Pickups: MMK-61 both positions

Fretboard: Rosewood

Neck: 3 Piece Mahogany

Body: 2 Piece Mahogany

Top: Plain Maple

Nut Material: Bone (upgraded)

Bridge: ABR-1 and Stop Tailpiece

Colour: Tobacco Burst

Country of Origin: Japan

Weight: 4.48 kg / 9.88 lbs

 

This one is a bit of a mystery. If you look it up, the forums might tell you that it does not "officially" exist. Japanese Epiphone Les Pauls did not exist in 1982 - or at least you wouldn't find it in any product catalogs for that time. However, there are a number of Les Pauls with matching specs and build materials/techniques that come up for sale every now and then. These models have been identified as made by the Matsumoku company - they were contracted by Gibson/Epiphone to produce several models (but not the Les Paul). Maybe these were built as prototypes, maybe they were built as Burnys/Arias and badged Epiphone...short of being there or knowing someone who was there, we might never know. Matsumoku went broke in 1987.

 

All of these Matsumoku Les Pauls share these common features (as far as I'm aware):

- Matsumoku format serial number stamped on back of headstock

- long neck tenon with a single screw through it

- stamp in neck cavity reading 15.079 (seen on my model as well as another one that was up for sale in reverb.com)

- hand-written number in bridge cavity (mine is 64, have seen 64 and 60 in other listings)

- MMK-61 pickups (MMK means Matsu Moku Kogyo)

- reddish tinge on inlays

- 'Open book' headstock with 'Les Paul MODEL' script

- 2 screw truss rod cover with Standard engraved on it

- Gotoh style chrome tulip tuners with the 'E' logo on them

- Top hat knobs with reflectors

 

Check the blog section of this website for more of my thoughts/findings on the origins of these guitars.

http://soonalex.wixsite.com/my-guitars/single-post/2015/05/01/80s-Epiphone-Matsumoku-Les-Paul-Epiphany-or-Epiphoney-Part-1

 

Some of these features are also present in Aria and Burny Les Pauls, which were also made by Matsumoku. According to the Unofficial Epiphone Wiki, this model should have a 3 piece neck however I cannot see any joins running the length of the neck (not including the headstock edges). It is a fairly dark stain however so I could be wrong.

 

In any case, it is a well made Les Paul. Frets are well dressed and have plenty of life left - not sure if the guitar has had a refret along the way. Feels like a poly finish to me, but it has yellowed considerably over the years, judging by the colour difference on the top finish when removing pickups or even underneath the bridge and tailpiece. Finish is thin, as can be verified by some chips that are present (not corner chips, as you can never judge overall finish thickness by what is on the corners as they will be thinner than the other flat areas of the guitar). 

 

Tone wise - what can I say, it sounds like a Les Paul. Acoustically it is similar in resonance/volume to my Gibson R8, but when plugged in there is a little more high end - that could have everything to do with the pickups. The pickups sound good to me, however I would love to try the guitar out with some high quality pickups at a later point. I'm not that happy with the electronics (pots are too smooth and too sensitive) so I may do a full swap of pickups and electronics down the line. 

 

Set up: I can get the action as low as I like it on an LP (1.5mm @ 12 fret high E, 1.75 @ 12 fret low E) without buzzing. Currently there is a little more relief that I prefer, but I will adjust that soon and find out if there are any truss rod problems. Currently the 20th fret is a little higher than its neighbours, causing some bends to fret out in that area. 

 

Jobs/Upgrades to be done:

Pickups

 

Upgrades done:

Bone Nut