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Very sad about your friend, but nice to have a memento like this. So yeah - these are thought/assumed to have been made by Sakai Mokko but like most things vintage MIJ, particularly regarding those manufacturers active in the 60s & fading away in the early 70s (which is when these were from) it's unclear & sometimes contradictory. These turn up with a million different names (& no names like yours, & my guitar version) one of which is Sakai, although there's reason to believe Sakai Mokko the manufacturer was gone by '71-ish which about when these first emerged. Like other 60s brands that became well-known domestically (like Teisco & Guyatone) the name may have just become a headstock brand - there's reason to think this as the Sakai name appears on mid 70s instruments known to have come from Moridaira. That's further complicated by the fact Moridaira also operated as an importer/distributor and even used their own Morris house-brand on instruments that are assumed to be from Sakai Mokko. It's very confusing. And I can make it even more so, if you want. Or even if you don't... Look - it's Sunday, I have important things to put off so you should probably make yourself a brew & strap in... That cool/weird German-carved SG body isn't exclusive to these - it also turns up on a late 60s thing called an Excetro - made by Teisco Gen Gakki. TGG was set up mid-60s as a manufacturing subsidiary of Teisco to make necks/bodies, but after Kawai bought Teisco in 1967, TGG continued independently as an OEM manufacturer TGG went bust around 1970, so what looks very much like the same body on a different instrument from a different source could be for one of two reasons. Or three. Or random combinations of the three. Or something else altogether that I don't know about. Leaving aside the fourth (and arguably most likely) reason, No.1 is salvage. In the febrile 60s & 70s Japanese guitar industry, manufacturers came & went all the time, and those that went bust would typically have quantities of unfinished components lying around, which would simply get sold off. So a year or so later an existing or new manufacturer - maybe Sakai, or Moridaira, or whoever - sticks out a bunch of SG-ish guitars built on old Teisco Gen Gakki bodies. Or reason 2 - someone liked it & made a straight copy, or perhaps the TGG fire-sale included all the templates & tooling for making this design, which it almost certainly would have. "But Jon - what's Reason Three?" I hear you implore, half insane with facination & curiosity! Or rather I don't - because you've gone to do something interesting that Normal People do, and it's just the endless, relentless, maddening voices in my head again, isn't it? Fair enough, at least now they're curious about this, & not the usual thing. You have no idea how wearing it can be when all you hear is KILL, KILL, KILL. And even when you do as you're told, one's never enough. Ten's never enough. Oh - where was I? I didn't say that out loud, did I? Right - anyway - possibility No. 3, Matsumoto Gakki Seizou Kumiai - the manufacturers' collective with their parts-book system of ordering, where customers could choose components & have instruments assembled to their spec. Not so likely IMO as they'd need to have a huge stock of these bodies, considering these SG types were around for maybe 4 years, sold all around the world with a plethora of brands and 50+ years later, still turn up regularly. And that's it really. You won't get drivel like this off AI, I can tell ya. Pickups in the bass are Maxon bass humbuckers - they may have a serial on the back to give a date for the bass, if it's pre '72 they won't as it looks like Maxon introduced seials at some point in '72. The knackered nut's an easy fix as there's a zero-fret, meaning it's just a string guide, and I'd recommend not just whacking the 22nd fret into the empty slot - necks taper & unless you cut it to length you'll make a mess of that nice fretboard binding, and have the mother of all rough fret-ends to boot! Wonder how much a tech would charge to stick in a replacement & give the remainder a dress/polish?

I would guess a fair few of the players on here are probably in rock orientated cover bands, out of interest I checked our current set list of 32 songs against this top 500 list, 16 of our set songs (50%) are included. It would be interesting to see what your results were.

Handy at half-time though.

Rumours Fleetwood mac

Cheese footballs, just sayin'

The Band's Last Waltz album. Rick Danko and (mostly) his Gibson Ripper. What's not to like?

Problem sovled - the Jazz was sounding 'thin' and lacking definition more than anything, probably due to the £8 set of Warwick Red Label 40-100 strings I threw on it. It's now got a new set of Elixir 40-95s and it's got all of its proper fullness and rich tone back. Much better! Beware cheap string sets... 🤦‍♂️

Strings/Sadles to Fretboard Radius, Action, Pickup height to strings. A P with a 7.25" radius neck can make the split pickup look broken!

Genuine story: I have a mate who plays in a duo around pubs. The name of the duo: Grey Hair and Nae Hair.

Currently weighing up the Laney DBV212-4 and the EBS S212CL cabs. I have a GK Legacy 112 Combo and a TH500 head that could both be used with these cabs. One reason for going 2x12 in vertical format is to get more sound higher up towards my ears. Leaning towards the EBS as it has built in castors and comes with a cover which is worth the extra £100... I think.

That was me. Can't recall weight, but I'd guess between 20 and 25kg. Closer to 25 probably. Relatively easy lift and slid into the car with the seats down easily enough.

My JMJs are 3.6, 3.7 & 3.9. I’ve put Ultralites on the 3.6 to get it down a bit, more for balance really.

Excellent question.