60's?- 70's Matsumoku offset bass restoration

Bringing your older offset back to life.
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ohm-men
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60's?- 70's Matsumoku offset bass restoration

Post by ohm-men » Tue Aug 17, 2021 10:02 pm

Picked this little gem up a couple of weeks ago for little money. I have no clue what it is.
Looking at the neck, hardware, etc.. I'm sure this is a MIJ made Bass.
But pre- lawsuit copy erea where they just copied Fender/Gibson, etc...
This one has more of an "inspired by" kind of vibe.

Body is about the size of Jazzmaster, but there is a bit of Bass VI, Mustang, Jazz- and P bass as well.
It looks a bit primitive, but in a good way.
Obviously someone painted it over in a rather nasty green... :-X

But it's a great playing instrument that needs some TLC I guess...

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The good thing is that most of the parts are original. Bridge and strap holders have been replaced. But someone must of loved this little Bass, as the replacement bridge is stamped "Japan" and it feels very solid.
Pick guard has obviously been replaced as well... Too bad... perhaps something can be done about it.
The weird thing about this bass is that there is no "Made in Japan" stamped neck plate, or any of the other parts. I've never seen this before.
The sound of this thing is just amazing. The lipstick/Tele style pick up really has quiet some balls. It sounds like a primitive P-bass. My bandmates imidiatly loved the sound of this one. Sits perfect in the mix... Deep and roaring. Output on this pu is only 3.9 K :wtf:

Here the same Bass, but in a natural finish. (lifted from an online sale, marked as Sakai made bass) Tuners are different style, but the rest is the same. This one has the stamped neck plate.
Here you can see the Mustang influence on the Pickguard better, as this one has it's original guard.

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This one apear to have been made from pine, which is rare for a MIJ guitar...
The roundover of the body looks a lot like the Aria/Epiphone MIJ guitars. I haven't seen this on Teisco, Kawai or Sakai guitars.
Mine is not a solid body, but of the plywood variaty. Not necesarry a bad thing. But this means it left the factory in a Sunburst finish...
Perhaps I have to find out....
Last edited by ohm-men on Tue Aug 17, 2021 10:48 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: 60's?- 70's Matsumoku offset bass restoration

Post by ohm-men » Tue Aug 17, 2021 10:41 pm

So after a week of playing this thing, I liked it so much, I had to find out if there were still traces of the original finish on this bass...
Inspecting the green paint reveiled it ws put on really thick...
There were fingerprints and paint drips all over the body as well...

So it was time to take this thing apart...
it seams the guy who did the refin didn't really wait for it to dry. Look how the pu wire ate it's way in the paint.

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Routed factory for a Humbucker as well...
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And yup, plywood galore... (no surprise here ;D )
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Some original parts, some replaced and someone even used cloth wire on this one... (non original fer sure...)
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The pickup, the tuners and "Reinforced stamped truss rod cover"
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All screams Made In Japan, late 60's, early 70's... but no indication whatsoever.... Weird...

Ok, what's hiding beneath that green stuff...

... YES!!!.... There is 3 TSB :)
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...But what a load of green paint....

The green paint did't come off without a fight.
I had to soak raggs with paint thinner to get it to soften, so I couldgently scrape it off the body...
It took me the best part of two evenings and 1,5 liters (yup that half a gallon) of paint thinner...

But behold!
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The 3TSB was ofcourse gone on the edges, but overall it looked like it could be saved.
Thanks to the indistructable paint the factory used back in the day and most likely the fact that the refin guy quicly gave up trying to strip the whole body...

And look, the original brand name was still hidden under the paint. Someone obviously tried to sand it off.
But you can still make out "California" (I never heard of this brand name before...)
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Now for some polishing...
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Bringing out the airbrush and blending some new paint with the old paint to hide the sand through's...
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I left the dings and scratches that were there from 40+ years of use, I just painted over the obvious sand through's that were done while trying the sand the body before the green paint was put on.
I think the arm rest contour wear is also from sanding the body, but I left this on as it kind of looked ok to me.

So putting the thing back together and voila, a nice vintage MIJ offset bass in it's original livery...
I contoured the existing guard as I had no more pg material at hand.
It still ain't a good fit, but it will have to do... and I swapped the chicken head control knobs with
some MIA Jaguar knobs I found in the parts bin (I think they fit nicely there)

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Well it ain't a nice Fender guitar, but I'm sure happy how this turned out.
I had a blast with this one and overall cost was € 60,- including bass guitar ;D

And the funny thing is that it sits somewhere between a 32" and 34" scale guitar, even though it looks like a shortscale bass...

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Re: 60's?- 70's Matsumoku offset bass restoration

Post by Tumtrah » Tue Aug 17, 2021 11:24 pm

Wow, nice find, congratulations!
Cool that you could save/restore the original finish. Great job!
I wonder if the pickguard is the original one, looks a little bit weird....

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Re: 60's?- 70's Matsumoku offset bass restoration

Post by ohm-men » Tue Aug 17, 2021 11:51 pm

Tumtrah wrote:
Tue Aug 17, 2021 11:24 pm
Wow, nice find, congratulations!
Cool that you could save/restore the original finish. Great job!
I wonder if the pickguard is the original one, looks a little bit weird....
Thanks :)

No, pickguard is not the original one. I guess whoever refinned the bass replaced the pickguard with something they roughtly cut.
I think it must of originally came with a tort kind of guard. Or the original pickguard was missing?
I tried to make something of this "replacement" guard, but as you can see the fit on the lower horn and body contour still leaves a lot to be desired....
But it's a killer bass, something I would not have expected from an obvious lower grade copy style instrument. The neck feels and plays great.
I have to admid that after the paint removal and a decent set up, the thing sounds and plays much better. Also the weight improved...
But I like the fact you can feel the notes you play vibrate through the whole instrument. Just don't assume plywood is junk, I guess :D

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Re: 60's?- 70's Matsumoku offset bass restoration

Post by UlricvonCatalyst » Wed Aug 18, 2021 12:15 am

Nice work, as ever, Jerry.

In my experience, older Matsumokus often had 'Steel reinforced neck' etched into the neck-plate. Not sure whether that was a consistent feature or only on early ones. Just conjecture on my part, but it looks to me like 'California' could be the model rather than the brand name.

Anyway, if it sounds good and sits perfectly in the mix you've obviously found a good one, regardless of which factory it came out of.

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Re: 60's?- 70's Matsumoku offset bass restoration

Post by PorkyPrimeCut » Wed Aug 18, 2021 1:01 am

A classic example of why I love these restoration threads. Makes me wanna take a punt on something in the German free-ads (but my wife would kill me).

Immediate impressions....I wasn't a fan of the pale neck on the dark green body but it matches perfectly with the sunburst, thanks to the amber centre. Also, the black blocks matching the black edges of the body. Perfect!

60 Euros well spent!!
Last edited by PorkyPrimeCut on Fri Aug 20, 2021 5:26 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: 60's?- 70's Matsumoku offset bass restoration

Post by Steadyriot. » Wed Aug 18, 2021 6:03 am

What a rad restoration! These pop up on the local online marketplace every once in a while and always piqué my curiosity. Looks like a lot of fun! :w00t:
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Re: 60's?- 70's Matsumoku offset bass restoration

Post by Guitologist » Mon Jul 31, 2023 6:28 am

Very nice restoration but definitely not a Matsumoku. A few minutes of research of the Saiko brand (Woolworths stencil logo brand), confirms that these basses were made by Tiesco. I suspected that at first glance of the headstock cut and tuners and it is further evidenced by the plywood body. Matsumoku never used plywood for bodies. It was also not unusual for Tiesco to use 'maple substitute' softer woods or mahogany for necks.
Also the wrong neck plates for Matsumoku, except for the blank one if it is was a very early build. Matsumoku neck plates are the most distinctive of the MIJ manufacturers. Just a 'Made in Japan' engraving is most often associated with Fujigen but is occasionally found on Tiescos, who usually used the sticker and had blank neck plates.
Now that Matsumoku has some internet cache other manufacturer's products are often misrepresented as being made there in online ads and forum posts. Then later people cut and paste that or reference it in their ads, posts or comments. In my experience the accuracy of online information regarding vintage MIJ instruments is probably less than 50% accurate, worse on Reverb ads. "Lawsuit era" is another myth, as it is portrayed on the internet and equally misrepresented when it comes to specific instruments, again usually originating in ads where it is used as an excuse to inflate the price.

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