, I am one of those recent buyers ! ... I only bought one yamaha sg^^
But, I was looking at other japanese brands, and would like to ask you about the "PLeasant" one, are those good guitars ?

[sleepkid]

Yes, I am one of those recent buyers ! ... I only bought one yamaha sg^^
But, I was looking at other japanese brands, and would like to ask you about the "PLeasant" one, are those good guitars ?

Hi. I am sorry for the late reply.

The Pleasant guitars are pretty good. The pickups in them are great. The bodies are average - usually made of a lower grade mahogany, but not plywood. Slightly thicker necks. Hardware is so-so. They are generally a step up in quality from Teisco guitars. The same factory (based in Suwako, Nagano Japan) that made the Pleasant guitars also made the Intermark Cipher guitars. Very cool looking. They sometimes have some rather strange electronics. I have three Pleasant guitars in my shop at the moment, and have had many more come through. Please feel free to PM me with any questions you might have about them.

[frelonvert]

Thanks for your answer Sleepkid,
I love those old japanese guitar. Fortunatly I don't live in Japan, overway I would have bought too much of these all ready^^

There was a Mory not long ago on Yahoo.jp, I supposed you have seen it:

http://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/195609786

[sleepkid]

Thanks for your answer Sleepkid,
I love those old japanese guitar. Fortunatly I don't live in Japan, overway I would have bought too much of these all ready^^

There was a Mory not long ago on Yahoo.jp, I supposed you have seen it:

http://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/195609786

I saw that one too late unfortunately. But then again, I need to get rid of some of the guitars I have!

[sleepkid]

Mory Jazzmaster on the front of what seems to be a Japanese Surf Guitar record. A record I must now hunt down and own.

[MattK]

Voilà

http://www.discogs.com/Micky-Anderson-y ... se/4701854" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;