Mister Miyagi (Alembicized guitar)

[edwardofhuncote]

In the quest to explore, expand, and experience... circumstances led up to this Japanese (I'll call it, 'Alembic-inspired', rather than a copy, because I know the diff...) build. It's a mahogany body, made of about 20 pieces glued together. The neck is a maple beam with (I think) walnut veneer accents. Very rigid, and a very stable platform for a set of HG AE-1 activators.

It was a 24-3/4" scale, and 24 frets, which also checked a couple more boxes. The fretwork and overall build quality was pretty darn good. The hardware and electronics were absolutely junk. I replaced the bridge, tuners, and strap buttons immediately with some much nicer gold upgrades, then when the box of goodies came from Aunt Mary, I mounted the HG shaped pickups in new gold-plated brass rings.

Oh, and because I thought of it... I laminated a veneer of figured maple to the black plastic electronics cavity cover.

I'm working on a re-badging of the headstock, rather than the name of the store that commissioned these guitars backinthuhday.

Gently, often humorously teaching me discipline... y'all meet Mister Miyagi, my latest Alembicized guitar project.

[cozmik_cowboy]

Very nice.

Peter

[jazzyvee]

Cool looking guitar.

[David Houck]

Nice!

[lbpesq]

Nice.  Definitely looks Japanese or Korean, late 70’s - early 80’s, would be my estimate.   Similar to Vantage, Bambu, and others following Alembic’s lead at the time.   Many of these were boat anchors, but some were lighter and most had impressive build quality.   How much does this one weigh?

Bill, tgo

[edwardofhuncote]

I haven't weighed it, but not super heavy Bill... less than a Les, more than a Tele. I'm fairly sure you're correct on the age; the chain of music stores that stocked these around here went out of biz in the mid-80's. I think the neck-through models were made by Suzuki. No ID anywhere, just the guy's name who owned the stores, Don R. Miller. This one (and the others like it) had a C.F. Martin-esque logo, the Fender-shaped ones had a Miller waterslide that reminded you of a beer can label. I bought one of them too, from the same guy who had a few of them; they were new-old-stock still boxed up. Mine is a neck-through Tele copy... like Miyagi, it was a cool guitar but the electronics were glitchy and sounded pretty thin when they did work. So it received a set of EMG's, and a little dress-up in my shop. I laminated a veneer of Macassar ebony to the white plastic pickguard, then topped the face of the headstock to match it. Had to spend a good bit of time on the frets. Pretty smooth player now.

Bubba-San here, is my Office Guitar. I try to play a little bit every morning in here... it kinda' helps monitor my condition. Same at night when I get home.

[gearhed289]

That turned out great! I really like the shape of the body.

[gtrguy]

Way cool! Looks like my Alembic inspired Frontier 12 string. I have a 3 page document telling 'who made what make' of guitars in Japan if you are interested.

[gtrguy]

Then there's this one. I get a kick out of all sorts of instruments!

[lbpesq]

Fernandes?

David, I’d love to get a copy of your list of Japanese makers.

Bill, tgo

[cozmik_cowboy]

I, too, would like a copy (that way, I wouldn't have to merely guess that the Frontier came from the same place as Vantage).

Peter

[gtrguy]

Yeah, Fernandes (Ferbic) FAG. Emails sent on 'who made what in japan'.

[cozmik_cowboy]

Got them; thanks muchly, David.

Peter

[lbpesq]

Ditto!

Bill, tgo

[bigredbass]

Miller Telecaster . . . . well, now that it's fixed up (even though you've since veneered over it), it's . . . . back in the high life . . . . again.