Matsumoku Ibi JKL No.2

Price

£2,600 GBP

I'm assuming you've already read the description of the red one - that gives the background to these Ibi JKLs. My rock-star buddy had "settled" for a Telecaster, and despite the obvious delights of a decent well set-up Tele, I could see he wished it was something else. These Concords defintitely had the Tele in mind with their twin singles laid out like that. After evaluating a lot of different pick-ups, I settled on Jaime's amazing Creamery creations - opting for clarity and power, and a 2 speed gearbox on the bridge. To keep the purity of the look and the specific sound I wanted here, a tapped single coil is the correct answer to the question that a splittable humbucker can never answer properly.

The original neck pick-up on these Concords were always surprisingly soulful and powerful - this P-90 style replacement takes that sound and solidifies it, fills in the gaps, and delivers something I have not heard anywhere else. Good, that's the whole point. The bridge pickup in low gear begs for a loud crunch setting on the amp and is like throwing glass bottles at a wall. Bang the tone pot to change into high gear, and it's like throwing a crate of glass bottles at a wall. All in a good way, of course. All you can do is play it to see what this delivers - there really is very little else out there to compare it to. I can do something similar or identical to your Westone / Vantage / Matsumoku guitar. Or I can find a suitable donor instrument for you. This one can be for sale - any excuse to build another one!!!

Details

The Look

This guitar retains the orignal finish complete with 40 years of parking knocks. The same shape scratchplate is used, but now features a yellow stripe and is cut to suit the Creamery pick-ups. The output jack is now at the bottom edge. That yellow headstock completes the new look.

Headstock

The tuners are upgraded to Gotoh SGS510 in black - the highest quality locking tuners suiting the look and feel of the guitar, and allowing fast string changes.

Neck

This is the original neck with the original skinny frets - just tidied up.

Pick-ups

A Creamery Tele-P90 for the neck position and a Creamery Tapped Tele for the bridge.

Bridge

A Gotoh FX6 in black gives this guitar stability, great intonation and more sustain than the original.

Controls

3 way toggle with master volume and tone pots - a push push on the tone changes gear on the bridge pick-up. This thickens up the middle position as well as the obvious changes at the bridge position.