This one turned up in an auction listing in Japan today, and it's more interesting than I first thought.
A 1982 SS-55 with a single humbucker in the bridge position, just a volume control, a mirror pickguard and a darkish Burgundy Mist finish... it's got to be a mod, right?
Well, it looks like it's actually not.
It's factory-routed for the bridge humbucker and the mini toggles. The only irregularity is the obviously hand-carved channel for the switch cables. But if you look below it, there's an opening. According to the seller, there is a tunnel between the control and switch rout, only it appears to be too narrow for the rather fat cables. If the carved channel is a quick fix at the factory or the result of a frustrating reassembly is anybody's guess.
The pickguard has eight screws with matching, undisturbed holes in the body, so no sign of it ever having had a standard SS 11-screw pickguard.
The stamp is interesting. The font is familiar, I would assume that "MP" is "Metallic Purple" and the X to the right is standard as well. But 093 with no divider? It seems to fall out of the standard month-batch format, and looks more like a individual number to me. Maybe an order number? No way of knowing though. No pics of the neck number, sadly.
The pickup is unmarked. It has 12 adjustable hex-head pole-screws, so probably inspired by DiMarzio Super distorsion or Dual Sound. No resistance value reading is provided by the seller. Standard SS cast bridge.
The seller provides no info on what the switches actually do. I would assume one is a coil split. The other is connected between the coil split switch and the pot. Could be a kill switch?
The positioning of the switches is actually a bit weird in itself. With no tone controls, there would be plenty of room for them in the control cavity.
The 55 model sticker is only just readable.
The tuners are right for that model as well, I think?
1982 serial.
So what is it? Well, I've got no idea, really. Some sort of special order? Show model? Employee build? I was wondering if it could be one of the "secret" "Limited Products" shown only in silhouette in the 1982 catalog, but those we've seen (VS', VSB's and SS-70s) all have standard series production markings, at least to my knowledge? Also, all I've seen so far have had 1981 launch-batch serials.
I'll be watching the auction, but I've no idea where it's going. It's unusual enough to fetch a high price if the collectors get in on it, but the concept of the guitar itself is deeply unfashionable right now so it might get semi-ignored for that reason. We'll see.
A 1982 SS-55 with a single humbucker in the bridge position, just a volume control, a mirror pickguard and a darkish Burgundy Mist finish... it's got to be a mod, right?
Well, it looks like it's actually not.
It's factory-routed for the bridge humbucker and the mini toggles. The only irregularity is the obviously hand-carved channel for the switch cables. But if you look below it, there's an opening. According to the seller, there is a tunnel between the control and switch rout, only it appears to be too narrow for the rather fat cables. If the carved channel is a quick fix at the factory or the result of a frustrating reassembly is anybody's guess.
The pickguard has eight screws with matching, undisturbed holes in the body, so no sign of it ever having had a standard SS 11-screw pickguard.
The stamp is interesting. The font is familiar, I would assume that "MP" is "Metallic Purple" and the X to the right is standard as well. But 093 with no divider? It seems to fall out of the standard month-batch format, and looks more like a individual number to me. Maybe an order number? No way of knowing though. No pics of the neck number, sadly.
The pickup is unmarked. It has 12 adjustable hex-head pole-screws, so probably inspired by DiMarzio Super distorsion or Dual Sound. No resistance value reading is provided by the seller. Standard SS cast bridge.
The seller provides no info on what the switches actually do. I would assume one is a coil split. The other is connected between the coil split switch and the pot. Could be a kill switch?
The positioning of the switches is actually a bit weird in itself. With no tone controls, there would be plenty of room for them in the control cavity.
The 55 model sticker is only just readable.
The tuners are right for that model as well, I think?
1982 serial.
So what is it? Well, I've got no idea, really. Some sort of special order? Show model? Employee build? I was wondering if it could be one of the "secret" "Limited Products" shown only in silhouette in the 1982 catalog, but those we've seen (VS', VSB's and SS-70s) all have standard series production markings, at least to my knowledge? Also, all I've seen so far have had 1981 launch-batch serials.
I'll be watching the auction, but I've no idea where it's going. It's unusual enough to fetch a high price if the collectors get in on it, but the concept of the guitar itself is deeply unfashionable right now so it might get semi-ignored for that reason. We'll see.
