"memphis" guitar

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jackass

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hey,

I'm new here,

anyone who's got some info about a memphis guitar I have?
I heard it is early '70s, and made in Japan....

it's a LP copy, with an open book headstock, fret edge bindings, set neck, all original (but I'll have to change the tuners...)

I'll try to post some pics later on...

ANY information would be welcome!

thanx!

ps: already did the search option, but a lot of the links in there do not work anymore!
 
Going "blind" as it was:
Memphis guitars built in the '80's were made in the Fuji-Gen gakki factory(Ibanez).
They were a sub-brand of Ibanez and made alongside of Greco and Ibanez.
The recent Memphis branded guitars are built in China and have absolutely NO connection to Ibanez.
 
Ozeshin said:

I know, that is why I posted: "I'll try to post some pics later on... "
I don't have a decent camera around here, I'll try to use one next week!

but thanks very much for the info!


anyone who knows what pickups they used back then?
I figured it might be dimarzios, but they are not marked at the back,
where my more recent X2N says 'dimarzio USA'.
 
Because they were a budget sub-brand of Ibanez they may have used Ibanez Super'70 pickups but there's really not that much info about them at matsumoku.org.
 
http://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews/Guitar/brand/Memphis

http://www.vintaxe.com/catalogs_japanese_memphis.htm

They seem like a typical strange brand by a unknown company in Japan like a lot of others like Profile guitars.

They also had effect pedals distributed by Bruno USA so they are not connected to Hoshino/Ibanez.
The Hoshino/Ibanez guitars and effect pedals were distributed in the USA by Hoshino USA/Elger.
http://www.mr-ibanez.com/product_3.htm


But it seems the early Memphis guitars from the 60s/70s were using Hoshino/Ibanez designs.
Compare the curly headstocks at http://www.vintaxe.com/catalogs_japanese_memphis.htm and http://vintageibanez.tripod.com/sixties.html.

This happened quite a lot where different Japanese companies/ overseas importers used the same guitar designs like Antoria http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antoria using the same guitar designs as the Ibanez designs. Antoria was a brand of a UK music shop and had nothing to do with Hoshino/Ibanez they just imported guitars from Japan that shared some guitar designs with the Ibanez guitars.
 
OK, found out some more info: it should be early 80s apparantly...
I found out that indeed there should be a connection to Fuji-Gen gakki , so this backups the story of Ozeshin.

some more info:

It's kind of a crossover between a standard Les Paul body (double ply binding on the top with cream outside, black inside next to the black finish, none on the back) but not quite as thick, and a custom neck with bound (I guess rosewood) fretboard and volute, bone nut, FEB, and a custom shaped headstock with only a simple ply binding. no inlays or logo on the headstock, and this was quickly (badly) sanded by previous owner. Overall look of the guitar is similar to the Gibson LP custom lites which have been made for a short period.
She's beat up like hell, headstock has chips out of the finish, body has been thrown around over the floor by the previous owner's kids.
Suprisingly (and fortunately)no headstock break. Some tuners were broken off by throwing it around, the binding has pieces broken of, bridge was missing and has been replaced, the tailpiece was broken into 3 pieces, dings and scratches all over...
I do not know what kind of wood the body is made out of, but I think its laminated/pancake body (might be basswood)? Weird looking pickup cavities and (I think, but I'm no specialist) short tennon?

It plays a-ma-zing-ly! It plays as good (if not better) and has a similar neck comaired to my 02 standard goldtop I sold recently, because in need of cash for our rebuilding of the house... It's my new nr2, very close to my Nr1 My 92 Gibson LP classic plus...definately better playability than my Epi LP special and my Epi LP standard (and the Epi LP custom I used to own)
Soundwise: original pickups were double cream, but microphonic as hell, no markings on the back, with new PU's it's in between a real LP and an 'SG, not quite as thick as the LP, and as 'bity' as an SG. Had some tryouts with some pickup combos, and ended up with a Seymour duncan '59 neck and a duncan distortion in the bridge

control cavities: 2 pots only say 500k, and 2 of them also say 'made in japan'
In the neck pick up cavity, the neck has the marking '220A'

How do I put pics in this thread btw?
 
-edit: I'll try to post pics:

BILD0074.jpg


BILD0087.jpg


BILD0082.jpg
the top has a nice carve, but not visible on these pictures

original tunersn now replaced by grover deluxe ones:
BILD0071.jpg


orig PUs :
BILD0068.jpg


BILD0056.jpg


BILD0060.jpg


I'm guessing this is laminated/pancake body, although in the pickupcavities, these layers are not visible?:
BILD0066.jpg


Alright, picture uploading: check!
I reaaaaaally suck at taking pictures! :)
 
OK, administrators, please close this thread,
I'll put this in the 'Other - Discussion area for other MIJ Guitars' thread.

Thanks
 
jackass said:
OK, administrators, please close this thread,
I'll put this in the 'Other - Discussion area for other MIJ Guitars' thread.

Thanks

It doesn't mean that people haven't read it and didn't respond because it's in the "wrong" category.... it means that no one has any further info on it than what you might have already found online.
 

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