Matsumoku アーレンス

Price

££££ | SOLD

Missed out on this model? Talk to us for a rebuild!

Lefties get a bad hand - so much less choice. I built this guitar for a chap who was battling to find the sounds he was looking for from a Guild S-300-S; a lovely thing, but with a very limited sound palette. He had given up looking around guitar stores as no-one had the spec he wanted, or if they did, it was the wrong colour etc. Battled on with the Guild for 20 years. We discussed the ideal build and I set off in search of the ideal donor model. 2 arrived, one from Finland, the other from Japan - both variations of the incredibly rare Aria ST-500L. Both 1980 and produced within a few days of each other - perfect partners to build in tandem and compare configurations. Both were in fantastic condition but we selected the one with the most bodywork issues to use as the donor. The poly finish was stripped, and the hardware and electronics removed. The refinish in black nitro commenced and a variety of pick-ups ordered along with new scratchplates and hardware. Using the other guitar to evaluate the pick-ups, we eventually settled on a set of Full Monty single coils, and instead of an S-1 or sunken mini-switch we decided on a simple 5 way selector and neck volume blend control.

The world was turned upside down in search of a Gotoh 510TS in left handed orientation, and one was located and flown across from USA. Lefty tuners were a little tricky too, but my normal suppliers had them. The completed rebuilt guitar was set upon by the finest luthier we have, and the new owner flew in from Germany to test, approve and take home. If there is a finer, better specified, and adorable lefty Gilmour tribute out there, I'd be surprised.