New "OLD" Guitar Day!

[bonzoboy]

Last week while perusing the guitars at the Reverb.com website,I came across a beautiful "Lawsuit" copy of a Martin D-28 made by Terada,Japan in the '70s.I have found out that this guitar was not only made in the Terada factory but it was one of the last guitars made by the old Mr. Terada himself.Needless to say I ordered her and she arrived across the pond in Newfoundland,Canada,the most Easterly point of North America from Manchester,England in just 4 days.The guitar is spectacular and in surprisingly great shape for a guitar approaching 50 years old.She rings out just like a D-28 and has the same easy action.Now for the Gibson/Epiphone connection. The Terada factory was responsible for turning out those amazing Orvilles and Orville by Gibson back in the '80s and '90s.Some of these Orvilles and Orville by Gibson-particularly from the "Norlin era" were said to be far superior to their U.S. made Gibsons.I have to agree here because a buddy of mine has bought several Orvilles and O.B.G. Les Paul,Les Paul Special and Les Paul Jr. copies that were exceptional.The Les Pauls with the flame maple tops were amazingly well bookmatched and the fit and finish as well as the playability and tone was always out of the ballpark.Terada also fabricated my Limited Edition 1965 John Lennon Casino-one of the 1st 50 made- and is still making many of the upmarket Epis to this day.The 1965 and "Revolution" Casinos were "fabricated in Japan" as far as cutting and shaping the wood and assemlbling the bodies and shaping and finishing the necks-which came from the U.S.-but the bodies and necks were mated in the U.S. as well as the hardware and electronics installed and all other finishing work.Anyway it's no surprise that my Terada is such a phenomenal guitar,since I've seen and played several of the spetacular Orvilles etc. that they turned out in their factory.It's understandable why Gibson contracted Terada to construct such an incredible line of instruments,they had some of the best luthiers in Japan.