Sold another guitar and saw this on the bay. Here is the description:
You are bidding on a vintage Imperial semi hollow body electric guitar in very clean condition. As far as I can tell from viewing other Japanese (Japan, MIJ) guitars from this period on Ebay, this seems to be a rather unusual model, especially in this condition. The Imperial badge also seems a bit rare, as I have not seen many of them up for auction. The guitar was almost certainly manufactured in the same legendary plant (FujiGen) in Matsumoto, Japan that produced Aria, Teisco, and other similarly branded (badged) guitars from the same period. Condition is as described in the auction text and shown in the pix. The guitar features a beautiful sunburst finish. The faux alligator case is period correct. The case also is in good, functional condition, and all the latches work.
Got it and it is really cool other than the tuners suck. Any good replacements for them out there?
Here are the pictures. I love that on the switch plate it says mic 1, 2, and 3. There are also three volumes and one master tone knob. Nice solid metal. Smooth neck. Great acoustic sound. Hard to judge the sound with the tuners not working well.
Has that thing ever been played? Those look like ping tuners. You can get them anywhere for cheap. I put a new set on a vintage guitar I rebuilt. The suck, but they do hold tune once you get it tuned. Most shitty tuners do. If it isn't holding tune the nut is probably too tight on the strings.
Lovely looking machine. I had a Greco that was a similar design, but sounded like crap. It had a shitty solid bar saddle that couldn't intonate, the pickups were pish and the neck was tiny at the nut to the point that I couldn't form chords without hitting the other strings.
This looks a lot better. Always fancied the double Florentine cutaways but shied away from the Japanese stuff because of my previous experience. How's this one feel to play?
It plays really well actually. I haven't been able to do a lot because of the tuner but the neck feels good and it is light because of being semi hollow. The bridge should be super awesome since it is floating I can adjust it pretty much perfect. Relieve looked great when I got 5/6 strings tuned. Tremolo is great It looks pretty mint. The slider switches work like new. All the pots are clean and quiet. It is actually really quiet noise wise I think the neck and bridge pickup are set to parallel because both on is louder than either one alone. Accoustically it sounds great too. Pretty impressive so far. Neck looks like my other Teisco one with the thin strips glued together. No major scratches or dings. I saw a set of tuners on the bay for $19 I might pick up. It says they work on vintage Japanese Teisco's and it looks just right.
Thanks! The case is pretty cheap looking, but the guitar is really cool. I am very pleased with it and it is in great shape for the age. Barely looks used actually and no zero fret.
Model number sticker is still on the back of the neck. G7044. Took the stock tuners apart and added some sewing machine oil and put them back together. Put fresh strings on and it works great! Sounds REALLY nice. My favorite sounds are bridge, bridge neck, and bridge and neck together. Middle is fine but makes me think of the Strat middle pickup that I rarely use. Tremolo is a lot like a Bigsby. The arm holds it spot. No flop at all. I wish the bridge was glued down because if you abuse the tremolo it can pull the floating bridge sometimes.
Overall I am highly impressed by this. Not only does it look and sound cool, it was very affordable.
SEXY
