Pre-1975 Matsumoku made Antoria 2365

Discussion of vintage Jazzmasters, Jaguars, Bass VIs, Electric XIIs and any other offset-waist instruments.
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MC5tooge
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Pre-1975 Matsumoku made Antoria 2365

Post by MC5tooge » Sat Jan 22, 2022 1:30 pm

I've been offered this for DKK3500. (UK about £390, US $530)
It's an Antoria JM 2365 - also sold under Ibanez name.
Looks like a bargain. Any reason I SHOULDN'T buy it (other than what the wife might say and having too many guitars already)
I figure I won't get a Fender Jazzmaster this good, vintage or otherwise, for even three times this money. I "need" a P90 guitar and I LOVE block inlays...
Anything negative I should be aware of?

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Re: Pre-1975 Matsumoku made Antoria 2365

Post by Telliot » Sat Jan 22, 2022 1:49 pm

Are you able to play it? It looks pretty fun.
The cool thing about fretless is you can hit a note...and then renegotiate.

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Re: Pre-1975 Matsumoku made Antoria 2365

Post by MC5tooge » Sat Jan 22, 2022 2:01 pm

Sadly no - the guy is a fellow English guy in Denmark - but at the other end of the country to me.

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Re: Pre-1975 Matsumoku made Antoria 2365

Post by MC5tooge » Sat Jan 22, 2022 2:37 pm

As soon as I posted it on the Matsumoku facebook group the consensus was "buy it now"!!!!
So I just did.

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Re: Pre-1975 Matsumoku made Antoria 2365

Post by sal paradise » Sat Jan 22, 2022 2:40 pm

I’ve never seen one of these before. Looks awesome. FWIW all the early 70s Antoria bolt-on Gibson copies I’ve owned have been fantastic guitars. But they’re like £200 as not that rare.
I have nothing to offer anybody, except my own confusion?

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Re: Pre-1975 Matsumoku made Antoria 2365

Post by surfin_bird » Thu Jan 27, 2022 10:58 am

This must be good. I just picked up another Matsumoku guitar myself (A Aria black widow) and have a few other Aria's. The level of quality is quite consistant and good, this should be a gem.

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Re: Pre-1975 Matsumoku made Antoria 2365

Post by Kent » Thu Jan 27, 2022 5:03 pm

These are good. Glad you grabbed it. Didn’t MBV use one?

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Re: Pre-1975 Matsumoku made Antoria 2365

Post by copacetic » Thu Jan 27, 2022 7:53 pm

Dude thanks for putting me on to a new obscure guitar to lust after! lolol
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Re: Pre-1975 Matsumoku made Antoria 2365

Post by Ceylon » Thu Jan 27, 2022 11:33 pm

Nice score! Between the sunburst, the wood grain, the puckups and the blocks it really looks pretty.

Kent is right with the MBV association. Rumour has it this was Kevin Shields' first offset, the one on which he devised the floaty vibrato sounds, and I think you can briefly see it make an appearance in the "Only Shallow" video
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Re: Pre-1975 Matsumoku made Antoria 2365

Post by MC5tooge » Fri Jan 28, 2022 5:24 am

It won't arrive for another couple of weeks - as I told the guy I'm buying from that it's not a good idea for me to get 2 guitars in a week if I want a happy wife...

But it seems quite an unusual guitar - a copy of a design that was already out of favour when it was made and that would not start to become popular again till about 15 years later.
Pickups as far as I can gather are built just like P90s just with a much smaller bobbin and accordingly a much lower wind, in a Mosrite-dimensioned housing.
I expect the neck to be a flatter 12" or more radius, as I just noticed it's a tune-o-matic bridge. But the almost-P90 pickups and tune-o-matic mean it's kind of a really early precursor for the J Mascis Jazzmaster.
Was aware of the Kevin Shields association - and while I do have a CD copy of Loveless - I'm not really that much of a MBV fan. Do like a bit of Slowdive though 8D.
This will be my sixth Matsumoku guitar. I also have a few Aria/Diamonds - a 72 semi - also with Mosrite size pickups, just very low output humbuckers, a 72 maple-bodied Strat, a 78 Diamond Strat with a Mahogany body that I hotrodded with tappable Q mixed-magnet vintage/hot pickups and a series/parallel circuit for AFAIK 24 different combinations, a 1985 Cardinal Series 400 Black n Gold and a 1985 RS Knight Warrior, which was my first electric when I was 16 and bought brand new. Apart from the Knight Warrior, none of the ones I have already cost me more than £120 and total investment including new strings, a set of pickups and pots etc. wouldn't even buy a Troy Van Leeuwen Jazzmaster even at the old price. As a Matsumuko freak I may have excessive expectations of this one.

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Re: Pre-1975 Matsumoku made Antoria 2365

Post by MC5tooge » Thu Feb 10, 2022 1:35 am

Well it's now arrived and I've had a quick play on it.
Pickups don't sound particularly Jazzmastery but do sound Jazzy - so in that sense, possibly a better "jazz" guitar than the original.
It's in beautiful condition- pictures don't do it justice. The Antoria logo is nicely secured behind clear paint on the headstock, which I wasn't expecting. Considering the wear on the first few frets I don't understand how it's been played so much and remained in such pristine condition. It pretty much otherwise looks like a brand new guitar.
Neck is 3-pieces of maple and feels great. Neck profile is flatter than on a Fender.
Bridge is very high and string action is great, which gives a lot of string angle from the bridge to vibrato, and bridge has rollers. So it's kind of "out of the box" what a lot of people mod their offsets into.
Vibrato feels better than the one on my Fender Japan Jaguar.
One thing to be aware of - neck pocket profile and neck heel is more square than on a Fender or Fender clones - so that would make sourcing a new neck difficult.

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Re: Pre-1975 Matsumoku made Antoria 2365

Post by NutButter » Mon Apr 24, 2023 2:16 pm

Stumbled upon one recently. Would you say it is worth it for $400 USD?

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Re: Pre-1975 Matsumoku made Antoria 2365

Post by BoringPostcards » Tue Apr 25, 2023 1:27 am

NutButter wrote:
Mon Apr 24, 2023 2:16 pm
Stumbled upon one recently. Would you say it is worth it for $400 USD?
Considering Squier costs as much these days, I’d say you’re getting a good deal.
Det er mig der holder traeerne sammen.

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