Bassassin Posted June 3, 2010 Share Posted June 3, 2010 (edited) Back again thanks to non-paying Ebay scumbag! [b]Finally sold on Ebay - and he's even paid for it![/b] [u][b]Kimbara - branded Gibson L6S copy, mid-70s[/b][/u]: This is very accurate copy of Gibson's mid 70s L6S, and I'm 99.9% certain this is a Matsumoku build. Kimbara was a brand name owned by UK distributor FCN (Fletcher, Coppock & Newman) and every other Kimbara electric I've seen has been a Mat guitar. Construction of this guitar is identical to the original - sandwich body (probably Sen Ash, in this case) and a set 3-piece maple neck with a hefty volute. The "lawsuit" headstock profile & lack of serial number probably place this at 1975 or a bit earlier - the real L6S was introduced in '73 so it won't be any earlier than that! Some of you might have seen the pic I posted of this when I got it: [attachment=51307:l6sorigcond.jpg] You pretty much never see these, and I paid well over the odds, considering the condition - and was pretty dismayed when I started work. However it became a labour of love, once I started getting it clean I realised that under the paint, filth & general abuse & neglect, it was redeemable. Anyway it's respectable now and I think is a nice example of the type. This one's interesting in having a black-bound rosewood board - every other L6S copy I've seen has a maple board. There's also a curious error if you look closely - the top position marker's been incorrectly placed at the 23rd fret, as has the side marker. Because this was a fairly major renovation there are some replaced parts, and the electronics are not standard. The original L6S had complex custom-designed Bill Lawrence pickups & electronics, and copies like this would have been similar. As the "before" pic shows this had been fitted with one of its original pickups, a replacement humbucker, 3-way switch and coil tap - all of the original electronics were gone. In order to retain the original look I fitted a chrome pickup cover, and planned to wire it with a 3-way rotary switch functioning as a conventional 3-way toggle. Unfortunately ambition outstripped competence here & I was unable to find a diagram showing how to do this, and well out of my depth trying to puzzle it out myself! So presently the switch isn't part of the circuit, and it's wired like a Jazz bass - volume, volume & tone. :blush: A few other bits have been replaced. It had a very broken set of Grover Rotomatics when I got it, these have been replaced with a nice shiny set of Rotomatic copies. The back of the headstock does look a bit like a pincushion but these tuners fit the original holes (this would have had sealed Gotohs with 12 o'clock & 6 o'clock screws) and I've plugged the remainder. I also used a piece of pale wood dowel to plug the hole where the micro-switch had been - it was firmly glued in place before I discovered that clear-coat would sink into the grain & make it go orange. Bugger. A previous abuser had plainly attempted to scrape off the logo before realising it was embedded under about 2mm of poly lacquer. I've filled & polished the scratches and it looks a lot better. There's a fair bit of lacquer cracking on the guitar, particularly noticeable around the back of the headstock & neck/body joint: I was worried by this at first but absolutely none of it's structural - there is no wood damage, the neck/body joint's rock solid and there have been no repairs. The lacquer on this guitar's very, very thick and the cracking is probably more to do with wood expansion/contraction than any external stresses or impacts. Anyway this now looks good, plays very well & sounds good too. Edited August 31, 2010 by Bassassin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bassassin Posted June 4, 2010 Author Share Posted June 4, 2010 BOINK! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bassassin Posted June 8, 2010 Author Share Posted June 8, 2010 Bumpus Erectus. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bassassin Posted June 9, 2010 Author Share Posted June 9, 2010 For Whom The Bump Tolls Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bassassin Posted June 11, 2010 Author Share Posted June 11, 2010 Distant Early Bump. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bassassin Posted June 14, 2010 Author Share Posted June 14, 2010 For Those About To Bump. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bassassin Posted June 15, 2010 Author Share Posted June 15, 2010 Script For A Jester's Bump Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bassassin Posted June 17, 2010 Author Share Posted June 17, 2010 This one's off to the Bay this evening - still available here for the next ten days, though. The Great Rock 'n' Roll Bump. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tino Posted June 18, 2010 Share Posted June 18, 2010 [quote name='Bassassin' post='869694' date='Jun 17 2010, 09:47 AM']This one's off to the Bay this evening - still available here for the next ten days, though. The Great Rock 'n' Roll Bump.[/quote] BA any idea what this one is..MIJ..anodized ally scratchplate...??? Ta Tino Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bassassin Posted June 19, 2010 Author Share Posted June 19, 2010 [quote name='tino' post='870850' date='Jun 18 2010, 03:09 PM']BA any idea what this one is..MIJ..anodized ally scratchplate...??? Ta Tino[/quote] Sorry - not too clued up about 60s stuff like this - however the Vintaxe.com forum has a lot of users into this sort of thing, so you could ask over there. Best I can do is "possibly Kawai/Teisco, mid 60s. Maybe". Meanwhile, back to the bump... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tino Posted June 19, 2010 Share Posted June 19, 2010 [quote name='Bassassin' post='871480' date='Jun 19 2010, 08:25 AM']Sorry - not too clued up about 60s stuff like this - however the Vintaxe.com forum has a lot of users into this sort of thing, so you could ask over there. Best I can do is "possibly Kawai/Teisco, mid 60s. Maybe". Meanwhile, back to the bump...[/quote] Thanks BUMP Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bassassin Posted July 9, 2010 Author Share Posted July 9, 2010 Bumping this back up because of a non-paying Ebayer (making 2 in a row) so if it doesn't sell here I think I'll keep it - I'm quite attached to it after the amount of graft I put into it! Anyway, £200 to you, squire. J. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bassassin Posted August 22, 2010 Author Share Posted August 22, 2010 Six weeks later - another bump. It's gotta go - bloody cars & their road tax & MOTs and rotting exhausts & collapsing door hinges... Make me an offer. J. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bassassin Posted August 27, 2010 Author Share Posted August 27, 2010 (edited) I [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120612409049"]listed this on Ebay[/url] again and happily a bidding war's broken out which has bumped this up to £230, with 2 days left to run. However I'd far sooner sell it here, so if anyone's finding themselves tempted by this I'll gladly accept £200 (no offers) + £15 postage, and pull the Fleabay auction. You've got until about half past nine on Sunday morning... [b]* EDIT: Now sold! *[/b] J. Edited August 31, 2010 by Bassassin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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