I'd seen this particular bass hanging up in a pawnbroker around the corner from the music store where I (occasionally) work, and it caught my eye straight away. Decided I didn't need another P bass at the time as I was gunning for a 5 string of some sort and couldn't spare the $300. I was a little surprised when it turned up at the repair bench - turns out it wasn't making any noise at all, and the pawnbroker usually gets us to overhaul any major problems.
Well, as I had an interest in the bass, I waited til I'd knocked off work for the arvo before getting it on the bench. Turns out somebody had disconnected the vol & tone pots (amusingly both had Strat Tone knobs on them) and wired it straight to the jack... which was switching. Plugging in broke the circuit - idiots! I dropped a replacement jack in, but the bass was horribly noisy, all grounding buzz & EMF interference. I left instructions with one of our sales guys to tell them it needed a total re-wiring, which meant it probably wasn't worth fixing. Left an offer of $150 - $200; they accepted the lower one as it was enough to recoup their costs.
Here's the bass in question - the pickguard is probably a real Fender one, as the neck pocket is ~1.5 mm too big.
A good look at the burst:
Three-piece headstock:
Neckplate (SN 762644):
A shot of the birdseye/flame on the neck:
The STEEL ADJUSTABLE NECK stamp on the neck plate is apparently unique to the Matsumoku instruments, so that's one thing that is certain about this bass. It could be one of many sub-brands, but I'm lead to believe it's an Aria Pro II due to the construction (laminated headstock, routing is identical to Melvin's '77), brass plate under the pickups, 7 screw bridge + cover & the proportions of the sunburst.
As for the serial number, it seems that earlier Matsu instruments had several different formats, most commonly using the first digit or two plus or minus a letter. Seeing that a '77 Aria Pro II has the month/letter prefix, it's less likely that mine is a '77. Since I was born in 1976, I choose to believe this is of 1976 manufacture
I haven't seen the exact same combination of features on any other Matsumoku bass. The one brand which escaped my attention was Emperador - I havn't been able to find any online info, but I have seen one of their Jazz basses firsthand. The bridge was a two-saddle arrangement on that, and it seemed much cheaper in build quality.
On with the review:
Price : Aus $150
Features : Like any Precision copy, it's one split-coil humbucker, with volume, tone & jack mounted on the pickguard.
Body - 3 piece alder, 3-colour sunburst finish
Neck - one piece maple (3 piece headstock), nut width 40mm
Fingerboard - maple with 20 frets
Pickup - split-coil P pickup, 10.8K DC resistance
Hardware - open gear elephant ear tuners, 7-screw bridge, ashtray bridge cover.
Truss rod - adjustable from the neck pocket (truss rod adjustment screw is allen-type)
Sound :
None at all when I got it! Now that it's been fully shielded with copper foil in the cavity and under the pickguard, and given fresh CTS pots and wiring, it's as electronically clean as any vintage style bass can be. The only bass I've owned which had no hum at all was my Warwick Thumb, which sells for over Aus $3500.
The tone itself is quite varied with an old set of Fender NPS roundwounds (45-100) on it. You get that classic P-bass growl that sounds great with a pick for punk numbers, and a real thwacky fingerstyle. Roll the tone all the way off and you're in dub/reggae mode - I like to play country songs like this but with a pick. As I said to one of the doubters at the music shop - it sounds like a Precision bass.
Overall quality :
The construction is pretty good, but not flawless. The neck pocket is a bit loose laterally, but it seats well under tension & the space makes it easier to adjust for correct string alignment. The 3-piece body joins show through the finish as a very slight seam. The routing is excellent, very clean.
On the other hand, the tuners & bridge are in immaculate working condition. This bass holds it's tuning better than my MIM Precision with Hipshot tuners/detuner. As for the neck, the fretwork is excellent - as good as my 1991 Fender MIJ '51Reissue Precision. No joke. I can get a lovely low (for me) action, perfect for playing 4 sets a night.
The relief is absolutely stable - we did 3 nights of gigging out in the bush at a (horse) race meet, with 38 degree Celsius daytime temperatures. The MIM P neck had bent into a banana shape in the heat (action went from 2.4mm on the E string to 4mm!) - the Aria P hadn't budged by any measureable amount.
In summary, after some TLC, the build quality on this dumps all over my MIM Precision from a great height, and is on a par with my MIJ '51 Reissue.
What would you change? :
A veneer on the headstock would have been nice to hide the 3-piece construction, but really it's pure cosmetics. Likewise the 3-piece body - it's no worse a match than any MIM Fender (and some US Fenders).
Serial Number : 762644
Reviewer : I've been playing bass for about 15 years, and currently play at a semi-pro level in a working covers band (I'm on tour as I type this). I have owned anything from an SX P-copy up to a Warwick Thumb bass. I do setups, repairs and mods to guitars & basses both as a casual job and in my spare time.
